Posted 10-15-04

From John Lyons, Perfect Horse

Some situations call for training but others may require a tranquilizing drug or supplement.

 

Most cases of separation anxiety can be handled by “training the horse’s emotions.” (See Feb. ‘02.) It’s the rare case that needs tranquilization.

by Eleanor Kellon, VMD

Tranquilizing drugs and calming herbs have their place in our barns. They can help a horse get through unusual stressful situations that seem to be more than he can handle at the moment. They might help ease your horse’s anxiety at losing a barn buddy who has died or moved to another barn. They might quiet a mare whose first foal is weaned from her or help a horse unaccustomed to new scenery adjust to a new barn safely.

A horse that seems “inconsolable” in these situations to the point of harming himself needs help. High-level tension can result in gastric upset if he goes off feed/water or may cause the horse to channel his worries into unusual and potentially harmful activities like over-aggressively running the fence line or unrelenting pawing.

However, these are unusual situations. Overall, we believe tranquilizers and calming supplements tend to be reached for much too often and in situations where they really aren’t indicated. Before jumping to the conclusion that your horse needs something to calm him down, consider the possible causes and corrections for his excitement. If it’s a training issue, he doesn’t need any chemical or herbal help.

“NORMAL” ONE LINE
First, objectively determine if the behavior is a training issue. When the horse acts up over activities like standing quietly for the farrier, being clipped, not rushing through doors or gates or not dragging you around on a lead line — you have a training issue.

Such a horse may carry this antsy behavior over to when he is being ridden and, as time goes on, the “acting up” may worsen. Many riders make the mistake of thinking the horse is just high strung, nervous or fearful or has a history of having been abused. That sometimes may be the case, but not always. Even if a horse has been harshly handled in the past, training and handling issues must be resolved before you consider trying to change the horse with herbal or prescription drugs.

It’s also important to accept that some horses are just naturally too high-spirited for some riders or for the kind of work you would like them to do. Using drugs to calm a naturally hot or high-spirited horse is unfair. It may make more sense to sell him or her and find a horse that fits you better.

Like people, horses have varying personalities and energy levels. Some horses — even well-trained, disciplined horses — are always “on alert,” much as some people have more energetic personalities than others. These horses approach every situation with a bit more excitement than other animals. You may have heard them called “hot” horses or “high strung.” This doesn’t mean they necessarily have training issues. You can have a disciplined, well-trained hot horse that a beginner or intermediate rider would not be able to ride safely. Many race horses and upper-level competition horses fit this definition.

Other horses can be just as physically talented and capable but are more laid back. Like the person who seems to take everything in life without breaking stride, these horses do their job calmly and quietly without wasting energy. But don’t be fooled. Even so-called bombproof horses need training. The difference is that the unschooled hot horse might run through the gate, while the quieter horse will just forcefully walk on and pull you through with them. Neither of these types of horses should be controlled by drugs or herbs.

IRRATIONAL BEHAVIORS
If your horse is normally perfectly sane and a pleasure to work around but has a particular situation where he becomes totally unglued, this falls into the category of an irrational behavior or fear. Even if the horse’s response may seem way over the top, such as taking off like a saber-toothed tiger is after him if your little dog rustles some underbrush on a ride, this reaction can also simply be a matter of training or the horse not being fully accustomed to the situation.

It’s been said that it will take a young horse 100 trips to the track or a horse show before he really becomes calm about the whole situation. With problems trailering, on trails or at competitions, ask yourself first if the horse may just need more time and experience.

Once you’ve ruled out training issues, there are a few situations in which you need help calming a horse immediately, or the horse or situation could benefit from chemical or herbal help.

THE HORSE ON STALL REST
Horses on stall rest for an injury often do more moving around and carrying on than is really good for them. However, you don’t necessarily have to go to a tranquilizer. Try these first:

• Stop feeding grain and substitute either a protein/mineral supplement pellet in a little soaked beet pulp or a low-calorie but high-mineral feed, like Triple Crown Lite.

• Keep hay available free choice.

• Hang a blanket over any open areas of the stall so that the horse can’t see out when other horses are moving around.

• Minimize, or avoid, pain medications after the first week. When he has to have something for an anti-inflammatory effect, keep the dose low or talk to your vet about substituting ice wraps or cold soaking to cut inflammation. If the horse is aware he has an injury (pain), he’s much less likely to do something that could injure him further.

• If possible, keep another horse in an adjoining stall for company.

• Give him at least a week to settle down and resign himself to being in before you decide he’s going to need chemical help.

• Try massage and good grooming. It will address his “itchies” and help him to relax.

• If his injury will permit it and you can safely do so, work with him in the stall to improve his handling manners and give him something to occupy his mind. Don’t bring him a treat every time you enter his stall. For more ideas see 10 Exercises for the Stall-Bound Horse, March ’02.

• If the horse’s behavior still genuinely poses a threat to healing, consider an herbal before going to chemical tranquilizers.

 

The vet may administer a tranquilizer as that may be the safest way to restrain the horse for some procedures.

HORSE GETS OUT OF JAIL
A trying and hair-raising time is when a horse that has been on stall rest gets the OK to start moving around again. The first step is almost always going to be hand walking, and it’s a bit like trying to keep a kite on the ground in some cases. Start by doing some ground-handling exercises, like giving to the bit. Walk in the barn aisles, along the fence line in a small paddock, or in a round pen. (Check with your vet about footing.) Choose a quiet time of day. Don’t walk near roads/traffic or other animals. Lock up the dog. Ask your vet about the advisability of support wraps for lower leg injuries. Ear plugs may help.

High-strung animals may be unable to contain themselves, though. Ask your vet if your horse may need a low-dose chemical tranquilization for a short time. As little as 5 mg (1/2 cc) of acepromazine is enough to keep most horses from the more dangerous behaviors, like rearing. After a few days to a week, you shouldn’t need it for hand walking, but he may need a few days’ use again when the horse moves up to free turnout.

BLOCKING OUT THE WORLD
Although often illegal during competitions (check your sport’s rules), ear plugs can work wonders in helping a horse stay calm under stressful situations. They are ideal for the horse that “freaks” when 18-wheelers go by your trailer, cringes at the sound of clippers, though he stands quietly, or doesn’t like the roar of the crowd when you’re away from home. In fact, wearing ear plugs often helps keep the horse from overreacting even if the situation that frazzles him doesn’t seem to involve noises. (Maybe they’re just distracting.) Ear plugs are routine gear for many racehorses and are available in both fully and partially soundproof designs.

Blindfolding the horse can work near miracles as well in crisis situations. While you might think that a blindfolded horse would panic, in many cases the horse stands quietly immediately. They’re also are also more attentive to cues. For example, a horse that is absolutely refusing to go up a trailer ramp or cross water in an evacuation crisis may do so immediately and without protest if you put on a blindfold.

Obviously they can still feel the ramp under their feet and the water around their legs, but blindfolding may get them past this. Perhaps it’s their desire to stick with the handler as their “eyes.” A blindfold is useful if a horse has trapped himself somewhere, or is cast, and is struggling to get free. Applying a blindfold may calm the horse down so that you can safely get to him to extricate him, and keep him from injuring himself.

Neither blindfolds nor ear plugs should be substituted for correct and careful training. But you may find yourself in a situation where there’s no time to train the horse and physical or chemical help may be appropriate. 

Posted 9-24-04

from John Lyons "A Perfect Horse"

If you feel like Rodney Dangerfield complaining, “I don’t get no respect,” when talking about your horse, you’ll love this article.

 

When John stops, Seattle stops. Good training looks like politeness.

No one likes a “rude” horse In fact, one of the complaints we see most often in reader letters is, “My horse doesn’t respect me.” Ironically, it’s written by people who most love their horses and want their horses to love them. The good news is that you can teach your horse to respect you, and you can even teach him to be polite.

Respect is one of those things that’s hard to put your finger on. You recognize it when you see it, and you surely know when it’s missing. But if I asked you to point to your horse’s respect like I might ask you to point to his knee, you couldn’t do it. It’s the same way with other qualities, like attitude or trust. That’s because they’re actually byproducts of something else. Here’s the formula I use for understanding things like that: Respect and trust are the result of a horse understanding that you can control him without hurting him.

Until you can control your horse, he won’t truly respect you. Forget the dominance thing. We’re not talking about being “top dog” in the pack. Control means when you tell him to move a particular part of his body, he does it. If you control him by fear and intimidation, he won’t trust you. So if you want your horse to respect and trust you, you have to find painless ways to control him, and he has to know that you’re controlling him.

You’re controlling him painlessly when you put him in a safe enclosure, but he doesn’t recognize your control. But when you ask him to pause before going into a stall, he recognizes that you’re in charge. When he pauses, he’s obeying your signal. When he obeys, we often say that he’s respectful. When he obeys without a fight, we often say that he trusts us. An outside observer might say that the horse is polite.

So how do you take a horse that barges through the stall door, rubs his head on you when you take the bridle off, pushes you around looking for snacks and otherwise treats you as if you were invisible and turn him into a polite partner? It isn’t all that hard, but you do need a plan.

Start Where You Can
Begin by setting firmly in your mind that your horse is your partner. Eliminate any talk to the contrary. I don’t care how obnoxious he acts; treat him as the horse you want him to be. If you don’t, you’ll end up expressing your anger or frustration, and that will destroy the trust we talked about.

Next, decide what your particular objective is. What’s the behavior that bugs you the most? Let’s assume that it’s knocking into you and rubbing his head on you when you take the bridle off. You could just set up a consequence when he does that, but that’s not going to teach him what to do. If you jerk the horse around after he head butts you, you’re going to introduce behaviors you don’t want — head up, fear of your hand or the lead rope, etc. And chances are, the horse will be right back in your space the next time.

 

The same lessons work for riding as for on the ground. Give the horse an opportunity to stand. If he doesn’t, play the move-countermove game.

Forget about focusing on what you don’t want the horse to do. Instead you have to make standing quietly beside you an objective. What’s your cue to tell him to stand nicely? What’s his reward for doing so? We’ll get to the lesson technique in a moment, but first we have to establish where you’re going to begin the training.

If I asked you if it was easier for the horse to stand without rubbing his head on you in the arena after a good grooming or in the barn aisle after you take the bridle off, the answer would be obvious. When he’s sweaty and itchy, he wants to rub his head. And that’s where he’s used to doing it. So in order to give ourselves an advantage (which is really giving the horse a chance to learn to the best advantage, too), we’ll start where we’re going to be most successful. We’ll take him to the arena and teach him how to stand quietly. That way we can apply the lesson in more difficult situations.

Please Stand Still
There’s one thing you can’t force a horse to do: to stand still. Only the horse can decide that he’s going to stand. We can give him a signal that says, “Wait there,” but if he really wants to move, we can’t prevent it. So we play the move-countermove game. We develop specific cues to tell the horse to step forward, back, to the left and the right. That way, when he backs up, we can tell him to step forward, and so forth.

Standing still is really not moving somewhere else (duh, John). I know. But think about it in those terms in order to be specific. If the horse isn’t standing still, he must be moving in one of four directions. When he moves forward, the answer is not to jerk the lead rope and tell him to stand. It’s to quietly ask him to step back, and return him to the spot where you put him. You want as pretty a back up as you can get. It should require some effort for the horse. An immediate, pretty backward step may not happen. You may have to ask him to go forward to the right as if you were lunging him, and then cross over in front of him and ask him to go to the left. Then ask him to back, and put him where you want him. If he moves again, practice the cues again, and then offer him the opportunity to stand. After a few times, he’ll realize that his best option is to stay put, and in the meanwhile, you’ll have improved his responsiveness to several cues. Let’s look at how to eliminate several other rude behaviors.

Rooting for Treats
Imagine a movie where someone goes into an underground parking garage and is accosted by a robber. After shoving the unsuspecting driver in the chest, the thief goes on to rudely frisk him, looking for we-know-what in his pockets. When the driver hands over his wallet, the robber leaves, never to be seen again. The driver is aghast but grateful to have escaped with his life intact.

That’s a little like how it feels when we bring treats to a rude horse. He butts us in the chest with his head and frisks our every pocket. As we take a step backward in the stall, we recognize that something’s wrong with this picture. But instead of seeing the horse as holding us hostage, we feed him the treat — a payoff to reward his rude behavior.

Horses view treats the same way that dogs do — it’s something good. And it often follows some other behavior. We tell the dog to sit and give him a treat when he does. But for some reason, we tend to feed horses treats randomly, like we might the animals at a petting zoo. If we want the horse to appreciate us and our treats, we have to set some boundaries. For example, not using treats to reward rude behavior.

Beyond that, we can teach our horse to take treats politely. There are lots of ways to do that but you can begin by practicing some leading lessons, perhaps asking the horse to move his shoulder away from you as you lead him, and to stand. Then bring him back into his stall, and ask him to stand. Draw an invisible line that you don’t want him to cross. When you feel him stand and relax, then approach him and give him the treat. That way he learns you’ll give it to him rather than him grabbing it.

 

A horse won’t stay out of “your space” until you teach him where you want him to stand or how close you want him to lead.

You might start with a big treat, like a carrot, rather than something small like the kibble-size treats. It’s a little easier for him to make the connection, rather than thinking he’s holding out for something more elusive.

You don’t want to tease him, though. You can treat or not as you like, but teaching him to be polite for treats may require changing your habits. If you usually bring him a treat when you come into the barn, change your pattern. Teach him to face you in the stall and to pay attention to you, rather than the treat. Keep his attention on obeying your cues to be caught, drop his head into the halter, lead out of the stall without charging, and so forth. Give him the treat when he’s standing quietly in the barn aisle. That way you’re rewarding the sequence of behaviors, too.

Stepping on our feet
And who of us hasn’t been grooming a horse and had him turn his head to the right to call to a buddy, and step on our foot — or nearly so? That’s a simple matter of looking at what we’d like him to do instead. Is the problem that he turned his head to the right? Teach him to give to the lead rope and, when you first see him stiffen his neck and begin to turn his head, ask him to bring his head to the left. Work on leading lessons, teaching him to move his shoulder away from you. He’ll have a hard time giving to the left and stepping on you with his left front foot. Look at controlling one part of the horse’s body at a time, and it will all make sense. 

Posted 9-10-04

from John Lyons "A Perfect Horse"

Riding Fashion: It’s About Function

The right attire can make a huge difference in your comfort in the saddle and even in the way you ride.

 

Denim jeans, long-sleeved shirts and Western hats have long been the standard apparel for casual riders.

Historically, jeans have been the riding ”uniform” for Western riders and jodphurs or breeches the standard for English. But the lines have blurred and comfort has become the #1 criteria. Long-distance riders have led the way in finding clothing that truly works. They want pants that don’t rub or bunch up, shirts that protect their skin without being hot and under garments that don’t bind or chafe. If they become lax on any of these points, they’ll suffer — literally — the consequences of a long, potentially irritating ride.

Cotton, including denim, of course, is a popular fabric as it’s breathable, durable and washes well. We agree it’s still the classic choice, especially for pleasure riders. But modern riding clothes have evolved considerably in the last decade or two, imitating the apparel of other sports. Nylon, Lycra, Spandex and CoolMax — the latest materials in sportswear — all offer stretch, support and moisture-wicking properties that can make your ride cool and rub-free. In fact, they can improve your riding if they help you feel better and move more freely. And they don’t have to cost a fortune.

Shirts and Jackets
For riders who aren’t necessarily into the “look,” cotton T-shirts are a comfortable choice. They’re breathable, lightweight and come in every color imaginable.

For riders who prefer tradition, western-cut shirts offer a good alternative. “Brush popper” chambray shirts are popular among cowboys who spend long hours in the saddle, although they’re a bit heavy for hot, humid climates. Lightweight cotton or linen shirts are more suitable in warm weather.

If you’re riding on trails with dense trees and brush, a long-sleeve shirt may be your best bet. Long sleeves also offer protection from sunburn or possibly skin problems in your future. Lightweight long-sleeve cotton is surprisingly cool.

However, many trail riders claim to stay cooler in short-sleeve bicycling shirts or sleeveless tops, which are usually made of CoolMax. These types of shirts help wick moisture away from the skin, thus promoting a cooling effect.

Jackets vary from a lightweight vest made out of canvas or polar fleece to all-season riding coats designed to cover the back of the saddle and protect against rain and wind. If you plan to be out all day, carry a rain poncho or duster.

 

Many distance riders wear tights to eliminate the rubs that can be made by looser clothing.

Women find a sports bra, which is made of cotton or a mix of cotton and Spandex or Lycra and offers strong support, more comfortable that an everyday bra. Bras that crossover in the back can add support during those long hours in the saddle.

Riding Pants
If you’re wearing jeans, choose a jean that doesn’t have a bulky inseam. You want a fit that’s snug but not tight. Loose jeans will rub more, and tight jeans can make it difficult to mount and sit in the saddle. You will also want at least two extra inches in length, so they fit over your boots and don’t ride up your leg.

Distance riders often choose to wear tights. Tights — and their traditional cousin, breeches — come in many styles from the basic pull-ons with knee patches to zipper-style breeches to those with full seats for maximum grip.

Leather patches on tights or breeches offer a secure grip in the saddle. Many knee patches and full-seats are also made of suede or a synthetic suede, called Clarino, which offers the same effect.

Choose tights or breeches that are made of cotton with Lycra or Spandex added. Cotton is cool in summer and offers a little warmth in fall or winter. The Spandex and Lycra offer stretch, which will help with mounting, and it offers a close fit to your leg and thigh to prevent rubbing. Tights made out of pure nylon Lycra can be comfortable but tend to be slippery in the saddle.

Several manufacturers offer padded seats and knees. If you plan to spend many long hours in the saddle, these can prevent rubbing and add a cushion to your ride. You can also purchase padded underwear at most tack retailers.

Headgear
Wearing a helmet or not is your choice — just remember that ASTM/SEI riding helmets protect your head and eyes from branches and limbs, and in the case of a fall, may even save your life. We recommend you try one of the new helmets. Many are so lightweight you’ll hardly notice them. (See Cool Helmets for the Trail, April ’03.)

 

John wears Wrangler Cowboy Cut Jeans. Their smooth safety stitch inside seam prevents chaffing.

Whatever you choose, look for a hat that offers shade, protection from branches and breathability. Western straw hats are good for shade in summer, and felt hats are appropriate in winter. Baseball caps and visors are also popular, and hat liners are available for those cold winter days.

Footwear
Leather boots breathe and repel moisture to some degree, making them the top choice in footgear. Most boots have a heel over one half inch in height to prevent a foot from slipping through the stirrup, and they come up over the ankle to protect your leg in the saddle.

Trail riders also sometimes choose to wear a cross-training shoe, which is a cross between a sneaker and a boot. They are designed with a small heel and usually come up just over your ankle. Note: Some endurance riders will ride in running sneakers for comfort, but if you choose to do this, use a safety cage on your stirrup to prevent your foot slipping through. If the boots are lace-up, double knot them as un-tied shoelaces can get hung up while mounting or dismounting and cause you to have a wreck.

While many riders like to use a work boot or construction boot that can perform double duty in the stable area as well, we would avoid riding in them. Work boots tend to be designed with a wider foot base that doesn’t fit in the stirrup well and could get caught in an accident. 

Posted 9-03-04

    Short and Sweet..... Wear a Helmet.   

Click here for more info on wearing a helmet while participating in equestrian activities

Posted 8-20-04

John Lyon's Perfect Horse

Unless you live in the Florida Panhandle or other similarly flat terrain, sooner or later you’re going to ride up and down hills. John’s guidelines will make it easier for your horse and safer for you.

 

John’s uses each rein to align Charlie’s shoulders and hips. Then he asks Charlie to stop, to allow him to rebalance and prevent momentum from happening.

If you’ve done much hiking, you know that going up and down hills is more than just an extra effort. It requires lots of balance changes. Now imagine yourself packing a rider, and you can visualize what your horse experiences. The good news is that while going up or down hill does require more effort and balance from the horse, you only need everyday cues to tell the horse what you want him to do.

We want to ride in good balance and with our horse under good control every time we ride, but it’s all the more critical when the terrain gets steep. And naturally, the better control we have on flat land, the better we’ll be able to communicate with our horse when it really counts.

Hills are scary
Realize that riding hills, and particularly going downhill, can be scary, both for you and your horse. You may imagine yourself as the man from Snowy River when you plan your ride, but when the time comes, you may feel more like a kid about to take his first dive, standing nervously at the end of a diving board. But the top of a hill is not a diving board, and the objective is not to get to the bottom quickly. It’s to get to the bottom safely.

And while you may be tempted to let your horse make all the decisions, that’s not usually safe. Unless the horse has had miles and miles of experience in rough terrain, he’s likely to be nervous about what’s ahead of him. And he may be nervous about how your balance is going to affect him. Usually horses will stop or go too fast — or a combination of both. It will be up to you to rate his speed, find the best way down and give him confidence that he can do what you’re asking of him.

Remember to breathe deeply and keep your cool. When riders get excited, their breathing often gets shallow and it’s harder to make good decisions. Try not to get into an argument with your horse. Here’s where having your cues down pat and a good working relationship really pays off. If your horse refuses to go forward at a particular point, pay attention. He may see something that you can’t, and it’s his feet that have to walk down the hill.

Don’t automatically assume that you’re having a battle of wills. Instead try to figure out if he’s saying something to you, and if there’s a more reasonable approach. You may be at a point where he’s saying, “I don’t wanna” but you don’t have other options, so you must approach it diplomatically. Sometimes, like the kid on the diving board, he may just need a few moments to figure out what’s happening and to gather his thoughts.

Practice control on the flat
There are several signals that you’ll need to go down a big hill safely: The speed up/go forward cue, the stop cue, the ability to control the horse’s shoulders and hips.

Going forward. I use a both-legs cue to tell the horse to give me a noticeable increase in leg speed or energy. That can be from a walk to a trot. But in some cases it may only be one step forward, or even just moving one leg forward. Being able to have that level of control — especially when it counts — comes from having taught a physical cue. When the horse really doesn’t want to go forward, or when we need a precise cue, merely leaning forward, releasing the reins or a voice command isn’t sufficient. When I’m practicing at home, I make lots of changes in direction. I make sure that when I want the horse to speed up, I use my both-legs cue, even though he might speed up if I used merely my voice or seat. If I used my voice or seat, he’s not becoming more responsive to my legs.

 

Charlie wants to keep an eye out for other horses — or maybe he just wants to stretch to use other muscles a moment. John allows him to do that, but he had to reestablish control of Charlie’s shoulders in the next stride, and then come to a complete stop.

My rule, “Only give a cue when you have a reasonable chance of the horse responding correctly to it” applies here. If you add pressure to the horse — kicking him to move forward, when he’s not oriented to move forward safely or mentally prepared to respond to your cue, you’ll cause him to try to move back or to the side — movements that may not be safe.

Steering
When you’re in a difficult position, especially going downhill, don’t steer the horse’s nose. Horses stay in much better balance when their nose is directly in front of their body. Instead, when you want to make a turn, ask the horse to move his shoulders or hips, lining them up. That kind of control only happens when you’ve taught your horse to “give to the bit” with his shoulders or hips. When I’m practicing at home, I often do lots of little adjustments, as if I were trying to park a big vehicle in a small space. That way, the horse learns to listen as I maneuver him, which will be extremely important when we head down a big hill.

Improve the stop. This is a really important point. As we’ll discuss in a moment, you can’t allow the horse’s momentum to take over. So you have to be able to tell your horse to stop his feet. Most people tend to think of that in general terms. In order to have the control you need, you have to be able to cue the horse and have him literally stop his feet. We do that by teaching the horse to “give to the bit” with his hips. When we pick up one rein and tell the hips to move over, we want him to take a big step to the side with his hindquarters. That stops his forward motion.

As you practice, you’ll find that a great one-rein stop develops. The horse realizes that you ultimately want the stop, so when you pick up the one rein, he offers the stop. If you release the rein then, he now knows that one rein means stop. If he doesn’t stop, you can continue to ask him to move his hips over. Eventually he’ll get it. Then you work from the other side. Using two reins to ask for a stop is like having brakes on both the left and the right side.

Develop the ability to have him stop and stay stopped. One extra step, and then another and another may not mean much when you’re hanging around after a ride, but it means a whole lot when the footing is uncertain. If the horse moves after he stops, ask him to stop again, and again, until he’s willing to stand in one position. As you practice, he’ll learn to stop balanced so that he can stay stopped.

Now that you have a few cues down pat, lets’ look at some guidelines about heading downhill.

 

They can relax as they near the bottom. Because they’ve come down slowly, Charlie isn’t tempted to let momentum take over.

Momentum is not your friend
Just as you’d find yourself speeding up to maintain your balance or help yourself up a hill, your horse will tend to do the same. In most cases, though, you don’t want to rely on momentum. The problem is, if you can’t easily stop without momentum, you definitely can’t balance or stop with it. So never let your horse get moving beyond where you can stop at almost any moment.

Don’t ride the brakes. You have to release the rein. You can’t hold the horse slow. If you’re going too fast, realize that you have to practice slowing down and speeding up more at home. When you’re in a real situation, find someway to release the reins even momentarily. Otherwise your horse stiffens his back and braces against the reins instead of using his own balance. Your reins become useless as communication or control tools. Also, the horse must know there’s a possibility of a release. So get him to do some minor thing — move one hip slightly — and release the rein momentarily.

When you can, zigzag down a steep hill, rather than taking a straight path to the bottom. You want to ride where the footing is safest. Remember that the horse has a long “wheel base,” so to speak. He’s not a dirt bike or off-road vehicle. Imagine that he’s your long-body truck.

As best you can, keep his hindquarters directly behind his shoulders. Going downhill is really a lot of work. It’s much harder for him to balance if his body is bent. That’s another reason we talked about moving the shoulders and hips, rather than steering the nose, per se. 

Posted 8-13-04

EXERCISES TO HELP DEEPEN THE SEAT. 

FOR LONGE OR FREE WALK WORK.

1.) Scissoring.  In the saddle, at the walk (and eventually at the trot [first rising, then sitting] if you're brave enough!): Swing your whole leg, from the hip (not just from the knee) forward and back in time with the horse's steps.  Your left leg goes forward, the right one goes back, then the left one goes back and the right one goes forward.  It doesn't really matter which of the horse's legs you're "with."  Experiment and find one that's comfortable for you.  Do this "on the buckle."  If your horse is startled by the movement, reduce the amount of swing and ask him to make a small circle, still on the buckle, until he relaxes.  Then you can increase the swing.

2, "Fluffing."  This is Erik Herbermann's term.  You lift one leg at a time off the saddle and while it's in the air, swing it backwards, then lay it back on the saddle and drag it forward into normal position, so that the "meat" of the inner thigh is positioned towards the back of the leg.  Then do the other leg.  You may barely be able to lift your legs off at first, and you may cramp.  If you do, bend your knee upward into "jockey position" until it passes, then try again.  You'll really notice a difference inside a couple of weeks if you do it every time you ride and ride 4-5 times a week.  You may need to hold on to the saddle at the same time; that's okay.  Begin at the walk, of course; when you’ve mastered it, try it at the trot.

3. “Heel Touches.”  This is a tough one! At the walk initially, later at other gaits, bend your knee radically so that your foot comes up close to your buttocks.  Grasp your ankle with your hand on the same side ( e.g., right ankle, right hand) and hold it there for a tour of the arena – or as long as you can stand it!  You may cramp initially, in which case definitely release your ankle and raise your knee into “jockey position” to relieve the cramp.  You may not be able, initially, to actually touch your heel to your buttock, but keep doing it daily and it will improve.  Remember to keep the seatbone on the saddle while you do this.  It is more effective to keep the seatbone down while allowing the heel to remain some distance from the buttock, than to lift the seatbone and make heel-to-buttock contact.  Do this on both sides, of course.

4. Stirrup Drop and Pickup.  Just like it sounds.  Drop one stirrup, then the other, then pick up the first, then the other.  Or if you get easily bored, drop one, pick it back up, then drop the other, and pick it back up.  You'll find you have to rotate your foot inward, pointing your shin bone to the horse's ear, in order to do this smoothly.  I find that 25 of these with each foot (50 all together) really helps make it easier to counteract the “airplane wings” syndrome and keep the foot parallel to the horse's side.

5.  Arm Windmills.  For this, secure the reins by twisting a loop in them near the buckle, then passing an "SOS strap" or the like through the loop... or stick your dressage whip under your knee and pass the

loop over the head of the whip.  Then start the exercise:  Make like a windmill with your arms!  Reach for the sky with one arm, stretching the whole ribcage, with fingers straight also.  One arm will be pointing up

while the other is pointing towards the ground.  Rotate them BACKWARDS (not forwards; that makes you round your shoulders) at a steady rate, so that the arms are always opposite each other (at noon and six of the clock, then one and seven, two and eight, etc. -- as opposed to making a whole circuit with one arm before starting to move the other.  Make the movement slow and steady, and keep stretching the ribcage.

6.  Arm Airplanes. Similar to the above but the arms go out to the sides like airplane wings, and then you s-l-o-w-l-y twist your torso from side to side so that the forward arm is aligned with the horse's neck, and

the rear arm's fingers are over the horse's spine.  Keep the rear arm UP at the same height as the forward arm; there is a tendency to let the rear arm droop.

6.  Shoulder rotations.  Either one shoulder at a time, or both together, whichever is easier for you: Drop the shoulder down, bring it forward, lift it up, then rotate it back, then drop it down again. Repeat.  Keep a bend in your elbow, or let your forearms hang with hands behind your thighs so you don't impede your shoulder because your hands get "stuck" in front of you.

WITH ALL THESE EXERCISES, TWO THINGS ARE CRITICAL:

1.  Maintain the "seatbones pointing forward" pelvic position at all times.  If you lift off your seatbones when you swing or fluff your legs, or when you pick up your stirrups, the exercises will not have the desired end of helping you to develop leg aids that are independent of your seat.  This may be hard at first when you are tight and locked, but keep it up, keep concentrating on the seatbones, and things will get better.

2.  Do the exercises regularly and for a period not less than 10 minutes; 15 is better.  Once around the arena won't cut it; muscles and ligaments in the groin that you don't "use" for anything else (except sex!) take quite a while to loosen and stretch so that you can be truly "let down."  You will see far greater results in far less time if you will allow the full quarter hour for this work.

3.)  Use this time to allow your horse to begin to accept your seat. Let him meander while you do the arm exercises, if it's safe to do so. Don't ask him to be energetic under you, just let him plod along.  When

you feel as though you HAVE to "drive" or he'll stop, that's the time when he is ready to go to work.  If on the other hand he is too quick or tense,  do the leg exercises first while you ask him to make a lot of small circles with frequent changes of direction.  The small circles make the inside hind leg work harder, thus  loosening HIM up and slowing him down.  The frequent changes supple both sides.

Posted 8-06-2004

John Lyons A Perfect Horse

TLC for Stone Bruises

You can easily handle a stone bruise on your own, provided you understand what you’re looking for.

 

A stone bruise can occur when the horse’s sole is literally bruised by stepping on a rock or just painful from working on hard ground.

If your horse has ever come back sore from a ride or really wild times in the pasture without an obvious explanation, you may be dealing with a stone bruise. Most stone bruises aren’t major problems. All your horse needs is some soothing, padding and possibly a preventative measure or two. Your farrier may be able to detect a bruise by noticing the reddish/bluish discoloring of the sole when he pares away the excess old sole. However, some bruises are deeper and not visually detectable.

“Stone bruise” is a term used to describe foot pain along a horse’s sole. It’s usually blamed on stepping on a stone, but any hard surface, whether irregular, rocky, frozen or just plain hard and unyielding, can cause sole pain — and possibly bruising — in some horses.

Horses with flat feet/dropped soles are usually prone to sole bruising. Their soles are closer to the ground and their feet lack the normal concavity of a healthy hoof. These horses are often also “thin soled,” meaning their soles aren’t as thick as other horses and won’t withstand the same pressures.

Shoeing these horses can help, as it elevates the horse’s foot off the ground by a quarter inch or so, but this isn’t enough ground clearance to completely prevent the foot from contact with stones or large, hard clods of dirt. Many farriers also recommend full pads to further protect the sole from bruising. However, any horse who steps on a large, hard stone or surface can bruise his foot. When the horse moves on irregular or hard ground the sole gets pinched between the unyielding ground below and the pressure from within, resulting in a bruise.

In addition, any horse that has had laminitis and rotation or sinking of the coffin bone will be much more prone to sole bruising and pain because the coffin bone puts more pressure on the sole from inside to out than it would in a normal foot. This means the pressure from stepping on an uneven surface is more intense.

Diagnosis
Fresh bruising of the sole can cause the horse considerable pain, but there may be no outward indications that this is what happened. You may not see any visible bruise on the sole because the outer layers are all dead sole and the bruise is hidden underneath. Your farrier may need to pare away the sole to find the bruise — or the bruise may be too deep for detection. Hoof testers generally locate the source of pain with a bruise, but again, this isn’t a foolproof test either.

A horse with a sole bruise may show anything from just being a little “gimpy” to extreme pain. Other causes of this include laminitis, fractured coffin bone, hoof abscess or soft tissue injury to ligaments and tendons inside the foot. When lameness is severe, an X-ray is always in order to make sure the horse does not have a fracture or coffin-bone sinking/rotation.

 

If your horse has thin soles or is prone to being tender-footed, discuss the problem with your farrier and vet.

If not, this leaves you with soft-tissue strain, abscess or bruise as possibilities and, more often than not, it isn’t easy to determine which it is. With a bruise, though, the horse will be obviously more comfortable with the foot packed with padding and/or placed in a hoof boot.

After two to three days, the active inflammation will begin to subside and the horse should be more comfortable if it’s a bruise. How long it’s going to take to get completely sound again will vary. When there’s a bruise, blood and/or fluid accumulate in the sole and the pressure from this can cause ongoing discomfort until the body absorbs it. It can also evolve into an abscess, which may actually pop through the coronary band, hoof wall or sole and necessitate more intense treatment (see Helps For Hoof Abscesses, Feb. ’04).

Treatment
Time is the best treatment and sometimes the only treatment for an actual bruise. Until the bruise heals, all you can do is protect the foot from pressure on the sore spot and provide symptomatic relief for the soreness.

For the first three days, keep the horse in an area with a deep, soft footing. A packing of moist poultice on the sole can help relieve soreness and swelling, but don’t pack it in tightly as this will cause pressure. Mixing some vegetable oil in the poultice will help keep it moist longer. A poultice only works when it’s moist.

Foot packings must be changed enough to prevent drying out. A layer of heavy plastic wrap around the bottom of the foot will help to keep the poultice moist. Cover the bottom of the foot with a hoof pad cut to size and taped in place or put the foot in a protective boot.

You can simply place the poultice on the hoof and place the hoof in a hoof boot or you can make your own poultice pack. To do this, you’ll need plastic wrap, poultice, large sheet cotton, stretchy veterinary wrap (like Vetrap) and duct tape. (Note: We’re recommending poultice here because of its soothing effects and because it’s an inexpensive way to provide a thick cushion on the horse’s sole. Icthammol is also frequently used in hoof packs, but it’s not as easy or economical to spread thickly enough to provide good cushion for a bruise. It’s normally used more on abscesses because of its drawing ability.)

Spread the poultice thickly over the bottom of the hoof, covering it with a sheet of plastic wrap. Place the sheet cotton over the bottom of the hoof and let the ends extending up onto the hoof wall. Wrap the entire hoof, bottom and sides with Vetrap to hold the pack in place. Be careful not to let bandage get too tight at the coronary band. You should be able to get a couple of fingers in comfortably at the top when you’re finished.

 

Hoof boots, like the Cashel Bedroom slippers may give your horse a little extra relief when he’s in the stall.

Finish the wrap by placing long strips of duct tape across the bottom of the hoof and across the toe area. The duct tape will help keep the wrap from wearing through too quickly. You can turn your horse out wearing a hoof pack, but we advise you to keep him in a small area.

You can also ease soreness from bruising by doing twice-daily soaks in Epsom salts and warm water. Stand the horse with his foot in a bucket or tub or use a soaking boot. With a soaking boot, the horse can’t “escape” and there’s no danger of water being tipped over and making a mess. Soak the hoof about 20 minutes twice a day, then protect the sole with a hoof pad or boot as above.

The soreness should improve within a couple of days, if you’re dealing with a bruise. However, the bruise won’t be completely healed yet. If the horse is barefoot, keep him in boots or a pack until he can walk and trot comfortably again over all surfaces. If he’s in shoes, talk to your farrier about at least temporarily fitting him with full pads.

Horses with thin soles will become comfortable more quickly if you encourage the sole to thicken. Use either Venice turpentine (available in most tack shops) or Tuf-Foot for encouraging growth and sole toughening. Paint the product onto the sole once or twice daily.

Note: Thin soles can be caused by over aggressive trimming. The farrier should know how to judge the thickness of the horse’s sole and know when to stop paring it away, but you still may want to discuss with your vet and farrier whether or not there are improvements that could be made in the horse’s trimming that would encourage more concavity to the foot and better integrity at the white line.

Posted for 7-16-04

From John Lyon's Perfect Horse

Dirt Bike Encounter

Mike Davini teams up with John Lyons to teach Preacher how to safely meet dirt bikes on the trail.

 

It’s a beautiful day and John and Preacher head out for a ride. John reviews various cues, to be sure that he has Preacher’s attention should they encounter something scary, like a dirt bike.

Remember the days when you only met hikers or other horses on the trail? Those days are behind us, and we now share the trails with riders of all sorts of vehicles. Some of those vehicles are scary, especially when they seem to come out of nowhere. Add to that a rider who, from the horse’s perspective, looks to be a space alien, and you have the makings for a quick getaway — with or without you on board.

Since dirt bikes are a reality of trail life, and since there’s the potential for injury or at least upset, we owe it to ourselves and our horses to prepare for a chance encounter.

Here’s the plan
Realize that you can’t accustom your horse to everything he’s ever going to meet. You can practice with dirt bikes, hikers with Golden Retrievers and a hundred other distractions — only to have your horse get unnerved by a kid with a fishing pole.

So realize that your safety doesn’t rely on practicing with specific distractions. Control comes from teaching him specific cues, and then practicing them so well that he can obey them even when he’s scared or startled.

If you’re a long-time reader of Perfect Horse, you know that we can’t directly control the whole horse, but only pieces of the horse. But those pieces allow us to maneuver whatever part of the horse’s body is in danger of zooming out of control, and so to keep ourselves and our horse safe. Specifically, we can control:

• the horse’s nose,
• the elevation of his head,
• his left or right shoulder,
• his left or right hip.

We use one rein to talk with one part of the horse’s body at a time, but once we’ve taught the cues, we can sequence those so that we have good control in any situation. Here’s the sequence if you meet a scary thing on the trail:

• Keep the horse’s nose pointed toward the object.
• Control the shoulder, moving it away from the object.
• If you still need control, use the rein on the same side as the scary object to move the horse’s hips.
• Use the head-down (calm down) cue if the horse’s head gets too high or you think he’ll rear.
• Mix and match the cues until you have the control you need.

Now that you know the game plan, let’s head out on the trail.

 

Try to position the horse so that he can always see the scary object. If it’s behind him, he’s apt to think that it’s going to chase him.

Into the real world
In real trail life, dirt bikes aren’t parked by the side of the road. So once John felt confident that Preacher could focus on John despite additional distractions, Mike and John “kicked it up a notch.”

Mike began moving around on the bike and then moved the bike itself, eventually putting it up on a little hill. John continued to give Preacher little jobs as they rode back and forth down the road.

Remember your objective
Whether your plan is to pass a dirt bike on the trail or just a trashcan at the end of a driveway, remember that your intention is to ride past the object. Many people get hung up in trying to show the object to their horse, forcing him to put his nose on it or to otherwise engage with it. That’s not necessary.

On the other hand, you can choose any occasion as a training opportunity. John wanted Preacher to be well enough controlled that he could shake hands with Mike without risk of getting unseated, of Mike getting knocked into by the horse or of Preacher getting upset.

Share the trail
In some communities, riders of horses and dirt bikes are at odds, and some trails have even been closed to horseback riding. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, if we want to have continued access to trails, it’s in our best interest to work together. One of the best ways is to involve local hikers or off-road-vehicle drivers in your training program, as John did. You might make a friend in the process. 

Posted 7-02-04

John Lyon's - Perfect Horse

Love, Determination and a Training Plan Built a Partnership

How often do we see an inexperienced rider purchase a horse that needs an experienced rider? It can be a recipe for disaster. Paula and Diesel were no exception.

 

Paula was a green rider with a Tennessee Walking Horse full of fear — a recipe for disaster. But a solid training plan turned this dangerous combination into a trusting partnership.

Paula had always wanted a horse. When she found Diesel, a Tennessee Walking Horse gelding, it was love at first sight. The stable owners warned her that he was “too much horse” for her, but she didn’t care. Within a few weeks, Paula was the proud owner of her first horse.

During their first year, Paula would saddle Diesel and trail ride for hours. Unfortunately, her lack of experience and his lack of training made these rides unsafe, though Paula didn’t recognize that at first. A swarm of butterflies was enough to send Diesel into a panic. Inevitably, Paula was hurt, breaking her ribs in one of her falls. But none of her accidents dimmed Paula’s love for riding or her love for Diesel. She thought that falling off was a normal part of learning to ride. Whenever she talked to other riders, they’d tell her stories of their own misadventures, including their injuries. Paula hoped that if she just kept riding long enough the accidents would eventually stop.

Paula didn’t realize that her riding experience could, and should, be a safe, enjoyable pastime. She didn’t know she shouldn’t be in constant fear of what might happen every time she rode. The fact was that Diesel had a tremendous amount of fear and he had no idea how to handle it. Anything that moved unexpectedly would trigger Diesel’s flight response. And he could spin away faster than a champion reining horse.

In addition, Paula had never been taught how to sit on a horse properly. Her instability in the saddle only served to frighten Diesel more than ever. Not only were there all kinds of scary things on the trail, but Diesel’s fear was increased when Paula would lose her balance or fall off when he got scared and spun around. They were caught in an endless cycle of fear creating more fear.

After about a year, Paula moved him to a barn that focused on training and riding instruction, primarily using John Lyons’ methods. Paula selected the barn because it had a reputation of providing quality care. She wasn’t interested in the availability of riding or training instruction, since she didn’t she realize that she had a problem. It didn’t make any difference that the barn instructor recognized the problem and talked to Paula about it. Until Paula truly believed she had a problem, she wouldn’t take action to correct it. In order for that to happen, though, Paula needed a motivator.

The Motivator
Paula and her cousin were trail riding when her cousin was thrown from her horse and ended up in the hospital. Paula managed to stay on Diesel, but only barely. The barn instructor talked to her about safety and how falling off your horse is dangerous and shouldn’t be considered a casual occurrence. It started to click: Whenever she lost control of Diesel, she risked falling off, which could result in a serious injury. Paula made the connection and recognized there was a problem, but she still needed a motivator to make the commitment to the project.

When her cousin recovered from her injuries, they went trail riding again. This time, they lost control of both horses and both riders fell off. The horses ran back to the barn and the riders were left to walk home. Neither rider was hurt, but Diesel was severely injured. In his race back to the barn, he sliced his ankle, breaking the joint encapsulation. The vet ordered four to six months of stall rest until the joint closed, with daily bandage changes.

Paula was stricken with remorse. The horse she loved had been injured, and she felt responsible. She decided to commit herself to a training program just as soon as Diesel was ready to ride again. She was determined to become a better rider and that Diesel needed to become more responsive and learn to handle his fear.

Diesel’s education began immediately, though, since his bandages had to be changed daily and antibiotic shots administered. The barn’s instructor was responsible for Diesel’s medical care. The first time she walked in the stall with him, Diesel whirled around in terror, put his nose in the far corner, presented his hindquarters to the door and trembled in fear. This was dangerous for both the horse and the instructor to have Diesel so reactive in the close confines of a stall, and it had to be corrected immediately.

With firm patience, the instructor used John’s techniques to teach the horse to turn to face people in the stall, then to start to conquer his fear. He learned. Within a few days, Diesel was standing quietly, without being tied, to have his leg bandaged and shots administered. Paula was amazed at the difference in Diesel’s attitude. He seemed happier.

Paula and the barn’s instructor used the months Diesel was stall-bound to teach him little things, like allowing Paula to wrap her arms around his neck and hug him. She had always wanted to hug him, but he would never allow it. It didn’t take long before he would accept her hugs as calmly as he accepted her carrots. He learned to drop his head when asked and stand quietly to be haltered.

Toward the end of Diesel’s recovery, the instructor worked with Paula and Diesel on correct leading in the barn aisle. Diesel learned to follow Paula’s body motion and to stop when she stopped. He learned to move his front end away from her when she walked into him and follow her on turns when she turned away from him. That made the time Diesel spent recovering from his injury productive. As Diesel’s ground manners improved, he was safer to be around and had a foundation for learning. Paula may have wished she could ride, but she began to understand the rewards of training when she saw Diesel become calmer, more responsive and a pleasure to be around.

Developing the Plan
As riding time neared, Paula and the instructor developed a training plan. The long-term goal was that Paula would be able to ride Diesel on a trail, have him remain calm and soft in the bridle at a walk and a gait. They then developed intermediate goals. These goals had three purposes:

1) They would help Paula recognize that she was making progress.

2) They would establish a gradual progression for Diesel, allowing him to advance to more challenging situations.

3) They would prevent skipping steps and pushing Diesel too hard and too fast. Together they developed a step-by-step plan for achieving each of the interim goals.

 

Diesel had to learn to respond to specific cues, in order to reduce his fears.

Paula’s instructor insisted that Paula only ride Diesel when the instructor could work with her, as initially they needed the constant supervision. At first, Paula didn’t like the idea of giving up her trail rides, but she agreed. They set a target of two lessons a week. As Diesel’s training progressed, they raised this to four lessons per week.

Paula started riding lessons immediately on a gaited school horse. Riding the lesson horse allowed her to concentrate on her riding without dealing with Diesel’s fear. It also provided Paula with a point of reference, showing her how it should feel when a horse is calm and responds to its rider’s commands without overreacting.

Next, they replaced Paula’s saddle. The saddle she had didn’t fit Diesel and added to his discomfort. Paula found a new saddle and purchased it after getting her instructor’s agreement that it fit both Paula and Diesel. When Diesel was recovered, everything was in place to begin his training.

The training sessions weren’t without challenges. Paula didn’t have experience in John Lyons’ training techniques, so she had a big learning curve. Her instructor warned her that the training would go slow at first, but that the benefits would be worth it in the end. Paula found it difficult to slow down and concentrate on small things. She had to learn to watch Diesel’s body language and look for the smallest response to her requests so that she could reward him.

She had to learn that the horse’s learning progression is not a straight line. There would be some backsliding. She had to remain consistent and Diesel would respond. Whenever she got really frustrated, her instructor would remind her of where they started and how far they had come. Paula had to learn to focus on accomplishments and not look too far in the future. If Diesel can’t walk calmly around a round pen, there’s no sense in thinking about taking him on a trail ride.

Paula had to learn to enjoy the training process itself. As she began to understand how each small accomplishment was building into a consistent whole, it was easier. She began to rejoice in each advance Diesel made. And as she became more enthusiastic, he began to learn faster.

The training itself was not the only challenge Paula had to face during the months of Diesel’s recovery and early training. She was given advice from everyone she knew who had horses, much of it contradictory to what she was learning. Whenever friends came to watch her training sessions, the comments abounded: They had never heard of putting an “English bit” (full cheek snaffle) on a Walking Horse. “Walking Horses are supposed to work on long-shanked bits with curb chains.” They didn’t understand asking Diesel to relax in the bridle and lower his head. “Why does he have his head down like that? Walking Horses are supposed to have their heads up and their necks arched.”

Other friends made comments like, “You don’t need lessons, you’ve been riding him for a year already” or “How long are you going to ride in that round pen? Let’s go on a trail ride.” Paula discussed their questions with her instructor, who explained the reasons for every training step and bolstered Paula’s confidence that she was on the right track.

It Pays Off
Training is going much faster now, and Paula and Diesel have made tremendous progress in a few months. They graduated from riding in the round pen to the arena and have even begun small rides in Diesel’s pasture. Soon, they’ll move on to trail rides.

For Paula, the rewards have been worth all the effort. She now knows how to control her horse and Diesel knows the cues, too. They’ve dramatically reduced the chance of a serious accident, as Diesel is less spooky and trusts Paula more.

And as Paula’s confidence grows, she’s begun to enjoy her riding time more, free of constant fear. Now they have the foundation to build a great partnership. 

Posted 6-18-04

John Lyon's, Perfect Horse

Its symptoms can be mild enough to be mistaken as a nonspecific illness — or they can be fatal. Recognizing the early signs may save your horse’s life.

 

Whenever possible, avoid riding and turnout around dawn and dusk — the favorite mosquito mealtimes.

by Eleanor Kellon, VMD

It’s hard to find a horse owner anywhere who hasn’t heard about — and worried about — the West Nile virus. In 2003, almost 21,000 confirmed equine West Nile neurological cases were on record, but many horses with typical symptoms go untested in heavily hit areas.

The West Nile virus is transmitted to the horse by mosquitoes, but just being bitten by a West-Nile-carrying mosquito won’t necessarily mean your horse develops neurological signs. It’s estimated that about one in 10 horses exposed to the virus will develop neurological symptoms. Of these, about 30% die or are euthanized.

A horse infected with West Nile may show:

• Nothing, as the horse’s immune system clears the infection itself;

• Nonspecific, non-neurological symptoms of illness, such as depression/droopiness, drop in appetite, fever

• Neurological symptoms, which may include: disorientation, poor responsiveness; stumbling, tripping; unsteadiness/staggering; muscle twitching or twitching around the face; abnormal stance, e.g., legs spread wide apart weakness; reluctance to move; poor balance; abnormal gait; trouble getting up, or unable to get up.

If you suspect your horse may be battling West Nile, contact your vet immediately. Some horses with West Nile neurological signs continue to eat well, while others go off feed. Fever may be present at this stage, but it usually isn’t. Mild symptoms like tripping or just walking “a little funny” may stay at this level or worsen over a few hours to days. When the horse begins to improve, symptoms will typically disappear in the reverse order you saw them develop.

However, as many as 40% of horses in one study were reported to either have relapses a few weeks after they had seemed to come out of it, or show continuing neurological problems for a few months. The more severe the symptoms, and the more quickly they develop, the worse the prognosis.

TREATMENT
Although there is no treatment that will kill the virus and cure the disease, even severely ill horses have been saved with appropriate supportive treatment. The goal of treatment is to stop the progression of swelling and neurological signs, and keep up the horse’s strength while the horse’s immune system gets on top of the infection. During successful treatment, the symptoms will stabilize within hours to days then gradually begin to improve. The entire process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

During treatment, the most we can do is control the swelling of the nerves, spinal cord and brain that cause the symptoms, and help control pain. Horses that are weak and can’t stand may need to be kept in a sling for a while until their body has a chance to get on top of the infection.

Careful nursing care is needed, with a clean, well-bedded place to lie down, easy access to food and water. Horses that aren’t eating and drinking well will need periodic intravenous fluids or fluids and gruels by stomach tube to support them. Medications commonly used to fight the inflammation include corticosteroids, phenylbutazone, flunixin meglumine (Banamine) and DMSO (orally, intravenously or applied to the skin for absorption). There’s also a commercially available immune serum — blood products from horses that were vaccinated for West Nile, containing antibodies. For the immune serum to have good effect, it needs to be given early in the course of the disease.

However, low-level symptoms may continue for months in some horses. Some horses are also generally “unthrifty” — difficult to keep weight on — for months after the infection. Because putting the horse back in work can trigger a relapse, it’s probably a good idea not to ride the horse for three to six months after West Nile neurological illness. Turn out with fresh grass, fresh air and sunshine help. Feed high-quality hay and grain with a vitamin and mineral supplement appropriate for your hay type and region (see Supplementing Grass Hays Aug. ’03).

 

Fly spray will not only help prevent mosquito bites, but it will reduce foot-stomping and help your horse to be more comfortable.

SHOULD YOU VACCINATE?
There are currently two vaccines available. Fort. Dodge’s vaccine was first put into use late in the 2001 West Nile season. It contains killed West Nile virus. A new vaccine, from Merial, was released in 2004. This one uses the same type of technology as in many human vaccines. It contains live canarypox virus, which carries some key bits of West Nile virus DNA. The canarypox virus can enter the horse’s cells, but cannot survive or divide there and cannot cause any disease. However, by entering the cells and exposing them to the West Nile DNA, it triggers a more broad based immune response than killed vaccines do.

Because researchers have not come up with a way to reliably produce West Nile symptoms in horses (just injecting them with virus doesn’t always do it), we don’t know for sure how well either of these vaccines can actually prevent disease. We know both produce an antibody response in the blood, but that alone doesn’t mean the horse will be protected. About all we know for sure is that the Fort Dodge vaccine is not 100% effective. Whether it’s 10%, 50%, 90% effective is also unknown. The Merial vaccine hasn’t been in use during West Nile season yet, so how it is going to perform remains to be seen.

Some owners/breeders have stated they feel the Fort Dodge vaccine caused problems with abortion, infertility and foal deaths or deformities. These suspicions have not been confirmed, but they haven’t been disproven, either, because the safety of this vaccine in pregnant and breeding horses was not tested. It’s always good to avoid vaccination in the first third of a pregnancy.

Also of concern is that a large number of horses have begun showing West Nile neurological signs shortly after receiving their first or second dose of vaccine. This may be because the horse was exposed before the vaccine had a chance to work, or it may be that the horse was already infected but not showing symptoms and the vaccine put enough stress on his immune system to push him over the edge. Either way, it’s probably best to avoid vaccinating in the middle of West Nile season. If the season is well under way (such a now, in July) when you decide to vaccinate, you can ask your vet to run a blood test to check for antibodies first to make sure your horse is not already harboring the virus. If he is, vaccination won’t help and could hurt. 

Posted 6-10-04

John Lyon's, Perfect Horse

Ride One, Lead One

“Ponying” or “snubbing up” is for the experienced horseman on a well-trained horse.

 

If you get in an awkward position, especially with the rope coming around you, let go of the rope.

The concept is attractive: Ride one horse and lead another. We see it done at the racetrack all the time, and it doesn’t seem like it should be that hard. And many times, it isn’t. But this is a classic case of where having just a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. You have to know what you’re doing in order to safely pony another horse.

EXTRAORDINARY CONTROL
We all know how difficult it can be to control one horse. Everything’s cool, until the moment it isn’t. We can ride down the trail seemingly in perfect control, but when the horse next to ours spooks, our well-trained horse can easily get out of our control — at least for a moment.

Now imagine if you were holding the spooking horse. His bolting, balking or bucking would automatically put you in a compromised position — especially if he jumped into your horse. Letting him go free may mean a wreck, but hanging onto his lead rope may be even more dangerous.

That tells us the first prerequisite for ponying, or snubbing up a horse is that the horse you’re riding has to be exceptionally well controlled. You should be able to speed up, stop, turn, back, control his shoulders and hindquarters — and theoretically all that with only one hand on the reins. If the horse you’re leading should stop suddenly, you’ll have to be able to stop your horse, and perhaps back him quickly to avoid getting pulled out of the saddle. If the horse you’re ponying should pull back or rear, you’ll have to maneuver out of striking area, and should he try to bite or kick, you’ll have position your horse so that he — or you — won’t get bitten or kicked. That requires a lot of control.

It also requires a horse that’s mature emotionally. He has to be conditioned to respond to you, even when his instincts tell him to bite the young rascal that’s trying to bite him. And he has to have a good mind when the lead rope gets caught under his tail or when the other horse’s head is over his rump or shoulders. A good snubbing-up horse has to be a solid citizen — nearly a saint.

Considering the danger, you also have to have a good reason to put yourself and your horse at risk, or you have to have both so well trained that the risk is significantly reduced. That said, there are lots of reasons to train so you can pony a horse, such as:

• If there’s a problem on the trail and you have to lead another horse home.

• To exercise a horse that can’t be ridden, such as a horse to young to be ridden one recovering from an injury.

• To lead your well-trained horse farther than you’d reasonably go on foot. I’ve done this a lot at fairgrounds, where the trailer was parked a long way from the arena.

PREPREQUISITES
We’ve already talked about the horse you’re going to ride, but what about the horse you’re going to lead?

• Go forward: The horse should know the “go forward” cue. When you focus on his hip, he should know that means to move forward. You’ll need to be able to drive him forward when you’re in the saddle.

 

John rides around Seattle until he feels him begin to follow.

• “Give” to pressure. If you pull his lead rope quickly, does the horse’s head go up or down? If up, he hasn’t practiced give to pressure enough that it’s a conditioned response. If you pulled the lead rope while you’re on the other horse, he’s likely to pull back, which would put you in a difficult position.

• Lungeing: By having practiced the first two cues and taught the horse how to lunge correctly, you’ll have the tools to be able to control the horse from on board another horse. (See May ’04.)

• Drag the rope: In the course of lungeing your horse, you want to let the rope drag with ground a bit. If you should end up letting the rope go when you’re leading him from on board the other horse, you don’t want him to be scared of the rope that he’s dragging. Some horses require a lot of work at this step, while others take it easily in stride.

GETTING STARTED
Assuming all those things are in place — you’re riding a well-trained horse and you’re going to snub up a horse that knows well how to lunge — you’re ready to begin. There are two important things to keep in mind as you work through this lesson:

• Don’t “drag” the horse you’re leading.
• When in danger, let go of the lead rope.

Start by lungeing the horse from the ground, as a warm up. When you’re confident that you can get him to go forward readily in both directions and move without hanging on the lunge line/lariat, mount your horse. Work within an enclosed area.

Put your reins in your left hand and the lunge line or lariat in your right. Ride in a big circle, about 20 feet ahead and 45 degrees off to the side of the horse. Essentially you’ll be riding toward the horse’s tail, as you see me doing in the photos. That way, you can encourage him forward by focusing on his hip just as you did when you were lungeing him.

Don’t wrap the line around your hand, the horn or fix it in any way to yourself or the saddle. Just hold it in your hand. Any time you get into a difficult situation, let go of the lariat. You can always begin again.

When the horse is moving well at the walk, stop your horse and then pull the lariat, taking the slack out of it. The horse being lunged should stop, turn and face you. When he does, release the tension on the lariat and continue as before, driving the horse ahead of you, so to speak. This is a little pop quiz to see if you can stop your horse, as well as checking how the other horse responds to tension on the line. Do this a number of times, until the horse moves forward with his neck slightly bent, watching you. That little bend in the neck will make it harder for him to stiffen and pull away from you.

Ride around the horse until you feel him begin to follow your horse. Continue riding in a circle, shortening the distance between yourself and the other horse, until he’s alongside your horse. Any time the other horse stops, ride toward his tail to get him moving again.

 

When Seattle falls behind, John doesn’t pull him forward, but repositions his horse so he can encourage Seattle forward.<