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CONTENTS •
In This Issue SPECIAL FEATURES
HORSE HEALTH
36 Be Posture Perfect!
12 Spring Into Action
8 exercises to improve your posture and correct common riding faults.
52 Newborn Foals and Childhood Autism – is there a link?
Understanding the genetics of horse colours, and feeding for a healthy coat.
55 New Test to Distinguish Horsemeat from Beef
Research at the University of California, Davis, is exploring the possible connection between maladjustment syndrome in newborn foals and childhood autism.
22 A Horse Owner’s Primer on Navicular Syndrome
New technique closes gaps in the testing process and reduces potential health hazards.
What are the symptoms of this degenerative disease, and how is it diagnosed and treated? PHOTO: NANCY ADAMS/HOOVES INCLUDED PHOTOGRAPHY
36
Knowing what’s normal and when to help is part of being prepared for everything during the breeding and foaling process.
16 Glowing from the Inside Out
A well-chosen phrase can focus your mind on positive thoughts to improve your performance.
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30 The Foaling Mare: When to Watch – When to Act
Simple steps to bring your horse safely back to work after winter’s layoff.
44 Mantra Magic: Power Up Your Ride
MARCH 2015
26 Scratching the Surface of Equine Skin Diseases
DEPARTMENTS
Diagnosis and treatment of hives, mud fever, rain rot, and ringworm.
3 To Subscribe 6 Editorial 8 Letters 10, 51 The Hoofbeat 41 Contest: Horse-Of-My-Heart 43 Contest: Win Tickets to ODYSSEO 48 Horse Council BC News Stay Safe While Sharing the Roads 56-57, Inside B/Cover Country Homes & Acreages
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PHOTO: ©THINKSTOCK/GOCE RISTESKI
58 Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association News The Gentle Art of Leading
EquiNetwork 59 Hitchin’ Post 59 Horses for Sale & Classifieds 59 Index to Advertisers 60 Roundup
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HORSE HEALTH
Spring into Action Simple Steps to Bring Your Horse Back After Winter BY DR. TANIA CUBITT AND DR. STEPHEN DUREN, Ph.D.
The snow is melting and there’s warmth in the early spring sunshine. It’s time to start bringing your horse back to fitness with a gradual return-to-work program. 12
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PHOTO: ©CANSTOCK/IOFOTO
As we welcome the transition from winter to spring, we are eager to get back in the saddle and start riding regularly again. Canadian winters are not sympathetic to outdoor riding, and without access to indoor facilities many horse owners have not been able to ride or exercise their horses as much as they would like during the winter months. Bringing horses back into work after their winter vacation must be done gradually by starting at a lower level and increasing the duration and intensity of workouts. At the same time, the horse’s feed should be adjusted to address his present body condition (too thin or too fat) as well as nutrient requirements for the increased workload. It doesn’t matter what your horse’s level of fitness was when you stopped riding last fall; after three or more months of inactivity, the conditioning he had is essentially lost. Even if the horse had plenty of turnout, most horses do little more than eat and stand around, especially when the weather and ground conditions are poor. Here are a few simple guidelines to safely bring your horse back to work after a prolonged break. Make Feeding Changes Gradually The horse is first and foremost a grazing animal that relies extensively on the bacteria present in its gastrointestinal tract to process forages. These bacteria are a mix of different organisms that work together to the benefit of the horse. If the feeding program is changed suddenly, bacteria populations do not have time to adjust. Instead, large numbers of bacteria die, while others flourish, setting up a situation where toxins may be absorbed by the horse, resulting in digestive upset or colic. Many horses are as sensitive to changes in hay as they are to changes in grains. A gradual change from one feedstuff to another provides time for the bacterial populations to adjust. For example, when changing the type of hay or grain being fed, replace only about 20 to 25 percent of the current feed every other day, so that it takes a week or more for a complete change. Be Careful Not to Overwork A horse that hasn’t seen much exercise over the winter can be just as excited about going out on that first ride as
WITHERS
Body Condition Scores
LOIN
HOOK BONE TAIL HEAD
The best way to evaluate a horse’s weight and condition is with this universally recognized Body Condition Scoring (BCS) system based on the Henneke Body Condition Scale. Since it can be hard to recognize if your horse is over- or underweight, it is often helpful to have two or three friends who don’t see your horse every day use the BCS system to objectively score your horse.
These are the points of the horse you will look at closely when making an evaluation.
s s s
BCS Body Parts
PIN BONE
BARREL
Body Condition Score 1
Body Condition Score 5
WHOLE BODY: Poor condition, extremely emaciated, no fat tissue felt NECK: Bone structure visible WITHERS: Bone structure easily visible LOIN: Spinous processes project prominently TAIL HEAD: Tail head, pin, and hook bones project prominently RIBS: Project prominently SHOULDER: Bone structure easily noticeable
WHOLE BODY: Moderate condition NECK: Blends smoothly into body WITHERS: Rounded over spinous processes LOIN: Back is level TAIL HEAD: Fat around tail head beginning to feel spongy RIBS: Individual ribs can be felt, but not visually distinguished SHOULDER: Blends smoothly into body
Body Condition Score 2
WHOLE BODY: Moderately fleshy NECK: Fat beginning to be deposited WITHERS: Fat beginning to be deposited LOIN: May have slight positive crease down back TAIL HEAD: Fat around tail head feels soft RIBS: Fat over ribs feels spongy SHOULDER: Fat beginning to be deposited; point of shoulder not discernible
WHOLE BODY: Very thin, emaciated NECK: Bone faintly discernible WITHERS: Bone structure faintly noticeable LOIN: Spinous processes prominent; slight fat covering over base of spinous processes; transverse processes of lumbar vertebrae feel rounded TAIL HEAD: Prominent RIBS: Prominent SHOULDER: Faintly discernible
Body Condition Score 3 WHOLE BODY: Thin NECK: Accentuated WITHERS: Accentuated LOIN: Fat build-up halfway on spinous processes, but easily discernible; can’t feel transverse processes TAIL HEAD: Prominent, but individual vertebrae can’t be visually identified; hook bones rounded but easily discernible; pin bones not distinguishable RIBS: Slight fat cover; individual ribs discernible SHOULDER: Accentuated
Body Condition Score 4 WHOLE BODY: Moderately thin NECK: Not obviously thin WITHERS: Not obviously thin LOIN: Negative crease along back TAIL HEAD: Prominence depends on conformation; fat palpable; hook bones not discernible RIBS: Faint outline discernible SHOULDER: Not obviously thin PRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM HORSE COUNCIL BC
Body Condition Score 6
Body Condition Score 7 WHOLE BODY: Fleshy NECK: Fat deposited along neck WITHERS: Fat deposited along withers LOIN: May have positive crease down back TAIL HEAD: Fat around tail head is soft RIBS: Individual ribs can be felt; noticeable fat filling between ribs SHOULDER: Fat deposited behind shoulder
Body Condition Score 8 WHOLE BODY: Fat; fat deposited along inner buttocks NECK: Noticeable thickening of neck WITHERS: Area along withers filled with fat LOIN: Positive crease down back TAIL HEAD: Tail head fat very soft RIBS: Difficult to feel individual ribs SHOULDER: Area behind shoulder filled in flush with body
Body Condition Score 9 WHOLE BODY: Extremely fat; fat along inner buttocks may rub together; flank filled in flush NECK: Bulging fat WITHERS: Bulging fat LOIN: Obvious positive crease down back TAIL HEAD: Building fat around tail head RIBS: Patchy fat appearing over ribs SHOULDER: Bulging fat March 2015 • Canadian Horse Journal
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PHOTO: ©THINKSTOCK/GOCE RISTESKI
HORSE HEALTH
Glowing from the
Inside Out
BY DR. TANIA CUBITT
The Genetics of Horse Colours and Feeding for a Healthy Coat
E
veryone wants to see their horses with a sleek, glowing coat. The quality of a horse’s hair coat is directly related to his overall health. Providing the horse with plenty of roughage and a balanced diet along with an effective parasite control regime, sufficient exercise, and grooming is imperative when striving for a healthy coat. Horse owners are frequently asking, “What can I feed to darken my horse’s coat or make him shinier?” In order to answer this question, we must first understand the basics of hair structure and the genetics of coat colour.
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Hair structure Hair is a filamentous biomaterial that grows from follicles found in the dermis layer of the skin. Hair is primarily composed of protein, notably keratin. Hair growth begins inside the hair follicle. The only “living” portion of the hair is found in the follicle. The hair that is visible is the hair shaft, which exhibits no biochemical activity and is considered dead. The base of the root is called the bulb, which contains the cells that produce the hair shaft. Other structures of the hair follicle include the oil producing sebaceous gland which lubricates the
Patterns such as roan are created by genes that affect the distribution of white and pigmented coat, skin, and eye colour.
hair, and the arrector pili muscles, which are responsible for causing hairs to stand up.
Coat Colour There are many different coat colours possible, but all colours are produced by the action of only a few genes. The simplest genetic default colour of all domesticated horses can be described as either red or nonred, depending on whether a gene known as the Extension gene is present. When no other genes are active, a red horse is the colour popularly known as a chestnut. Black coat colour occurs when the Extension gene is present and no other genes are acting on coat colour. The Agouti gene can be recognized only in non-red horses; it determines whether black colour is uniform, creating a black horse, or limited to the extremities of the body, creating a bay horse. Chestnut, black, and bay are considered the three base colours that all remaining coat colour genes act upon. There are a number of dilution genes that lighten these three colours in a variety of ways, sometimes affecting skin and eyes as well as hair coat, including cream, dun, pearl, champagne, and silver dapple. The palomino colour, for example, is created by a single allele of a dilution gene called the cream gene working on a red (chestnut) base coat. Genes that affect the distribution of white and pigmented coat, skin, and eye colour create patterns such as roan, pinto, leopard, white, and even white markings. Some of these patterns may be the result of a single gene; others may be influenced by multiple alleles. Finally, the grey gene, which acts differently from other coat colour genes, slowly lightens any other hair coat colour to white over a period of years, without changing skin or eye colour. Coat colour alleles affect melanin, the pigment or colouring of the coat. There are two chemically distinct types of melanin: pheomelanin, which is perceived as red to yellow colour, and eumelanin, which is perceived as brown to black. All colouration genes in mammals affect either the production or distribution of these two chemicals. Alleles affecting melanocytes (pigment cells) do not alter the pigment chemicals themselves but rather, by acting on the placement of pigment cells, produce distinct patterns of unpigmented pink skin and corresponding white hair.
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17
HORSE HEALTH
A Horse Owner’s Primer on BY SHIRLEY BYERS
Horses with navicular issues may be stiff and sporadically lame. A horse used for barrel racing might exhibit a gradual loss of performance and a reluctance to turn. 22
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If you have ever experienced the relief that comes after exchanging ill-fitting shoes for a more comfortable pair, you can understand what a horse suffering from navicular disease feels like when it gets a set of corrective shoes. Corrective shoes are not a cure-all for navicular disease, but they’re the first line of defence for this chronic cause of foreleg lameness, says equine surgeon Dr. Joe Bracamonte. “When I diagnose navicular syndrome, the first thing I do is try to find the shoe that fits that horse. One of the things that’s going to improve his life is finding that shoe,” says Bracamonte, an associate professor at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. “Navicular syndrome is a degenerative disease. It’s not like we can stop it. What we’ve got to do is try to slow it down.” Bracamonte estimates that about 70 to 80 percent of the horses that come to the WCVM’s Veterinary Medical Centre because of lameness issues are suffering from this degenerative condition of the navicular bone and soft tissues in the back of a horse’s forefeet. As researchers have gained a greater understanding of the disease, it has gone through several names over the years. Navicular disease is now known to be caused by a variety of abnormalities and is referred to as “navicular syndrome” or “caudal heel pain.” This condition shows up in horses aged anywhere between four and fourteen years old. In North America, navicular syndrome affects mainly Thoroughbreds and other breeds such as Quarter Horses and Tennessee Walking horses. Ongoing studies will eventually confirm whether a predisposition to developing navicular syndrome is a heritable trait in some breeds. Bracamonte explains that foot care is very important for all horses, especially for Quarter Horses that have small feet — a predisposing factor for navicular syndrome. As well, this breed’s tendency for long toes and underrun heels could put stress on the navicular area. Other common predisposing factors for the disease include a broken forward or backward hoof axis, sheared heels, contracted heels, and mismatched hoof angles.
PHOTO: ©CANSTOCKPHOTO/DGPHOTOGRAPHY
Navicular Syndrome
Clinical Signs and Diagnosis Horses with navicular issues likely present with “on and off” lameness until one day, the animal is suddenly acutely lame. Stiffness is another clinical sign, points out Bracamonte. In barrel racing horses, riders might notice a gradual loss of performance and a reluctance to turn. Western pleasure horses might also favour a shorter stride. A common misconception is that lame horses have shoulder issues, but that’s usually not the case. “For every case of lameness originating in the shoulder, we see 2,000 that are foot related,” says Bracamonte. To diagnose navicular syndrome, he wants to see his equine patients trot on a hard surface, and in a circle on hard and soft surfaces. “We have a grading system from zero to five,” explains Bracamonte. “Five is non-weight bearing.” When Bracamonte watches horses with suspected navicular disease (and with a lameness grade of two or three), he may notice a variety of subtle clinical signs. For example, a horse may point with one foot, or it may have a head nod with the sore foot. It may start landing on its toe and look like it’s trying to avoid landing on that heel. “It almost seems like they’re stepping on eggs,” says Bracamonte. Horses with soreness in both front feet present with an even choppier gait. On a hard surface, they’re very careful how they place their feet. There could be stiffness in their necks, and in most cases, one foot is more VA.0115.PCPRPOUR(out).pdf 1 1/15/15 10:09 painful. Horses suffering from navicular disease often
have a short stride in both limbs, and they might swap lame legs when navigating tight circles or corners. To determine which leg is in worse condition, Bracamonte explains that he might apply stress to certain areas of the horse’s legs. For example, he might pick up one leg so more weight rests on the other leg, then release the leg and watch for an increase in lameness as the horse moves. Here are two other tests used by veterinarians to diagnose navicular syndrome: • Wedge test: A veterinarian places one of the horse’s front feet on a wedge of wood to force the limb into a hyper-extended position. At the same time, the horse’s
INTERNAL HOOF STRUCTURE
Coffin Joint Coffin Bone
Hoof Wall
DDFT Collateral Ligament Navicular Bone Navicular Bursa Impar Ligament
AM
Digital Cushion
March 2015 • Canadian Horse Journal
23
HORSE HEALTH
Equine Skin Diseases BY HAYLEY KOSOLOFSKI above: While they appear uncomfortable, the flat-topped wheals of urticarial are usually not painful or itchy.
If you have ever owned a horse with a skin disease, you know from experience that these conditions are frustrating to manage — diagnosing them can be difficult, and their treatment is tedious. Worse yet, skin diseases can be painful for your horse if they cause lameness, or irritation under tack. Dr. Michelle Husulak has seen her fair share of equine skin diseases during her work as a resident in equine field service at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Medical Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Husulak talks about diagnosing and treating four of the most common skin conditions that plague horses in Canada.
Urticaria Urticaria or hives is a skin reaction to allergies or to other stressors. The reaction causes flat-topped wheals (raised areas surrounded by a red base) that can vary in size. In most cases, these wheals are not painful or itchy. “This is usually an allergic reaction to food, drugs, vaccines, or anything that the horse is exposed to and may 26
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be allergic to,” says Husulak. “It can also be caused by nonallergic reactions such as heat, cold, exercise, or stress.” Finding the cause of urticaria can be difficult. “We ask questions about the horse’s history and try to find out if they have been recently vaccinated or treated with any drugs, or if there has been a recent change in their environment or feed,” says Husulak. But in many cases, the cause of the skin reaction can’t be identified. Veterinarians can perform allergy testing to try and determine the cause of the urticaria. However, this is often unrewarding as the allergens that are tested are usually different from the ones that are present in the horse’s environment. “When we are trying to treat this, we attempt to treat the symptoms — the swellings that are happening on the body. These are usually treated with steroids,” says Husulak. Urticaria is often a one-time event, but if the condition recurs or is severe, it’s important to try and determine the cause to prevent subsequent allergic reactions.
PHOTO: PAM MACKENZIE
SCRATCHING THE SURFACE OF
PHOTO: ©CANSTOCKPHOTO/RON ROWAN
PHOTO: PAM MACKENZIE
above, left: Pastern dermatitis or mud fever often affects the white areas of the horse’s legs, and can cause pain and swelling. above, right: To prevent pastern dermatitis, horses should have access to a dry sheltered area and turnout that is free from manure and mud where bacteria and fungi thrive.
Pastern Dermatitis Pastern dermatitis goes by many names: scratches, grease heel, cracked heel, or mud fever. Veterinarians can rarely identify the cause of the disease, but the main suspects are bacteria and fungus. Crusted scabs are typically found on the back of the pastern, but lesions can extend higher or to the front of the leg. The condition most often affects white areas on a horse’s leg, and it can be aggravated by sunlight. To make matters worse, the limb is often swollen and painful. “The skin below the crusting is red and cracked and there is often hair loss there as well,” says Husulak. She says it’s important to talk to your veterinarian early in the disease process. If your vet sees the wounds in the early stages, he or she can biopsy the skin to try to determine the cause and treat your horse more effectively. “Initially, we start off by clipping the hair and removing the dirt and debris. Then we remove the crusts with warm water and antibacterial soap,” says Husulak. She adds that this process can be painful, and the horse may need to be sedated. “We then apply a ‘scratches’ ointment that’s made by our pharmacy,” says Husulak. “It contains steroid, antibiotic, and antifungal medication that decreases the inflammation and kills bacteria and fungi present in the skin.” The leg is then bandaged to keep it clean and out of the sun. Owners must continue to clean the sores, apply cream, and bandage the leg daily until the wounds heal. March 2015 • Canadian Horse Journal
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BREEDING
PHOTO: PAM MACKENZIE
The Foaling Mare
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WHEN TO WATCH — WHEN TO ACT Ask anyone who has bred horses, and they’ll tell you it’s no easy feat. However, when it is done properly (and everything goes right), having an energetic and healthy foal is an exciting and rewarding experience. Dr. Stephen Manning is a board-certified theriogenologist and an associate professor at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Based on his training and experience, Manning has some helpful information and guidelines on breeding, pregnancy requirements, normal foaling, and foaling complications that can happen before, during, or after birth.
Breeding The first step is getting the mare pregnant, which can be a challenging task. It’s not always clear when to breed your mare or easy to confirm pregnancy — especially without access to technology and equipment. Manning explains that the classical way to determine pregnancy, commonly used by breeders and owners, is to observe a non-return to estrus (heat). Between 14 and 21 days after breeding, the owner reintroduces his mares to a stallion. If a mare will not stand for the stallion, her lack of co-operation may indicate that she’s already pregnant. A more definitive method involves transrectal palpation. In pregnant mares, the cervix will be long and tight. Depending on the stage of pregnancy you may feel a bulge, or later on, you may actually palpate the fetus in the uterus. Manning notes that this procedure takes some skill, and it’s not necessarily easy to confirm pregnancy since changes can be subtle — especially early on when most mare owners are requesting a diagnosis. Ultrasonography is the most reliable method of determining pregnancy. It’s the only way to determine if a mare is pregnant with a healthy embryo, and it’s the only way to detect twins (a problem in horses because they almost never carry twins to term successfully). Not all horse breeders may have access to a veterinarian who is skilled in this technology, although ultrasonography is commonly used by practitioners who do any amount of equine work. Ultrasound examinations can also be used at various stages to assess pregnancy: Day 11-14: Can see embryonic vesicles Day 16: Destruction of one vesicle if twins are present Day 25: Can confirm pregnancy with a fetal heartbeat Day 55: Can attempt fetal sexing Day 340: Approximate gestation period for a mare (can range from 320 to 365-plus days)
PHOTO: PAM MACKENZIE
BY SARAH FIGLEY
Gestation Once the pregnancy has been confirmed, keeping your mare in optimal physical condition is important. For the first eight months, mares on good quality feed do not need additional feed requirements. However, since 65 to 70 per cent of fetal growth occurs from eight to eleven months, pregnant mares will require more energy in the last three months of gestation. Manning says owners “don’t need to double the energy provided in the feed, they just need to increase it by about 20 to 30 per cent. Sometimes this just means an increase in quality by adding in a concentrate and mineral.” While late gestational complications can be devastating, they are not the norm. However, breeders should be prepared to call a veterinarian if problems arise at any point in the pregnancy since many issues can be life threatening to the foal and mare. Here are several of the most dangerous late gestational problems:
Most mares foal at night and are not comfortable being watched. Signs of the first stage of labour are similar to those of colic; the mare may appear agitated, sweat, and pace her stall.
Twins: “Twins can be an epic failure and can end up costing a lot of money. We try to avoid these at all costs,” says Manning. Placentitis: This condition is caused by an infection in the uterus and results in a thickened placenta. This development ultimately compromises the oxygen and nutrients delivered to the foal. Placentitis is considered serious and veterinarians treat it aggressively with antibiotics — often for the remainder of the pregnancy. To reduce the occurrence of placentitis, veterinarians often recommend performing a Caslick’s procedure (surgically closing the upper part of the vulva). Uterine torsion: Uterine torsion(twisting of the uterus) results in a reduced blood supply to the foal. Mares will usually present with signs of colic; sometimes those signs are acute and severe, but sometimes the clinical signs are more subtle. “These [situations] are always serious for both the mare and fetus and usually require surgical March 2015 • Canadian Horse Journal
31
RIDER FITNESS
PHOTO: NANCY ADAMS/HOOVES INCLUDED PHOTOGRAPHY
Be Posture Perfect! Exercises to Correct Common Riding Faults BY GINA ALLAN AND BARB KOPACEK It is the beginning of the riding season and many people enjoy setting goals to help give focus and guidance to the year ahead. If we map out our desired goals appropriately, making them realistic and attainable, then initiate them with baby steps, there is a greater likelihood we will achieve success. When we write down our goals we are, in essence, making a commitment and a contract with ourselves. This year I challenge you to improve your overall physical posture and riding position to become the best rider you can be. Can you commit ten minutes every ride to focussing on your posture? Ten minutes of focus during a warm-up in walk, trot, or canter will help any rider significantly change and improve their riding position. There are many ways to successfully approach improving our physical performance when riding. Watching a video of 36
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yourself or using mirrors while you ride are excellent tools for observing traits to change or improve. If you have access to mirrors when you ride, look at yourself from the side. Ensure you have the classic positional alignment in place by imagining a line from your ear to your ankle, it would bisect the shoulder and hip. This line should be perpendicular to the ground.
POSITION PROBLEM #1
Legs that habitually swing forward If your lower legs are always swinging so far forward that you can see your toes in front of your knees, try standing up on your stirrups. Imagine they are like swings. Place the balls of your feet directly across the stirrup bar, just like in the two-point position. Reach the crown of your head skyward as if it is being pulled by a string like a puppet. Keep stretching lengthwise through your torso and, keeping your ankles directly underneath your hips, return to a seated position. If your legs swing forward as you sit down you may need to make an adjustment to your
PHOTO:S NANCY ADAMS/HOOVES INCLUDED PHOTOGRAPHY
#1
Deep Lunge Stretch
Begin in a runner’s lunge with your right leg forward and your left leg stretched behind you. (Ensure your left knee is appropriately padded.) Gradually lower your left knee to the floor, so that your right knee is aligned over your right ankle at a 90 degree angle. Extend your left leg behind you so the top of your foot is flat on the floor. Try to bring your hips forward to square them up. Lengthen through your torso by stretching skyward. Feel the stretch on the front of your hip. Hold 30 to 60 seconds. Repeat on the other side.
#2
Low Back Gluteal Stretch
Lie on the floor in Three-Point-Touch position. Keeping your hips level, gently bring one and then the other knee to your chest. As you do so, widen your legs as if bringing them toward your underarms. Keep your torso long and your pelvis level and square along the floor. Squeeze your thighs in and hold for 30 to 60 seconds. Repeat ten times.
saddle, but, more than likely you just need to practice keeping your lower legs and ankles back and underneath your seat. This is where your legs should be held and maintained during your entire ride. Simple adjustments like this can and ought to be made at any time throughout your ride if you feel you’ve fallen out of alignment. We call this “resetting your position.” Tight hip flexors and low back muscles, and weak glutes are often the result of this misalignment issue and result in the legs swinging too far forward. This can also create heaviness in the rider’s seat,
which puts too much pressure on the horse’s back, and can cause discomfort or even acute pain, reducing the horse’s ability to bring his hind legs underneath his hips. Whether or not you have experienced this problem in the past it is worth trying the following exercises to help release the hip flexors and increase strength in the glutes to give you that much-sought-after deep classical seat. The following dryland exercises are designed to help develop better muscle balance between the hip flexor, quadriceps, hamstring, and gluteal muscles: March 2015 • Canadian Horse Journal
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mantra magic POWER UP YOUR RIDE BY APRIL CLAY, M.Ed., REGISTERED PSYCHOLOGIST
mantra:
Keep calm and ride on. 44
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PHOTO: ROBIN DUNCAN PHOTOGRAPHY
A
t some point, all riders suffer from lapses in confidence, over thinking, or jangling nerves. When this happens to you, an effective strategy to employ is the use of a mantra. A traditional mantra is a word or sound that is used to facilitate concentration in meditation. Translated from Sanskrit, mantra literally means “an instrument of thinking.” In sport, this particular instrument of thinking can come in quite handy. A well-chosen phrase can guide your mind away from negative, unhelpful thoughts. Think of it as creating an anchor that guides your focus, or a way to fill the space in your head so there is less room for all that stuff you don’t want messing up your ride. “My mind was a constant jumble of competing thoughts at shows,” says Amy, a junior dressage rider. “I would be trying to sort through them, just getting more and more nervous. But when I developed my guiding phrase it helped me immensely. I now repeat ‘enjoy and shine’ over and over as I warm up. It brings me back to my important things, which are to have fun and to show off the skills I have worked so hard to perfect. It really works for me.”
PHOTO: ©CANSTOCKPHOTO/CRETIEN
mantra:
One fence at a time. mantra:
mantra:
Do your best, forget the rest.
It’s in the vault.
There are a few rules for creating a good mantra. The first is it should be short and easy to apply. Stay away from complicated acronyms or long phrases. I once worked with a rider who decided to use C-H-I-L-L as her key phrase for relaxation. Each letter represented something important to her, but she found this mantra was too lengthy to complete. It was actually adding stress rather than relieving it. So she modified this to “chilly Jilly.” Yes, her name was Jill, and she loved the bit of humour that helped her lighten up. Her practice became to warm up at the trot while rhythmically repeating her phrase in time to her horse’s hoofbeats. At the end of four weeks, she was able to use her mantra to calm her mind in a matter of minutes. The key is to make sure your mantra suits your needs. Ask yourself what is most important to you at what time. Do you need a positivity boost before entering the ring? A motivational phrase for when the going gets rough? Or maybe a way to calm yourself after a mistake? You can have several cues to use at different points in your ride. There is no rule that says you cannot use a readymade mantra as long as it has the impact you want, so borrow one if you need to. It’s also just fine to make up your very own language. Lee liked to refer to the style of his jump-off ride as “Millarian.” He was after an efficient, speedy, and well calculated risk in his ride, much like he had seen Ian Millar deliver many, many times.
PHOTO: STEVEN LILLEY/FLICKR
The Making of a Good Mantra
March 2015 • Canadian Horse Journal
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PHOTOS: JOE PROUDMAN/UC DAVIS
IN THE SHADOW OF EQUUS
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine professor and researcher John Madigan, inspects a maladjusted foal at Victory Rose Thoroughbreds in Vacaville, California, on January 21, 2015.
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Newborn Foals and Childhood Autism BY MARGARET EVANS Is there a common denominator between equine neonatal maladjustment syndrome in newborn foals and children born with autism? According to a University of California, Davis, press release, foals born with maladjustment syndrome seem detached, don’t recognize their dams, and they have no interest in nursing. The condition, also known as dummy foal syndrome, occurs in three to five percent of live foal births. However, with intensive care, 80 percent of the foals recover. For years, the syndrome was thought to be caused by hypoxia, or insufficient oxygen during birth. But hypoxia results in serious, permanent damage. Most foals with maladjustment syndrome, though, not only survive but they have no lingering health problems. Veterinary researchers at the University of California, Davis, wondered why and began looking for other possible causes. They were drawn to the foals’ sense of detachment which was eerily similar to detachment symptoms displayed by all autistic children. “The behavioural abnormalities in these foals seem to resemble some of the symptoms in children with autism,” said John Madigan, a UC Davis veterinary profes-
www.HORSEJournals.com • March 2015
sor and an expert in equine neonatal health. The maladjustment syndrome in foals also caught the attention of Isaac Pessah, a professor of molecular biosciences at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and a faculty member of the MIND Institute (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders). Madigan, Pessah, and other veterinary researchers teamed with their colleagues in human medicine to investigate possible connections between the disorder in foals and childhood autism. One common link seemed to be abnormal levels of naturally occurring neurosteroids which not only sustain pregnancies in horses but keep the foal with its long legs and tiny hooves relatively quiet in the womb. But immediately after birth, the foal must be ready to scramble up, know its mother, nurse, and be able to run in the face of predatory danger. Somewhere in the birthing journey, a biochemical “switch” must activate the process and that switch could be the physical pressure exerted on the foal’s body during passage through the birth canal. “We believe that the pressure of the birth canal during the second stage of labour, which is supposed to last 20 to 40 minutes, is an important signal that tells the
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www.HORSEJournals.com March 2015 • Canadian Horse Journal
53
PHOTOS: JOE PROUDMAN/UC DAVIS
The upper torso of this maladjusted foal is squeezed using several loops of soft rope to mimic the pressure normally experienced in the birth canal. Madigan’s research has found the squeezing to help the foal recover from Neonatal Maladjustment Syndrome, sometimes within hours.
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www.HORSEJournals.com • March 2015
foal to quit producing the sedative neurosteroids and ‘wake up,’” said Madigan. Curiously, many foals with maladjustment syndrome were either delivered by cesarean section or had a very rapid birth. In both cases, maybe the pressure switch didn’t get activated. The research team has found for the first time that neurosteroids persist, and their levels often rise, in the bloodstream of foals born with maladjustment syndrome. These neurosteroids can cross the blood-brain barrier and impact the central nervous system. The researchers have now discovered that they can reduce maladjustment signs by using several loops of a soft rope to gently squeeze the foal’s upper torso and mimic the pressure normally experienced in the birth canal. When the rope pressure is applied, the foal lies down and appears to be asleep. After 20 minutes, a typical time in the birth canal, the rope is loosened and the squeeze pressure released. Initially, the foals given the procedure have responded well, some rising to their feet within minutes, bonding with the mare and nursing. The theory is that the pressure triggers biochemical changes in the central nervous system critical to the transition from the relative quiet of the fetus in the womb to the boisterous wakefulness of the newly born foal. The technique is now called the Madigan Foal Squeeze Procedure. The early findings have compelling implications not only for the health of newborn foals, but also for possible links to autism, which includes a group of complex brain development disorders. “The concept that a disruption in the transition of fetal consciousness may be related to children with autism is intriguing,” said Pessah. Using data from the foal research, Pessah and Madigan are working with researchers at the MIND Institute to investigate neurosteroids in children with varying degrees of autism and a recent study has reported elevated levels of neurosteroids in autistic children. The interlinking research between challenged foals and babies continues to astonish and amaze researchers. “The concept that some disorders in animals and humans may be related to a failure of transition of consciousness at birth is a novel idea,” said Madigan. “Evolutionary biological mechanisms for survival and adaptation after birth are important concepts, whether it’s a newborn foal or a newborn infant. In this case, it may very well be that the horse is allowing us to learn something about ourselves.” Visit our website to see the video of the Madigan Foal Squeeze Procedure, at www.HORSEJournals.com – Horse Care section.
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