Sore backs in horses

I have mentioned in earlier posts that Dublin's back has become sore. I am not sure how or when, but he is hurting pretty badly. Most mornings I get one he feels like he is all bowed up and ready to buck me into next week. But after walking a bit I feel it come down and even relax. However in the last week it is taking longer and longer to get him warmed up and the back to relax. So he is now on a mini vacation while we wait for the muscle relaxers to arrive.

However, I have started a little treatment that my vet told me she learned from an old horse racing sports medicine vet (long title but you get the picture). You put Beagle Oil directly on their backs and then put a damp warm/hot towel over the spot. This causes the Beagle oil to penetrate into their back and ease up some of the tension in the muscles.

I tried it for the first time this morning. Dublin was not thrilled with the oil being poured directly on his back (it was a little cold at first). I then messaged the oil into his hair directly on the sore spots and then placed the towel over his back. He had this look on his face like he was trying to decide if he liked it or not. But then gave into it after 30 seconds. I walked him to his stall for his breakfast and while he ate his grain the towel stayed on his back.

The wet towel does get cool quickly. I will now work the next few days to see how to keep it warm longer. I will probably get one hot and then add a couple on top to keep in the heat.

More later

"The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man"

That quote from Winston Churchill is so true. Yesterday I had a really rotten day. To the point of sitting in my office and just crying. I was IM'ing with my husband and all he said is "get out and go to the barn to see Dublin".

So I hauled myself out of the office (actually I sprinted out) and went to the barn. Dublin was already in his stall having dinner. I went in and brushed on him for a few minutes. But with his new spring coat that is so slick that was very short work. I put everything away and then went back into his stall. There is a little threshold in the door way, so I sat down. I continued to cry, be pissed and generally in a bad mood.

Dublin had moved to his hay which was across the stall from me. He knew something was terribly wrong and not sure what to do with me. So he ate. Surprise, surprise. But after getting a mouthful of hay, we would swing around and check on me. Then he would put his nose on my head or shoulder as almost a hug. Then he would go back to eating and come back and check on me every so often.

We sat there for about 45 minutes. Or at least until I was ready to get up and face the world again. Just by being there and looking at his beautiful self and sharing a special moment, my worries and stresses didn't seem that important.

"The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man" is so true and I thank him for being there for me.

Farm managers really should know better

I am lucky enough to board my horse at an old but well appointed horse facility. Again, it is old and things are falling down, but there are pastures, indoor arena, large out door arena, small hills to run up and down, and nice block stalls with openins to the outside with overhangs and an interior asile.

I am also one of two boarders there and there are probably about 30 horses on the farm. The farm manager has a few but the farm owner has the largest amount. The farm owner lives else where and comes and visits from time to time.

Now my complaint and/or observation. The barn manager has a very nice family and they have been around horses all their lives. However that does not mean one knows how to act around horses or they really know what they are doing. I watched yesterday as the barn manager and his kids rode horses through the barn. First, the center asile ceiling is only about 9 to 10 feet high. They were on short horses (14 hands) but if one decided to stand up or be ugly then they were destined to crash their heads into the ceiling. Not to mention that one of the horses decided to go back to her stall and take her rider with her. After the small panic attack of watching this, I then got the joy of watching the son trying to get on a horse. Again this horse couldn't be over 14.1 hands, but he starts from the ground with no contact with the reins, and sticks a foot in the stirrup and swings from it for a while until he gets some strength to get up into the saddle.

There are other little things like the 10 year son turning out a very nasty stallion. This horse has been known to grab a grown adult by the shoulder and then throwing them across the barn.

I guess this rant is really just a little frustration about how careless people are around these animals. I have been around them all my life and know I get a little lazy, but you can so easy get hurt that it is a good thing to remember and respect them.

Follow up to yesterday's post

Today is the third day in a row I have ridden the new exercise I mentioned in yesterdays blog entry. And I ran into some interesting things that I wanted to share. Today Dublin would not stretch as well has he has in the past few days. I eventually got him to do it in the walk, but at the trot he had his nose straight out and his neck high. I only was able to get him to stretch down for half a circle a couple of times. While he was relaxed and enjoying his morning, I just couldn't get him to stretch at the trot.

So one of three possibilities are at work here:
1) He is still trying to figure out what the heck I want.

2) He has been doing all this stretching over his topline and this is a totally NEW thing to him and he is a little sore.

3) Pulling my leg.

I seriously think it is mostly #2 and a little of #1. After we worked as usual, we went back and tried to cool down by stretching again. He did okay in the walk, meaning he stretch out and down some, but would pop up rather quickly. But we never got more than a few strides at a time in the trot and it took so long to get his neck down.

So my very uneducated theory on this is that he is sore, that he has not used these muscles in this way much. And we will continue to do it lightly with out fighting (because after all this is supposed to be a relaxing exercise and time in our ride as well as a strengthening exercise for his back). I still really like this way to warm up. Dublin will do big sighs after a few minutes of walking this way and I really feel him stepping up under himself. My riding buddy mentioned that he steps a good 12 inches over his front hoof print, which is excellent.

More later as we progress!

Strenghtening the horse's back

So recently I was riding Dublin. We were just standing there and he gave way with his back. Nothing new, but it was the first time my riding buddy saw him do that. She didn't comment on it then, but a few days later approached me with an exercise I really should try with him. Most people call it riding the horse "long and low". However, when I hear riders that ride Long and Low, I think of the riders that put their horses noses on their chest and then curl them over. This is totally different and I'll do my best to explain.

This exercise was taught to her by a French event trainer. Apparently they start all their horses at three, where they learn the VERY basics and nothing else is done. Then at four they start doing this to strengthen the back and at 5 they are put to work. Here it is.... you put your reins in one hand and a finger between both reins. Kind of like if you were to ride western style. Make sure there is enough contact on the reins that you "feel" the bit. Then run your hand back towards the buckle of the reins. Then take your other hand, take the rein and put one finger between the reins and move your hand back towards the buckle again. Make sure to keep contact on the reins, again just enough to feel the bit. You also need to hold the reins higher than the bit to encourage them to go down. Keep repeating. This especially works well if you have rubber reins with little gripper bumps.

What this does is vibrate the bit in the horse’s mouth. When the bit vibrates ever so slightly it then causes him to chew or mouth the bit and stretch out and downward. It took Dublin a while to figure out what I was doing, but once he got into it his nose when very close to the ground and his walk changed to a HUGE swinging and relaxed walk. Then once you have mastered it at the walk, do a trot in a large slow and easy trot.

This took some time for me to get him to keep his head down in the trot. I think manly because of my coordination and him trying to figure out what I wanted. But I was getting him to reach out and down with his head and swing through his back about 1/2 of a circle. Then he would pop his head up, drop his back and I would work my hands on the reins until he dropped again.

Today I went out and did this as a warm up for a good 10 to 15 minutes. Dublin has a tendency to hold his breath or breath very shallow until we get good and warmed up. But by doing this for a couple of minutes, he let out the biggest sigh and really relaxed. After I walked and trotted doing this and he felt really good, I picked up the reins and asked him to come round and move forward in nice working trot. It was SMOOTH! He was so light on the reins and his trot was really swinging and I felt him step way up under himself with his hind feet. We proceeded to work for a while and then I used this exercise to cool him down. This pleased him a lot.

My plan is this, I am going to warm him up each day and cool him down with this exercise for a month at least. And since Dublin is a very hot horse, whenever work gets tough or stressful for him, I'll stop and do this exercise for a couple of minutes and then back to work.

On another note, when my riding buddy was showing me how to do this exercise on her horse, he responded immediately. She had picked up the reins and asked for a shoulder in and then travers. Orion doesn't bend to the left when tracking left in the travers and he did the most perfect travers I have ever seen that day. So it really says something that they are relaxed, swinging through the back and hips and then to put them into work.

I want to stress, this is NOT putting the horse in an extreme curl position with their necks. The horse is simply stretching the head and jaw out and then down just as if they were about to graze. And I am not forcing this by pulling or flexing the horse's head. He feels the vibration of the bit in his mouth, starts chewing and then starts stretching down. When his head is down, I continue but my hands are lower and I let him stretch as far as he wants to go.

I'll keep you posted on our progress.