How to Safely Handle Your Horse’s Feet

Picking up feet safely.

The following question came through the Ask Anne page on my website.  Difficulty handling feet is a common issue with horse owners.   

“My mare has always had a problem standing for her feet to be done. She moves all around and yesterday even broke her halter from the cross ties.   She grabs her foot right out of your hand. People say I have to hit her and be more assertive.  I have tried yelling and smacking her belly.   I can’t beat her.  Now the people at the barn want to use a chain on her lip.   HELP! I see fear in her eyes.”

Your instinct to not want to beat your mare is correct. Imagine being fearful about going to the dentist and then having someone yell at you and/or hit you because you don’t want to go.   Would that make you feel more calm or more stressed about going?

3 Tips for Making Every Ride Great!

Riding should be fun and the time spent with your horse should be enjoyable or really … what’s the point?   If you’re taking your riding too seriously and have lost the joy, here are 3 tips to help you make the best of every ride.

Friday July 1, 2011 Spyder Returns to the Show Ring

Here’s a photo of Spyder (Remember Spyder Man) and me in the Aged Geldings Halter Class at the Summerama Quarter Horse show a few weeks ago. This was a significant event as it marked Spyder’s return to the show ring after 3 years. When I first met Spyder, he was so fearfully aggressive and explosive that he had injured his owner while being walked from the barn to the paddock.

Spyder’s lack of trust in humans and lack of self confidence made him a dangerous horse.

Is Your Horse Getting What He Deserves or What He Needs?

I spent some time at a sanctioned/recognized horse show recently and was honestly appalled by some of the training techniques I saw being used by many of the trainers and riders.  Draw reins were used to pull the horses’ heads in to their chests.  Reins attached to shank bits with large ports were pulled and yanked upwards either to get the horse to raise his head if it was too low or to lower his head if it was too high.  I didn’t understand how all this pulling was “training” let alone how the horse was supposed to know the difference between the cue for raise or lower his head!  These techniques are accepted as “the way” to train horses for competition.  Had I asked a rider why he or she was being so hard on the horse, I am sure the answer would have been “he deserves it”.

New Beginnings

Being able to understand your horse’s psychology and behaviour is the first step to creating a mutually beneficial relationship built on trust and respect.  If the horse’s experience involves pain and/or inconsistency they become at the very least uncooperative and at worst develop serious behavioural and training problems.  When my special mare, Jewell, came back into my life almost 3 years ago, she arrived with emotional and physical problems – lack of trust, chiropractic misalignments, hormonal imbalance, and a history of bucking and being extremely flighty and highly stressed. My intention has been to regain her trust and respect and rebuild her confidence as well as her emotional and physical health  so that she will once again become my willing partner.

I have been working with Jewell fairly consistently over the past few weeks.  The ground work was essential in getting her over the fear of contact.  I suspect that someone in the years that she was not with me was riding her with draw reins because, at first, she would brace her neck and go behind the vertical as soon as there was any contact on the bit.  Working her in hand, lunging on the vienna rein and long lining all helped to get her to stretch long and low into the contact allowing her neck and back to relax.  She was doing so well that she worked with the women in the recent Mare Magic workshop.  It was great to see her and the women doing such good work together as they built mutual trust and respect

The day after the Mare Magic workshop, I worked with Jewell.  She was lovely & relaxed which is a testament to the work the women did with her the previous day.  In fact, she was so good that I sat on her for the first time since I bought her back almost 3 years ago!  At first, she did not want to stand at the mounting block.  With just a few minutes of work, she was calm, level and bending around me.  I got on her back and became so overwhelmed with emotion that I was shaking – so I had to dismount!  I cried on her shoulder for a couple of minutes – a release of some stress about my Mum* (who had been taken by ambulance to the hospital the night before)  as well as some guilt about Jewell’s prior experiences that had created her emotional and physical problems.

In our next session, Jewell stood quietly at the mounting block with no sign of stress and allowed me to mount.  I got on and off  her several times and she had no need to move away at all.  From the saddle, using only my leg aids, I asked her to bend to both sides which she did calmly with no sign of stress and no need to walk away.

When I lunged Jewell in our next session, I noticed that she was not moving well in her hind quarters.  I suspected she needed a chiropractic adjustment as she had chiropractic issues when she came home 3 years ago.  Lorna Bell, Equine Sports Therapist extra-ordinaire, quickly found the problem and released her locked hip as well as most of the muscle tension.

Wanting to give her muscles some time to rest, I waited 3 days to work with Jewell again.  Once again, she allowed me to mount her without any issue.  We walked quietly and calmly around the sand ring for 15 minutes.  At first, she had some tension in her back and neck, but she relaxed within a few minutes when she realized there was only following contact on the reins – no pulling or fixed hands.  She responded brilliantly to light aids from my seat and leg for bend, walk and halt.   What an awesome ride that was!

Confidence Under Saddle

As our journey together continues, it is my responsibility to:

1) be AWARE of Jewell’s physical and mental states to keep her healthy and happy

2) set and maintain BOUNDARIES that earn her trust and respect

3) be CONSISTENT in my behaviour  so that she feels secure knowing what to expect from me in any situation.

These 3 key elements are the foundation of establishing and maintaining a willing partnership with any horse.

*At the hospital, Mum was diagnosed with a chest infection from which she has since recovered.

A Saddle for Jewell – Part 2

Well, I am glad that I had Kelly, a professional saddle fitter, check out the saddle I had on trial for Jewell.  The saddle was actually just a bit too narrow for her.  After she gets into some regular work, her shoulder muscles will build up and the saddle would have become much too tight in a short time.  The good news is that my Bates  saddle – which has the changeable gullet system – does fit her.

The Bates saddle has the Cair ® cushion system.  The marketing about this saddle leads one to believe that the saddle is filled “simply with air” which keeps you seated closer to your horse.  I have had my Bates saddle for several years.  The seat is comfortable for me, but the panels that sit on the horse’s back are hard without any give.  There was also a crease developing in the panel where the front & back air bags met.

Kelly explained that she could remove the air bags and stuff the saddle with flocking to give a better fit.  Having this done, of course, ends any manufacturer’s warranty on the saddle.  But, the warranty had long expired.  I decided to have the air bags removed and the saddle stuffed with traditional wool flocking.

As Kelly explained to me, there are 3 options in English saddle stuffing materials:

1. Flocking (combination of wool & synthetic fibres) -  provides the most adjustment for the horse’s back.  Padding can be added or removed to fit the horse’s back as it changes over time.  Flocking provides rounder edges which are less likely to cause pressure points or rubs on the horse’s back.  The entire saddle can be re-stuffed if necessary.
2. Foam (injected into the panels within a form created by wool felt) – Foam panels may leave gaps in contact, may be more squared at the edges causing pressure points or rubs, and the foam breaks down over time leaving the tree exposed and pressing directly on your horse’s back.  Foam panels cannot be replaced and most saddle fitters will not even attempt to re-stuff these saddles with flocking.  So, once the foam breaks down, the saddle must be replaced.
3. Air (the Bates/Wintec Cair ® or Flair ® systems) – The “air bag” systems seem similar to the foam option.  The air can leak out of the bladder leaving only the thin foam padding.

It only took Kelly a few days to get my saddle done and the results look great.  She also brought me a bag full of the stuff that she removed from the saddle -

4 vinyl “bladders” (2 from each panel), some foam pieces and some white acrylic “fluff”.  The “fluff” actually feels unpleasant to touch and quite crunchy.  I wouldn’t stuff a toy animal with it.

Air bag system from my Bates saddle

The foam pieces were inside the bladders.  So, the saddle was really stuffed with foam, a bit of air and some acrylic “fluff.

Because of the weather and my schedule, I haven’t had a chance to try the saddle on Jewell yet.  Stay tuned for Part 3 in this Saddle Fitting Chronical.

A Saddle For Jewell At Last – Part 1

I may have finally found a saddle for Jewell. I am taking great care to ensure the saddle does fit her properly because: 1) She had some chiropractic issues when I got her 2 1/2 years ago; 2) She had been bucking people off (understandably); 3) She has not been in work for 3 years so her muscles and top line will change once she is in regular work undersaddle. So, I am investing in having a professional saddle fitter assess the saddle and will have it restuffed if necessary. Of course, as her shape changes with the work, I will have the saddle assessed again in a few months to see if any changes need to be made. It is so important to keep her back healthy – both for her sake and my butt.

It just might fit!

Even though Jewell has been worked in a surcingle, she still had some concerns about having a saddle on her back. So, when I brought the saddle home on trial, I introduced it to her very compassionately. Since Jewell lives out with a herd and I have not worked her since the fall, I wanted to keep her stress level low. I brought her into a small enclosure beside her paddock so that she was still near her herd. I spent a while grooming her ensuring she was relaxed and trusting me. She was fine until I picked up the saddle. It was only then that she wanted to move away from me.  I took the time to bring her into a calm shape – level neck and bending around me – and recognized her need to move by pushing her around me in a small circle while I carried the saddle on one arm (thank goodness it’s an English saddle!) It only took 3 or 4 attempts before she stood still while I raised the saddle up and gently placed it on her back. She showed some tension in her neck even though she was level and being respectful to my space. By lifting it on and off another 3 or 4 times always paying attention to her shape and recognizing how she was feeling, it didn’t take long for her to be okay, relaxed and comfortable with the saddle up there. Being a bit pressed for time, that was all we did the first day. But, I could at least see that the saddle appeared to fit.

The next day, she was not at all concerned about the saddle going on her back and let me girth it up without any stress. Again, I took my time & did not make any assumptions that she would be ok with this process. It was another short session, but the saddle was on & she walked around comfortably & relaxed.

Day three, because there were strong, cools winds blowing, I brought Jewell into the barn to groom and tack up. Cool as a cucumber she was! Lead her out to the sand ring (without getting blown away) and did a few minutes of lunging to assess how the saddle sits and where any pressure points might be. Her behaviour is a testament to this work (thank you Chris Irwin). Even with the bad weather, not having done any work since late last summer and being in the ring by herself, this previously highly anxious, untrusting mare was good as gold. Even if the saddle ends up not being the right one for Jewell, going through this process was worth it just to see how far she has come.

When was the last time you checked your horse’s saddle fit? Your horse’s shape will change depending on the quantity and type of work he does and his age. Investing in a visit from a good saddle fitter who can assess the saddle’s fit and do any repairs based on that assessment may save you the cost of chiropractic or massage therapy or from having an unhappy, unsound horse.

I have booked an appointment with an independent saddle fitter to give me an assessment of this particular saddle on Jewell and to get tracings of her back.  Stay tuned for the next update on our progress.