Then when we finally do, it’s like the tide of change has swept across us and we set out with a vengeance to make up for lost time. Often, we humans will go from one extreme to another, either not doing enough - or doing too much. However, not knowing what to do is no excuse for doing nothing at all.
Imagine the horse whose owner hasn’t ridden or done anything with him for months, other than feed and brush him every now and then. One day, out of the blue (human just got two weeks holiday), his owner shows up and it’s on. Out come the brushes, the hoof pick, the curry comb ... the owner is all over him like a whirling dervish. Next ... on goes the saddle and with no more warm up they are off for a two-hour trail ride. This happens every day for the first week then gradually peters out over the second week and finally the owner goes back to work, leaving the poor old horse stiff, sore and wondering what happened.
Or, what about the horse owned by the weekend rider. For five days the horse is left alone in the paddock but then Saturday comes. His enthusiastic owner has a whole week to make up for, so it’s straight into training, trail riding, drilling or flexion from Saturday morning until Sunday lunch-time. No preparation, no warm up, no rest and no warm down. The horse then has five days to recover from the stiffness and torn muscles created on the weekend before it all starts again. The owner is bewildered when his / her horse breaks down after a few years!
As you progress through the levels, particularly from the middle of Level 2 onward, it’s important to take into consideration the workload of your horse. From here on in, you will be expecting more and more athleticism from your horse and as such they need to be treated like an athlete.
What do ‘A grade’ footballers do before playing a match? They warm up, they do some stretches and they prepare their muscles. If they didn’t, they’d get cramps and muscles strains or even more serious injuries during the match and not be able to train for days afterward. They also warm down after the match to release toxin build up.
Horses cannot talk and tell us of their aches and pains, so it’s important that we are thoughtful about how we go about our practise and play sessions. We need to develop some awareness and notice any signs of sore spots or stiffness and not just carry on until it’s too late. A little attention paid early on may save you a hefty vet bill and months of inactivity later on.
Having said all that, horses are pretty resilient. For every horse that is getting hammered about that shouldn’t be, there are two being molly coddled that needn’t be. Remember how long horses have been around for. They are an extremely effective and sturdy prey animal, which is why they have evolved and existed for so long.
It’s a great plan when you start getting into the more active Lessons with your horse – pretty much from here on in – to make sure you warm your horse up first, on both sides. Maybe plan your practise sessions something like this:
Warm Up Phase
Teaching Phase
Warm Down Phase
Your warm up phase would be something easy, familiar and low key ... maybe some on-line or liberty work. Something you and your horse know well and that will give him a chance to gradually stretch his muscles and provide the little bit of repetition needed to consolidate what you are learning. If you are going for a ride, you could incorporate this into your saddling procedure.
Your teaching phase is where you’ll pick up the pace a bit, or get more active, or introduce the new stuff, depending on what it is you are doing. You’ll probably find that your teaching phase will be your shortest part of the session. Just a little bit of new each day is enough to keep it interesting without over facing either you or your horse.
Next, your warm down phase. Once you have had a pretty good session, have made those small improvements from yesterday or last time, you’ll finish on a good note and resist the temptation to do too much. Remember to hurry up and slow down. Reward the slightest try. You will get there quicker if you can learn to be patient and layer your progress. So many times we run the risk of ruining a good thing in search of a great thing. If you find yourself thinking “just one more time”, this should set off warning bells. A great way to warm down would be to just go for a walk with your horse while he cools down. Let him walk the toxin build up out of his system. This will also give you a chance to download what you have just done. Don’t be in a hurry to turn your horse loose. If you just go get him, thrash him around for an hour then stick him back in the paddock, it won’t take long for the sight of you to give him a sour taste in his mouth. Hang out with him until he has dried off ... be his friend.
If you have had a good session and done just enough without doing too much, you’ll both be feeling in a good frame of mind. Your horse will be brighter and quite content, even if he is a bit tired. He’ll probably look at you as if you where something interesting and a bit of fun.
Horses do sweat, so expect that. Look for a nice even sweat. The hottest and wettest bits are the bits that did the most work. So if your horse is all hot and sweaty around the shoulders and front end, chances are he’s all over the forehand and not using his hindquarter. If it has been mentally hard, they’ll be wet around the ears. Look out for sweat over their hindquarter. If they have sweat across their tail dock, you have done too much. As far as physical work goes, you will probably wear out before your horse does.
Read More Road To Horsemanship articles.
- By Meredith Ransley, Quantum Savvy.