Warming Up A Dressage Pony

July 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Horses have to be warmed up before they are worked hard, but I see a large amount of puzzlement in dressage riders about the way to set about warming their horses. If you are in this same boat, the 9 tips given below should help you to get things right when talking of warming up your pony.

Your target in putting your pony through a warm-up drill is to work the kinks out of his body. It might last for as little as 10 minutes, or it could go much beyond that, right into your actual ride.

1. Presumably you have just taken your pony out of his stall after a night’s rest, after mounting, use the 1st 5 to 10 minutes to leisurely walking him around.

2. After you are done with walking take up contact to start the warm-up.

3. Concentrate on the three 1st ingredients of the coaching scale, Rhythm, Suppleness, Connection. I usually begin working my horse out on these 3 factors in a sizeable circle. Once things are well under way, I’ll expand to a bigger area in the arena.

4. Rhythm: As you put your horse thru walks, trots and canters, make sure the rhythm is constant and regular and the tempo is not faster or slower than it should be.

5. Suppleness: Take equally as much time as you judge right, getting your horse supple and relaxed both physically and mentally. Effort accompanied by physical or psychological strain isn’t going to bear fruit. By suppling your horse, you get him physically relaxed. When he’s relaxed physically, he will also relax mentally.

Supple the pony by bending his neck about 7 inches to inside neutral (neutral occurs when the horse’s nose is lined up with the crease in the middle of his chest); as you do so you should additionally be closing your leg on this same side.

Do a 3-supple set, meaning you bend him and instantly straighten him out three times, smooth and fast. After about 8 strides are gone by, repeat the 3-supple set.

6. Connection: Utilise a connecting half halt and get the horse on the bit. This half halt is a version of the main half halt (briefly closing the seat and the legs and hands) that you use to put a horse on the bit.

Close both legs for 3 steady seconds like you would like a extending, then make a fist of the outside hand to capture the energy and recycle it back to your horse’s rear legs. Give him 3 or 4 little inside rein vibrations or squeezes to keep his neck straight. Your connecting half halt should stretch over 3 seconds approximately, during which period you ‘add, add and add’ the hind legs through the closed outer hand while keeping up poll flexion to the inside.

While warming up, I connect the pony. I ride him long and low, but if he seems heavy on the forehand, I ride the ‘horizontal balance’, when his topline parallels the ground.

7. If things should fail to work out right, simply go back right to the beginning of your coaching scale. Re-establish a regular rhythm to begin with and supple the pony next. Make a demand for connection eventually.

8. When you are doing the rhythm, suppleness, connection routine, you must get any pony at the initial training level to do elementary figures such as circles, shallow loops and serpentines.

Horses at the first or second levels can also do school figures, leg-yields as well as elastic workouts like soft lengthening before going back to working gait.

9. A lot of riders get their dressage horses to do gait to gait transitions while warming up. My very own opinion is that the horse must be well warmed up before you put him thru transitions. I thus save transition schooling for the second segment of the work out, when the warming up is done.

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How To Prevent Grief With A Pre-horseride Check

July 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Fairly often, a group trail ride can appear to be rather more like a melee in a rodeo. I have gone out on more such rides than I care to recollect. Some of the horses, of the excitable type, would be dancing around even as their riders tried to mount. Other horses would jar their riders fully awake with a dosage of bucking and rearing. On so many occasions, I had to take a flying jump into the saddle to avoid getting into a tussle with my pony. I’ve seen riders get so exasperated they almost gave up on the idea of going out on a ride. Even placid horses become infected with the mood of the moment and act up a bit. Most times, the horses keep acting up for quite some time even after the ride is under way.

Doesn’t exactly lead directly to a great impression of trail rides, does it? Doesn’t sound like the best way to get started on what really should be an enjoyable ride.

Actually , you can avoid situations like this by getting some previous ground coaching done and carrying out a simple check just before the ride. This bit of care will ensure a smooth ride.

The coaching should be built to give the pony handler full physical control of the pony. The handler should be able to get the horse to move any part of its body he asks it to. It should be possible to exercise independent control of the front and the rear ends, and the smallest of pressures should get the neck and the head to bend sideways. Gentle cues should suffice to get the horse to go forward or back , as well as to either side.

Without these basics set right, the rider is not going to be able to exercise proper control over the pony, which means that the pony will go a bit wild when excited. Going wild might go to the extent of bolting or bucking and rearing.

You also need to keep a constant watch on any injuries and other reasons behind discomfort. The horse is not going to be normal when he’s feeling pain. I can recollect a pal who had the ride of his life when he mounted his gelding and it literally copied a rollercoaster before he somehow managed to get off. It turned out the pony was afflicted by pain due to a pebble some kid had ‘gifted’ to the horse by placing it between the pommel and pad!

In this article, I am really not able to cover everything the rider has to get done to make certain his horse stays calm when setting out for rides, even in the middle of a lot of other horses. Horse riders can learn these skills from authorities like Pat Parelli and Clinton Anderson. Craig Cameron, Chris Cox and Dennis Reis are other names that come to mind. All these authorities can be found on RFD-TV; you can also buy their DVDs. Apart from these sources, you can resort to any number of clinicians and experts spread all around the country.

When you have trained your pony thoroughly and he responds the right way to the tiniest cues, you know what your pre-ride check list is going to be comprised of. You just be sure your horse still remembers his lessons. Like us, horses have their days off, and it’s helpful to get prior knowledge that your horse isn’t quite at peak. You don’t need to saddle up and ride an oblivious tornado!

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers go here

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The Foundation Of Champion Horses Is Repetition And Repetition

July 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If I had received a cent for every time I repeated something to a pony, I would have been a millionaire by this time. I begin by hammering it into a horse’s head I’m essentially making an attempt to communicate something to him. When he has finally got the idea that I am really attempting to tell him something, I need to let him know whatever it is that I needed to let him know such a lot of times I start sounding like a scratched LP record. This causes me to do foolish things on occasion. I train a few horses at assorted steps of training simultaneously. In itself, this is problematic, because I have track of where I am with each pony. If I’ve a particularly difficult time with any pony, then it takes me a while to remember where I was with the remainder of the horses? And frequently I don’t do a good job of recollection. The plus side is, when a pony finally begins to get an idea of what I’m on about, he frequently starts liking it, and then the teaching gets way easier.

My clients have all heard from me that a homo sapien breaks a set habit only after 2,000 repetitions of the ?drop the habit? Tune have been drummed into his head. A human being also need nothing less than 2,000 repetitions to pick up a new habit, and eventually, he makes a habit a unconscious uncontrolled response just when it has been drilled into him 10,000 times. When I explain this to my clients, they get it; they know what can be predicted when they give me a pony to coach. You’ve got to have a look at the other side of the coin, the horse’s perspective. When he first is brought to me, he hasn’t any idea he is preparing to attend school. He really doesn’t even know what a school is. He would be astonished if he were informed that he is going to be taught lessons, and that he is expected to learn them well. When you look at it from this viewpoint, you become more understanding of horses.

The repetitions may change with each horse: each has his own learning curve, just like human scholars.

You might make bar charts out of a horse’s learning curve. A horse can be bafflingly inconsistent: he is going to do good, bad, good or bad with each repetition of the same lesson. Obviously, when you initiate the lesson, he will be at his worst. Just assume that your horse’s response to repetition number 121 has been enjoyable. Just when you are feeling like giving him a pat, he absolutely muffs repetition 122. Your urge to pat him with your hand all of a sudden becomes a yearning to pat him with a sledgehammer. But you cannot afford to show your frustration, so you swallow the bile and go on to repetition 123. He will probably surprise you once again. When you have reached repetition 307, say, you will find that all of a sudden he has had an ‘Eureka!’ moment. He’s got the concept, you’re teaching him something. Though the odd glitch may continue to surface, you will pretty much have smooth sailing with him after that.

You’ll get a lot of variations due to individual pony characteristics, but the general pattern will be the same. When you’ve got past the great wall around the horse’s brain, you’ll be able to see faster progress. The more time you spend with the pony, the better he learns. He may even surprise you by behaving like he enjoys the lessons.

When does a pony become a good learner? 2 factors establish this point: your teaching methods and the horse’s nature. My general experience with the more difficult horses has been that it takes 5 days a week of classes over three months to succeed, but I must advise you that it is best you don’t work to fixed schedules with horses. Don’t also push your pony too far or too fast. Think repetition, and then think more repetition. Your horse at the initial stages could be wondering why you are trying to show him things he just can’t do. Persistence is going to win that battle for you.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers click here

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Transporting Your Horses

July 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of the most exasperating experiences a horse owner can have is to get into a scenario where he or she wants to transport their pony somewhere far, but can’t do that because of the absence of a trailer or horsebox. For pony owners who have never owned a trailer, getting one can seem just like a hopeless dream.

I have news for you if you’re one of these frustrated horse owners. You can move your pony around without a trailer, but it calls for an inventive approach. You have to also be ready to make some compromises.

If it’s a question of transporting your horse to the vet, a frequently unavoidable need, you may get an offer of help from someone in your yard. If nobody offers help, you need to ask for it, assuming that there are people with trailers, because without asking you may not get, and without getting you aren’t going to be able to take your pony to the vet. It’s always possible to show your good intentions by offering to pay for the fuel consumed and the use. If you are intimate with someone who owns a trailer, you can try and fit your competition dates with theirs for the same events, so your pony can hitch rides. Obviously, this implies that you will have to sacrifice your own preferred events for the events your benefactor favors. If you’re really very fortunate, you could even convince your benefactor to take your pony to your own preferred events once in a while. Who knows, you could actually open your benefactor’s eyes to the charms of events he hasn’t participated in so far. That would indeed work to your advantage.

You need to also take part in events in your own immediate vicinity. The possibility is high that there might not be enough variety or quality of performance in your immediately area. Your options would be very limited because you would have to ride your horse to the events and still keep him fresh enough to participate. Essentially, you can just ‘warm up’ your pony before the event. You also have to consider that after the event he has to be ridden back home, and that would further restrain the events you might participate in.

It is extremely costly to hire a horsebox, nonetheless it will probably be worthwhile if the event you are attending is very prestigious or if your pony has exceptional possibilities of winning something. You could also see whether there are other pony owners in the vicinity with whom you could split costs, assuming they are going to be at the same event you are. Before you finalize a contract for hiring a horsebox, confirm that a driver is included in the contract. If no driver is included, and you have got to do the driving yourself, you’ve got to have the correct driving qualification and satisfactory insurance.

Another choice is to purchase a horsebox jointly with some others. This isn’t going to be easy, as you are going to need to be wonderfully coordinated on who uses the horsebox. If all your events coincide, there will be no problems, but that is a distinctly doubtful possibility. You can only enter into this sort of arrangement with somebody you are really intimate with, and with whom you enjoy complete mutual trust. Even then, you must execute an all-inclusive contract on who pays how much for shared use, individual use, damages, repair jobs and so on. A small disagreement can destroy a close relationship, so you really have to exercise the greatest of care.

Whatever way out of your horse-box-less worries you find, it should hopefully give you the chances you’ve been wanting for your pony. Even partial mobility is far preferable to no mobility. Every event you can attend without your own horsebox is an additional bonus. Just make absolutely sure that absence of your own pony transport does not become an insurmountable wall for both you and your pony.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers go here

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Transporting Your Horses

July 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of the most exasperating experiences a horse owner can have is to get into a scenario where he or she wants to transport their pony somewhere far, but can’t do that because of the absence of a trailer or horsebox. For pony owners who have never owned a trailer, getting one can seem just like a hopeless dream.

I have news for you if you’re one of these frustrated horse owners. You can move your pony around without a trailer, but it calls for an inventive approach. You have to also be ready to make some compromises.

If it’s a question of transporting your horse to the vet, a frequently unavoidable need, you may get an offer of help from someone in your yard. If nobody offers help, you need to ask for it, assuming that there are people with trailers, because without asking you may not get, and without getting you aren’t going to be able to take your pony to the vet. It’s always possible to show your good intentions by offering to pay for the fuel consumed and the use. If you are intimate with someone who owns a trailer, you can try and fit your competition dates with theirs for the same events, so your pony can hitch rides. Obviously, this implies that you will have to sacrifice your own preferred events for the events your benefactor favors. If you’re really very fortunate, you could even convince your benefactor to take your pony to your own preferred events once in a while. Who knows, you could actually open your benefactor’s eyes to the charms of events he hasn’t participated in so far. That would indeed work to your advantage.

You need to also take part in events in your own immediate vicinity. The possibility is high that there might not be enough variety or quality of performance in your immediately area. Your options would be very limited because you would have to ride your horse to the events and still keep him fresh enough to participate. Essentially, you can just ‘warm up’ your pony before the event. You also have to consider that after the event he has to be ridden back home, and that would further restrain the events you might participate in.

It is extremely costly to hire a horsebox, nonetheless it will probably be worthwhile if the event you are attending is very prestigious or if your pony has exceptional possibilities of winning something. You could also see whether there are other pony owners in the vicinity with whom you could split costs, assuming they are going to be at the same event you are. Before you finalize a contract for hiring a horsebox, confirm that a driver is included in the contract. If no driver is included, and you have got to do the driving yourself, you’ve got to have the correct driving qualification and satisfactory insurance.

Another choice is to purchase a horsebox jointly with some others. This isn’t going to be easy, as you are going to need to be wonderfully coordinated on who uses the horsebox when. If all your events coincide, there will be no problems, but that is a distinctly doubtful possibility. You can only enter into this sort of arrangement with somebody you are really intimate with, and with whom you enjoy complete mutual trust. Even then, you must execute an all-inclusive contract on who pays how much for shared use, individual use, damages, repair jobs and so on. A small disagreement can destroy a close relationship, so you really have to exercise the greatest of care.

Whatever way out of your horse-box-less worries you find, it should hopefully give you the chances you’ve been wanting for your pony. Even partial mobility is far preferable to no mobility. Every event you can attend without your own horsebox is an additional bonus. Just make absolutely sure that absence of your own pony transport does not become an insurmountable wall for both you and your pony.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers go here

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Lessons Your Horses Will Teach You

July 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Whatever their age or riding experience, or shortage of it, all homo sapiens find horses entrancing. Horses are some examples of the most beautiful, aesthetically appealing creations. Their physique is imposing and their spirit is one of a kind. You may find this difficult to believe, but constant exposure to horses can help build your character.

Horses teach us to grow our psychological horizons. We develop some beneficial character and personality characteristics thru our interaction with them.

Confidence: Horses help to build up self esteem. To begin with, the size differential can be intimidating: they’re in the 1,000 pound plus category and the average human rider is in the 100 pound plus category. It takes a lot of initial guts to mount, ride and control a horse. Most humans, at least in the initial stages, feel fear at the size of the horse. As they develop confidence with horses, they also find themselves more confident in life’s other situations. Regular exposure to horses is certainly excellent for self esteem.

Responsibility: Horse care thrusts lots of responsibilities on the carer. Pony care is an enormous task that demands patience, endurance and tolerance. It is man’s work attending to a horse’s daily wants, for example grooming, feeding, cleaning of stalls and maintenance of riding gear. As you go thru these jobs, you have frequent occasion to reflect on the horse’s dependence on you. You do it as you love your horse, and you wish to ensure you provide him with the very best living set up. It is no different from looking after your kids. Both jobs need the shouldering of tons of responsibility.

Patience: Horses can frequently act like little kids. It needs a lot of coaching to make a horse behave just the way that you need him to. You cannot teach your youngsters the ways of life in a day, a week or a month. It takes years, and actually, the method of teaching and learning never comes to a close. Educating horses is no different. It cannot be done in a day, and it never truly ends.

Sensitivity: Horses are very attuned to the moods of their riders, handlers and trainers. They can tell if you’re contented or miserable, angry or placid. You aren’t going to be a good pony rider and handler unless you demonstrate the same sensitivity toward them. You have to be able to guess correctly whether a specific bout of misbehaviour from your horse is due to some streak of defiance or obstinacy, or essentially to some discomfort or fear or anger that has to be attended to.

Trust: The perfectly behaved horse that’s responsive to every command is a pony that trusts you perfectly. The perfectly behaved rider or handler who knows the way to extract the maximum from his horse is a human being who trusts his or her pony perfectly. Dependance is mutual, and neither can adequately meet the other’s expectations without a whole lot of trust.

Tolerance: The woman or man who has handled horses regularly knows that each of them has a completely unique, awfully individual character. Each horse should be handled differently. Each reacts to our cues in its own particular way. Time spend with horses is time expended learning toleration. The lessons in open mindedness we learn from horses will serve us in all other side of our lives.

Horses share a common animal tendency: they rarely repeat mistakes. But as their riders and handlers, we want to point out their mistakes occasionally without flying into harmful rages.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers visit HorseHorses

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Why Use A Seasoned Farrier With Horse Navicular Syndrome

July 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Though Navicular Syndrome is normally called navicular illness, it’s got to be diagnosed and treated like you would any syndrome as opposed to an actual disease.

This syndrome can trouble diverse points of the horse’s feet.

This syndrome is an extremely common reason for horse lameness, especially in the front legs. It is rarely seen in the rear legs. It appears to target horses in the age range four to nine years.

Some horse breeds seem to be more subject to navicular syndrome, and different breeds react differently to its onset. For example, the warmblood breeds can completely pay no attention to the same syndrome that cripples quarter horses.

A few conjectures have been propounded about the root causes of navicular syndrome. At first it was said to be a condition similar to arthritis due to excessive and sustained impact on the horse’s front legs. Latest research would appear to indicate a hereditary factor where the syndrome is derived from inherited defects in conformation. Recent study has also identified some pony types that could be more susceptible.

There is proof also that clumsy trimming or shoeing also speeds up the incidence of navicular syndrome, as can work schedules that are too demanding or call for sustained travel on very hard surfaces. Getting the pony to do hard work for which it hasn’t been properly prepared and trained in advance can also induce the condition. Horses with very high body weight to foot size ratios are also more susceptible. It in addition has been seen that poor diets also accelerate the onset and progress of the condition.

Afflicted front feet start contracting at the heels and the frog. The appearance changes to a sort of boxiness, and affected feet seem to shrink in size compared to healthy feet.

Suitable farrier methods concerning a wide shoe that engulfs and protects the heel are the most effective cure for navicular syndrome. Particular attention must be given to the shoe’s toe, which should really be shaped such that it facilities easy operation. A sustained programme should be run for a minimum of four to six weeks to ensure recovery.

Often, it is a good idea to entrust the handling of horses with navicular syndrome to seasoned farriers, because raw farriers may not be up to the task. We are taking about farriers, as an example, who are specialised in remedial (orthopedic) work.

If you’re availing of the assistance of a expert farrier who you don’t call typically, try to get your regular farrier to be present when the specialist is at work. This way, the expert has a qualified assistant, and your normal farrier gets to learn new things and very useful. As your normal farrier begins to grasp the techniques of handling navicular syndrome, he may at some point soon reach a stage where he’s quite capable of resolving syndrome-related issues himself. That is going to benefit both him and you, as you don’t have to call an expert who may not be from your local area, nor do you have to pay him thru the nose.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers http://horsehorses.net/

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Why Use A Seasoned Farrier With Horse Navicular Syndrome

July 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Though Navicular Syndrome is normally called navicular illness, it’s got to be diagnosed and treated like you would any syndrome as opposed to an actual disease.

This syndrome can trouble diverse points of the horse’s feet.

This syndrome is an extremely common reason for horse lameness, especially in the front legs. It is rarely seen in the rear legs. It appears to target horses in the age range four to nine years.

Some horse breeds seem to be more subject to navicular syndrome, and different breeds react differently to its onset. For example, the warmblood breeds can completely pay no attention to the same syndrome that cripples quarter horses.

A few conjectures have been propounded about the root causes of navicular syndrome. At first it was said to be a condition similar to arthritis due to excessive and sustained impact on the horse’s front legs. Latest research would appear to indicate a hereditary factor where the syndrome is derived from inherited defects in conformation. Recent study has also identified some pony types that could be more susceptible.

There is proof also that clumsy trimming or shoeing also speeds up the incidence of navicular syndrome, as can work schedules that are too demanding or call for sustained travel on very hard surfaces. Getting the pony to do hard work for which it hasn’t been properly prepared and trained in advance can also induce the condition. Horses with very high body weight to foot size ratios are also more susceptible. It in addition has been seen that poor diets also accelerate the onset and progress of the condition.

Afflicted front feet start contracting at the heels and the frog. The appearance changes to a sort of boxiness, and affected feet seem to shrink in size compared to healthy feet.

Suitable farrier methods concerning a wide shoe that engulfs and protects the heel are the most effective cure for navicular syndrome. Particular attention must be given to the shoe’s toe, which should really be shaped such that it facilities easy operation. A sustained programme should be run for a minimum of four to six weeks to ensure recovery.

Often, it is a good idea to entrust the handling of horses with navicular syndrome to seasoned farriers, because raw farriers may not be up to the task. We are taking about farriers, as an example, who are specialised in remedial (orthopedic) work.

If you’re availing of the assistance of a expert farrier who you don’t call typically, try to get your regular farrier to be present when the specialist is at work. This way, the expert has a qualified assistant, and your normal farrier gets to learn new things and very useful. As your normal farrier begins to grasp the techniques of handling navicular syndrome, he may at some point soon reach a stage where he’s quite capable of resolving syndrome-related issues himself. That is going to benefit both him and you, as you don’t have to call an expert who may not be from your local area, nor do you have to pay him thru the nose.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers http://horsehorses.net/

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The Joy Of Learning Horse Riding

July 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Studying how to ride horses is no big issue at all, though learning to ride horses well is something else altogether. There’s a whole lot of tutors and training institutions out there, and like with the rest, they come in numerous degrees of trustworthiness. You’ve just got to take the trouble of looking thru the net, a telephone book, some yellow pages, or a stable close by. Good trainers teach you not just ways to ride well, they also help you relate to your pony.

As a part of your schooling, you’ll probably receive a lot of info on different riding styles and different saddle and gear types. Most saddles belong to either the English or the Western riding styles. You also get saddles for trick and stunt riders and for a hundred other purposes, but as the novice rider you ought to be interested in the most simple of saddles: a riding saddle without pointless bells and whistles. The right saddle is an absolute must for a safe, total riding experiences.

Horse riding lessons come in various packages. It depends on why you want to learn to ride horses: trail, cross-country, barrel racing, jumping, racing, obstacles and sports riding. Obviously, you can ride for the sheer pleasure of it. Good riding establishments imbue you with the completely correct methods and aspects. They teach you the correct way to do events like dressage; they also teach you everything you need to know about the many bits of kit and tack used on horses. They give you exposures to the best strategies to use to groom your pony and show it.

To begin with, you should be just interested in becoming a good rider. You achieve this aspiration by enjoying yourself. You need to liberate yourself and get a handle on it. You can select riding faculties that give you thorough training in riding basics. Once you have mastered the basics, you can decide on other equestrian abilities you want to pick up.

Whatever you decide to do, learn to enjoy yourself. You learn best when you are having a good time. Take your time in looking around to see what is available at different establishments. Do some web research, talk to and dig around with other folks that are into horse riding. You might well run into some person who leads you to the ideal destination, where you can not only take riding lessons, but also get some education about dressage and events, horse gear and equipment, perhaps take part in a few greenhorn shows and generally have a whale of an excellent time.

It is up to you to choose the circumstances in which you may learn how to ride horses. If you’re about to get married, you might have your honeymoon at some exotic location that offers solitude, the moon and 2 horses for you and your better half. You kill two birds with a single stone.

There is no activity as pleasurable as horseback riding. Whether or not you are learning solely to ride, to ride in shows and whether you intend to get your own horse or not, horse riding is fantastic fun, engrossing educational and electrifying excitement.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers visit HorseHorses

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The Benifits Of Understanding Horse Personality Types

June 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A call from an old horse-owning client of mine took me over to his farm to have a look at Bertie, his barrel-racing gelding. It was my first meeting with the gray quarter horse. I was told that he had been inconsistent in latest runs, way below his regular standards. Bertie tensed up and glared at me from a high and rigid head when I approached him. His defiance made my job of diagnosing his state difficult; I made up my mind to perform some network chiropractic actions and judge his reactions.

His posture modified by the time I had finished some moves. He started breathing shallowly and his head started to sag. After some more moves, his head was quite low and he began to lick and chew. I did not receive a single glance from Bertie, nor did he even acknowledge my existence in any other way during my time with him, but he stunned his owner by acing a barrel race the following day. He appeared to perform well above his normal standards.

Over the next one or two years, I found Bertie now and then. After a few years, he was sold to someone that was not among my clients, and thus, I didn’t see him for a few years. Bertie did not last long with his new owner. The woman resold him to a professional tutor on the condition that the tutor would not let children ride Bertie. Even though she wasn’t well versed in equine temperament types, she realized Bertie was too quickly and too difficult for even a professional kid to handle.

The tutor sold Bertie to some kid. When the kid’s parents got to know about the nature of pony they’d bought for their child, they tracked back to Bertie’s original owner, who purchased him back. She got him barrel racing again. It took a while for Bertie to get back to his old ways , but shortly he was winning again.

Generally, Bertie was made of sterner stuff, and he didn’t have much of an issue with the rather demanding rodeo life. Nevertheless while taking part in a barrel race in Alibene, TX, he was beset with a rather severe impaction colic. He had just travelled from East Texan humidity to the aridity of Northwest Texas, and hadn’t had enough water. Rather ironically, Bertie’s tolerance to agony was extreme, and he showed no symptoms of colic until his state had reached a really advanced stage. He was brought to a local veterinary clinic, where he spent the night on IV fluids and heavy treatments of analgesics.

Maybe if Bertie’s owner had known that he was a classic Metal pony specimen, the colic impaction might have been prevented with the right kind of care. The key Metal pony organs are the lungs and the massive guts, and great care must be taken to keep these organs in peak condition. Bran mashes and water-soaked pelleted feed are wonderful diet options for any pony with a hydration problem. Another awfully advisable option to stop impaction is to scale back on hay if reduced water content is seen in dung.

For the moderately dehydrated horse, electrolytes combined with food or fed in a paste will encourage the pony to drink. This won’t work with horses affected by grim dehydration. Metal type horses need to be watched with eagle eyes because they tend to continue performing with apparent normalcy even when they’re impacted.

Metal type horses utilized in competition should be given sufficient lung and lower bowel support with Equilite’s Bleeder’s Mix. Bioflavanoids in Bleeder’s Mix are good for the lungs, while the mucilaginous herb mullein, also a part of the formula, moisturizes and comforts the big intestines.

Bertie recovered soon enough from that specific impaction. He was meant to win lots more races before one day he extremely unfortunately bowed a front leg tendon. The scar tissue that resulted visited awful pain upon him, and while he continued to limp around, it was shortly obvious that he would never recover. His owner put him down to alleviate him from the constant agony. Bertie was a typical Metal type: he had a hard, give-no-quarter temperament and the physical capabilities to go with it. He knew what he had to do and did it well. He was consistent in performance and was undemanding.

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