How the FileMaker service can help keep your horse healthy

Posted by Justin Hesser on November 5, 2013

One of the major challenges in caring for any animal is that they can't communicate in the same way as a human might, and horses are no different. While a person might have their own health records (or at least a strong memory of recent illnesses and treatments), it falls onto an horse's owner to store all of that information and deploy it in a conscientious way. Especially over long periods of time, or if multiple horses are involved, memories can be inaccurate. That's where the FileMaker service can be vital.

While keeping important health records for a horse can be as low-fi as using a notebook, creating a custom database in FileMaker offers several crucial advantages. First, horse care can be complicated and deeply involved. Not only will you need to store information about routine health and oral exams, you will also want to have a log of farrier procedures (those related to hoof care), workout and competition notes, results of lab tests and any illnesses or abnormalities that might arise. Being able to store all of that information digitally can save time and space.

Additionally, FileMaker pro allows to analyze patterns in data over time. While a paper log might tell you when one thing happened, using database software allows you to look at a lot of data at once and organize it to reveal any underlying causality. Additionally, you can sync it to wireless devices, so you can actually thumb through the information while you interact with your horse — something that isn't easy to do with dozens of sheets of paper. The more you know about your horse, the better care you'll be able to provide for it, and a healthy horse is a happy one.