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"Horses have hoofs to carry them over frost and snow; hair, to protect them from wind and cold. They eat grass and drink water, and fling up their heels over the campaign. Such is the real nature of horses. Palatial dwellings are of no use to them." Chuang Tzu
Equine Care Horse Management or Horse Husbandry or whatever other name you want to call it, how we keep our horses is vital to their health. These issues have to do with movement, nutrition, dentistry, clothing, physical balance, conditioning, saddle fit and riding posture/style. Please read as much or as little of this as you may find interesting. I’ve included some websites, where possible, so you may get more information in detail. First, movement: In order to optimize what a Strasser trim (a physiologically correct trim) is attempting to do your horse must have 24/7 turnout. This trim is contraindicated for a horse who spends more than an hour or two a day in a stall. This isn't being idealistic or stubborn but realistic. For a horse not allowed to move and walk around when we are trying to promote circulation is not only counter productive but also can be dangerous. If a horse has access to a stall then he should be able to leave it anytime he chooses and this stall must not have shavings in it which are hygroscopic, i.e. they absorb moisture and dry out the hoof. Nutrition is an enormously complex and difficult subject that we know so little about yet is so important to our horse’s health. I'm no expert but I'll tell you what I've learned from a lot of reading and trying to sort through these issues for my horses. If you're feeding sweet feed or corn or oil, don't. The sugar content of sweet feed is simply over the top even for hard working horses. Corn is difficult for horses to digest accept in very small amounts as are oils and can cause a great deal of stomach discomfort if not colic. The best thing to feed your horse is pasture. Second best is grass hay and plenty of it. If you can free feed them hay, even better. Oats are an excellent source of protein and good for maintaining proper dentition. Rice bran is an excellent source of essential fatty acids and a good source of energy. Beet pulp, as a low glycemic carbohydrate, is an excellent source of soluble fiber, a great way to add hydration to your horse’s gut and some research shows that it has a positive impact on the ‘good’ gut bacteria. The following website is authored by a vet who does research on nutrition for endurance horses. It’s an excellent source of information. www.shady-acres.com/susan/index.shtm. Good dental care is vital to your horse in many ways. A lot of 'bad' attitude is attributable to a sore mouth. You might have a bad attitude if your mouth and teeth hurt all day. You can't always tell when a horse needs dental work by waiting to see if he drops food from his mouth while eating. Poor dental care can lead to a horse not being able to use his teeth to grind his food properly which leads to digestion problems and more dental problems. It can cause temporal mandibular joint problems, which can cause misalignments in his poll, which are reflected in the neck, withers and back. Finding a good equine dentist can be difficult but its well worth the effort. Check out What better time to talk about bits while on the subject of dentistry. Veterinarian and PhD, Dr. Robert Cook, Professor Emeritus of Surgery at Tufts University, who spent a lifetime working with race horses, has concluded that a metal bit in a horses mouth is very damaging. If you want to read why, check out his site at The best thing to say about clothing is; don't. That is, no blankets, leg wraps, etc. Blankets interfere with a horse's ability to engage all his thermoregulatory mechanisms. Muscle fibers attach to every hair in the horses coat and allow him to lift the hair and change the angle. Please read Dr. Strasser’s Lifetime of Soundness for a full explanation of why clothing is harmful. Obviously, if you have a clipped horse that has been showing on the winter circuit in Florida and you’re moving him back to Maine where the temperatures hover at 15 degrees, he’s going to need some help. But if you live in Maine and your horses are out 24/7 they will be fine in sub zero temperatures and the attempt to blanket them thinking they need it will interfere with their ability to stay warm. Physical Balance. I see a lot of train wrecks out there. Horses whose front and hind ends are disconnected, whose pelvises don’t swing symmetrically, who have ribs out, whose feet are medially or laterally unbalanced, who have TMJ problems leading to poll problems. And most of the time these problems lead to behaviors that people consider resistant, rude, disrespectful or dangerous and the horse is punished for them and he shuts his body down even more which requires even more compensation and further deterioration. It’s cyclic. The only disciplines that I know of that can handle such issues are Chiropractic, Acupuncture and Massage. Your horse may need any one or all three of these modalities to get his body back to a state where he is out of pain and capable of moving athletically and symmetrically. I understand how difficult it can be to find someone versed in these disciplines that does good work. We are fortunate to have a vet in our area who specializes in chiropractic and acupuncture and who has done excellent work for our horses. All I can say is that it’s well worth the effort to find someone who can be called on when your horse needs it. And trying to reshape and heal hooves on a horse is made that much more difficult when his body is a wreck. A book I like for massage is Equine Massage – A Practical Guide by Jean-Pierre Hourdebaigt, RMT. Conditioning. One of the difficulties horses have to contend with is the weekend warrior. This is the person who sees their horse only on weekends and maybe only every other weekend. Their horse, if he’s lucky, is out 24/7 but even this isn’t enough (and much, much worse if he’s stall bound) for a horse to stay in condition for riding especially if the horse is taken out and ridden on trail for any length of time or hard; or even in the arena for two or three hours. Thirty minutes every other day of gymnastics and/or cavaletti is probably sufficient to keep a horse conditioned for the occasional trail ride. If you’re working or showing your horse they will need more and horses gain so much from ground work, from flat work and cavaletti that I can’t recommend it highly enough. There are too many horses out there being asked to work with weedy butts, that is, they don’t have the physical conditioning to do their job. If you can find a Parelli instructor in your area you may find they have group play days, which are wonderful entertainment for your horse as well as yourself, and they help with both physical and mental conditioning. Of course, taking your horse to Levels 1, 2 or 3 in the Parelli system is excellent for both horse and owner. A good book for cavalleti is Cavalleti - The Schooling of Horse and Rider over Ground Poles by Ingrid and Reiner Klimke. Also, Michael Schaffer’s Right from the Start – Create a Sane, Soft, Well-Balanced Horse. Saddle Fit. I know endurance riders who love the American Flex (This used to be the Ortho-Flex company. They were bought out by Germans and are now American Flex). I don’t have any personal experience with this saddle but the one I do have experience with has a rehabilitation program for your horse to rebuild his back and withers after damage from conventional saddles. I don’t mean to suggest that the balance saddle is just for rehabbing a horse; far from it. But the folks at Balance understand that there is more to it than just throwing on another saddle in the never ending search for ‘good’ saddle fit. There is nothing like seeing a horse fitted with a Balance Saddle and watching him explore and investigate the saddle and their expression when they find they can move their shoulder without pain. Horses that had been locked down with little movement are suddenly extending at the shoulder and their riders are going ‘Wow!’ Balance gives a good explanation and some research on their web site, concerning the issues of ‘saddle fit.’ They also do saddle fitting demos where you can ride your horse in one of their saddles to find out which the horse prefers. Carol Brett conducts these seminars and is an excellent riding instructor going back before the days of Balance International. The thing that is first and foremost for Carol is not the sale of a saddle but the well being of your horse. I have seen her refuse to sell a saddle to someone who refused to do what the horse needed to rehab its back. I think that speaks incredibly well for the organization. Check the website out for a schedule of these saddle fitting seminars. (And, no, I am not affiliated with them in any way except in gratitude for my horse that is ridden in their saddle and in respect for how much they put the horse’s welfare first). And Balance in conjunction with the Parelli organization is releasing, sometime soon, a western saddle. Riding/Posture. Peter Speckmaier, from Germany and a student of Rolf Becher, was certified in 1990 as a Chiron Riding Instructor. His book, The Centaur Reborn – Holistic Horsemanship and the Foundation for Optimal Performance, can be purchased from thehorseshoof. If you enjoy the English style, are doing Hunter or Jumpers or just hacking and want a better seat, you will learn in the tradition of Frederico Caprilli, the Italian Army officer who started the modern jump seat. I am constantly amazed by the fact that the horse reflects the rider. If the rider’s posture is out of balance the horse will have a problem. ‘My horse won’t bend to the left,’ says the rider. “Your body won’t let him,’ says the instructor with a good eye. Having your body balanced, supple and pliable is the first order of ‘good’ riding. If you have the opportunity to join any classes doing yoga or Feldenkrais, which teaches body awareness, take them. You and your horse will benefit greatly. The following website might be educational in that regard. Peggy Cummings is a riding instructor who travels the country doing seminars. Certified by Sally Swift in Centered Riding, Peggy has developed some of her own concepts and ideas for teaching and written a book, Connected Riding. Her website is And there is the Madam of Riding herself, Sally Swift. Her book is available everywhere and a great read. Centered Riding
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