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JUMPING SUCCESS
July 2016
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PART ONE In this feature. . .
➤ Learn how to adjust his canter
reating an
adjustable jumper
Creating adjustability, responsiveness and variety in your horse’s paces will have a tremendous impact on his jumping ability. Ernest Dillon shows you how 30 HORSE&RIDER
In the saddle
➤ Using poles to improve your horse’s rhythm ➤ Develop a more powerful jump
Our trainer
Ernest Dillon is a Showjumping Specialist Fellow of the BHS. He’s also a UKCC level three Showjumping Coach, an accredited BS Coach, a British Eventing Master Coach and a UKCC Coach Educator. He trains many four-star eventers and international showjumpers, and has competed on the international circuit himself.
Our models
Amy Ovens runs Egerton Sports Horses and previously trained with the Schockemöhles. Djura-Lonetta, known as Milly, is a nine-year-old KWPN warmblood.
W
stride length
As told to Charlotte Anderson. Photos: Bob Atkins
atching top-level riders travel effortlessly from one fence to the next is a far cry from how many of us start out in the beginning. There’s often a lot of flapping and kicking to motivate our horses to the next fence, which is less than glamorous. In this feature, I’m going to show you how to teach your horse to travel from one fence to the next with confidence and enthusiasm. Creating an adjustable horse who responds to your aids will make this task infinitely easier. When I talk about adjustability, I’m thinking about three things...
tempo power ➤ HORSE&RIDER 31
PART TWO
How your
horse learns This month, behaviourist Anna Saillet helps you get to grips with more about how horses learn, to help you better understand your horse and improve your partnership
Our expert
Anna Saillet is an Equine Behaviour Consultant. She gained a BSc (Hons) in Animal Behaviour from Liverpool University, and an MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare from Newcastle University, in which she specialised in equine behaviour. She has competed in dressage, showjumping and eventing.
Photos: Bob Atkins, Steve Bardens
Often, the causes of behavioural problems aren’t immediately obvious
I
t’s easy to switch off when the science of learning is mentioned – let’s be honest, it sounds dull! But once you start looking more closely at equine behaviour, and how and why certain actions happen, it becomes much more fascinating. When you really start to get into studying behaviour, you’ll never look at your horse or your training in quite the same way again. And I guarantee that your horse will thank you for it.
Su btle sig n s
Have you heard the sto ry of Clever Hans? He was a handsome horse belonged to a man cal who led Willhelm von Osten back in the early 1900s. Willhelm believed tha t he had taught his ho rse how to do maths. Mr Osten would write a ma von ths problem on a chalk board and Clever Hans tap out the answer wit would h his hoof – for examp le, he’d write 6 + 2 = an horse would tap his ho d the of on the floor eight tim es. Everyone was amazed by Clever Hans and a tea m of scientists decided to study him to see if the y could find out how thi s was happening. Throu organising a series of gh different tests, they fou nd that Clever Hans cou answer the questions ld only if Mr von Osten alread y knew the answer. He unable to answer if Mr was also von Osten was out of sig ht. This led the scientist watch Willhelm more s to carefully and, after fur ther tests, they establish he (unknowingly) raised ed that his eyebrow slightly wh en Clever Hans reache correct answer. d the This is a lovely example of why you should alw ays look extra-carefully horse behaviour, becau at se things aren’t always as they seem. Horses are so well adapted to respond to subtle body languag e signals that they can pic k up on the slightest of things that we do – eve n when we’re completel y unaware we’re doing it. Until you can systemati cally rule out other explanations for a behav iour, you can’t be sure why it’s happening . This is just one of the reasons why taking to social media to ask for answers about your ho rse’s behaviour should be avoided, because eve ry case is unique and what has helped on e horse may be detrimental to another.
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Mind matters
Horses are so well adapted to respond to subtle body language signals that they can pick up on the slightest of things that we do
HORSE&RIDER 59
Photos: Bob Atkins. With thanks to World Horse Welfare for their help with this feature, worldhorsewelfare.org
strangles Strangles is the disease every horse owner dreads. Vet Roly Owers from World Horse Welfare explains what it is and how you can prevent it spreading
T
he word strangles strikes fear into the heart of many horse owners, not only for its unpleasant symptoms and often long recovery process, but also for the wide-reaching implications caused by its highly contagious nature. However, despite the worry this disease creates and the stigma it carries, almost all horses recover completely, with a mortality rate of less than 2%. Good hygiene, management practices and awareness are essential tools in safeguarding your horse against the most commonly diagnosed equine infection in the world, as is getting rid of the stigma attached to it, which can hinder quick and effective control of strangles.
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What is strangles? Highly contagious and difficult to manage, strangles is a nonairborne bacterial infection of the respiratory system caused by the bacterium Streptococcus equi (S equi). Scientists at the Animal Health Trust discovered that S equi has similar characteristics to the bacterium that causes human plague – in fact, strangles has many similarities to the plague. Thankfully, though, equine strangles poses no risk to human health. Any age, breed or type of horse is susceptible to contracting strangles. However, young or old horses are often more likely to become infected with the disease due to their immune system being weaker and less able to fight off infection. Older horses often exhibit a milder form of strangles with some nasal discharge and small abscesses, and their recovery process is sometimes faster than younger horses, who are more likely to develop severe abscesses. Horses with a history of other disease problems will also be particularly susceptible, again due to decreased immune strength.
➤
Ask a vet
Our expert
Despite the worry this disease creates and the stigma it carries, almost all horses recover completely, with a mortality rate of less than 2%
Roly Owers MRCVS is Chief Executive at World Horse Welfare. He qualified as a vet in 1992 at Cambridge University and was Veterinary Officer at the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in London before joining World Horse Welfare in 2003. Roly became the charity’s Chief Executive in 2008.
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