Often people tend to put ‘little things’ down to the horse’s temperament, him being ‘quirky’, or think ‘it is just the way he IS’, without realising they are signs that the horse isn’t quite ‘right’ and can be rectified.
Things like:
• Being a bit grouchy when doing up cover straps, front and back
• Being difficult to clip
• Not growing a full tail
• Scurfy coat
• Wood chewing
• Mares being ‘marish’ or hormonal
• Mares not cycling properly affecting conception
• Being ‘footy’ on hard ground or when walking over stones
• Being ‘reactive’ instead of ‘responsive’
• Objecting to even the lightest of leg aids, kicking out
• Being overly sensitive
• Ongoing saddle fitting problems
• Objecting to body work or saddle fitting
• Not tracking up at trot or stepping under at canter (back legs together)
• One step forwards – two steps back with training
• Touchy around the head/ears, chest, girth and withers
• Liquid dribble with manure (FWS – Faecal Water Syndrome)
• Flicking head when riding through long grass – people think it is ‘grass moths’
• Frequent nose rubbing
• OK at home but not so good when elsewhere
• Sweating with little or no exertion or in the trailer
• Tight muscles
• Tendency to hollow out and difficulty with bending
• ‘Snatching’ feet with trimmer/farrier
• Toe Dragging/slight knuckling over
The list goes on!
Some of these are health issues nothing to do with being ridden but all are really signs that your horse is not at ‘square one’. You are starting your ride/training session with a handicap.
You may be thinking that you can ‘work through’ or ‘train out’ something that is actually ‘chemistry’ issue rather than a ‘training’ one. How much better the experience when the horse is physically and mentally starting from a better place.
How do we know?
Because we have conducted numerous forage tests along with testing bloods and urine samples - all of which correlate to the behaviours and other issues we are seeing with the horses. Once the cause (the main forage - short green grass or rye/clover pasture) has been removed from the horses diet - they ALL improve drastically!
Now we place a big emphasis on getting the horse to a good place from which to start.
The following ways are common methods people apply. They may work in the short term but the issues always seem to come back and can often become ‘big things’ unless addressed.
• The ‘ignore and it might go away’
• ‘It’s just the way he is’ so you put up with it
• ‘Needs more work’ (wet saddle blanket)
• Spend an amount of time desensitising, doing ground work or lunging which is disproportionate to that expected to achieve what should be simple tasks
• More lessons with different trainers
• Add more ‘training’ gadgets (draw reins, martingales, leverage bits etc)
• Become confused about what to do with so much conflicting advice
There is no ‘one size fits all answer’ but products such as GrazeEzy, AlleviateC/SOS and AlleviateGold are akin to ‘tools of the trade’.
Always check the following:
• That hay is 100% clover free
• There is no lucerne/alfalfa in any of the hay/products you are feeding
• That you are feeding enough salt (for av sized hack, at least 1 Tbsp per feed twice a day)
Some issues go away just by making these simple changes.
As there is such a variation in individual horses/circumstances, there is no one size fits all answer.