Tips and health knowledge for your equine athlete. This page explores the sport science and health behind training your athlete, recovering, and rehabilitation of common performance related injuries.
Taking Care Of Your Horse In The Heat
I don't have a horse to ride for another few days due to hock injections, which is probably the best as this week is hot here- mid and high 90's! The horse's body is not designed to be hot (big bodies don't rid of heat well), extra precaution should be taken when exercising a horse in these kinds of temps. Here are a few hot weather tips:
- Skip hot rides or ride earlier in the morning or later in the evening.
- When you do ride, try to ride where there is shade, give your horse good breaks, and monitor sweat accumulation (too much sweat probably means your horse is too hot).
- Turnout earlier and bring in earlier or turnout at night and let the horses rest where there is shade (ie stall, shelter) during the hotest part of the day, which is usually 12-3p.
- If turning out during the day make sure they had adequate shade from a big tree or shelter
- Always have free choice water available (even when you are only turning out for 2 hours), if you are exercising your horse bring water so he is able to take water breaks during exercise (just like people exercising!)
- The average horse consumes 25 gallons of water a day on days over 70 degrees!
- Salt? Just add a tablespoon of salt to your horse's feed- unlike a salt like this ensures your horse takes the salt and is a lot cheaper.
- Salt needed when exercising your horse hard or when temp + humidity reaches 140 degrees.
- Use less saddle pads and skip the fly sheet on hot days.
- Bath your horse after a workout or just because on hot days.
Anhydrosis: horses that are unable to sweat, which may make heat regulation difficult for the owner to evaluate and manage.
(Sources; http://www.doctorramey.com/horses-in-the-heat/, http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1833)
Compression for horsies
How a human athlete recovers from hard work-out is an insight as to how we should care for our athletic equine partner.
I run and cycle, among other sports I have tried, compression socks are amazing! They work especially well when you are on your feet all day so consider for post-horse show work. People use them during their workouts as well and boost their athletic performance, however, I think thekey time to use is post-exercise to assist in recovery.
Compression Socks Benefits:
- Improve circulation, therefore, improving recovery time
- The microfibers support the muscles in the leg, offering support and giving your muscles a break
- Helps relieve pain
- Helps with edema and swelling
- Reduces the risk of blood clots and Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
- Helps with fatigue of muscles
2XU would be my choice in human compression socks, also they have compression items for other body parts like arms, full upper body, shoulders, full legs, and thighs. Same with Equifit,which has compression items for other joints of the horse.
Human compression sock, comes in cute colors buy here
So if it helps with all that on humans, why wouldn't it help our best equine friend?! Equifitseems to think so, they have a huge product line of compression type items that also emit mineral oil. Some riders use it after heavy work or during. (people also wear compression socks during workout, but I personal feel like the difference is recovery so just throw them on after your ride). It's the same thought concept as a standing wrap but these socks are more advance and will yield better results.
Another use for these would be to place under your brush boots to add extra protecting out on the cross country course, fox hunt, or hack through tall grass. Also great for bed sore protection!
Gel Sock by Equifit
Recovery compression pumps would be a step up from just the compression socks, they provide all the benefits of the compression socks plus some. In addition they assist in removing waste from the body (free radicals that form after heavy exercise) to aide in recovery. Most pumps have a hand held or electronic piece that actually pumps you or your horse's legs. They kind of slowly compression until hey are squeezing your left for about 1-2 minutes then release, then repeat again. Very effective and relaxing.
Recovery Pump For People
And the equine version, which also provides ice therapy (feasibly you could buy the equine version and use it on you!)
Equifit has ton's of other recovery and support products, so check it out.
Living in Colorado there is some hard ground around here and that hard ground may lead to horse injury. My barn does not have an arena, so riding in the fields is mainly what I do. Here are some tips to keep your horse's legs going strong.
Check if your riding surface is really as hard as you think. Can you hear hoof beats? Maybe sometimes you are able to hear them and then other days you hear nothing. That should be a good indication on the ground surface condition at the time of your ride.
If you have field options, choose a field that has irrigation. The ground may be more soft and easier on the horse's legs. I have 5 pastures and I only ride in the 2 pastures that were at one point used for haying.
Tall grass isn't always a bad thing. May be hard to see hazards, so check it out first on foot. Once you go around a few times, the grass lays down, adding a little extra cushion.
Change pace and terrain as much as you can. On the hard ground it's important to shift weight to avoid overworking muscles, ligaments, tendons, or bones. This may be achieved by changing pace frequently or changing terrain. For example, two trot circles followed by a trot up a hill and then a trot down the hill.
Try Magic Cushion, it's a hoof pack that is easy to apply. Acts as an anti-inflammatory to help prevent hoof pain and heat.
If the ground is frozen consider just walking with short bursts of trot or consider riding down a quiet dirt road. The traffic of cars keeps the road somewhat warm and the ground will likely be less frozen.
Condition your horse to hard ground by slowly introducing the horse to the terrain, adding a little more time or a little more intensity each ride.
Shoe the front feet to get the soles off the ground and add more comfort. If you already have shoes, consider asking your farrier to review the shoeing.
Consider pads or rim pads if you horse appears foot sore after a ride.
Warm up properly, with lots of walking on a free rein, collected, extended walk, before going right into trotting. In the arena we do a lot of trot warmup, but on hard ground you should do more walk warmup.
Listen to your horse. If they move lame or sore after your ride try something different. If you have tried everything, it is likely that the horse just is not built for hard ground riding or needs a few down days.
Turn your horse out on that pasture. This naturally conditions horses to the ground at their own pace, which is typically the best way.
Add water. Perhaps there is a small 20 meter circle flat area in your field you ride often, hose this area before your ride.
Stick to small jumps and ground poles. Instead of raising the jumps, consider making the exercise more complicated. Save your horses legs by not overdoing it, once he performs the jump as desired tell him good job and move on to something different.
Consider wearing sport medicine boots. Honestly, I think these boots are more important for arena riding because they provide tendon and soft tissue support which may be needed when the horse sinks into soft ground. However, I see how these boots could benefit field riding because of this support, especially if the horse trips. Professional Choice boots claim is that it absorbs 26% of the impact from the hoof and as much as 45%. The testing was performed at Oklahoma University. I have successfully used sport medicine boots after my horse's torn suspensory (an injury result from sinking in deep sand footing when landing from a jump), it seemed to help with recovery.
Consider cold hosing or wrapping after a really hard workout. This may help in recovery. Just like people who train for triathlons or running whom religiously do hot/cold treatments and compression socks. There is actually compression socks for horses!
Another human athlete practice is stretching and application of pain relief ointments for example using icy hot on humans (don't use on horses). A similar practice may be performed before/after on your equine athlete. Vetrolin is similar to the human version of icy hot. Post workout stretching is the key to any athlete and I am surprised not more horse owners stretch their equine friends. Here is an extensive list of stretching techniques.
Horses are different, my older gelding likes the stability of the hard ground. He has arthritis, a coffin bone chip, and an old deep flexor tear all that happened in his earlier life of being an arena horse. Since he has been out on hard ground he has not had one lameness issue and goes great. He doesn't have any major structural abnormalities though, where my other horse does. The younger horse has a club foot and sometimes working him on the hard ground intensifies the short stride of the club foot. The intensity of riding on the hard ground really depends on the horse's body and it's condition overall. Young horses should be especially careful as their bone structures are still developing.
I think arenas are great, but I do think they may be overrated at times. The best asset of an arena is not having rocks or uneven terrain. Many people create an arena that is too deep, which may cause lameness due to stress on ligaments and tendons. The horses that need to be most careful on hard terrain would be those that are use to living and being worked on soft ground. Horses that are conditioned for the hard ground usually do okay. I believe to some level horse's were built for riding in a grassy field, it is their natural environment. Humans do an excellent job taking horses out of what they were meant to do, like constantly moving and constantly eating, and instead lock them in stalls or changing their feedings to 2x a day.
Riding On Hard Ground
Check if your riding surface is really as hard as you think. Can you hear hoof beats? Maybe sometimes you are able to hear them and then other days you hear nothing. That should be a good indication on the ground surface condition at the time of your ride.
If you have field options, choose a field that has irrigation. The ground may be more soft and easier on the horse's legs. I have 5 pastures and I only ride in the 2 pastures that were at one point used for haying.
Tall grass isn't always a bad thing. May be hard to see hazards, so check it out first on foot. Once you go around a few times, the grass lays down, adding a little extra cushion.
Change pace and terrain as much as you can. On the hard ground it's important to shift weight to avoid overworking muscles, ligaments, tendons, or bones. This may be achieved by changing pace frequently or changing terrain. For example, two trot circles followed by a trot up a hill and then a trot down the hill.
Try Magic Cushion, it's a hoof pack that is easy to apply. Acts as an anti-inflammatory to help prevent hoof pain and heat.
If the ground is frozen consider just walking with short bursts of trot or consider riding down a quiet dirt road. The traffic of cars keeps the road somewhat warm and the ground will likely be less frozen.
Condition your horse to hard ground by slowly introducing the horse to the terrain, adding a little more time or a little more intensity each ride.
Shoe the front feet to get the soles off the ground and add more comfort. If you already have shoes, consider asking your farrier to review the shoeing.
Consider pads or rim pads if you horse appears foot sore after a ride.
Warm up properly, with lots of walking on a free rein, collected, extended walk, before going right into trotting. In the arena we do a lot of trot warmup, but on hard ground you should do more walk warmup.
Listen to your horse. If they move lame or sore after your ride try something different. If you have tried everything, it is likely that the horse just is not built for hard ground riding or needs a few down days.
Turn your horse out on that pasture. This naturally conditions horses to the ground at their own pace, which is typically the best way.
Add water. Perhaps there is a small 20 meter circle flat area in your field you ride often, hose this area before your ride.
Stick to small jumps and ground poles. Instead of raising the jumps, consider making the exercise more complicated. Save your horses legs by not overdoing it, once he performs the jump as desired tell him good job and move on to something different.
Consider wearing sport medicine boots. Honestly, I think these boots are more important for arena riding because they provide tendon and soft tissue support which may be needed when the horse sinks into soft ground. However, I see how these boots could benefit field riding because of this support, especially if the horse trips. Professional Choice boots claim is that it absorbs 26% of the impact from the hoof and as much as 45%. The testing was performed at Oklahoma University. I have successfully used sport medicine boots after my horse's torn suspensory (an injury result from sinking in deep sand footing when landing from a jump), it seemed to help with recovery.
Consider cold hosing or wrapping after a really hard workout. This may help in recovery. Just like people who train for triathlons or running whom religiously do hot/cold treatments and compression socks. There is actually compression socks for horses!
Another human athlete practice is stretching and application of pain relief ointments for example using icy hot on humans (don't use on horses). A similar practice may be performed before/after on your equine athlete. Vetrolin is similar to the human version of icy hot. Post workout stretching is the key to any athlete and I am surprised not more horse owners stretch their equine friends. Here is an extensive list of stretching techniques.
Ask your horse to move round. Don't let him invert and load his front legs with shock. Again, just like human runners, you want to practice good form to prevent injury.
Horses are different, my older gelding likes the stability of the hard ground. He has arthritis, a coffin bone chip, and an old deep flexor tear all that happened in his earlier life of being an arena horse. Since he has been out on hard ground he has not had one lameness issue and goes great. He doesn't have any major structural abnormalities though, where my other horse does. The younger horse has a club foot and sometimes working him on the hard ground intensifies the short stride of the club foot. The intensity of riding on the hard ground really depends on the horse's body and it's condition overall. Young horses should be especially careful as their bone structures are still developing.
I think arenas are great, but I do think they may be overrated at times. The best asset of an arena is not having rocks or uneven terrain. Many people create an arena that is too deep, which may cause lameness due to stress on ligaments and tendons. The horses that need to be most careful on hard terrain would be those that are use to living and being worked on soft ground. Horses that are conditioned for the hard ground usually do okay. I believe to some level horse's were built for riding in a grassy field, it is their natural environment. Humans do an excellent job taking horses out of what they were meant to do, like constantly moving and constantly eating, and instead lock them in stalls or changing their feedings to 2x a day.
Headshaking- and a famous horse that does it
Cella, a 2002 grey BWP mare is seen with this black net on her nose. It is to calm her headshaking problem.
The horse is ridden by Ben Maher and has won some serious events. Currently the team sits at the top of the Longines leaderboard.
@Sportfot
Headshaking is a neurological issue caused by sensations to the face like wind, pollen, insects, allergies, rain, or snow drops. Some horses even react to sunlight exposure, in this case sun actually irritates a nerve though the eye and triggers symptoms. The nerve that plays the biggest part of this condition is the trigeminal nerve. which may be over-reactive. The overly sensitive nerve could be caused by hereditary or damage to the actual nerve itself. It is just like Trigeminal Neurological seen in people.
Some horses have a minor twitch, some others are put down because they are in so much discomfort. Symptoms may include a twitch, violent head-shaking, avoiding the bit, making weird faces with their tongues, rearing, hiding their head in weather conditions like wind, sun, rain, or snow, and itchy their heads on the leg (very often and in a "emergency" way, my horse would stop mid-canter to itch his). Each horse is very different, with different triggers.
Throughout the horses life it may get worse or better or even go through periods where it changes for a short time. Typically it gets worse. Treatment includes masks, hackamore or other tack changes (consider changing the material of the bit for example or adding a flash or taking one away), environment or living changes, avoiding riding or keeping the horse out in certain conditions, prescription medications, and supplements. Melatonin and magnesium seem to be the big ones. If/when, you try to treat this only try one change at a time so you can tell if it's making a difference. More then likely it will be a combination of multiple treatments.
Treatment For My Horse Paddy
- Riding in a hackamore (see the type of hackamore I use)
- Allow to itch as needed
- 24/7 shed so he can hide his face from stimulants
- Relax environment, no more barns with high level of people traffic, clinics, or lessons
- I do Melatonin in the winter (use people over the counter).
- Mask on as much as possible
- Mask when riding on certain days
- Pasture 24/7 has drastically decrease his problems, also living in a small calm herd where he isn't picked on has helped, he is very passive so being with non-passive horses stressed him out and increased his headshaking.
- Feeding quality grain, senior feed, low sugar. Sugar also triggers his narclopesy.
- Rice bran or something high in Omega-3s
Eventually Paddy's headshaking became too violent that I had to stop showing and riding him in a training type way. With the above changes he goes nicer now at the age of 19 then he ever did, before he just seemed "psycho" but he really is a gentleman...even my Mom rides him!
It was very hard to receive the diagnosis so do your research and find a vet who understands. Dr. Dale Bowers in Colorado performed by diagnosis.
Here is a great article of headshaking by a DVM.
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