Happy Healthy Horses

A difficult horse

‘Maybe keep this one on two ropes – he can be a little tricky’ (at least this is more honest than the admission that ‘ah yes he did bite and kick the last one’ or even ‘my goodness I’m amazed she went in with you after the awful trauma she had in a stable – she has reared near each stable for the last four years!’ – I’ve heard those and many more)

Now I very very rarely work with a horse on a long line when I am doing bodywork, rarer still tied up and occasionally because of the set ups in yards and training establishments I have no choice but to work with a horse ‘cross tied’ which means a rope attached to both sides of their head collar.

Ideally I want them to be as free as I can have them within the constraints of time (i don’t always have the luxury of waiting for hours until they are accustomed to my being in their presence on a visit – though I do have the facility to do that at home if they come to stay in my little herd of ponies for their rehabilitation).

I will often start with a first session by introducing myself while the horse is help on a rope by the owner, using advance and retreat to let them see the kind of touch and how my machines might work and (importantly) giving them time to process and say yes or no. I often work with a horse loose in a bald stall and go away to the corner to give them space to process what I am offering.

My favourite way of working though for massage and light touch Ki-Equine technique is to be loose in a paddock or shelter barn with the horse and his or her friends. I love doing this at my colleague, Jolande’s Hästgård Mosjö Stall. Her horses have a lot of choices in their lives, despite being in a western riding Center with both lessons and trail rides and this freedom and herd life shows up in their acceptance and conversation around any bodywork I offer.

It is the reason so many of the practical sessions in the Svenskafysioskolan’s base level horse fysio course. (The wonderful thing about equine bodywork is that you can be constantly learning and adding to your earlier techniques from both courses and by learning from the horses we serve).

Learning to listen with our eyes and energy as equine bodyworkers is as important in my view as learning all of the anatomy and physiology that is essential to understanding what we do. Self awareness is essential and giving horses choices as far as possible is best practise.

But what does it mean to give your horse a choice.

My job is to communicate as clearly as possible what I have to offer or what I want the horse to do (sometimes my treatment may be less comfortable than the horse would like – think of changing a dressing or gently stretching a very tight and strained muscle) and give time and space for a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’

This is obviously easier if I am working regularly with a horse rather than visiting for a one-off treatment but it is possible in that setting too.

In fact giving our horses choices and a little more freedom within their domestic (captive) lives is a wonderful partnership exercise and not just for bodywork.

It is worth asking how much freedom you actually give your horse. And also how you could extend those freedoms.

We often curtail freedoms ‘for their own good’ or for our convenience. A fluffy horse gets too hot and sweaty when worked so needs clipping (for our convenience) so needs a rug and the constraints to his movement and natural interaction with other horses that entails (mutual grooming isn’t the same through a rug). I am not suggesting that you don’t clip or don’t rug your clipped horse but more that you think about what freedoms you take away and what you can offer.

A horse that has space to move and friends to move with will be expressing more of his natural behaviour than one alone or who spends considerable time in a stable. Is it possible to offer a shelter and space to move as much as possible instead of individual stables or boxes in winter, for example?

I have to limit my little group of six ponies and horses in winter as my electric fencing doesn’t currently (yup another of my awful puns) stand up to the unintentional attacks of enthusiastic elks and I don’t fancy walking the miles in the deep Swedish forest snow following where my horses might wander if ‘let out’ by a friendly moose! But I can try to offer them a slightly more interesting life with slightly more choices than simply standing in a small paddock and eating a large bale of hay. I have a ‘ligghåll’ (a large shelter barn that easily accommodated them all loose and which can be shut at night if I am nervous of the local wildlife or for weather based emergencies) and a fenced track with a wooded area for them to take shelter and explore the hay piles I drop there (in different places every few days). It isn’t ideal and if I win the lottery I will drastically improve my fencing in one go (rather than the rather slow process I am attempting annually just now) and give them a much bigger and more interesting area.

It is the most freedom I can offer them within my own limitations and that is what I am considering in this blog post.

I don’t suggest we all have the possibility of letting our horses range over miles of land in the freedom and constraints of a herd of wildings but each of us can look at the choices and freedoms we can offer our horses today.

This allows us to develop healthy partnerships rather than a ‘Lord and serf’ or worse ‘jailer and prisoner’ kind of relationship.

I’m guessing nobody reading this blog is interested in dominating rather than cooperating with their horse?

And yet I commonly hear and read so much talk of ‘being the leader your horse needs’ or ‘taking control.’

I have to be honest and say these are phrases I’ve used in the past when giving riding or horsemanship lessons. I’m not suggesting that the opposite is the right way forward either. This is not a proposal that you should become a stablemat walked all over and used as a toilet for your horse.

No what I am aiming for nowadays with my horses and those I serve as a rehabilitation therapist, trainer or bodyworker, is a partnership.

I learned a lot from Luki, my horse of a lifetime, that others described as the ‘hell horse’ (unbeknownst to me before I bought him).

He was in fact the most delightful gent with an open, honest and forgiving nature who taught me to listen to his communication with an enviable patience! Over a good few years (I am a slow student) I learned to sit still and wait if he stopped abruptly along a narrow Shropshire lane (saved from an out of control coach, several lorries and overly speedy motor bikes none of which I heard coming); I learned to get off when he was older and stopped and dropped his head, walking by his side instead as we explored parts of the countryside I had missed by going on the routes I had previously chosen; I learned to trust him when working with children with disabilities and to watch his responses for my therapy; I learned that he offered inordinately good friendship and even leadership if I would let him. And as I learned those things I also learned I could ask for his trust at the times when I needed to take the lead.

Luki taught me to be a partner not a leader. I am so thankful to him for his patience as I very slowly tried to learn my lessons and try out different forms of horsemanship over the more than 25 years we were together.

The other thing about a partnership like that is just how much you miss your partner when he is no longer around. I am so grateful for his memory, though.

Giving our horses choices seems like a tough but nice idea – but it comes with conundrums;

What about if you need to deliver medicine or wormer – how can you offer choices?

Can you demonstrate what is involved and take the time to allow the horse to come to the conclusion that cooperating with you in this would be interesting.

If you are training with a technique which offers positive reinforcement (like clicker training, for example) it is important to offer another choice (which is not a difficult or uncomfortable experience) so that the horse can make a real choice and not simply a ‘no real option choice!’

An example of this would be target training with a clicker towards taking a wormer. You could have an amazing and highly desirable treat as a reward for moving nearer the working tube. But what if you had a good source of relatively nice hay or fodder nearby… then your job is to make your own reward and activity interesting enough to get a ‘yes’ from your horse. But it is also to accept that your horse might say ‘no’ today.

It doesn’t matter what we are doing with horses or what method of training we use, getting a good response and real learning is going to take the time it takes for this particular horse in this particular setting. Rushing and forcing might get you a quick and ‘successful’ result in the short term but it probably won’t result in the horse learning the lesson you needed him to learn in the longer term.

When I have worked with the ‘difficult to load’ horses over the years I have often seen how just such a forced ‘ok then,’ from a horse has eventually resulted in a ‘heck no,’ for the future with sometimes extremely dangerous results to both horse and handler. The result has been a need to go right back to first principles and offering choices in which the horse is calm enough to learn. In the past I have followed the make the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy method but I now try to follow ‘make the right thing fun and interesting and accept a no as a time to take a break and go back a step or two’ approach. I am being pleasantly surprised by the speed of my results-

It seems like when I add the choice to take time away, to say ‘no’

…..and the time for me to rethink my presentation of ‘my idea’ so that it might be more fun or more interestingly clearer….

It seems like the learning (on both our parts) goes quicker and with a lot less stress (for me as well as my equine friend)!

In a future blog I will talk about sensory learning and how the cortisol cycle can adversely affect the outcomes we would like for our horses (or dogs or kids for that matter), however for now it is sufficient to say that calm horses who have the knowledge they can say no if they need time will lead to partnerships that allow you to get a ‘yes,’ when you need it (in an emergency or during a veterinary procedure for example).

If I take the time today; tomorrow the job will probably take half that time and so on……

I would love to hear from my readers how you offer choices to your horses. It is a great way to get ideas! The more we can share our examples, the more choices our horses and other horses can be offered…..and the better the chance we have of developing healthy, happy horse-human partnerships.

My new year resolution as I go into 2022? I’m going to keep looking to add choice into my training and therapy as much as I can

Careful tack and girth choices together with a little ground work can produce a big payoff in your horse’s performance!

It doesn’t matter if your horse carries you for leisure rides in the forest, pulls a cart fast around a track, jumps puissance or is a dressage diva, they will benefit from exercises that improve their proprioception, flexibility, balance and muscular strength. For dressage horses, core-training exercises are particularly important for developing the type of strength needed to perform correctly with the back rounded, and to protect against the development of back pain due to instability of the intervertebral joints and a number of published research studies back this up. Regular core training for horses is an effective type of exercise to strengthen the muscles that stabilize the horse’s back during athletic performance.

Horses have a kind of bow and string effect in which the abdominal muscles that lie beneath the spine and all the way to the bottom line of the horse (see my previous post on the bottom line) can pull together to flex the spine. We see this as the horse rounding the back and showing more top line!

So let’s dive deeper! Anatomy is fascinating and important if we are to understand how best to help our horses do their work and live long and healthy lives!

Welcome to the fascinating world of the rectus abdominus muscle! This muscle originates from the sternum and inserts at the cranial pubic ligament.

The rectus abdominus muscle (the “six- pack” muscle in humans) runs length- wise underneath the horse’s belly. When it contracts, it helps to round the back and tuck the pelvis.

It is a sub-lumbar muscle. These muscles are inside the horse’s abdomen, where they run from the underside of the vertebraein the area behind the saddle to the front of the pelvis and femur. Because these muscles are inside the abdomen, they’re not visible from the outside. Contraction of the sublumbar muscles pulls the front of the pelvis forward (tucks the pelvis) and pulls the femur forward (flexes the hip). These actions engage the hind limb under the horse’s body.

In a 2010 study reported in the Equine Veterinary Journal, researchers looked at how much the rectus abdominus and the oblique external abdominal muscles moved during different paces. They found considerable differences between walk and trot showing the importance of the abdominal muscles in correct trot.

The rectus abdominus (which acts to help the horse use his back correctly and swing under with his hind legs in trot for example) is adversely affected by ILL FITTING GIRTGS or CINCHES as well as over tightening of the girth, and is also damaged by improper carriage while under saddle or if harness is fitted incorrectly.

This muscle is one of the key muscles that are involved with rounding the back and achieving collection. When this muscle is too contracted, the horse will have a roach back.

Having a strong rectus abdomnius muscle will make it way easier on your horse to collect and remain in a proper frame under saddle.

A concept well recognised in dressage and classical riding literature and dating back to the 1800s is the ‘ring of muscles.’ This explains how the vertebral chain in the horse determines gait, carriage and movement style. Often the upper portion of the chain is in great focus (the long muscles of the back and the correct muscling of the neck) because we can see these muscles. Feed companies advertising departments have jumped onto this concept promising top line with products that offer a little more protein and they are not lying but the ads can be misleading. Your horse needs more calories and the correct proportions of protein, carbohydrates and roughage to help the development of their muscles but it is correct exercise in well fitting tack that will create the muscles that are fed by the food they eat!

We seek collection in movement but what actually is ‘collection.’ It is a posture adopted by the horse which allows him to move well and comfortably while bearing weight on his back. When he appears to round up, the first thing the horse does is to use his loins in a sort of coil action. As the loins coil, the pelvis and all the rest of the bones which are part of the hind limb chain are brought forward. ‘Loin-coiling initiates a set of postural changes along the vertebrae of the back going from the back of the horse towards the head so that the neck is raised and the horse reaches down. This is the reason why just working to draw a horse’s head in falsely will not create correct movement and can even damage the vertebrae and muscles of the neck. The rider may be able to falsely create an appearance of rounding and collection but the muscles of the abdomen and spine will not be properly engaged and so the horse will compensate by potentially twisting himself out of shape to continue to carry the rider. It is the abdominal muscles that create the coil and result from the pelvis forward in a kind of telescoping of the neck and not the other way around. The opposite happens when the loins uncoil, and the pelvis, stifle (horse’s knee), hocks and hooves are displaced to the rear creating a flattening or even dipping of the spine. Sometimes this action (which is not conducive to carrying weight) can be described as hollowing or stargazing.

Think of carrying a really heavy rucksack on your back successfully up a mountain track. You would engage your six pack, causing your back to round a little and your head would focus down as your neck extends a little allowing you to focus on the track but to carry the weight through the engagement of your stomach, rump and back muscles – it is similar although not exactly the same in the horse.

We might try weight training, sit ups, crunches and similar to build these muscles.

Note; We would be hugely impeded if we were to wear incredibly tight jeans and a belt while training in this way. Most sports gear allows us excellent movement and flexes with our body. So when you tighten the girth or cinches, make sure they anatomically fit your particular horse, make sure your tightening isn’t so much that the rectus abdominus cannot engage. Ask your saddle fitter for advice about the best girth for your horse’s conformation- some suit very bendy anatomical girth’s while others need a straighter form; some have a girth area very far forward in comparison to where the withers and saddle area while others are so far back there is a barrel appearance. The girth is as important to the underside of your horse as the saddle is to the top.

Help your horse build correct muscles in the first place using slower paces in hand over cavaletti and with belly lifts as well as the correct carrot stretches.

Contact me for my online ’Hooves and Hearts in Balance’ course for exercises to improve your horse’s muscles at the same time as your connection/ partnership together!

Horses suffer back pain and this is well documented and recognised but quite difficult to diagnose as it often is hidden or accompanies other more obvious issues like hind leg lameness.

The spine is the central mechanical structure holding the majority of the heavy internal organs and digestive system, while carrying the cranial nerves along the spinal column and so sending both sensation and motor information to and from the brain. It’s connectivity to all parts of the horse is significant and it is both affected by and affects movement in the furthest points in the mouth and tail and feet!

It consists of vertebrae buffered by discs of fluid filled cartilage and is held in place and manoeuvred by hundreds of ligaments, tendons and muscles as well as the fascia which holds the whole horse in tensegrity (see the last blog post on the bottom line for a brief definition). 1. Cervical vertebrae start behind the poll and run through the middle of the neck.

The reason these vertebrae are so low is because the head is heavy and horses need to be able to lift it so it is a mechanical engineering solution. The majority of what we see in the horse’s neck is the muscles needed to support this large heavy structure.

Most movement happens at the base of a horse’s neck. However, quite a lot of movement happens at the second vertebrae behind the skull too. This is what enables a horse to nod, and look left and right.

If the horse’s head is too high, the first vertebrae locks and they can’t flex left or right. The same happens if a horse over-flexes.

Next vertebrae are the thoracic, which start at the withers and connect to the ribcage. (You can feel the bony projections, which are called spiny processes, at the top of the horse’s back along the withers). The first three vertebrae are hidden under the shoulder. This area also consists of muscle to enable the head to lift, plus carry its weight and that of the neck.

The spinal cord runs along the bottom of these vertebrae which is deep within the horse, offering it considerable protection.

The lumbar vertebrae then run on from the thoracic vertebrae. The lumbar vertebrae stick out to the side, as well as the top, because they do not connect to any ribs. There is limited rotation or flexion between the lumbar vertebrae, because nodules hold them together and reduce the range of movement. It is also very important that the saddle doesn’t finish here, because that would cause a pressure point. The way to find the first lumbar vertebrate on your horse is to feel for the top of the last rib and run your finger up to the top. The lump you feel at the top is that first lumber vertebrae.

Next comes the sacrum. Spiny processes in the lumbar vertebrae face forward towards the head, whereas those in the sacrum face the tail. Consequently, there is a V shape where they meet. That is known as the lumbar/sacral junction, which is what enables a horse to bring its hindleg under its body. Flexion and extension happens at this junction — that is why a riding coach refers to a horse needing to lift its back. Unless it does, the range of movement in this area is restricted and the horse cannot engage its hindleg.

Next to this is the sacroiliac joint, where the sacrum vertebrae meet the ilial at the top of the pelvis. There is very little movement in the sacroiliac joint, whereas the lumbar/sacral junction moves a lot. (This is where the horse arches to urinate) That makes this a complex area and it’s why so many problems stem from here or result in a problem here.

There are between 18 and 22 tail vertebrae, which run to the end of the dock. The spinal cord stops after the sacrum, but muscle and ligament continues to the end of the dock. This means the tail can reveal a lot about the horse’s back.

For example, a horse who is clamping its tail down or holding it to the side probably has something going on elsewhere in the back. Make sure you are familiar with how your horse naturally holds his tail — any sudden change is an early sign that means you can get help before more serious damage is done.

The interconnectedness and centrality of the horses back is demonstrated well by looking at one of the many muscles in his back; The longissimus dorsi, is the main muscle in the horse’s back and runs deep underneath the saddle. However, it is not just local to this area. The longissimus dorsi starts at the 4th neck vertebrae and and attached into the sacrum in the hind quarters. Branches of the longissimus dorsi also connect to the head and tail. When you rub your horses back you typically feel the superficial muscles that go over the deep muscles like the longissimus.

Back pain is more challenging to diagnose than a lower limb issues due to the inability to palpate all the structures (we can’t get our hands inside the horse), reduced ability to use diagnostic imaging and differing sensitivity between animals. (Unfortunately some horses are excessively stoic when it comes to bodily pain and type of horse or character is no guide to that. Even those that are really quite expressive about a plastic bag waving in the wind can be utterly stoic when it comes to quite significant structural pain. I have an Andalusian /American Paint cross who is a drama queen about flowers and butterflies but who effectively hid his very squint pelvis and SI joint pain from us all for some time until a really good look with gait analysis technology and palpating demonstrated just how much discomfort he must have been holding when ridden).

Secondary back pain is much more common, although it can often be missed if treatment focuses on the primary problem.

Back pain tends to present as poor performance, and it can easily and accidentally be ignored when rehabbing the primary issue and particularly if that very rehab means the horse is working at a lower level than usual for a time.

It should be noted that when the veterinarian says that treatment is concluded they are often talking about the primary issue and that is not an instruction to go directly back to the usual level of work without having a good eye on the possibility of secondary pain in the back.

Imagine walking awkwardly for months due to a painful knee, then receiving treatment that removes that pain. It is highly likely that your compensatory pattern of movement will have created discomfort elsewhere in your body and usually in your back. Add to your problems a rucksack filled with puppies that you don’t wish to drop and that is sometimes balanced and sometimes not so much; you are going to have slightly poorer performance in you strident dance than you would have had prior to the knee issue – I know I’m labouring the point a bit but I see so much ‘fall out’ from owners misunderstanding of vets who do not intend to imply full function when they conclude treatment. This is no failure on the part of the veterinarian but perhaps an education failure on the part of those of us who attempt to teach riding and horse care that not all

owners and trainers understand the interconnectivity of the horses body and the healing processes that follow both injury and treatment.

So how is it that the back is so adversely affected by other problems in the horse (even including stomach problems like ulcers)? The back of the horse holds everything.

Imagine a suspension bridge with the towers being the horse’s legs and the roadway being the spine; everything that hangs under the roadway will be affected by and will affect the towers. If the weather bites away at one of the towers so that it changes it’s plain and maybe angles out or in a little, the structural integrity of the whole bridge will be put at risk. Now imagine one of those fantastic bridges that had a train running under and a roadway over. The pressures are greater still due to the weight (in our analogy a really long gut and big heavy organs) hanging under the bridge. Even if we mend the tower that was damaged, we would reasonably expect the bridge to remain closed to traffic and trains for a while until any structural problems above and below are mended. I probably took the analogy a little far but you get the idea. If the vet mends the tower – we still have the road and maybe the railway to rebuild.

We often see links to back pain in hind limb lameness. The lumbar region of the back, the sacroiliac joint, and the hock joints, with the proximal suspensory ligament, are four structures that often impact each other. Any imbalance caused by lameness will mean the forces exerted on and through the pelvis will be asymmetrical. The muscles along the spine bear this asymmetry and can respond by spasming, which creates a different pain cycle. The ‘twisting’ of the back that arises from a hind limb lameness causes the muscles in the back to become sore. I regularly see horses that have suspensory issues and present with little or no movement in the pelvis and a classic little dip in the muscle just in front of the SI joint suggesting a complication of their compensatory movements being something that has happened in the SI itself. With appropriate bodywork this can often be resolved and especially in cooperation with the farrier or hoof care provider but if left it will almost certainly develop into a job for our veterinary colleagues and can even result in permanent damage.

Bone spavin, arthritis in the hock, is a common hind limb lameness that culminates in a sore back. Because of the chronic progressive nature of this syndrome, the back is continually compromising for the hind limbs not weight-bearing evenly. The horse will start to shift his weight from the sore hind limb to the diagonal front limb, and in the process, the back muscles will tighten. As the muscles along the spine become sore and they can go into spasm. The muscles tighten and shorten, which adds to the asymmetry even more. This constant loop culminates in a worsening of clinical signs. Until the primary cause is found and treated and the clinical manifestations of the secondary back problem have been addressed and resolved, the horse will not be able to correct himself.

The feet are essential to assess when thinking about secondary back pain. If the horse is imbalanced in the foot, the back will compensate if the hoof is incorrectly balanced, e.g. low heel and long toe; the horse will alter the way it moves, putting strain on the back muscles.

Another area to consider is the head and mouth. In an earlier blog I talked about how they are connected via the bottom line to the back foot but they have another mechanical connection to the top line too in the interconnecting vertebrae and discs. If there is a pain in the mouth, the horse may raise or slightly angle his head and hollow his back to avoid contact with a bit or even to adjust his head while eating. This pain causes the spine to flex down toward the lower part of the horse, which abnormally pulls the muscles and makes it nigh on impossible to engage his abdominal muscles. The horse may also twist his head, causing his neck to rotate. This also adds stress and strain to the spinal column.

It is worth considering here how you feed your horse. In a future post I will look in more depth at feeding positions but bear in mind while eating at different heights (horses are browsers as well as grazers) is normal, tugging food out of tiny holes in slow feeder nets is not a normal action for the horse’s muscles and variety of feeding styles is probably not only the spice of life but the saving of necks and backs!

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And how using their mirroring can help with muscular development and building good movement patterns

Horses have more mirror neurones than most any other creature we have studied.

It’s what enables them to read human emotion and be able to hold space in therapy sessions. It is what allows them to flow with the herd and instinctively respond to the behaviour of predators.

It’s what keeps them alive in the wild.

It’s what makes them create the same tensions and body patterns that their riders do.

It’s what causes them to behave differently based on how their handlers feel.

And it is also what we can do as riders to help them come back to center in a more natural and kind way. It seems counter intuitive to do this when a horse you are riding is supremely unfocused or even rather hot, but if we can focus on us, our breathing, our movements and our energy we can often take advantage of those mirror neurones and slow the whole event down to a meeting point where we and our horse can work together rather than against each other.

Because of my rehab job I am more commonly on the ground with horses nowadays than in the saddle and it fascinates me how much my need to manage my own energy and movement affects the effectiveness of my work. I have learned that some horses know how to behave in certain exercises but essentially freak out when faced with proprioception or balance exercises which challenge their mind and body and may also cause them to feel sensations they have long forgotten. In those moments, the most obliging riding school champ can become a apparent fire- breathing bucking and rearing monster on the end of a string (lunge line or rope) and it becomes my job to manage my own responses to that change. Firstly to manage energy within my body and after to understand what just happened.

For the horse who has learned his trade (be it that he may have learned a set of muscle patterns that don’t especially help his longevity) in a particular situation and doing certain exercises with certain other horses around, the complete change of demand can be overwhelming. If you always walk a little stopped because you type on the computer and carry heavy bags between home from shopping, being asked to move as a beginning ballet dancer or begin marshal arts could be a huge challenge, causing stiffnesses you have held in your body to come to the fore and you would anticipate this but our horses are not expecting to sense the changes. When I was a kid I was on traction with a raised bed for a number of months. I remember crying and terrified as they lowered my bed because it felt like I would slide off the bottom when in fact it was just coming back to horizontal. Our sensory system gets used to how we are, even if how we are is not how we should be.

But I digress. Understanding that the horse I am training has a good reason for freaking out doesn’t help me in the moment but an ability to manage energy, raising an lowering as required just how excited I ‘feel’ to be around can make a huge difference.

I am enormously thankful to a good few years working in behaviour ethology with horses and studying wonderful horsemen and women who are masters at this energy management as it has set me up with models I can at least imitate myself if the going gets a bit more exciting than I’d like!

Using my own mirror neurones (we have them too and they are enormously important in our social, psychological and physical development) I can mimic a good horseman or woman until I’ve sorted my body out, regulated my breathing and grounded my stance so I don’t get dragged at speed around the rather large indoor school I have the pleasure to work in at our local riding school.

When I became a body worker, I started seeing that the horse and humans kept having similar tensions and movement patterns, even where it reflected really deep muscle one might not expect to be affected by the weight of the rider.

Horses are hugely empathetic beings and masters of grounding energy, so it seems to make sense that as social herd animals being used to flowing together with the herd they might well draw in pains and tensions from their rider and neurologically we back this up with an understanding of mirror neurons.

The fact that a horse will mirror is both brilliant and potentially disastrous for them. I have uneven legs and so must be careful in how I move.

I have seen a number of horses effectively copy their trainers even on the ground; for example, if a trainer is short striding with her left leg. The horse will often respond with short striding in his left hip. If the handler then places an emphasis on extending that leg, the horse will most probably reach under more and be able to collect more correctly.

When a bio-mechanical riding instructor encourages you to drop the stirrups and get the correct pelvic tilt and leg on so the horses spine takes the correct bend in a circle, so that without any real weight in the reins, the horse will naturally mirror you as the rider, collecting and giving subtle lateral movements that would normally take quite a bit of force and manipulation were it not for those mechanical changes.

As an example; Asking a rehab rider to look up (as she would going over jumps) while travelling over cavaletti magically removed tripping from her horse the other day while I was watching one of my patients rehabilitate after veterinary treatment. It was interesting and a little worrying also to see when the rider and I were talking more generally about her rehab (while the rider was riding and so distracted a little) that the horse tripped significantly over the same cavaletti. The riders head had changed position to down and a little to the side as we talked and that was enough to change the dynamics of the movement. The rider also cares deeply about this horse and quite possibly held a little tension in her body while thinking about the rehab process.

In the last blog post I wrote about the bottom line and how the hyoid in the horse’s mouth/throat is connected to their back foot. This mirror neurone magic means that the slightest change at the front (a change in the weight of the riders hands or their head position, a tightening of the illiopsoas due to emotion or excitement) will be mirrored in the horse and can hugely affect the movement further back.

As a bodyworker, a trainer, a bio-mechanical riding instructor and an educator, I feel it is my work to both understand more fully and inform more fully on this fascinating area where neurology meets both muscles and social partnerships in the rider and the horse. I love gait analysis apps that allow one to freeze frame and examine both the movement of the rider and the horse. We influence hugely our horses with our patterns of move and tensions, but they also have an impact on our bodies. Looking at the interaction is a fascinating study……perhaps more in this in future blog posts!

– Equine lameness, a quick hop through some key points! (Yes pun intended- sorry)

Seventeen quick points to think of about equine lameness

– I know –

I tried to make it ten or twenty as it would be so much neater but it came out at seventeen……so here we are!

1. A forelimb lameness is identified by looking for the head nod. The head will go up when the lame limb hits the ground and down when the sound limb hits the ground. It is easier to notice the ‘head nod’, therefore when the head nods, it is the opposite leg that is lame.

2. Another way of working out which front leg is lame (or a little unlevel if not hopping lame) is to walk in the same steps as the horse. You will begin to feel that one leg holds the ground a little longer than the other. The leg that is in the air for longer and on the ground for less time is the lame leg (or less well developed due to exercise or activity).

3. Some horses can appear lame if we don’t understand how they have been trained. For example I work with a number of trotting horses that only run on the circuit and are not trained to ride or do much else. Because they only run in one direction, they build uneven muscle across their front torso and legs and can appear ‘unlevel’ or ‘a little lame.’

4. Check for heat and a pulse. Inflammation brings blood to the area. Learn where and how to check for normal pulse and abnormal pulse and do it often enough that you are sure how your own horse feels normally. You are then ready to identify if something is not as it usually is. Change in this case commonly indicates a problem.

5. A horse with soft tissue damage will often get worse as he goes and is often more lame on a soft surface (ménage), as the tissue such as an affected tendon or ligament is being stretched more than it would be on a hard surface with no give.

6. A horse with bilateral forelimb lameness will be harder to detect as the head nod will now be apparent when both limbs hit the ground. However he will show a shorter extension phase (his forelimbs will not come out very far from underneath him resulting in a ‘choppy’ gait).

7. If you are struggling to detect lameness get the Slo-Pro or coaches eye app for your mobile phone and record your horse. This will slow everything down until you train your eye into detecting lameness.

8. Front leg lameness (and especially involving the shoulder) commonly means that it is harder work for the horse to walk down a hill than it is to go up.

9. A hind limb lameness is more difficult to detect. If you watch the horse trotting away from you, the lame leg usually has more movement at the hip. It can appear as if the hip is dipping down. It helps to attach white sticky tape to both hip bones to make this more obvious to the eye. And choose a strong coloured tape if you have a horse with broken colouring such as a paint.

10. Putting a horse on a circle (lungeing), often shows up a forelimb and hindlimb lameness more easily.

11. If the horse looks lame on one limb, but has a stronger pulse or heat in the opposite limb, it is usually because the sound limb has taken more weight to allow pressure relief of the affected limb.

12. A horse with arthritic wear and tear (common in many older horses), will often get better as he goes, which is known as ‘warming out of it’. The lameness will usually be less obvious after a few minutes. Additionally he will often be worse on hard ground (tarmac) in comparison to the ménage. This is due to more concussion on his joints. This is the same regardless of whether it is a back or front leg or even the joints in the spine that are affected.

13. A horse can look completely sound without a rider, and then almost three legged once someone is on board. Therefore if your getting a feeling that something just isn’t quite right, do not just trot him up on the straight or on the lunge and assume all is well.

14. Learn the pain facial expressions of horses and look at your horse. In research on pain during and after gelding castrations the horse grimace scale was proposed by Dalla Costa, Emanuela & Minero, Michela & Lebelt, Dirk & Stucke, Diana & Canali, Elisabetta & Leach, Matthew. (2014). (Development of the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS) as a Pain Assessment Tool in Horses Undergoing Routine Castration. PloS one. 9. e92281. 10.1371/journal.pone.0092281.) They listed pain facial markers as ears flat back, area around the eyes tightened with tension over the eye area, prominent strained chewing muscles, mouth strained with pronounced chin, and finally strained nostrils with a flattening of their profile. I often treat horses where their chewing muscles and over eye muscles bulge and feel tight to the touch but who show only minor lameness signs and sometimes intermittently. Take time to know your horse (or the horses in your care) and learn his or her expressions.

15. If your horse begins to behave differently begin with the assumption that there is pain somewhere in his or her body and not that they are sour in their work; check the saddle, the shoeing or foot trimming, the teeth and the above list and call the vet and/or bodyworker before you decide to look at behavioural training. My old horse, Luke was always both the most tolerant and overexcited boy right into his forties but I first learned in his late 20s that he was beginning arthritis in one hip as he had a strong preference for one canter lead after years of excellent moves on both sides. X-rays gave the bad news and a range of therapies and approaches helped but it would have been so easy to go retraining, especially if he had been a little younger or a bit less predictably exciteable! Over the years we were together, I learned to trust his judgement upon what his body could do on a day to day basis and the more tuned in to him I became, the less pain or reluctant signs he showed. This meant that one day we might wander the lanes side by side as two old friends and yet another day the saddle would be offered and he would stand still to offer his back then begin to jog in excitement as we moved towards a nice soft forest track where he knew a canter was on offer. I believe that listening with my eyes and hands to my older horses has allowed me to have the good fortune to have a nice long time together with some of them! I’ve had the benefit of the lessons and wisdom of several horses who have lived into their 30s, 40s and a dear old pony who made it to her 53rd year before leaving us for wherever ponies go if they do after this life!

16. Just a little thought about feet; Shoeing/trimming intervals should be kept as short as possible. Studies have shown that as the toe grows, the foot ‘shoots’ forward (long toes, low heel), putting excess strain on the flexor tendons. If your horse always looks slightly ‘off’ just prior to the hoof professional’s visit, then this is a very probable cause and it may be worth shortening your shoeing cycle. Excess strain on the tendons of the hind leg can also affect the lower back and the sacroiliac joint resulting in significant performance and even quite dramatic behaviour problems as well as long term structural damage.

17. As a horse owner, developing an eye and feel for lameness is one of the greatest skills you can learn. This will not only allow you to have your horse treated more quickly, but will hopefully nip smaller issues in the bud before they escalate into bigger ones.

Clipping your horse in winter

Remember that if you clip your horse in any way a blanket will be necessary on those cold days and certainly at night. When blanketing any horse, clipped or not, never leave blanket on without checking every day. In checking your horses blanket every day you are carefully watching his weight, checking for rub marks that may become open wounds and never allowing him to become to hot or sweaty.

Reasons for Body Hair Clipping

• To enable a horse to be ridden and trained without increased fatigue and stress from excessive sweating.

• To allow the horse to cool out and dry quickly after work.

• To prevent skin problems and make grooming easier and more effective.

• As a training and/or competition strategy. A winter coat tends to make a horse quieter and may decrease the performance of warm-blooded horses. Clipping the coat can invigorate a horse. Therefore, for competitions where steadiness is required, clip 2-3 weeks before the event. For competitions where brightness is required, you may clip up to the day before the event. A winter coat can also be used as a conditioning tool, leaving it on while conditioning and clipping it off before competition.

• For added comfort of old horses or horses with pituitary adenoma., equine metabolic syndrome or those with other hormonal based coat issues. These horses may potentially need to be clipped several times a year. Clipping your horse against the “grain” of the hair coat during warmer months to remove more hair can be beneficial for him if excess hair is a problem and you can then clip with the grain of the coat or with a guard on to leave more coat after clipping during cooler months. This then mimics what nature would do for your horse without the diagnosis that affects his coat.

The first and foremost reason for clipping your horse in the winter is his health and comfort.  It is not healthy or comfortable for your horse to exercise and sweat in a winter coat.  He will have an increased chance of overheating, he will be difficult to return to a normal body temperature, he will take a long time to dry, and the sweat mixes with dirt and dust on your horse’s skin and can lead to skin problems.

Your climate will also tell you if he needs to be clipped.  There are many horses in the world that live in warmer climates with excessive hair coats.  Clipping can definitely make your horse happier and more comfortable in weather like this.

Some things to keep in mind as you are deciding where to remove some hair from your horse:

Where does he sweat?  Common areas to create some air conditioning for the sweaty horse include under the neck, around the flank, and in between legs.  Your horse will also sweat in the saddle area, but it may be best to leave this hair so your tack isn’t in direct contact with his super short hair.  A sweaty saddle area is much easier to dry than your entire horse. A fleece cooler usually does the trick to dry the saddle area as you groom after exercise.

Can you effectively use a blanket to make up for the air conditioning that your horse needs?  If he has some significant air conditioning clipped in, a blanket will be needed.  But – you may find then that some hairy parts remain too warm under the blanket.  In this case, opt for a clip that removes more hair over the parts your blanket will cover.

You can also vary the length of the hair that remains after you clip your horse.  You can use blades that leave 3 mm of hair instead of 1.8 mm of hair.  You can also use clipper guards to take just some off the top, as the saying goes.  Remember that it grows back, and if you start out clipping some off and it’s not enough, you can always come back and remove just a little more with a different blade or a different guard.

Below are some clip patterns to help you consider what would help your horse. But remember there are no rules and you can combine clips to suit your horse.

So you have decided to clip…..

Finding the right clippers can be a challenge. I once borrowed clippers set up by a farming friend for his show cattle, carefully drawing out my blanket and the clipping my horse. Only once I had finished carefully following the lines I drew did I realise my horse now had a corduroy effect on the clipped area and looked a little like a well loved child’s toy! The other problem was that the clippers were so heavy that my rather weak wrists had to wait a day till I could complete the task so he was half a corduroy toy on one side and a woolly bear on the other which made rug decisions more complex than I had thought.

My horse was accustomed to clippers when I bought him so the fact that the cow clippers were loud enough to rival the average metal band didn’t cause him any consternation, however I have subsequently worked with quite a number of horses and ponies in my behavioural practice who were not so tolerant of clippers and I will offer advice on desensitisation in another blog post. But it is worth listening to the noise and feeling the vibration from any clippers you intend to buy before you do so. The vibration will affect your body as much as your horses’, so, if you have a number of animals to clip, I’d recommend spending the money to get a more professional set where the effect is a bit less damaging on your own muscles, tendons and fascia! Look for clippers that are light enough to hold for long periods of time and easily manoeuvrable around your horses bony structures. Big may seem sensible as you can cut a lot of area at once, but can be heavy, cumbersome and uncomfortable for the horse as well as extremely difficult to get those neat edges that you need for a professional looking finish.

You also want to consider how sensitive your horse is to noise and physical sensations. Some horse clippers are louder and vibrate more strongly than others.

Make sure to keep the layout of your barn, stables or yard in mind as well. If you do not have easy access to a power outlet, you will want to consider battery-powered horse clippers or getting your horse acquainted with extension cables. (I wish most horses were comfortable with electric cables as often my laser, pulsed magnetic field therapy machine or ultrasound can require plugging in if a battery runs low and it is so much easier if the horse can remain chilled out during the process – nobody wants to be stressed during their spa treatment!)

Having blade wash on hand is also helpful in case hair and dirt start to stick to the blades. Be prepared to take them apart and clean them as needed if they get clogged.

Since there is a lot of surface area to cover while horse clipping, be sure to continually check that the blades are not getting too hot for your horse. A cooling spray can help ensure your horse stays comfortable and relaxed during the process and you must have sufficient clipper oil so that you can keep your blades lubricated and working and prevent lines appearing in the clip. If you have battery operated clippers, check that your battery is taking proper charge. Mine worked fine last year and so,without checking the battery, I leant them to a friend this year who could not get them to charge sufficiently to clip a whole horse resulting in an hour’s job taking several hours.

Always clean and lubricate your blades again after use so you can maintain your clippers for many years as they are a relatively expensive piece of kit. Remember clipping a horse is actually the art of moving the hair from the horse to your own body so wear suitable covering or your riding clothes will cause you to itch for months and even years (hair shirts made from horse hair were a monastical punishment or humbling of the flesh In olden times for a reason)!

The first step to successfully clipping your horses is to groom them thoroughly. Give them a bath, a vacuum or a good brushing to remove as much dirt as possible from their coat. Excess dust and dirt can get stuck in the blades of the horse clippers, slowing down the process and possibly damaging your equipment which we have already established is precious and probably expensive to repair.

But if you opt to wash your horse, don’t clip him near the same location where you gave him his bath. It’s potentially very dangerous to have electrical equipment around standing water and horses who may well be wearing metal shoes!

While I will cover desensitisation to clippers in another post, I do recommend introducing the horse to the clippers slowly and gently and waiting for a time when the stables, barn or yard is quiet to clip. If you have a low setting on your clippers, begin with that even if your horse has been clipped before to reacustom him to the process. Be calm, move slowly and talk quietly to your horse. Giving a hay net can help but only once you have started so that your horse isn’t standing in a world of his own chewing when a clip-monster suddenly attacks!

The most popular horse clipping patterns include full-body, hunter, blanket, trace, Irish and bib.

Full-Body

As the name implies, this involves clipping the entire body. It’s often used on show horses or those working in warmer climates where winter is more of a damp or blowy time of year

The advantage is that this clip makes it easier to bathe horses, cool them off after workouts and keep them clean. For horses living and working indoors, this can be a useful and healthy option but the biggest disadvantages relate to the fact that you will have removed pretty much the largest part of your horse’s winter protection and must replace it with rugs and blankets

Hunter

A hunter clip is similar to a full-body clip, but the legs are left unclipped along with a saddle patch on the back and belly.

This helps keep them comfortable during long trail rides where they will walk through vegetation.

The idea of leaving hair remaining under the saddle is intended to keep the back muscles warm and protect the back from bits of debris that may gather under the saddle pad. That said, since it has a saddle compressing the hair follicles and one should have a clean saddle blanket or numnah anyway, this might be regarded as a little outdated. One thing to consider is your saddle fit and saddle pad, blanket or numnah in winter as muscles, fat and fur may change with the changes to the climate and exercise.

Leaving the legs unclipped helps keep the horse warm during winter months, but you will still have to change their blankets and layers as needed.

Blanket

With this pattern, a majority of the horse’s coat is left intact. Usually only the neck, chest, lower belly and hips are clipped.

A blanket clip helps the horse stay warm in the winter while allowing areas that tend to accumulate sweat to dry quickly. With this clip, you’ll want to make sure your horse has plenty of time to cool down and dry off after a sweaty workout (see my recommendation below for I clipped horses) but the time will be shorter.

Trace

A trace clip is similar to a blanket clip, but less of the neck is clipped. This is often used by owners of horses with Equine Metabilic Syndrome. You can modify the cut as needed depending on how much your horse works—the harder he works or the more he sweats due to any hormonal condition, the more of the neck you’ll clip.

Starting with a trace clip is a low-stress way of introducing your horse to the horse clipping process for those who have not been clipped before and it is a good start for those of us less artistic folk! On the pdd occasion where I have clipped, this had been my clip of choice and I used chalk to draw my lines before I started. Anyone who has seen my spaniel after I have administered a hair cut will understand just how essential this preparatory phase is to my horse being able to go out in public without total shame!

Irish

An Irish clip involves clipping the hair on the belly, neck and chest and leaving the rest of the body unclipped. It’s often used on horses who live outside in the winter but still need to cool off after working. Again this is a clip used to help cushingoid or EMS horses cope with the sweatiness of laying down too much coat due to metabolic and hormonal issues.

Bib

In this pattern, only the underside of the neck and chest are clipped. It’s best for horses who live in cold conditions and are ridden occasionally or who have extra hair due to the aforementioned problems even though they may not ‘work.’But horses with this clipping pattern often need extra time to cool off after a ride or workout so the advice below for those who do not choose to clip would apply.

I do not do enough with all of my horses in winter to justify removing their winter protection and so I have researched the best ways I can help them dry off.

So what if you don’t clip?

Choosing Not to Clip Your Horse

This makes training or sometimes riding a potentially tricky issue and potentially uncomfortable for your horse.

When your unclipped horse is sweating after a brisk ride or workout; begin cooling by walking for at least 20 minutes whether inside or outside. If outside and the wind is fierce keep up a slow trot all the way to shelter because the chilling wind can stiffen warm or hot muscles.

Once you and your horse are out of the wind, loosen your girth but leave your saddle in place while you pick out your horses feet and maybe pour yourself a warm coffee and eat some fika! This gives your horse time to get circulation to return under saddle area.

The next step would be to unsaddle and brush all matted areas of your horse’s coat with a metal comb and sweat scraper to separate the hairs and help him dry faster. Towel drying, or blow-drying at this point can be very helpful and speed up the process. (I bought a set of warm lamps for my chickens and extras for the horses so I can stand my pony under the lamps while I towel and hair dry him, having the advantage of running a canine hydrotherapy pool and therefore a special adaptable hair dryer for the pooches. This allows me to increase the speed gradually and so prevents the shock effect of a sudden blast of hot air! ) As you are working on and around your horse at this time monitor his temperature by putting your hand on his chest (this area will still be damp, like flanks, though the rest of him will be nearly dry). When he feels barely warmer than usual, put on a lightweight wool blanket. (You can also thatch that blanket by stuffing a little straw between the horse’s back and the blanket to help build a little extra breathability).

Non -breathable blankets will actually prevent your horse from drying, leaving him cold and miserable so please check the material that your rug or blanket is made out of.

For a cheaper option. Instead of buying wool coolers, you can use wool blankets found at most second hand stores, with a clamp as the front closure and a surcingle or girth around his belly, which will also wick moisture. After all, he is going to be standing and waiting with you before going out to continue his wild and free lifestyle only once he is properly dry!

At this time your horse can be fed and watered, keeping in mind to check on your horse in a couple of hours. Only blanket and or turn out if your horse is completely dry.

Keeping your horse warm in winter

All warm-blooded mammals – that includes horses and humans, can tolerate a range of temperatures. Each species has a natural comfort zone – this is known as the ‘energy-neutral range’. Horses cope best in dry temperatures between -9 and +15C. Essentially that’s when there are no bugs, no heat and no mud!

Your horse has a number of ways that he deals with the cold. Some of them you may have noticed him doing such as:

• Turning his back to the cold and fanning out his dock hairs. His rump and back have thicker skin and hair, and less surface blood vessels, and can withstand the wind better.

• Huddling with other horses to conserve heat.

• Moving about.

• Enjoying the winter sun.

• Seeking shelter – access to adequate shelter has been shown to reduce heat loss from wind chill by 20%. This can be a thick, high hedge, or a 3-sided field shelter.

There are also other clever ways that your horse is equipped to stay warm.

A large heavy digestive tract provides your horse with an efficient system of internal combustion! His hind gut contains millions of friendly bacteria and microorganisms which, can break down the insoluble carbohydrate and cellulose present in forage. Heat is a by-product of cellulose breakdown. One of the most natural, easy and efficient ways to help keep your horse warm in the winter is to ensure he has constant access to a fibrous diet and good quality hay.

The skin is made up of two layers. The top epidermis which has several waterproof stratified layers and below this is the hypodermis, a loose layer of connective tissue in which insulating subcutaneous fat is stored.

Growing a winter coat. This coarse hair is set at an angle with a fine layer of softer downy hair beneath. This traps pockets of air to create an insulating layer, retain heat and act as an effective windbreak. The downward tilt of the coat deflects falling raindrops and snowflakes before they reach the skin. If the autumn is exceptionally warm autumn or you rug your horse too soon this will reduce the length and thickness of his winter coat. Long warm autumns can caude more winter deaths (if the winter is sudden and exceptionally cold) in feral horses for example. Oils in his coat act as a protective barrier and prevent the skin from getting wet. This is why your horse should not be bathed or over groomed, particularly if he lives out 24/7.

Piloerection is the erection of the hair due to contraction of the tiny muscles that elevate the hair follicles above the rest of the skin and move the hair vertically, giving the appearance of hair ‘standing on end.’ This increases the hair depth and traps air next to the body creating an insulating layer.

Not all horses are made equal!

The shape of your horse will determine how efficiently he or she keeps warm. In the evolution of the horse the species emerged in broadly three areas, resulting in bodies and hair that matched the climate in which they developed. The modern horse, Equus caballus, became widespread from central Asia to most of Europe. Local types of horses, all breeds of this single species, undoubtedly developed, and three of these — Przewalski’s horse (E. ferus przewalskii or E. caballus przewalskii) from central Asia, the tarpan (now extinct) from eastern Europe and the Ukrainian steppes, and the forest horse of Northern Europe (which has been selectively bred and domesticated but would be a foundation for such breeds as the fjords and norrsvensk) — are generally credited as being the ancestral stock of the domestic horse, with selective breeding by their human masters, developing two main types we recognise today as hot area horses (Arabians, Turks, Thoroughbreds for example) and cold land horses (Icelandic, Shetland ponies, Mongolian horse for example).

Most of our riding horses are in fact a mix of hot and cold so that we have, for example, the speed of the Arabian with a thick coat in a Welsh section D cob.

So the first thing to assess when you look at your horse is how well adapted he or she is to the cold.

If you have a Shetland pony with thick eyebrows and whiskers, short legs and a small, low and very hairy body their entire body is designed for the ice cold winds, driving rain, ice and snow of the region in which their breed was developed, while your Shetland pony’s large thoroughbred companion will be shaking and shivering much earlier in the mild wind and rain of an early cold snap in autumn. Since all horses are not made equal, we need to assess our individual horse’s needs for protection in winter as just that…. Individual.

In general every horse has some bad weather protection in built;

The blunt shape of your horse’s muzzle is richly supplied with blood so that he can withstand bitter cold without freezing. Also, thick eyelashes protect his or her eyes from wind and cold temperatures.

The anatomy of the lower limbs are very well adapted for coping with the cold. As there are no muscles below the knee the cells in the leg require less blood circulation, meaning they lose less heat. Whilst your toes are one of the first appendages to get cold, this is not a problem for your horse.

Thermoregulation – when the air around your horse is colder than his or her body temperature, heat transfers from him/her to the environment and s/he gets colder. The chief command centre for thermoregulation is thought to be the hypothalamus – a small but life-critical structure deep in the base of the brain. This sends signals via the central nervous system to take action to reduce the heat loss. Your horse does this by:

• Burning extra calories which creates more internal body heat (but this requires an increased intake of dietary energy. Without this your horse will utilise his/her body energy reserves (fat) and lose weight. So if your horse doesn’t need to lose weight, you will have the job of calculating the increase in fodder – hay and haylage – that will keep your horse hot and happy in the coldest of weathers)!

• Exercise – This produces heat from energy burned by muscles and is one reason that horses seem to run around more when the weather is cold. And providing their feet are adapted to the underlay, it is great to use this ‘extra enthusiasm’ by setting up activities for them on a track system as it keeps your horses fit and ready for the exercise you need them to do for you, even when you can’t be with them (more of this in a later post on ‘keep your horse training for fitness even when you aren’t with them)

• Shivering causes muscle contractions which raises your horse’s core temperature. As he has very large areas of muscle, shivering is an effective way of combating cold. Don’t panic if s/hr is shivering but be concerned to make sure food, fun and shelter are available so s/he can get warm again

• Constriction of blood vessels. The uppermost layers of skin are covered with veins which circulate the blood close to the surface before returning it to the lungs. In hot weather, this is desirable, but when it’s cold heat loss must be minimised. This is achieved by blood being blocked from the veins close to the surface and rerouted into vessels which run deep under the skin, right next to arteries. This means the blood returning to the heart and lungs is warmed by the outgoing (countercurrent) arteries, preventing cold blood from penetrating the body.

• Conservation of energy and heat. Your horse can reduce the blood flow to extremities such as his ears, muzzle and legs. I was taught to check the ears for coldness and take measures if they felt really cool. This means knowing your horse’s normal ear ‘feel’ and interpreting whether it is different from usual while allowing for super hairy breeds to be difficult to determine without sticking your finger in their ear. (Note – get your horses used to having their ears felt before winter – this process is brilliant for all sorts of other desensitisation training and reduces problems with bridles, head collars and physiotherapists like me wanting to feel the pill area and TMJ!)

• Increasing Metabolism. This is achieved by sending nerve impulses to release neurotransmitters that raise blood pressure and heart rate stimulating the release of free fatty acids and the breakdown of glycogen. At the same time, the hypothalamus spurs the pituitary gland into action, ordering the release of large amounts of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) into the bloodstream. This triggers the production of cortisol, a steroid that increases the body’s heat generating fat, carbohydrates and protein.

So having established that our horses already have quite a few heat retaining and generating mechanisms of their own and that some are better prepared than others just by virtue of their breed, how can we help our horses stay warm on those days when we look out of the window and feel the duvet calling?

If all things were equal and you have a young, fit horse who doesn’t need his or her energy for anything other than keeping warm, you could decide to allow them a pretty natural winter; wild horses seek shelter from nature’s wind shields (trees, rocks, mountains, dips in the ground) and eat a lot of rougher food like leaves and twigs and bark in winter, moving together in a herd and even on occasion using their family group for protection. My own small group of horses usually choose their forest area over their large metal barn at night and I put food in both places. They are not clipped as they do not work in winter and they are unshod (which can offer an advantage to moving about for warmth in icy conditions over their shod companions unless those who are shod have extra hob nails to offer grip).

But the majority of owner riders or owner drivers need a horse that can and will work in winter months which carries the extra challenge to keeping warm of getting sweaty in their work. This means a need to manage the chilling and drying process and for the most part that means clipping your horse in one way or another.

Rugging a horse

The role of rugs

With such a huge choice of rugs available is it any wonder deciding which rug your horse needs is confusing. The most important thing to remember is that your horse doesn’t feel the cold like you do. Also, every horse is an individual and some will cope better with cold weather than others.

The majority of horses in work are rugged because they are clipped and that is the correct thing to do. There’s also the practical consideration of using a rug to keep your horse clean and dry – especially if you’re riding after work. What weight rug you use comes down to a number of factors:

• Start with a lightweight rug and only move to a heavier weight one when the temperature drops.

• If your horse is in poor condition, old or young he will be more sensitive to the cold and using a warmer rug may be necessary. A horse with a good body condition will be well insulated, retain heat for long periods and repel the cold.

• The weather also has a big influence of how warm your horse stays – wind, rain and cold temperature lead to the greatest heat loss.

• What type of clip your horse has will impact what weight rug your horse needs – the more hair you remove the heavier the weight of rug your horse will need to keep warm.

• If your horse doesn’t have access to shelter, he will need a thicker rug as the temperature drops.

• REMEMBER If your horse isn’t clipped, rugging flattens the hair and prevents piloerection. Which means that potentially your horse will be colder!

The exception to this would be when standing in driving rain without adequate shelter as it isn’t just all horses that are made equal, but also all paddocks! If in reality it is fairly tough to provide sufficient shelter in a rented field for example, you may have to ‘rug up‘ but please make sure you have two rugs of the same weight – this way you can swap them, allowing the horse always to have a warm and dry feeling on his back.

A further exception is old age, arthritis or other disorders. We must consider whether our horse’s body is capable of all the heat seeking, creating and preserving methods mentioned above. If you have an older horse, who no longer moves as much or as fast or one who has a compromised digestive system, you may need to provide extra protection, extra shelter, different food (hay pellets or cobs soaked can offer help to the dentally or gastrointestinally challenged) and even a blanket or rug. Or overnight stabling in a slightly warmer environment (taking care that it isn’t too warm so the adaptation between hot and cold shocks the horse’s system) or direct heat lamps in shelters so that the horse can choose to go under or avoid as they need.

Some extra points on rugs;

If you do rug your horse, check and remove them regularly. If possible, on sunny days allow your horse to have some time – about an hour without a rug on – allowing him access to the sun will boost his vitamin D levels.

Check your rug fit for your horse. It isn’t just about the correct length but also the style. If your horse wears a rug that restricts his or her shoulder or shortens the stride due to insufficient pleating and material at the front for a whole winter, you will effectively be training the muscles in their body to take a shorter stride – you will be potentially spoiling that lovely extension in trot that you worked so hard to achieve all summer! Worse, some rugs press in the withers and cause damage to the shoulder and back muscles. I have one or two horse clients who show a distinctly different set of winter and summer muscling and their training regimen is pretty similar in both seasons. In one we eventually tried a totally different rugging system and the shoulder problems went away nearly overnight.

Weight of rug is something to think about. There are some wonderful modern materials with ceramic or silver technology which allow under rugs to be warm but light, requiring a much lighter rain proof top. In my view as an orienteer, I prefer to layer up because it is more comfy for me to have several light layers than to try to move quickly in a thick michelin-man coat! I believe it is similar for our horses.

The other thing to consider in your rug is your clip. A fully clipped horse will need a higher level of heat support than a trace clip under a part of the belly. I will share more on clips in my next (shorter) post!

As with all aspects of horse care, we are likely to worry about our horses in winter, but I try to remember that just because I feel like this snowy cold day is one for the duvet, my horse has his own central heating, external duvet and shelter so he will be ok!

(Final note; please check your horses a little more often in the winter months and remember (bizarrely, but because extreme cold removes the moisture from pretty much everything) they are likely to drink more or at least the same as in the summer so check they have access too ice-free water at all times.

With thanks to Equido course notes, encyclopaedia Brittanica and an awful lot of horses and humans that have helped me on my journey to learn about horse-kind

Arthritis (osteoarthritis – OA) is the most common cause of chronic pain in dogs, older humans, cats and, as working and performance horses are living longer it is a growing problem recognised among equine vets too. 50% of horses over 15 were seen to have arthritis in a US study.

It is a disabling, non-curable, and progressive disease which initially focuses on moving joints but eventually affects the whole animal and is a major cause of euthanasia due to loss of quality of life.

(This is different from immune mediated arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, which is where the body’s immune system attacks its own joints, or with septic arthritis, which is when there is an infection within the joint, although both of these conditions do ultimately lead to osteoarthritis.I will look at these and other joint problems in future posts. )

Most owners (especially those who have had a sporting career and carry the inevitable damage that goes with that) will recognise OA as a common creaky, achy condition we ourselves get in our knees, backs, and other joints over time. It is similar but it’s important to understand some of its complexities and why it can be so challenging to manage in horses. Osteoarthritis is an extremely complex disease that requires a dedicated owner collaborating well with their vet and rehabilitation therapist to control the pain, maximise the mobility and ensure a full and active life for their horse.

In basic terms, the progression of osteoarthritis can be summarised like this:

⁃ Degeneration of normal structures within a joint leads to

⁃ Pain that reduces the use of the joint and limb or back, which leads to

⁃ The surrounding muscles, ligaments and tendons becoming weakened which leads to

⁃ The body compensating elsewhere which in turn can cause more pain in other locations leading to

⁃ The brain becoming aware of the constant pain and magnifying it

It is a disease familiar in many other species, including humans; they have even found evidence of it in the bones of dinosaurs. UK charity Arthritis Research UK suggests that more than ten million people in Britain have painful arthritis, with one in five adults between 50 and 59 years old suffering. Often considered a disease of the elderly, its prevalence does increases with age, however it can affect horses of all ages.

WHAT IS ARTHRITIS?

The truth is that arthritis is still not fully understood, which is surprising considering it is a very familiar condition that will affect most of us at some points in our lives. Vast amounts of money are invested in research in the hope we can find better ways to detect it earlier, slow its progression and alleviate the pain it causes. Unfortunately, there’s currently no cure for arthritis—veterinarians can’t completely stop or reverse the condition’s effects. This means that owners, vets farriers, podiatrists and rehabilitation therapists need to manage the condition for the horse.

Every individual horse will experience pain differently and will therefore need an individual approach both to pain mitigation and therapeutic exercise to maintain movement.

A BIT MORE ON OA

Normal, painless joint function is essential for an athletic animal and for this to occur, each component of the joint structure must be healthy and working properly. Smooth movement of the opposing bone ends relative to each other and the surrounding structures is achieved by its complex structure: the special shape of the end of each bone, the covering of smooth cartilage over the end of each bone, the presence of synovial fluid (‘joint oil’) that lubricates the cartilage, all contained within the joint capsule that forms an elastic pouch that encloses the structures of the joint, and in some cases contains supporting ligaments.

Arthritis often develops following interference with normal structure and function. Damage to the cartilage and/or the bone through trauma (injury) or infection results in roughening of the smooth surfaces. Movement of the roughened bone ends and/or damaged cartilage results in inflammation, that produces mediator chemicals that damage the synovial fluid, all of which causes swelling of the joint, pain and restriction of movement. This initial response is called acute arthritis. Injury to the joint capsule and its ligaments can also trigger inflammation resulting in thickening of the capsule, reducing its elasticity and thinning of the joint fluid, reducing its lubricating ability.

Over time, new bone is formed in response to surface damage. This new bone is rough and is not covered with protective cartilage, therefore interferes with joint movement and causes pain. These longer-term effects are called chronic arthritis.

Degenerative joint disease can result in the same long-term changes but in contrast to true arthritis, is usually not associated with pain or inflammation in the early stages. In DJD the joint structures respond to wear and tear by gradually changing shape and elasticity. Many horses with DJD move soundly. In others, these changes progress to a stage where the horse goes lame.

RECOGNISING ARTHRITIC SIGNS IN YOUR HORSE

Classic OA signs include heat, swelling due to excess joint fluid, lameness/pain, stiffness, deformation caused by bony changes, and crepitus—that popping, grinding, and crackling sound and sensation in an affected joint.

For early OA, the older horse may appear to stiffen up if stabled overnight but then seem sound later in the day or (might act) ‘cheeky’ for the farrier when they are normally well-behaved, indicating they feel discomfort when flexing a limb or being asked to weight-bear just on one limb. But, of course, these clinical signs can also point to other musculoskeletal issues—from soft tissue injury to fracture, some of which have very different treatment and management protocols than OA. So the first action should be seeking a differential diagnosis from a veterinarian.

KEEP EXERCISING OR EVEN START BUT DO SO WITH CARE AND PLANNING

It might seem counterintuitive but, indeed, keeping an arthritic horse moving and exercising is in most cases preferable to letting him turn into a pasture puff.

Maintaining muscle mass around the affected joint helps to stabilize (it), preventing joint laxity (looseness) and abnormal loading, which can lead to additional soundness issues.

However, it’s important to exercise the arthritic horse in scenarios that will promote longevity, rather than place him at undue risk for more joint pain, based on the severity of his disease.

It is important that the exercise is tailored to the individual horse after consulting your vet.

Exercise can range from daily walks in hand to a gentle hack, but all should be accompanied by a warmup and cool down (ice is extremely useful in this regard and we are learning more and more in sports medicine of the useful properties of ice after training).

A slow and lengthy warm up at walk of at least 20 minutes is a very good place to start. Give your horse walk breaks as needed during training (please don’t assume he is just being difficult or lazy even in horses who have a history of work avoidance- for those of us who suffer from osteoarthritis abs other arthritic conditions we can promise there are just some days when you need more breaks),and encourage correct movement and balanced gaits.

Little; and slow; and correct is so much better than lots, fast or incorrect. If a horse has pain he will compensate and those compensations can build other problems.

Be sure he is moving well and comfortably before beginning more complex tasks.

The horse should be moving freely before moving on to higher level movements, like dressage or reining or jumping.

Other considerations to remember:

• For horses with OA, concussive road work is unhelpful, regardless of whether they are shod or unshod. Rather, as far as you can, confine most exercise to the softer footing typically found in grassy fields or well-maintained arenas. Also, avoid slick footing, which places horses at risk of slipping or falling. If you need to use asphalt roads, fit your horse with rubber boots and a rubber insert to cushion the effects.

• For some arthritic horses it might be necessary to limit exercise to flatter surfaces, because hills can place significant stress on joints but not for all. For some it may be a case of hopping off as the horse goes up (back leg issues) or down (front leg issues)

• Sharp turns and sudden starts and stops can be jarring for horses with OA, so be gradual in your requests during work. Bear in mind this when you are working on ground work and in hand exercises (including equine assisted therapy, which can, with care, be an excellent second career for a horse with OA).

• Consider alternative exercises suchc as water treadmill, swimming or dry treadmill where the rubber band cushions some of the joint stress! The horse gets to move without the concussion of landing on a limb which may be arthritic.

• Finally, keep realistic expectations about exercise levels, and remember that OA will progress over time.

• An arthritic horse may get to the point that it can no longer perform higher-level movements or jumping without discomfort, however he or she can often live a long and healthy life with a slightly altered career.

Once OA is more advanced, simply pottering about in a level, (even-footed) paddock is helpful for the aged horse and we must consider how we safely offer activity, stimulation and companionship to our flight/herd animal under the pensioner years.

What is the prognosis?

If acute arthritis is diagnosed and successfully treated early, a complete cure may occur, leaving no residual abnormality. If the inflammation does not respond to treatment and/or is complicated by infection or cartilage or joint injury, new bone may form and the joint may be permanently affected by chronic arthritis. If controllable by careful management and appropriate treatments, low-grade uncomplicated arthritis may not cause lameness with associated pain and restricted mobility.

Caution

It is important to realize that a horse can have arthritic changes that are visible on radiographs but may still move soundly and able to compete successfully. Also, it is possible for a horse to suffer from arthritis, involving the cartilage and joint fluid that will not produce demonstrable radiographic changes. Both scenarios can produce difficulties when a horse is being examined for purchase, i.e., ‘vetted’.  If radiographs are taken as a requested routine part of a pre-purchase examination, the images must be carefully interpreted with reference to the findings of the clinical examination.

Note that veterinarians recommend that horses with OA are kept on the lighter side of normal to prevent stress to their joints.

There are a number of devices and clothes to help your horse with arthritis continue to lead a good life as well as supplements and food which help and some things to be avoided. I will look at some of these in a later article.

#equinearthritis

#horsephysio

#utbildahästfysio

https://www.fysioterapiskolan.se/certifierad-hastfysioterapeut



One of the difficult issues facing horse owners and trainers is maintaining horses in winter. A part of the picture is feeding and it is easy to make assumptions about how much more food and what types of food the horse may need without looking carefully both at what a horse in the wild would do and what we need from our horses in winter. Wild horses are a good place to start but, as with all aspects of horse care, they are not the full picture as we mostly have different expectations and demands upon our horses than a wild or feral horse will experience.

Feral horses survive by grazing for food as they are herbivores, eating grasses and shrubs on their lands. In winter, these horses paw through the snow to find edible vegetation. They also usually stay reasonably close to water, as it is essential for survival. Studies of old prezwalski (wild horses) before their extinction in the wild show that they mostly browsed on trees and bushes in the winter as against the summer when they mostly grazed on grasses and herbs. (Reintroduced horses from captive breeding programs seek out more grass based foods and eat in a way more similar to their Mongolian cousins who live in managed herds).

It is assumed wild horses living in cold dry conditions effectively hibernated, slowing their metabolism and remaining on their feet. This unique behavior is called standing hibernation.

Horses grow long winter coats which have the ability to stand on end and trap air resulting in excellent insulation. They use Piloerection, meaning the their hairs will stand up as the temperature drops. This keeps the cold air is kept farther away from the horse’s skin and warm air is trapped close to the skin. They stand with their butt to the wind, the tail protects the private parts, they can lower their head to shielded it from the wind using the rest of the body.

Horse value windbreakers more then overhead shelters. Natural oils in the hair coat help keek moisture away. A snowstorm in cold temperatures is comprised of dry snow moisture freezes on the outer surface of the hair coat and never reaches the horse’s skin.

Horses with adequate nutrition start building a layer of fat under the skin as days get shorter and nights become colder.

Feral and wild horses eat all spring and summer and go into autumn with with what we could consider a high body condition score so around 6 or 7 in a leisure horse. Wild & feral horses have extra fat for winter, to serve as insulation as well as calorie reserves. By the time they come out of winter in the spring, they’ve dropped to a body condition score to between 30% and 50% of what they started with.

So by the time the green grass is out the body is ready for all that caloric overload, it craves it.

Then they gain weight again through summer and are fat by the time winter comes around.

This cycle is not what our domestic horse do nor are they able to eat the bark and twigs that they would get in the wild during winter. This extremely course roughage cleans out their digestive tract. I notice my little managed group of horses and ponies love to munch in the forest over winter, eating leaves, wood and pine needles.

So as we go into winter keep this in mind, are we showing our love for our horses through food ? And is this the best course of action ?

Our breeding practices and manipulation of horses for work and sport has changed much about their body but has it changed their biological gastric clock, so should we in fact allow for them to eat less rather than more in winter?

Obviously the food a horse requires is affected by a number of things. We feed according to size, age, work, condition, weather, hoof condition, expected work, activity (which might not be work but how far our horses travel between their food and water or shelter for example). I would suggest it is insufficient simply to start feeding hard feed (corn, oats and pelleted commercial feeds) in autumn without at least weekly reevaluation of the aforementioned list of variables. Following feed bag recommendations (or worse advertised claims that feed will create something in your horse that is in fact only created by the appropriate work, exercise and bodywork, such as topline ) is unwise as those recommendations are generalised and a guideline rather than tailor made for your horse.

But we worry about our horses becoming cold and, of course, the gastrointestinal tract of the horse is to some extent a huge radiator, working as a good part of it does, by fermentation. The answer to feeding for heat is therefore not one of feeding hard or prepared feeds (unless your horse requires prepared fodder such as hay pellets or chopped hay and straw due to his or her dental issues) but rather of ensuring regular access to good quality, appropriate calorie containing hay, haylage, grass or other appropriate roughage. These types of foods offer the best possible material to the horse’s hind gut for radiator fuel!

This is not to suggest we should stop feeding our horses in winter especially as they probably move more requiring more calories and many are clipped or wear coat flattening blankets which affect their insulating ability.

We need to be mindful of what we feed and how much in relation to environment , lifestyle, age, condition, stage in training, life stage, injury or rehabilitation needs and work.

Some equine researchers and body-workers have proposed that if we followed the natural cycle of the GI tract we might have less colic, less foot issues such laminitis, less joint issues and healthier horses.