In Spring last year I went looking for a software package that would let me keep track of all thehorses coming and going from my property in the upcoming breeding season.

From previous experience I knew that it can be very useful to record every event that happens with a particularhorse and sometimes even more useful is to be able to keep a diary. I also like to record as much of the horse’sindividual details as possible, keep the owner contact details, and add photos. Essentially I wanted a program to doit all.

Some serious googling later and I narrowed my choice down to just one – Ranch Manager Equine created by LionEdgeTechnologies in the US.

The software was actually developed by the owners to help them to manage their own cattle ranch and it developedfrom there. There are now seven versions – Cattle, Sheep, Goats, Equine, Camelid, Livestock and Wildlife and eachdatabase can manage up to around 15,000 entries.

Back to the Equine version though.

Ranch Manager, over the breeding season, has turned out to be everything I want or need for an Equine ‘herd’management database. I’m able to keep accurate records on all horses coming and going from the property, and caneven keep outside mares in a separate database so that they don’t get mixed in with my own horses.

I’ve been able to record when horses have been seen by the farrier, scanned by the vet, bred, wormed, changed diet,and keep detailed notes with each record so that if anything unusual happens I have a record to recall. Or, as Ifound out last year, when an owner rings me and say “Hey, do remember the date when ....”

We keep five regular horses at our property and RM is great just for keeping track of vaccines, wormers, farrier,and changes in diet and vet treatments. It is also possible to keep a journal, say, if you have a pregnant mare andwant to record her progress, or a rescue horse you are rehabilitating, or a youngster you are bringing on.

The package actually has a huge amount of very useful and practical features but what I like most is that it is:

a/ easy to use
b/ lets me keep all my horses organised and in one place
c/ allows me to record all the details I want to keep in one place
d/ You can get a trial versions first and once you find it is totally invaluable purchase and download the licensekey
e/ is very reasonably priced at just under $100 US

Features include:
• Detailed Horse Records
• Keep detailed notes about each horse in your operation
• ID Tracking
• Show Records
• Multiple Views of your Herd
• Pedigree editor
• Event Tracking
• Gestation history
• Breeding Planner
• Inbreeding Detection
• Breed Records
• Rancher’s Calendar
• Rancher’s Journal
• Sales Tracking and Reporting
• Intelligent Use of Hover Text & Context Sensitive Help

There’s also a pocket addition – good for people who want to record details on their PDA as they are out and abouton their property.

Ranch Manager was recently released version two which has some useful additions like spaces for recordingmicrochips, brands, multiple registrations and for keeping multiple photos of a horse. The developers are constantlymaking changes and additions so you can expect to see even more useful features in the future.

Ranch Manager takes a lot of the guess work out of managing horses; you won’t be scratching your head trying toremember exactly when their teeth were done, what wormer you used last, or who is due for vaccinations.

I use this program every day and have to say I would be pretty much lost without it!

Highly recommended!

Visit Ranch Manager

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