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HARRY MEADE
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The science behind
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headshaking
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PART ONE In this feature. . .
As told to Louise Kittle. Photos: Bob Atkins. With thanks to Airowear for their help with this feature, airowear.co.uk. Find out more about Harry at harrymeade.com
Our expert
Eventer Harry Meade has tasted success at the highest level, riding for Team GB at the World Equestrian Games and completing Badminton nine times. He’s known for his quiet, sympathetic style across country.
Our models
Kimberley Marshall rides her own Jaguar, an 8-yearold warmblood gelding. Kimberley has owned him for two years and the pair have recently stepped up to BE100 level.
Jo Hickman-Dunne rides her 15-year-old, Polishbred Jamaica Man. The pair have been together for 10 years, competing in Pony Club teams.
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Riding in partnership with your horse
In the saddle
➤ Creating rhythm ➤
Establishing a correct cross-country position
Crosscountry made simple
Cross-country nerves can make even the coolest rider lose their focus. Eventer Harry Meade shares his straightforward philosophy for success
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here’s a fundamental difference between cross-country and its sister disciplines, dressage and showjumping. It’s important to understand this before you set out on the cross-country course. We spend our lives going around in ever-decreasing circles for dressage and showjumping, whereas across country it’s important that your horse draws in the direction you’re travelling. This means that you have to get him travelling forward from A to B. That begins as you warm up, before you even jump a fence. It’s important to establish a positive trot, then pick up canter and ride around the outside of the area you’re schooling in. Don’t ride circles, just keep him moving forward.
Schooling technique When you’ve jumped a fence, don’t allow your horse to automatically hang back towards others you’re schooling with. Pull up in a straight line from canter to trot and then to walk, then give him a pat and a loose rein and walk in. Horses need no encouragement to hang towards their mates, so don’t give him any.
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PART TWO In this feature. . .
➤ Managing strong horses ➤ Riding new
Hacking
hang-ups
A hack may seem like the ideal way to spend time with your horse, but confidence issues can soon put a stop to that. H&R has some simple solutions to help you enjoy hacking again
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Mind matters
or different horses ➤ Confidence in open spaces ➤ Curing traffic trouble
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Managing strong horses
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If your horse can be strong, it can seriously hamper your enjoyment. Even if this doesn’t affect your confidence, having to constantly battle with him is tiring for you and uncomfortable for him. It’s important to understand why your horse is strong. Is he excited or nervous, or is there another underlying reason for it? Establishing this is the only way you can begin to solve it and make your hacks more enjoyable for both of you.
Make sure he’s comfortable Get your tack checked by a qualified fitter and ask your vet to check your horse over to rule out any pain or discomfort, particularly focusing on his back and teeth. Relieve the pressure Think about how you’re riding. If you’re putting too much constant pressure on your horse’s mouth, maybe because you’re anxious, he’s likely to fight the contact. Focus on softening your hands, wrists and shoulders to relieve the tension. Half-halts will be much more effective at checking his speed than constantly pulling on your reins. Go back to school Spend time working with your horse in the school, encouraging him to listen to your aids. Once you’re confident he’s listening, finish your schooling session with a short hack – he’ll have less energy and, therefore, will be less likely to be strong. Including some schooling exercises, such as lateral work, circles and transitions, will also help to engage his brain when you’re hacking and keep his focus on you, rather than charging forwards. Bridge your reins Bridging your reins is a technique often employed by jockeys. It means that if your horse pulls, he’ll be applying all that force to his own neck, rather than your hands. To bridge your reins, hold them as normal and tilt your wrists down so that your palms and fingers are above his neck. Hook the loose end of each rein under the middle three fingers of your opposite hands, so that each rein is now held in both hands, then slide your hands down the reins so they sit on either side of his neck, just below his mane. If you keep your leg on the girth, your body still and your hands in this position, it will act as an anchor if he pulls. Remove any distractions Horses are herd animals, so many horses can be stronger when they’re hacking in company. If your horse won’t hack happily by himself (for tips to improve this, see part one of this feature in August H&R), try going out with just one calm, sensible horse. As the problem is usually worse when doing faster work, stick to walk and maybe a little bit of trot to keep him settled. Reward any good behaviour and, as he improves, go out with one or two more horses, or ask for a steady canter.
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Words: Rachel Dyke. Photos: Bob Atkins
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Five ways to improve it
ummer is the perfect time to get out and about with your horse, whether it’s for a post-work wander or a sunny Saturday blast. This sounds idyllic to most of us, but hacking issues can quickly mean that your outing isn’t nearly as relaxing or enjoyable as you’d hoped. The success of your hack is down to both you and your horse, but also a whole range of external factors that aren’t present in an arena or on your yard, and problems arising from any of these can soon undermine both your confidence levels. If a crisis of confidence is preventing you from enjoying hacks with your horse, then it’s time to take control and get back out there.
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Getting
the nod Headshaking in horses can be so violent that it prevents them from being ridden and can cause great distress. Vet Sue Dyson from the Animal Health Trust explains more about this strange condition
Photos: Horsepix. With thanks to the Animal Health Trust for their help with this feature, aht.org.uk
Our expert
Sue Dyson MA VetMB PhD DEO FRCVS is a Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Specialist in equine orthopaedics and Associate of the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging. She is Head of Clinical Orthopaedics at the Animal Health Trust, and has a particular interest in lameness and poor performance in sports horses.
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nything that causes your face to itch or tingle is more than a little annoying, so it’s no wonder that facial irritation can cause horses to fling their heads around, sometimes quite violently, leading to a condition known as headshaking. This is an unusual problem, thought to be caused by nerve pain, that has a wide spectrum of severity. Some affected horses only headshake when they’re being exercised, and may toss their heads up and down in a very violent fashion or may just do a flick-like movement with their nose. Other more severely affected horses will headshake at rest, too, either in the field or occasionally in the stable. With any severity, affected horses appear to have irritation around their
Different types of headshaking It’s thought that there are various forms of headshaking. In the USA, there’s a form that is apparently directly caused by sunshine. If contact lenses are put in affected horses’ eyes to filter out UV light, they stop headshaking. However, we don’t tend to see that form in the UK. Here we believe it’s related to neuritis of the trigeminal nerve, rather like trigeminal neuralgia in people, which causes facial pain characterised by a tingling or burning-type sensation, so it seems to be a nerve-related irritation. The recognition that headshaking truly is a neuritis is fairly recent. 84 HORSE&RIDER
Affected horses appear to have irritation around their noses
noses. Some horses can become distressed by the condition, whereas others, such as those with a minor flick-like movement, don’t seem unduly worried by the behaviour.
Factors that affect headshakers
It’s not known why, but there are several factors that can make headshaking better or worse... • headshaking can be seasonal, with some horses tending to be worse in the summer than in winter • if it’s hot rather than cold, affected horses are more likely to headshake • if it’s bright sunshine rather than
cloudy, headshaking is more likely to happen • some horses seem to be more bothered in certain environments than in others. So a horse who headshakes in East Anglia may not headshake in Scotland. People, therefore, speculate about something within the environment, although there’s no proof of this
Ask a vet
Identifying a headshaker
Determining whether a horse is a true headshaker can be challenging. Horses can shake their heads in a variety of different ways for different reasons, so it’s often a question of differentiating between true headshaking, and other odd head postures and movements. They may circle their heads or carry their head on one side, which is different to the signs of headshaking. For example, I treated a horse who had a dislocated lens in one eye. He had an odd head carriage and kept moving his head from side to side, which wasn’t characteristic of true headshaking. Surgical removal of the lens resolved the problem.
With headshaking often being worse in summer, some owners confuse classical signs of headshaking for irritation associated with the season. There are likely to be more flies around in summer, and horses often flick their head as if they’re trying to get something off their face. However, flies don’t tend to bother horses continuously while they’re being worked, whereas headshakers are reasonably continuous in their behaviour. If a headshaker is brought to a stop during exercise, he may immediately put his nose down to rub on one of his forelimbs. Sometimes he will strike out with one of his forelimbs during work, as if to try to hit his nose. A true headshaker
Some horses headshake in the field
may start working quite well, but may get worse as he gets hotter. We don’t fully understand why heat appears to make things worse, but it does. HORSE&RIDER 85
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