Equi-Ads September 2012 by Equi-Ads Ltd

EE FR

September 2012

The UK’s No.1 Equine Health, Management and Training Magazine

Tackling worms, worming and resistance The ten most important rules of saddle fitting Equi-Style Autumn/ Winter fashion feature

WIN A TOTTIE OUTFIT worth over

£500

See-through wall could save indoor riding schools £1000s

Front Cover Image Suppled by Pam Scott Equestrian - www.scott-equestrian.co.uk

Contents Feeding Field & Stable Training Fibre v. Starch Cost effective feeding Feeding Youngsters Health Care Physiotherapy Book Review Respiratory Problems Worming Events Horse Behaviour Field & Stable Insurance Transport Tack & Turnout Equi-Style Schooling Numnahs Saddle Fitting Competition – Tottie News Arenas

4, 7, 9 - 22 4, 7, 59 7, 37 & 50, 61 9 14 20 22 - 33, 60, 62 24 26 28 30 - 33 34, 61, 64 35 35 - 38 38 - 40 & 51 40 - 41 42 - 56, 63 42 - 49 50 52 - 53 53 - 56 57 60, 62, 63, 64 64

While many riding schools rely on plastic rooflights and fluorescent lighting, they can now opt for a more natural, and cheaper, alternative. Highlight - a perforated metal wall sheeting - creates a light and airy environment with excellent ventilation and natural daylight, without allowing in wind and rain.

The couple have been running the yard since 1988, keeping 20 horses at livery, and providing regular Pony Club and Riding Club competitions and private lessons. “The new school is great because it allows for year round riding and training in the dry – we feel it’s very important to keep upgrading the facilities so they are as good as they possibly can be.”

Highlight’s perforations allow light and air through 25% of the clad area in an even spread, so the building is always light and well ventilated. “However, it doesn’t allow in wind and rain – it is like standing outside but without the weather.” Originally developed to improve health and welfare in livestock buildings, it is now in great demand for equestrian use, including as walling on indoor schools and equine pools. Case Study Rosevidney Livery Stables, Marazion, Cornwall Scott and Verity Perry installed Highlight wall panels at Rosevidney when they built a brand new 22m x 60m indoor school in 2009. “We wanted to make sure we had plenty of light coming in, so that we didn’t have to use the lights as much,” says Scott. “It’s worked really well – we only need to put the lights on

The panels were very easy and relatively cheap to install – and also curried favour with the local planning department. “We put them along the whole side of the building – and because the exterior is grey it looks like an ordinary clad building from the outside,” says Scott. “One of the conditions of our planning permission was a neutral shade, so it’s perfect for that. And at about £2000 installed, I think it is probably cheaper than timber cladding. It’s light and easy to put up – you can just pick it up with one hand so we literally put it up with a ladder and a few hand tools.” “It is performing very well and the horses seem to like it – it’s nice and airy inside in the summer, and doesn’t get hot like some indoor schools do,” says Scott. “On frosty days there is no sign of frost inside, either. It’s also nice to be able to see out when you are riding – if you have corrugated sheets or wood you can’t see through them, and spending all day in the school you can feel a bit cooped up. This way we can see straight out across the farm. For more information visit www.unitedroofingproducts.com or call 01884 839302.

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when it gets dark. Other yards need to have lights on eight hours a day, so that’s a saving for us of over £1400 a year.”

“Roof lights often give uneven lighting across a building, with the creation of shadowy areas and strong light beams,” says Ali Dominy, recreational rider and managing director at United Roofing Products in Devon. “Electrical lighting can also create shadows, and is expensive to run, while glass or plastic windows often result in a stuffy atmosphere in the summer.”

Keep in Touch!

Copy Deadline

Indoor school owners could save thousands of pounds in electricity by installing an innovative see-through wall.

Office 1, Tay View Estate, Friarton Road, Perth PH2 8DG. To advertise, please call

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Please send editorial to: Office 1, Tay View Estate, Friarton Road, Perth PH2 8DG Fax: 01738 567776 Email: info@equiads.net

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September 2012

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“SPECTACULAR HORSEMANSHIP, BREATHTAKING SPECIAL EFFECTS, A SHOW YOU CANNOT MISS”

PRESENTS

NEW LONDON EVENT Adrenaline 16-18 November, ExCeL, London

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Incredible fast-moving stunts, amazing acrobatics, breath-taking special effects and beautiful horses! Adrenaline is guaranteed to get your heart racing.

Clémence Faivre and her huge stallion Gotan perform a beautiful ballet to music. This incredible relationship shows amazing control, grace and elegance.

This is a unique chance to see an action-packed line-up of amazing artists performing together for the first time in UK. Buy one ticket and see six shows in one.

Los Rios is a family troupe with 3 brothers and one of their 12 year old daughters demonstrating gymnastics whilst jumping on and off horses at break-neck speed. Bright lights and real action makes this performance truly breath-taking.

Lorenzo will perform his Emotion show – demonstrating his ability to guide 12 horses as they run free in the arena. Without reins or saddles, Lorenzo stands tall on the backs of two of the horses as they perform amazing jumps and dance to the music. This performance has to be seen to be believed. Gilles Fortier and his troupe Zarkam will perform their Ma show combining Chinese acrobatics in darkness and at high-speed through pillars and rings of fire. The combination of special lighting effects, pyrotechnics, powerful music and acrobatics creates a rush of excitement through the audience.

Joel Chacon provides some light-hearted entertainment so that you can catch your breath. This comedy double-act between Joel and his horse is reminiscent of a Parisian silent movie. Hap Ô Tempo gives the audience a glimpse into their love affair. With traditional acrobatics, trapeze work and vaulting, these Cirque du Soleil heroes are excited to be performing in London for the first time. DON’T MISS OUT – tickets are selling fast. See www.EquiCirque.com for more information.

Directory Property Abroad

Brittany & Normandy Cardyke Overseas Properties Properties suitable for horses at a fraction of UK prices. Tel: 01775 630 008

Saddlery

South East Andrew Reilly Saddlers Spoods Farm, Tinkers Lane, Hadlow Down, East Sussex TN22 4ET. Tel: 01825 830484.

VISIT HORSEWORLDLIVE

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Worming

East Regular worm egg counts can save money! 6-8 weekly spring through autumn £5 each. Church Farm FEC churchfarmfec@hotmail.co.uk or 01728685638

FEEDING

The Haylage Co. A cost effective alternative to hay. Based South Hertfordshire, we deliver to locations nationwide. Telephone: 07836 514 435 or 07831 454 166 Email: guybrook@btinternet.com Website- www.poloforage.com

September 2012

Feeding • Horsebox • Tack & Turnout

September 2012

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Feeding • Field & Stable

One size doesn’t fit all From Shetland to Shire, our horses come in a variety of shapes and sizes, each requiring different feeding regimes to manage and optimise their health. It is a well known fact that horses require a constant passage of forage to maintain a healthy digestive system, and going for long periods of time without it can be detrimental to their health and mental wellbeing. However, when it comes to weight management it is not always beneficial to provide ad-lib forage to a greedy horse. This is where Elim-a-Net, with its three different sizes, can help. Elim-a-Net has been developed with an Inner Net Design, which slows down the rate of consumption, as well as reducing waste and mess. Elim-a-Net promotes a healthy digestive system by helping to increase chewing time, without having to increase the quantity of hay or haylage. Not just another ‘small holed haynet’, the unique Inner Net design of Elim-a-Net alters the size and shape of the holes in the haynet helping to ensure the horse has access to forage for longer and therefore increasing the amount of time they spend chewing. Elim-a-Net is available in three sizes, Pony, Cob and Horse. For each size the holes are scaled up accordingly to help prevent frustration and

increased stress for horses. This enables horse owners to choose the best size for their equine and also use a combination of sizes, where appropriate, to suit their horse’s individual requirements and feeding regime. Janet Drew found Elim-a-Net’s size options a huge help for her horses management routines. “Size really does matter when it comes to haynets,” she explains. “We have a Shetland who is prone to laminitis and standard small holed haynets made no difference to his forage consumption because the holes and size of the net did not take into consideration his size! At the other end of the spectrum, we have an Irish Draft cross, who unsurprisingly needs rather a lot of food! By feeding him his haylage in the Horse size Elim-a-Net it means he doesn’t gorge on it or get frustrated with the size of the holes. Conventional small holed haynets often lead to more stress and a ‘snatching’ effect which is not good for the physical condition of the horse, so by having a more ‘tailor made’ haynet, horses of all shape and size can enjoy their hay happily and healthily.” Elim-a-Net is available in a variety of colours with prices starting from just £9.99. For further information about Elim-a-Net and to find your nearest stockist visit: www.parellproducts. com or by tel: 07715 172 470.

Olympic Medal Winning Riders head to HorseWorldLive! A list of top International names from the world of eventing has been released today, including Olympic Medal winners who will be heading to HorseWorldLive in November to compete in the thrilling Express Eventing competition. Following the success and increased interest in eventing due to Team GB’s silver medal, this is the perfect opportunity to see some of the most renowned eventing riders showcase the sport at the highest level…all under one roof! Seven team riders will compete with a fellow second athlete at the HorseWorldLive show, held at London’s ExCel, on Express Eventing Saturday – 17th November 2012. Express Eventing are pleased to present six (of the seven) principal riders - some of whom recently competed in the London Olympics – Clayton Fredericks (Aus), Harry Meade (GBR), Fiona Hobby (GBR), Sam Griffiths

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(Aus), Matthew Wright (GBR) and Mark Todd (NZ). Mark Todd, double Olympic gold medalist, and London’s team bronze medalist explained: “Express Eventing is a great competition and something I really look forward to. Having just missed out on qualifying for the final last year, I am determined to be up with the leaders this time round and I already know who I will choose to be on my Team, and which horses we will use.’’ Plus, on the Friday of GB Team Silver medal winner William Fox Pitt will perform a two-part masterclass, showing how he trains his professional horses through the eventing ranks, right up to Olympic level! For more information, visit www.horseworldlive.com or www.expresseventing.co.uk

September 2012

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September 2012

Feeding • Field & Stable • Training

Herbie’s Yard Supplies – a new stockist of top quality, high performance equine products. Sweep your yard with less effort! Manufactured in the USA the ‘Quickie Super Bulldozer’ and ‘Quickie Corn Broom’ are both super-durable brooms, guaranteed for 5 years. They even come with replaceable heads for more cost-effective sweeping! The Super Bulldozer is a super lightweight yard broom with a patented Tight Grip® bracket to ensure the handle NEVER comes lose! The 24” heavy-duty resin block won’t warp, rot, or crack. Natural Palmyra bristles sweep anything (wet or dry) with ease, even on rough surfaces. The Corn (witches) Broom is surprisingly tough, and has a fantastic flick action - great for horseboxes and sweeping around feed bins and buckets.

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Body Builder™ is a concentrated Rice Bran extract containing Gamma Oryzanol for building muscle and topline, increasing strength, energy & stamina. Each 32oz bottle of Body Builder is equivalent to 20 gallons of Rice Bran oil! Lube-All-Plus™ is an extra-strength liquid joint supplement (with sodium hyaluronate plus MSM, glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate). It cushions joints from impact, lubricates and protects them against chronic inflammation. Herbie’s also stocks NT-Dry thrush treatment from the USA. It’s a highly effective dry powder that you simply dust on, it finds the damp, deep-in places that wet products can’t find. NT-Dry ® attacks the bacteria that cause thrush and related infections with a combination of naturally occurring mineral salts that doSPECIALS not burn or harm WINTER the tender areas of the WALL MATS, PROTECTIONhoof. & ANTI CAST

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September 2012

Feeding

Fibre versus starch diets Dr Derek Cuddeford, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh

The horse evolved to eat food rich in fibre. This food can be in the form of both herbage and browse depending on the resources available to the animal. It is wrong to think that horses just eat grass when out and about! The quantity of fibre that the horse eats daily can be very variable. For example, the fibre content of young spring grass in the UK is very low and can also be so in the summer when it is very wet. In contrast, winter pasture can be very high in fibre. A horse grazing on the Russian steppe or on the plains

of Mongolia will be consuming high fibre herbage compared to the average horse kept in the UK. By analogy, sheep grazing a lowland pasture will consume low fibre grass compared to those sheep grazing a heather-clad hill in Scotland; 13% versus 40% crude fibre on a dry basis. Horses are exposed to similar large variations in fibre intake as are sheep but, they are well adapted to this. This is manifest by their dental architecture which is well designed to process fibrous material into small particles that can be swallowed and subsequently fermented in the large intestine. A horse, like a zebra on the African savannah, processes food through its digestive tract relatively quickly (quicker than a ruminant such as the cow or a gnu) so although it can only extract a small proportion of the available nutrients from a very high fibre feed its strategy to offset this inefficiency is to consume and process more over time. Improved grasslands that contain very high quality “agricultural” grasses present the horse with an extremely digestible, relatively low fibre feed from which the animal can extract a high proportion of the

available nutrients. The consequence of this for the inactive animal is of course obesity. The growth rate of grass in the spring is quite substantive varying between 50 and 100kg of dry material per hectare which is enough food to support between 5 and 10 light (~450kg) horses/hectare. Failure to recognise this and to adjust stocking rates at this time results in a gross oversupply of food exacerbating the problem of obesity. Dietary fibre, sometimes referred to as roughage, is largely composed of carbohydrates that perform a structural function within the plant and may be poorly digested. However, grazed plant material also contains nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs) that can be digested in the small intestine. Examples of these NSCs are watersoluble carbohydrates, like sugars and polymers, such as starch. Dried grass contains about 15% starch and sugar whereas dried lucerne contains only around 8%; their respective fibre contents would be ~20 and ~25%. Dried molassed sugar beet pulp contains 30% starch and sugar so it is important to realise that horse feeds that are designated “high fibre” can also supply large quantities of materials that are digested in the small intestine rather than fermented in the large intestine. A diet based on forage that might

include grass, grass hay, legume hay, lucerne or haylages will supply different amounts of fibre and NSC depending on the forage type and its stage of growth. Whilst in young grass the fibre content may be only 20% it can rise to over 40% in mature grasses on a dry basis (NB. It is important to express values on a dry basis for truly comparative purposes because the water content can be 75-85% in young grass falling to 65% in mature samples-you might notice that this article is rather on the dry side...........). In contrast, the water-soluble carbohydrates can be as low as 2% or as high as 30%. In the temperate grasses grown in the UK the storage carbohydrate is fructan and it is found mostly in grass stems. This soluble carbohydrate is the most abundant in this category but it is indigestible although highly fermentable and most horse owners are aware that it has been implicated in the causation of laminitis. Subtropical and tropical grasses store starch instead of fructan and deposit it in their leaves. The interesting difference here is that there are two distinctly different storage carbohydrates in grasses depending on climate and only one (starch) can be digested the other (fructan) can only be fermented. Thus, the “exotic” grasses might be regarded as “safer” for animals prone to laminitis and certainly, lucerne (NB a legume and not a grass!) is fed freely to such animals and to cont. on p.10

Congratulations Drayhorse Shires Drayhorse shires Olympic dream began back in September 2011 but it wasn’t until the 30th June that six shire horses arrived at the stadium ready to begin rehearsals. After adjustments to the surface and the steepness of the ramp had been tested the first rehearsal was soon in full swing. The horses were fantastic not batting an eyelid and soon were moved into their own compound, which would be home for the next 10 days. The atmosphere was fantastic and with three live rehearsals the horses and people were great but soon it was time to perform on live TV in front of the world! All coachmen and staff were in costume, the horses were harnessed and the long awaited day was finally here! Waiting in the tunnels all staff and horses waited patiently for the ceremony to go live on the TV. The curtains opened and it was time for

September 2012

the horses to be in the limelight, with a fantastic reception from the audience, the horses performed fantastically, where else would you ever get the chance to perform in front of such a massive audience. The horses left the stadium, were unharnessed and loaded onto lorry’s for their journey home, before the fireworks went off in the stadium. The horses were back and tucked up in their stables before the Olympic athletes even came into the stadium. Our Olympic dream had finally come true! And what an achievement for all horses and staff involved, a chance of a lifetime. Nara & Gavin Stevens, Drayhorse Shires For more information contact Rowen Barbary Horse Feeds on 01948 880598 or visit www.rowenbarbary.co.uk

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Feeding cont. from p.9

those in recovery following a bout of laminitis. There cannot be a clear distinction between fibre and starch diets. The

latter diets tend to be dominated by the inclusion of cereals within the diet. These of course supply starch, the precise amount depending on the type of cereal used. For example oats might contain around 40% starch whereas

maize could be as high as 70%. It is noteworthy that oats contain about half the fibre content of grass and chopped/chaffed whole crop oats (straw + grain) was commonly fed to farm horses. It is still used by the draught

horses (Jutland horses) at the Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen. Essentially it is impossible to feed either a complete fibre diet or a complete starch diet to a horse. One can easily provide a high cont. on p.12

Solution to a very late harvest - Hickstead Horse Feed Balancer

A Warmer Winter with Speedi-Beet

The sun has arrived and with it a window of opportunity for an overdue but very welcomed hay and haylage harvest.

Speedi-Beet from British Horse Feeds is a unique sugar beet feed which can be soaked in hot water and ready to feed in just ten minutes.

Although the 2012 hay harvest is around three weeks late, if it was made correctly it should be clean and dry and will store well over the winter. The nutritional value however will be lower than if it was cut at the end of June. If your horse has restricted grazing and is fed minimal concentrates either due to weight problems or lack of grass, you may consider feeding a low calorie balancer to boost nutrients lacking in this year’s hay. Hickstead Horse Feeds Leisure Balancer is a concentrated low calorie feed balancer designed to be fed in small amounts, providing essential vitamins, minerals and quality protein without the energy or calories of a conventional mix or cube. It is suitable for horses and ponies at rest or in light to moderate work and due to the low

starch content of 8.9% it is ideal for those at risk of laminitis. Hickstead Leisure Balancer contains Yea Sacc, which has been scientifically proven to maintain and improve fibre digestion and the addition of bioplex minerals and Sel-plex selenium will maximise nutrient availability. Soya provides essential building blocks to promote quality muscle tone. One bag of Hickstead Leisure balancer will last a 500kg horse for a month and is competitively priced at £17.99 for a 15kg bag, thereby saving on feed bills. For any information on Hickstead Horse Feeds products, or for nutritional advice of any sort, please feel free to contact us on 0845 0250 444. We really are very friendly. info@hicksteadhorsefeeds.co.uk www.hicksteadhorsefeeds.co.uk Facebook: Hickstead Horse Feeds. Twitter: Hicksteadhorsefeeds

Many horses lose condition over the winter months. Speedi-Beet will help horses to regain condition without the need to over feed concentrates, which can result in an over exuberant horse. It is unmolassed 95% sugar free and therefore less likely to cause excitable behaviour in some horses. The low starch and sugar content also gives Speedi-Beet approval from the Laminitis Trust. Speedi-Beet provides

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calories by providing highly fermentable soluble fibre, namely pectin. This soluble fibre is fermented by the microorganisms living in the horse’s hindgut where it is turned into energy and condition. It can also increase the nutrient value of the hay being fed. It is through this that Speedi-Beet increases the general fermentation activity of the intestinal microbial population, with an overall increase in the efficiency of fibre digestion, again increasing the energy supply. Available in 20kg bags, Speedi-Beet has a RRP of around £9.90. For more information please contact British Horse Feeds on 01765 680300 or visit www.britishhorsefeeds.com

September 2012

Feeding • Horsebox • Tack & Turnout

September 2012

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Feeding cont. from p.10

fibre or a high starch diet to a horse by just feeding forage alone or, a limited amount of forage together with cereal or a compound feed. It is commonplace to blend fibre-rich feeds (forages) with starch-rich feeds (cereals/compound feeds) in order to achieve a dietary energy density that will be suited to the horse’s intended work programme. Most of the energy a horse derives from a fibre-rich diet is as a result of hindgut fermentation that yields volatile fatty acids (acetic, propionic and butyric acids). As cereal/compound inclusion in the diet increases energy substrates are progressively derived from digestion in the small intestine that yields glucose from starch and glycerol, free fatty

acids and monoglycerides from dietary fat; the contribution from volatile fatty acids declines as the forage inclusion in the diet declines. Thus energy availability depends on digestive rather than fermentation processes and there is a progressive shift in the proportion of energy derived from the two sources as work load increases. It should be clear from the foregoing that fibre diets alone cannot meet the energy requirements of horses in hard work because horses simply cannot consume enough to satisfy need. If they could consume 5% of their bodyweight as dry food then energy and protein requirements of all types of horse/ pony could be met from fresh grass alone. In fact, protein would be grossly

Feeding Fibre TopChop Lite and TopChop Alfalfa are both pure and natural fibre products These unadulterated chops have been developed to offer horse owners a molasses-free, user-friendly chop that can be fed with other TopSpec products, providing a complete feed for all horses and ponies. TopChop Lite is made from alfalfa and oat straw, with a light dressing

of soya oil and real mint. It is ideal for good doers that need their weight controlling. TopChop Lite is of similar nutritional value to average quality hay but contains less sugar. The composition and consistency of this product make it ideal for horses and ponies prone to, being treated for, and recovering from laminitis. However it is suitable for all horses and ponies and perfect for good-doers and others prone to weight gain.

oversupplied. However, an intake of 5% would fill the gut and increase the non-functional weight of the horse effectively handicapping it. Conserved grass, as hay or silage, can only meet the need of animals at maintenance or exceptionally, light work as well. In most cases horses can eat no more than about 2.5% of their weight as dry food so clearly the high performance horse will need starch in its diet. As shown above, consumption of a fibrous diet will also supply sugars and starch but in insufficient quantity to support much work. One should remember that foods containing starch such as cereals also contribute fibre to the diet and in some cases, this contribution can be substantial. This is well-illustrated in human foods. For example, Weetabix,

TopChop Alfalfa is made from alfalfa and also has a light dressing of soya oil and real mint. It is ideal for working horses, broodmares and youngstock. TopChop Alfalfa is ideal for horses and ponies needing to gain weight and for all breeding stock because of its good quality protein, low starch levels and high levels of bio-available calcium.

a popular breakfast cereal, now 60% owned by the Chinese, is composed of 95% whole grain wheat and provides 10%fibre. In contrast, All-Bran that contains 85% wheat bran has 28% starch and 29% fibre. This product is considered to normalise bowel function in humans and is regarded as a fibrerich product but it still contains a lot of starch. In conclusion, starch diets per se do not exist and horses are fed a range of different diets that vary both in their content of starch and fibre, the exact composition in terms of dietary ingredients being dependent on the anticipated use of the animal.

For free nutritional advice please contact the Multiple Award-Winning Helpline on (01845) 565030 or visit www.topspec.com

TopChop Lite 15kg £9.75 / TopChop Alfalfa 15kg £9.95

The Healthy way to Feed for Energy and Strength

Feeding starchy hard feeds comes with an array of downsides, and some horses will continue to fatigue in spite of what you feed. If you are looking for a way to improve stamina, strength and fitness without causing short lived fizz, increasing unwanted body fat, or giving feed that is detrimental to gut or muscle health, then Nupafeed have a unique solution.

Nupafeed Staying Power is uniquely developed to allow absorption of the L-Carnitine into the muscle tissue where it is required and is formulated to include MAH® magnesium. This magnesium content allows healthy relaxed muscle function and supports correct glucose metabolism, particularly in the brain, to help natural energy production and concentration.

Nupafeed Staying Power is an L-Carnitine based liquid supplement that improves energy turnover and specifically targets the use of fat as an energy source. Staying Power helps to increase the utilisation of fat stores, improves energy production, reduces fatigue and speeds recovery, without the concern of added calories, temperament difficulties or problems associated with the gut or muscles. L-Carnitine also acts as a trigger for muscle growth allowing the horse to develop stronger, leaner body mass.

Staying Power is easy and flexible to feed and can either be given daily to improve energy levels and fitness, or on days of extra work or competition to help prevent fatigue and improve recovery between bouts of exercise. Provides the ideal solution for horses/ ponies prone to Laminitis, Equine Metabolic Syndrome or those that require a high fat and fibre diet.

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For more information or to order please contact Nupafeed UK: Tel: 01438 861 900 Email: info@nupafeed.net www.nupafeed.co.uk

September 2012

Feeding • Horsebox • Tack & Turnout

September 2012

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Cost Effective Feeding

Cost Effective Feeding Dr Tom Shurlock of British Horse Feeds Despite the increasing costs there are steps we can take to keep our diets as cost effective or best value, as we can without compromising nutritional quality, and this can be divided into three broad areas.

To talk about cost effective feeding is not the same thing as talking about cheap feeds, or weighing out ingredients to the nearest gram in order to not waste a penny. It’s not about bulk buying or following all the special offers at your feed retailer, and it doesn’t mean having to give up your branded hard feed and keep a bewildering array of feed bins with a range of raw materials. And it’s not about cutting back on a feed ingredient solely because the price has rocketed. What it is about is getting the most from each component of the diet and providing those components at levels that are necessary, rather than oversupplying. The aim of cost effective feeding is to try and ensure that the materials to hand can provide the correct nutrition in a combination that keeps costs as low as possible, without compromising quality. Every year there seems to be bad news about the cost and availability of feed ingredients. Whether it is the scarcity (and therefore expense) of hay, or the Russian harvest has failed and so cereals are soaring, feed prices never seem to drop and so the concept of cost effective feeding seems a little pointless as we, as individuals, have no control over them. This is why it is so important to make the most of what we feed.

The first area is to maximise the nutrients we can get from forage. Whether grass, hay or haylage, and despite any price rises involved, forage should always be the largest part of a horse’s diet; and per unit amount it will always be the cheapest feed. However with an overall digestibility of about 55% it may not look to be cost effective, although its long fibre, bulking capacity and hindgut fermentation pattern make it the ideal horse feed. But there are ways to improve overall digestibility and every 5% increase in this is equivalent to a dietary energy saving equivalent to 0.75kg of a standard horse and pony mix for a 500kg horse. Beet pectins have been shown to improve fibre digestibility in a number of species and act through increasing the numbers of microbes that ferment hemicellulose. As about half of the structural/insoluble fibre in grass/hay is hemicellulose there is potential for a large increase in fibre digestibility. In the same way branded prebiotics (oligosaccharides) can improve fibre degradability but for a similar cost/day a product like Beet can also deliver major nutrients (e.g. protein, fibre, calcium) as a feedstuff in its own right. Adding 0.5kg of Beet, for example, could reduce the need for a hard feed by more than 1kg, assuming an overall improvement of fibre digestibility by 5%. cont. on p.16

Field & Stable Block When it comes to cost-effective feeding, look no further than Rockies’ Field & Stable Block, which costs around 3p per day, per horse to feed! The block contains a carefully selected combination of minerals, trace elements and vitamins. It can be fed to horses that don’t receive any hard feed or that don’t receive their full ration. The block is 10 kg in size and is produced under controlled pressure that helps to ensure longevity when kept in a sheltered position either

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in the field or in the stable. It has an inbuilt hardness that helps prevent excessive intake, whilst the light molasses coating ensures palatability. The Field & Stable Block is suitable for multi-horse owners and is easy to feed, just remove the shrinkwrapped outer and it’s ready to go. The Field & Stable Block is available in 10 kg blocks and has a RRP of £13.50. For more information, see www. rockies.co.uk, email info@rockies. co.uk or call 01606 595025.

September 2012

Feeding • Horsebox • Tack & Turnout

September 2012

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Cost Effective Feeding cont. from p.14

The second area is that of hard feed, whether straights (cereals, linseed etc.) or branded compound feeds. Here the biggest unnecessary cost is down to whether the product(s) fed is fit for purpose. Not paying attention to this can easily lead to the oversupply of nutrients that, at best, will lead to a fat horse but can also lead to a number of nutritional/physiological diseases. And it is not simply giving too much hard feed, though this does not help. Giving large individual meals can mean the digestive system cannot cope and unsuitable macro-nutrients (protein, starch) end up in the hind gut and alter the fermentation patterns. Smaller meals, more frequently, will improve their digestibility and so less can be fed on a daily basis.

Think Pink for the perfect complement to a high fibre diet for just 32p a day…

Equally important is choosing the right feed for the animal. You may feel your horse deserves a performance feed because it appears to be of the best quality, but if his activity does not match the requirement for those extra nutrients they will simply end up –“processed”on the stable floor, or in fat tissue. Hard feed should be regarded as a provider of extra nutrients when the situation requires it and it is quite likely you can feed less – especially if little and often – than previously thought. The third group is supplementation. We need to question whether we really need them and, if so, again are they fit for purpose? We all recommend the use of a vitamin/mineral premix for horses’ that aren’t fed hard feeds, but is everything included necessary? There is little point Think Pink from Brinicombe Equine is a concentrated feed balancer in a powdered form which offers unbeatable value ensuring that your horse is getting a balanced source of vitamins and minerals whilst reducing the amount of hard feed needed in the diet. Think Pink is a particularly perfect complement to a high fibre diet as it combines a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals with specially selected live yeast for a healthy digestive system

in buying in B vitamins that are produced in the horses gut, or large amounts of trace elements when it’s only copper, zinc and selenium that may be underrepresented in a forage diet. Equally we need to avoid the temptation of giving more than is recommended on the basis that it can’t harm. It probably won’t, but it doesn’t help and it costs. Beyond this there is a whole raft of complex “solutions”. Prebiotics (see above), probiotics (are the organisms involved actually useful for the horse?), hoof, joint and digestion supplements, herbs, cider vinegar, nutraceuticals, nucleotides etc. Again are they necessary? If a horse receives correct nutrition then its gut microflora will be at an optimum, reducing the need for pre- and probiotics, and will be supplying the basic blocks for the and added linseed oil for coat condition. Fed everyday, Think Pink will help to maintain the natural micro-flora of the gut for optimum fibre digestion and provide essential nutrients for natural condition and shine that is promoted from within.

metabolic production of glucosamine, nucleotides, enzymes etc. Obviously 100% efficiency in nutrition is not easily achievable, but optimising it as far as possible may reduce the dependence on a large number of supplements and the associated cost. Cost efficient feeding is as much about not feeding as it is about feeding. By sticking to a few easy principles it is possible to supply quality nutrition at a relatively reasonable cost: 1. Feed forage as far as is practical. Unless product is so poor the horse cannot physically ingest enough this should be sufficient to provide the majority of nutrients. 2. Improve the digestibility of the forage. cont. on p.18

visit www.brinicombe-equine.co.uk

A 2kg container will last a 500kg horse for up to 40 days. RRP £12.99. Larger even more economical sizes available. For further information please contact Brinicombe Equine on 08700 606206 or

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September 2012

Cost Effective Feeding

Cost Effective Feeding Cost effective feeding is not necessarily achieved by picking the cheapest product. Getting value for money from your equine nutrition means looking at the whole picture, from purchase price, to the quantity fed, to the way your horse utilises it. Chestnut Horse Feeds provide a complete feeding solution for a wide range of horses which negates the need to add extra supplements, oils, vitamins and minerals and fibre products, such as alfalfa and chaffs, helping to keep costs down without compromising on quality. Chestnut Horse Feeds are not only high in fibre, but high in quantities of long chop, which slows down digestive transit and increases chewing time, in turn this stimulates the production of saliva, helping to buffer stomach acid and reduce the risk of colic, gastric ulcers and digestive upset. This helps optimise the absorption of feed and ultimately leads to better value for money and a more effective, natural feeding approach. With a strong ‘British’ ethos, Chestnut Horse Feeds pride themselves on sourcing top quality ingredients from UK based farms and production

September 2012

units which reduces food miles and ensures the best standard in raw materials. This ‘green’ approach to feeding is reinforced by a reduction in packaging through provision of the exclusive Chestnut Horse Feeds Bulk Bin Feeding System. This unique Bulk Bin is delivered containing the feed of choice and provided free of charge for the life-span of the chosen product, helping to keep yards tidy, rodents out and ensuring feed stays fresh and contaminant-free. Once empty and reordered, Chestnut Horse Feeds simply replace the Bulk Bin, replenished and sealed, saving you time, effort and trips to suppliers. Chestnut Horse Feeds is only available to order direct. For more information visit: www.chestnuthorsefeeds.co.uk or tel: 01455 558 808 to speak to a member of the team and organise a yard visit.

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Cost Effective Feeding cont. from p.16

Either by prebiotics or, to add extra nutrients at the same time, a super fibre or perhaps soya hulls.

Only use specialised supplements if a problem has been identified. Feeding extra glucosamine, or nucleotides, for example will be ineffective if the horse is manufacturing sufficient himself. General conditioners may not be necessary if 1-3 is correct.

3. Add hard feed if extra activity is required. Feeding less, over a greater number of feeds, will improve the digestibility of the feed allowing you to offer a lower amount daily. Don’t feed a specification that is unsuitable for your horse’s life style.

5. Don’t feel you are not doing the best for your horse. By following a sensible regime he will bloom, and there will be some money left over for the occasional treat.

4. Use supplements sparingly. Vitamins and minerals may be given if perceived to be necessary but don’t overdo them.

For more information please contact British Horse Feeds on 01765 680300 or visit www.britishhorsefeeds.com.

Cost effective feeding: Not all licks are the same

How to feed your horse or pony cost effectively Feeding any horse or pony can be a costly issue, especially if they are receiving a nutritionally balanced diet that can include many different supplements. This is why feeding your horse or pony a superior quality balancer really makes sense. Blue Chip feed balancers are designed to ensure different types of horses and ponies receive a nutritionally balanced diet whilst making feeding simple and cost effective. Blue Chip balancers are nutrient dense which means that they are fed in very small quantities, allowing them to be fed on their own and many horses or ponies can simply be fed a Blue Chip balancer with some type of chaff. Fed at 100grams per 100 kilograms of bodyweight, Blue Chip

of fibre in the diet by up to 100%. Blue Chip Lami-light is the low starch, low calorie; low sugar feed balancer that is ideal for overweight horses or ponies, those that are prone to laminitis or good-doers. Lami-light contains all the essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients, without encouraging unwanted weight gain. It also includes a prebiotic and sepiolite clay which work synergistically to balance the pH levels in the gut and increase the amount of beneficial bacteria. Blue Chip Pro is the performance feed balancer that is ideal for competition horses, breeding and racing stock and veterans that require a higher level of nutritional support. Pro contains an

patented method exclusive to Caltech and is similar to making treacle toffee at home. The base ingredients – molasses and oil - are cooked, and when the product cools down, the nutrients are added, it then sets and becomes hard. The benefit of using this unique process means the product is weatherproof, contains no chemical hardeners, and no artificial colours, preservatives or flavourings.

Licks are becoming a popular method of administering important nutrients into the horse’s diet. Not only can they be palatable, time saving and simple to use, they can also offer value for money and with more horse owners conscious of their purse strings this is a huge selling point for retailers.

Pressed licks are recognizable as the traditional, brick shaped, salt and mineral licks. These are blended and compressed into a finished block. Most other licks are Chemically Hardened. These licks are made using chemical hardening agents, which results in the product becoming firm and brittle. This reaction is exothermic, so produces a lot of excess heat as a by-product. This heat does not cook the product, so the moisture content of these licks can be quite high, often over 20% water.

However, there are many different types of licks on the market. In order for a lick to be cost effective and ensure the correct levels of vitamins and minerals are fed, it is important to ensure the feeding guidelines are adhered to. Some licks may have a less concentrated package of nutrients, which may mean that more of the lick needs to be consumed in order to, receive the full benefits. This can make some products seem cheaper at the initial outlay, but more expensive in the long run when a greater quantity is consumed.

Water is an essential part of your horse’s diet, but most horse owners will prefer their equines to drink fluids rather than consume them! In order for customers to get true value for money they expect to be buying product, not water. However, as already mentioned, some chemically hardened licks can be over 20% water. By cooking Horslyx, it means that the moisture content is lower than 5%, so customers can be sure they have a more nutrient rich product, which needn’t be consumed at such high amounts. This in turn results in a longer lasting lick that is palatable, easy to digest and kinder on the pocket.

The manufacturing process of licks can vary. Horslyx is cooked which is a

For further information tel, (01697) 332 592 or visit www.horslyx.com

balancers provide everything that your horse or pony needs on a daily basis. All the balancers in the Blue Chip range are whole-cereal and molasses free, making them very low in sugar and starch. Blue Chip are also the first feed company to include the revolutionary ingredient nucleotides across their entire balancer range. Nucleotides are molecules that make up the structural units of DNA and RNA. Nucleotides are essential to create new cells in the horse’s body and to transport oxygen around the body. They have many benefits of being included in the horse’s diet including increasing nutrient absorption, reducing recovery times and delaying the onset of fatigue. Blue Chip Original is the feed balancer that is suitable for most horses and ponies. Original contains all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients required on a daily basis, and incorporates an EU approved probiotic for optimum digestive health. The level of this probiotic included in Original has been proved to increase the digestibility

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elevated level of vitamins, minerals and nutrients, a probiotic and prebiotic for optimal gut health and a unique blood building formula which increases oxygen transportation helping muscles to become less fatigued. The blood building formula also helps to reduce lactic acid production, aiding recovery after exercise. All the balancers in the Blue Chip range contain a comprehensive hoof supplement that includes biotin, methionine and organic zinc for the formation of strong, pliable hooves. Also included in all the balancers is a complete respiratory package that combines garlic, menthol and eucalyptus to soothe the airways and maintain lung integrity and health. By feeding a balancer from the Blue Chip range you can not only ensure that your horse or pony is getting a nutritionally balanced diet but you can eliminate the need to feed additional supplements, saving time and most importantly money.

September 2012

Health Care

September 2012

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Cost Effective Feeding • Feeding Youngsters

Nutrition of the Young Horse The average foal is weaned from his dam at around six months. His digestive system at this age should be slowly adapting from a diet of only milk, to breaking down small amounts of forage that he should have been showing an interest in prior to weaning; mouthfuls of grass, hay or haylage. His teeth are still his temporary ‘milk’ teeth so shorter length forage e.g. chop will be more easily digested at this stage. Until starting work, keeping him on a balanced diet to support his growth is important. This should comprise solely good quality hay or haylage. To have any idea as to the quantities each youngster needs, regular measurements of his

weight are vital as he is growing in height and weight frequently. Not many yards will have access to a weighbridge, but a weigh tape (sourced from your Vet or feed supplier/tack shop) is still accurate if used correctly. At this stage of his life a forage ration of 2-2.5% of bodyweight will suffice. This is the equivalent of a 100kg foal receiving 2-2.5kg of good quality hay/ haylage per day. Once your youngster begins working, first in-hand through to being backed and broken for ridden work, his energy needs will increase. Again, monitoring his weight frequently is vital to ensure you are feeding enough to support this increased workload. This is also a good time to re-evaluate your forage. Good hay/haylage will still prove

Peter Fenton BVM&S, MRCVS

adequate fed at the rate above, but if your horse does not appear to be doing well on this it may be a sign that the nutritional content of the forage is lacking. It is only when poorer quality forage has to be fed that supplementing the diet with a ‘hard feed’ (cereals, mixes, nuts etc) should be considered. Horses teeth are continually erupting throughout life and the best way to ensure minimal disruption to their eruption, growth and wear is to feed them forage. This will ensure even wear over the teeth’s grinding surfaces which is essential if many dental-related problems such as sharp enamel overgrowths are to be avoided. Overfeeding at a young age will potentially cause several diseases and conditions in later life. By feeding

too much energy-rich food to a young horse in work, you will cause him to build muscle rapidly. This may sound ideal, but in reality the immature skeleton cannot cope with this added weight. Bones mature and strengthen at a slower rate than that of muscle which means if too much muscle is laid down too early, the skeleton cannot cope with the load and bones fail to form correctly. This causes the syndrome ‘Developmental Orthopaedic Disease’ or DOD. This is a group of diseases which includes acquired flexural deformities (e.g. club feet), angular limb deformities, physitis, osteochondrosis dissecans (OCD), bone cysts, juvenile osteoarthritis and cervical cont. on p.22

Add value to your horse’s diet… Feeding your horse can be a balancing act, especially if he struggles to maintain condition due to a busy lifestyle, an anxious disposition, or, a change of environment or workload. However, by improving his diet with In The Pink Powder you will get that balance right. In The Pink Powder is a unique concentrated feed balancer, formulated using live yeasts and probiotics

designed to optimise gut function and the natural digestive process by helping to create an ideal environment for the break down and assimilation of the horse’s food intake. In The Pink Powder not only optimises digestion, enabling your horse to fully utilize his diet and maintain perfect condition, it also contains high quality vitamins, minerals and micro-nutrients to help support perfect health, vitality and performance. Add value to your horse’s diet in more

ways than one… In The Pink Powder is the most cost effective, concentrated feed balancer you can buy. Feed daily for a cost of 46p per day*. Furthermore, because In The Pink Powder helps your horse maximise the feed value of his concentrate ration, you can feed less and, therefore, save money! Add value, add In The Pink Powder to your horse’s daily diet, you won’t believe the difference.

Available from NAF stockists nationwide. RRP: 700g (30 days supply): £15.95; 1.4kg: £27.95. Larger sizes available. *Cost based on rrp of 1.4kg Pink Powder feeding a 500kg horse 24g per day. For more information please call the NAF Freephone advice line: 0800 373 106, email info@naf-uk.com or visit www.naf-equine.eu/uk

Balanced Nutrition means everything to the Youngster! Feeding your horse can be a balancing act, especially if he struggles to maintain condition due to a busy lifestyle, an anxious disposition, or, a change of environment or workload. However, by improving his diet with In The Pink Powder you will get that balance right. In The Pink Powder is a unique concentrated feed balancer, formulated using live yeasts and probiotics designed to optimise gut function and the natural digestive process by helping to create an ideal environment for the break down and assimilation of the horse’s food intake. In The Pink Powder not only optimises digestion, enabling your horse to fully utilize his diet and maintain perfect condition, it also contains high quality vitamins, minerals and micro-nutrients to help support perfect health, vitality and performance. Add value to your horse’s diet in more ways than one…

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In The Pink Powder is the most cost effective, concentrated feed balancer you can buy. Feed daily for a cost of 46p per day*. Furthermore, because In The Pink Powder helps your horse maximise the feed value of his concentrate ration, you can feed less and, therefore, save money! Add value, add In The Pink Powder to your horse’s daily diet, you won’t believe the difference. Available from NAF stockists nationwide. RRP: 700g (30 days supply): £15.95; 1.4kg: £27.95. Larger sizes available. *Cost based on rrp of 1.4kg Pink Powder feeding a 500kg horse 24g per day. For more information please call the NAF Freephone advice line: 0800 373 106, email info@naf-uk.com or visit www.naf-equine.eu/uk

September 2012

Health Care

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Feeding Youngsters • Health Care cont. from p.20

vertebral malformations which may cause Wobbler’s syndrome. Feeding excess energy when it is not being used for steady growth or work will also ultimately lead to the horse laying down fat

and becoming overweight. Equine obesity has been linked to many disease states, all of which have to do with the horse becoming ‘insulin-resistant’. Laminitis, Cushing’s disease and equine metabolic syndrome are all linked to this. It is also important that your horse’s

digestive tract is in optimal health so it may utilise any nutrients it receives from the diet. Treating for intestinal parasites at the correct time, with the correct product and at the correct dose will be key to this so refer to your vet for advice tailored to your horse and its surroundings.

As always ensure that any change to the diet is made gradually and make sure the horse has access to fresh water at all times. By concentrating on the principles of appropriate nutrition as outlined above you can give your youngster the best start and help avoid many of the problems that may cause ill-health in later years.

Free degree level on-line courses The University of Edinburgh is set to provide FREE degree-level education via the internet, including a course on equine nutrition. The University of Edinburgh has been announced as the first university in the UK to join the Coursera consortium, the organisation set up by senior academics at Stanford University to provide free online undergraduate-level courses to anyone who wishes to access them.

Dr Jo-Anne Murray of the Royal (Dick) Vet school will present a five-week course of equine nutrition, covering the anatomy and physiology of the equine digestive tract and discussing dietary management for different kinds of horses and ponies, particularly those with nutrition-related disorders. To find out more about the equine nutrition course visit www.coursera. org/#course/equinenutrition

Brand new products launched this month! Currently on special introductory offers for just £19.99! So Kalm Solution. The amino acids, premium grade magnesium and Vitamin B1 in So-Kalm Solution® will relax your horse without removing the “edge” required for competition. So-Kalm Solution® can also be fed daily to difficult horses at home, or when training young, nervous or excitable horses. Available in 946ml solution (one month supply). £19.99.

Cortaflex HA Regular Solution 946ml It’s never too soon! Fortified with Hyaluronic Acid, Cortaflex® solution economically and effectively supports and maintains healthy joints for each and every horse and pony throughout their life. Available in 946ml solution (one month supply). £19.99. Contact Equine America www. equineamerica.co.uk Telephone 01403 255809.

Nutrition in Young Horses

Growing horses need the best nutrients to reach their best potential. YoungStock contains a special blend that will help bones grow strongly and ensure that muscles, joints, nerves and tendons develop well RRP: 1kg - £19.50, 5kg - £87.50 For more information please visit www.globalherbs.co.uk or call the free advice line on 0800 1694709.

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September 2012

Health Care

September 2012

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Health Care • Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy Problems My Instructor constantly comments that my horse ‘falls out’ through his shoulder on circles on the right rein. Since my Instructor started to introduce some lateral work (leg yield and shoulder fore) into my lessons I have noticed my horse falling out through his shoulder more and feel he struggles with this, especially on the right rein. My Instructor has suggested that I get his back checked, as things haven’t shown any signs of improvement. Could Physiotherapy help with this? From what you describe it sounds as if Physiotherapy could be beneficial for your horse. The most important thing is to get to the root of why your horse is having a problem with this. Horses can have difficulty maintaining the correct bend and balance on a circle or during lateral movements for a number of reasons. Working through these reasons can help identify your horse’s issue/s and enable a Physiotherapist to work out and implement an effective treatment plan.

Firstly I would recommend that you get your horse checked by your Vet to rule out any underlying lameness issues that could be causing compensatory movements, which are inhibiting or preventing the movements required in your lateral work. If your Vet examines your horse and finds no lameness or associated issues, then it is time to call your local ACPAT registered Physiotherapist. A Chartered Veterinary Physiotherapist will observe your horse’s conformation, posture and muscle bulk whilst standing, before carrying out a full movement assessment, which will include walk, trot and tight circles, with possibly some work on the lunge too. After this they will do a full palpatory assessment of joints, muscle and soft tissue. They will also look at your horse’s saddle to see if it could be causing any problems. The portion of the horse’s spine that is under the saddle is responsible for most of the lateral flexion or side bend of the spine. The presence of a saddle can restrict this lateral flexion, particularly if the saddle is ill fitting and pinches or nips the sensitive muscles around the shoulder blades and spine or blocks the movement at the joints.

Emma McCagherty

The muscles around a horse’s shoulder blades are also under the saddle, any pressure points on these sensitive muscles can cause pain and muscle wasting which further compounds the problem of an ill-fitting saddle. In order for the horse to move correctly, the horse needs to: • Recruit the abdominals • Lift his back, • Engage his hind leg to propel his weight forward, • To come off his forehand and ultimately • Lift up through the withers - which occurs with the recruitment of the muscles of the thoracic sling (the muscles which attach the shoulder blades to the ribcage), and elevates the ribcage between the 2 shoulder blades, making the horse appear taller. In turn this allows the shoulder blades to move smoothly and freely and the horse to stride out with its fore legs. If pain, spasm or an ill-fitting saddle blocks movement, the horse will drop his back and tighten up through his latissimus dorsi (the lateral muscles), making his back dip further and block lateral movement of his spine and ribcage. This will make it very difficult or impossible for him to achieve correct

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bend on a circle or to move laterally, causing him to ‘fall out’ through his shoulder. He will also be less able to stride out with his front legs, and with his back in this position be unable to engage his powerful hind limb muscles and have to rely on other muscles to push him forward. If your physiotherapist feels that your horse’s saddle is contributing to the problem, they will recommend that you get your saddle checked by a Society of Master Saddlers (SMS) registered saddle fitter as part of the treatment plan. If your horse works on the forehand, he will find it difficult to move laterally because his ribcage is not lifted between his shoulder blades thus preventing free movement of his shoulder blades on his ribcage. This will make it difficult for him to bend on the circle and could cause him to fall out through his shoulder. Your Physiotherapist will be able to treat restricted joints to restore normal movement, restricted or tight soft tissue and provide a tailored home exercise programme to help build up the correct muscle and re-train correct patterns of movement. cont. on p.26

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Health Care â&#x20AC;˘ Worming

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Health Care • Book Review cont. from p.24

Early identification and treatment of a problem like this should facilitate an effective outcome.

Emma McCagherty Chartered Veterinary Physiotherapist BSc (hons) Physiotherapy, MCSP, ACPAT Cat. A

Horse Anatomy for Performance By Gillian Higgins with Stephanie Martin

Tel: 07841 522301 E-mail: emccagherty@onetel.com Web: www. centralscotlandanimalphysio.co.uk Based in South Lanarkshire covering central Scotland

Palpatory assessment

For more information on Veterinary Physiotherapy, or to find a Chartered Veterinary Physiotherapist in your area go to www.acpat.org

Gillian Higgins is an equine and human sports and remedial therapist, event rider and coach with a passion for equine anatomy and anatomical art. She uses her talent to paint diagrams of the internal systems onto live horses demonstrating how all these systems work together to affect performance and reduce the risk of injury. This book is filled with fabulous

photographs, supporting an easy to read style. If you have ever wanted to know more about what goes on inside your horse, then this book will provide many of the answers. Published by David and Charles rrp £19.99. Also available on website: www.thehobbywarehouse.co.uk/ horseanatomy at £16.99

Likit Sponsor Pony Club Eventing League

Likit Products are sponsoring The Pony Club Open Eventing League. The pointsbased series is designed to give riders increased opportunity to compete at open level and so gain the experience and encouragement to help them go on to compete in The Pony Club’s Area Competitions and Championship. Likit marketing manager, Lindsay Gall said, “Young riders have long embraced the Likit product range and we see this as a great opportunity to give something back to that sector of the horse world.

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We are especially pleased to be working with The Pony Club which gives such a terrific start for the riders of tomorrow.” Pony Club Branches whose events include an Open (1.10m) Class, can register for the League with entrants gaining points for places and double clear rounds. The horse and rider combination with the highest number of points at the end of the season will win, with places being awarded to 10th place. www.likit.co.uk

September 2012

Health Care â&#x20AC;˘ Ligaments

September 2012

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Health Care • Respiratory

Just a cough - or Equine Asthma? Ben Sturgeon, BSc, BVM&S, Cert EP, MRCVS Without wanting to depress you, summer is nearly over and thoughts of wet dark, nights and mucking out are creeping in. Many horses develop respiratory problems over this period although most will present clinically in spring with a variety of symptoms. This is because many affected horses are at rest over the winter and show few or no signs until they are brought up in preparation for the competition season that the problem comes to light. Equally the slow increase in the “allergens” predisposing to the problem accumulate over the stabling period with a high point toward the end. So what we really need to do is recognise the problem early and address it before the “clinical” effect is apparent. Asthma is an easy way of describing the condition but it has several names including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), allergic airway disease, equine asthma, stable cough, heaves and broken wind. We’re trying to move away from the term COPD to avoid confusion with an identically named but unrelated lung condition in humans with the preferred label now being recurrent airway obstruction (RAO). Recurrent airway disease (RAD) is a common chronic progressive inflammatory condition of the lower respiratory airways thought to affect approximately 14% of horses. It is essentially an airway allergy and/ or hypersensitivity to inhaled dust particles, particularly from hay and straw, which contain environmental elements (“allergens”) such as fungal spores and/or are also contaminated importantly with “endotoxins”, a by-product of bacterial cell wall breakdown. These trigger an inflammatory reaction, an accumulation of mucus in lower airways with thickening and constriction of the

airway walls. This results in reduced airflow in the lungs, breathing difficulty and “poor performance” or exercise intolerance. It is described by human asthmatics as trying to run whilst breathing through a straw. The predisposing factors can be placed in three categories: Environmental factors • Cool, wet climates encouraging wet and mouldy beds and feeds • Prolonged stabling with poor ventilation • Moulds, dust and spores from food • Yard/air pollution • Inadequate clearance of staled bedding/deep littering Prior infection RAD can follow a previous respiratory infection, especially if the stable management is poor or the animal not rested for long enough. It is currently recommended that 1 weeks rest be given per day of pyrexia. Inheritance There appears to be a definite genetic susceptibility, possibly due to individual variations in the airway clearance mechanisms. RAD tends to become more common with age, and to reoccur. With each “attack”, or if the allergen source is not removed further damage can occur to the airways. In addition, affected horses appear to become increasingly sensitive to other stimuli. The signs of RAD range from subtle through to severe and even lifethreatening. They can come on gradually or be very acute. In the mildest cases, horses simply don’t perform to expectation. In the worst, paroxysmal coughing and even death. The common signs include: • Coughing at rest, worsening with exercise; soft and persistent or

paroxysmal fits • Nasal discharge • Increased respiratory rate • Increased, biphasic (double) expiratory effort, with abdominal effort • A “heave line”; a visible ridge along the flank due to the muscular effort needed to breathe out • Audible crackling and wheezing in the lungs • Nostril flaring Many cases can be diagnosed simply from the history and the fact that “common things are common”. However, your vet may also want to endoscopically examine the trachea. They will take a sample from the lower airways to check for the presence of inflammatory cells and rule out other possible diseases such as infections. Sometimes the fact that there is an improvement with treatment is sufficient for a tentative diagnosis. Treatment The most important aspect of dealing with RAD is management. Medical treatment can help in the short term, and certainly with acute cases, but, ultimately maintaining a healthy, dust-free environment is essential. The major limiting factors to success are the practicalities of the regime and the costs. But it is a rewarding condition to treat because if you alter the environment sufficiently, animals become both clinically and endoscopically normal within a short space of time. If, however, the condition is neglected, structural lung changes can take place, resulting in permanent changes. • Turn out as much as possible, if rugged, a horse can live out year round, grazing and drainage permitting. • Soaking hay doesn’t adequately

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reduce exposure to dusts and moulds and also leaches out much of the nutritional value. Hay is therefore ruled out of the diet in favour of low-dust alternatives such as silage, a complete cubed diet or, best of all, haylage. • Feed pelleted hard food, dampened down just beforehand. • Feed from the floor to encourage mucus drainage from the airways. • Bed on rubber, paper or some other dust-extracted bedding. • Deep litter is not permitted as the endotoxin-producing bacteria multiply rapidly in urine and dung- stained shavings, making them just as bad as straw. Use shavings sparingly and clean them out daily. • Move horse away when mucking out or sweeping yard. • Always groom outside. • Improve stable ventilation, keep the half-door open at all times and install a vent with baffle in the opposite wall to provide a constant air flow. • Keep muckheap, hay and straw store away. Remember, remember the adjacent environment too. There’s little point trying to keep one stable in a yard dustfree if all the other horses close by are kept on hay and straw. There are a variety of medications available to alleviate RAD. The two most often used are bronchodilators (Ventipulmin), which relax the airway walls, decrease mucus viscosity and accelerate clearance, and antiinflammatories (corticosteroids) which reduce lung inflammation. Other types of medication that can be of use include mucolytics, which break down airway cont. on p.29

September 2012

Health Care • Respiratory cont. from p.28

mucus (Sputolosin) and diuretics, which relieve lung congestion (Frusemide). Drugs however, are not a long-term fix. Environmental management is the mainstay along with Inhalation therapy. Inhalation therapy for horses, one of the most effective and practical devices for administering treatment is the metered dose inhaler (MDI) of which a wide selection are available on the human market. Like humans who need a quick puff of an inhaler when they get short of breath, horses can benefit from a high concentration of medicine being delivered directly into the lungs. There are several instances where this treatment can be particularly beneficial in the case of an acute flair-up of the disease and when every other avenue of stable management has been explored. There are also several “alternative” treatments, including immunotherapy

(allergen neutralisation with hyposensitising vaccines) and homeopathy, both of which have anecdotal support but no scientific evidence of efficacy. In-feed supplements containing anti-oxidants, garlic or bio-available sulphur (such as MSM) are always popular. Remember that once a horse has been affected it will remain sensitive and be likely to react again. Studies have shown that sensitive horses only need to be exposed to dust for 1-2hr for a reaction to be triggered. Long-term management remains the key and it makes sense to create as healthy an environment as possible, whether your horse coughs or not. All horses, not just those suffering from RAO, will reap substantial benefits from living in a dust-free environment. In addition, keeping dust levels low is important for human health, as it will reduce the chances of you developing dust-induced cough and asthma.

Respirator Boost the powerful natural alternative for healthy lungs… …comes with a 48 hour Money Back Guarantee! Respirator Boost provides unrivalled, fast acting, nutritional support to help keep your horse’s airways clear, and support the integrity and normal function of the capillary blood vessels surrounding the lungs. Furthermore, NAF have such confidence in the product, it comes with a 48 hour money back guarantee! Respirator Boost is a powerful liquid supplement formulated from tinctures of ingredients particularly beneficial to the respiratory system. Utilising tinctures enables the product to work very quickly. They are combined with Echinacea to support the immune system, highly concentrated antioxidant nutrients - to mop up and flush away toxins, essential oils of clove and eucalyptus to help clear the airways, plus soothing

ingredients such as honey, peppermint and lemon. Feed Respirator Boost and see a clear difference in your horse’s breathing within 48 hours! For a full and powerful effect, we recommend you feed Respirator Boost for 2 weeks, to establish the nutrients within the system. Follow this by feeding Respirator powder as part of your horse’s daily diet to maintain the clear benefits seen. RRP’s: Respirator Boost: 500ml: £14.95. 1 litre: £26.75 2 litres: £47.95. Larger sizes available. . Available from NAF stockists nationwide. For further information please call the NAF Freephone Advice Line 0800 373 106, email: info@naf-uk.com or go to www.naf-uk.com

Hay Bar Helps the COPD Sufferer If your horse or pony has a respiratory problem such as a cough, he wheezes or is short of breath he could be suffering from Recurrent Airway Obstruction (RAO), formerly known as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which is a common respiratory problem. It is associated with dust and mould spores commonly found in sun-dried forages, such as hay and straw. Horses and ponies suffering from these conditions need special care and management to allow them to live a comfortable and active life.

Soaked hay helps and the feeding position is very important. Feeding from the floor is essential as this helps the airways to drain down. Hay Bar will contain the forage and help to stop cross contamination with the bedding. Feeding position and keeping the environment clean is paramount. Hay Bar is widely recommended by the veterinary profession to help alleviate some of the problems found in caring for a horse with RAO (COPD).

Dust and spores are the enemy and so a dust free stable is very important.

www.haybar.co.uk Tel. 01723 882434

September 2012

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Health Care • Worming

Tackling worms, worming and resistance Merial Animal Health presents the latest information on worming, drug resistance and new methods of managing equine parasites.

a worm population, the health, welfare and performance of horses infested with resistant worms will potentially be compromised.

Worms have caused problems for horses since time immemorial but we developed a variety of anthelmintics (wormers) to control these pesky parasites. However, over time it has become clear that, just like antibacterial resistance, some of the parasites have developed resistance to anthelmintics, limiting their effectiveness. “Worms are complex infections, involving different species of worms that live in different parts of the horse’s body primarily the gastrointestinal tract. Treating such wide variables has always proved difficult,” says leading parasitologist Professor Jacqui Matthews from the Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh. “Small redworms are extremely common and there are many different species, which makes research strategies very complicated – there are wide variations in how they affect horses clinically and how they respond to medicines.” What is clear is that anthelmintic resistance is a very real problem. As such, it is crucial to pursue sustainable worming to preserve the efficacy of the wormers that are currently effective.

There are a number of factors that can affect the development of resistance. Underdosing – is probably one of the major factors that has led to the widespread levels of wormer resistance. This is likely to happen if you don’t know the horse’s accurate bodyweight and therefore administer the wrong dose, or if you dose the horse incorrectly, causing the horse to spit out some of the product. Ensuring your horse swallows the whole dose by administering this correctly over the back of the tongue, will ensure the anthelmintic works effectively as well as reducing the risk of resistance.

What exactly is resistance?

Frequency of treatment is another important point to consider, and one that most worming companies are now focusing on by using worming planners and charts. Merial’s SMART worming planner, combined with faecal worm egg counts to identify horses that require treatment, can help to regulate the use of anthelmintics. In this way horses with low worm egg counts are not treated unnecessarily, and provided the advice given after testing is followed, WECs can be one of the most effective ways to reduce unnecessary worming.

Resistance is when a greater frequency of individuals in a parasite population, usually affected by a dose or concentration of compound, is no longer effective. Once resistance is present in

Timing of treatment in relation to pasture management is the final important point to emphasise. Any parasites that survive dosing are likely to carry resistant genes, so it is important not to dose

and move on to clean pasture because only resistant worms will be carried over to the clean pasture post dosing, and this does not allow for any dilution by a worm population sensitive to the drug. This is known as ‘refugia’ and is discussed in more detail below. Also it is most important to poo pick at all times including after treatment. Underdosing, treating too frequently and unnecessarily, alongside incorrect management are all selection pressures: the more often that selection pressure is applied to the parasite population, the more likely wormer resistance will develop.

count, instead a tapeworm antibody ELISA blood test should be performed and according to the results, you will be advised to worm for tapeworm in spring and autumn as challenge dictates. Egg counts will also not identify the presence of immature or encysted small redworm larvae within the gut wall (mucosal stages), so egg counts are best performed in the summer months when mucosal numbers are likely to be lowest. Treatment for encysted small redworm should be considered and reserved for an annual treatment during the winter months.

No more guesswork

So why are refugia so important?

Key to tackling resistance is knowledge – not just of your horse’s weight and condition, but also of the parasite burden. In order to determine the roundworm burden a faecal worm egg count should be used.

An important concept in the battle to slow resistance is ‘refugia’. This is the population of worms that is not exposed to wormer treatment – or ‘in refuge’. Refugia includes the parasites in untreated horses and on the pasture, and these pose little threat in small numbers, but instead have a positive effect, serving to dilute the population of treatment-resistant worms. When the treatment-resistant worms breed, they pass on their resistance genes to the next generation. Keeping a population of worms in refugia, however, means that the worm population always has a good proportion of treatment-sensitive worms, and worming treatments can go on being effective now and in the future.

A worm egg count is a microscopic examination of a dung sample, to identify and count the number of roundworm eggs present, helping to identify which horses are shedding most eggs and in need of treatment. The egg count is expressed as eggs per gram (epg). In most cases, if the count is greater than 200 epg you should consider worming. Worm egg counts are a useful tool that can be utilised with ease by all horse owners, however, it has limitations which must also be taken into consideration. Tapeworm burdens cannot be detected by a worm egg

Worm egg counts play an important cont. on p.32

Natural Alternatives to Chemical Wormers Are you looking for a natural approach to intestinal hygiene?

and parasite control being just a few examples.

In recent years herbal products have gained real credibility as an alternative for horse owners who want to use a gentle, but powerful product on their horses to address intestinal hygiene.

The use of herbs to promote health makes perfect sense. They’re safe, avoid resistance problems and are more ecological than drugs. Above all, they are effective, having been used by animals for aeons to complement their internal metabolic pathways. They’re like an external library of information the mammalian body can utilise when needed for preventative and therapeutic medicine.

Said Philip Ghazala of Verm-X: “We have seen a dramatic increase in the acceptance of natural products in the past few years. There is no question that horse owners today are increasingly aware of resistance and environmental issues when using pertrochemicals, and an increasing amount of owners are keen to adopt a cleaner more organic approach to horse health.

Natural products are proven to be

“A decade ago we saw a fair level of

Since the earliest times, man has used herbs effectively to maintain health in himself and his animals. Herbs were on the planet long before animals. As higher mammals evolved through pre-history, they modified their metabolism to use plants for their own benefit; food, healing

gentler on the digestive system and therefore do not pose a threat to the horse’s performance.

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scepticism towards the use of herbs but now I am delighted to say this is reducing rapidly as horse owners see that herbal formulations like Verm-X are equally effective as non–herbal products. “The natural and herbal ingredients in Verm-X provide vitamins, minerals and trace elements that contribute to overall health and well being, in addition to intestinal hygiene control.” For further information or to find your nearest stockist please contact Verm-X on 0870 850 2313 or visit www.verm-x.com.

September 2012

Health Care • Worming

Pfizer and Westgate help horse owners understand faecal worm egg counts The worming experts at Pfizer Animal Health and Westgate Laboratories have combined their expertise to help horse owners understand why Faecal Worm Egg Counts (FWECs) are one of the most important tools to help with summer worm control.

Ben Lacey at Pfizer continues: “FWECs are invaluable during the grazing season as they will indicate how many eggs each horse is contributing to the contamination of your pasture. Eggs hatch into worm larvae, so the higher the egg count the more larvae will be on the grazing - increasing the risks of reinfecting all the horses with worms.” Conducting regular FWECs can help you to target your worming treatments by only dosing horses with a significant worm burden, which will stop them from

September 2012

re-infecting the pasture for a period after the treatment. The horses with low egg counts are less likely to need a treatment as they are not contributing as many new worms onto the pasture. The test can also give you an indication of whether your wormer is working, if you take a FWEC before and after administering a wormer. Ben Lacey at Pfizer concludes: “It is essential to remember though that a standard FWEC will not give a clear indication of tapeworm, encysted small redworm or bots. For these you will need to use a proven wormer on a strategic basis – usually in the autumn and spring for tapeworm and late autumn/early winter for encysted small redworm.” For further information check out Pfizer Animal Health’s new website www. wormingyourhorse.info which includes a comprehensive section on FWECs, visit www.westgatelabe.co.uk or speak to your vet or Animal Health Advisor.

‘Think twice before using wormers’ * * BVA advice

WESTGATE LABORATORIES

David Booth at Westgate explains: “A Faecal Worm Egg Count simply involves collecting a sample of fresh dung and sending it, in the special packaging provided, to a specialist laboratory. There it will be analysed and the number of worm eggs in the sample will be measured and reported back to you as eggs per gram. Results and worming can then be discussed with an experienced animal health advisor.”

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Health Care • Worming cont. from p.30

role in the preservation of refugia. When the results come back showing a low count of less than 200 eggs per gram, the advice is not to worm. This is considered a safe level of worms for the average adult horse that will have no detrimental impact on its health, but will help to maintain a population of worms in refugia. How do anthelmintics work? Anthelmintics are administered to the horse and so can only affect those stages of a worm that are present in the horse at that time. Any anthelmintic treatment will have activity against a defined range of parasites and this may include all stages of the parasite present in the horse, (eg. adult and immature) or just some stages. Anthelmintics that can treat a range of different parasite groups

(eg. tapeworms, roundworms and bots) are known as broad spectrum. Those that are only effective against a very defined range are known as narrow spectrum. Each anthelmintic has a specific profile that includes its mode of action, pharmokinetic properties, its sites of activity within the host and its activity against the parasites. The mode of action is the way in which a compound produces its pharmacological effect or more practically, how anthelmintics remove parasites. Anthelmintics must be selectively toxic to the parasite and not the host. This is usually achieved by inhibiting a metabolic process, which is vital to the parasite but not the host, or by exposing the parasite to higher concentrations of the compound than the

Win the battle against worms with Aivly Aivly Country Store answers horseowners pleas to prevent or cure problem worms. Specialist equine worm count kits cost from £10/horse, including sampling kit, postage and Westgate Labs worm count. Recommended this autumn or for any new horses entering your pasture,

worm counts can save you money and prevent resistance build up while any wormers then needed are also available at Aivly with qualified staff on hand to serve you every day of the week. Aivly Country Store also stocks wormers for your canine and feline friends too. Visit Aivly Country Store, Crow Lane, Ringwood, Hampshire BH24 3EA. www.aivly.com. Tel 01425 472341.

host. The majority of anthelmintics work by interfering with the parasites’ cell structure or metabolism, neuro-muscular co-ordination or protective mechanisms against the hosts’ immunity. In turn this leads to starvation, paralysis and death, or removal of the parasite. From mouth to action Once an anthelmintic has been administered, it is usually absorbed into the blood stream where it is transported around the body. It is eventually metabolised by the liver and excreted in urine and faeces. Since equine anthelmintics are usually administered by mouth and many of the parasites affecting horses live in the lumen of the intestine or close to the mucosa, there may be direct action of the ingested anthelmintic on the parasite. However, some parasites reside in the

Effective planning Understanding how anthelmintics work and even more importantly, understanding how resistance develops within the parasite population, is key to managing an effective worming programme. Tests such as faecal worm egg counts and the ELISA antibody test to detect tapeworm, will go a long way to ensuring that you are only worming your horse when it is absolutely necessary.

New worming message from Merial: ‘Treat every horse as an individual’ Merial’s SMART worming programme helps you to keep track of your horse’s worming regime, monitoring worm burdens and helping you to work out when to treat and with which product. To demystify worming, Merial has also introduced the SMART rules: four simple rules to help you plan an effective worming programme for 2012. Now, Merial takes a closer look at rule number three and explains that autumn is the time to treat every horse as an individual. They may look similar, but each horse’s burden of worms and susceptibility to worms is different. It is estimated that about 20% of the horses in a herd will carry 80% of the worm burden, so treating all horses at the same time and with the same dose could mean treating some horses unnecessarily. In most cases you should only consider worming an adult horse if the worm egg count is over 200 epg – this can be determined with a faecal worm egg count. Under the microscope A worm egg count is a microscopic examination of a dung sample from a horse, to identify and count the number of roundworm eggs present. Worm egg counts help identify which horses are shedding most eggs and in need of treatment. By signing up for free at

liver or the lungs or other parts of the body during migratory phases of their life cycle. Whatever the location, for a parasite to be effectively removed, it is essential that it comes into contact with the medicine at a sufficiently high concentration, either through the GI tract directly or the blood supplying the parasite’s location.

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www.smartworming.co.uk, you will be alerted when a worm egg count is required and then once sampled and tested, your results will be emailed to you and your planner automatically updated – so you can keep track of each individual horse on the plan. This SMART planner is now available to download in app format. Just log onto www.smartplanner.co.uk for more information or look out and scan QR codes on this season’s adverts. Measure up Ensure you give an accurate dose by calculating the weight of your horses using either a weighbridge or a weigh tape – not all horses need exactly one tube of wormer. Giving too small a dose of wormer increases the risk of resistance. The worms are exposed to treatment at a level that doesn’t kill them but allows them to develop resistance. Alternatively, too large a dose gives no additional benefit. Accurate dosing plus only dosing when needed ensures each horse is treated as an individual. This autumn, you will receive a free Dodson & Horrell weigh tape with every purchase of EQVALAN® Duo, while stocks last. Sign up to Merial’s free SMART planner at www.smartworming. co.uk to start managing your horse’s worming smarter today.

September 2012

FREE

Arenas • Field & Stable

weightape!

Ensure you calculate the right dose for every horse with this Dodson and Horrell weightape, free with your autumn purchase of EQVALAN® Duo*

They may look similar, but inside they could be very different. It is estimated that 20% of the horses in a group will carry about 80% of the worm burden. Treating all horses with the same dose of wormer at the same time could therefore be treating some horses unnecessarily and some horses inadequately – and that could speed up the spread of wormer resistance. FREE planner – online now Keep track of your horse’s worming history at www.smartworming.co.uk with a free, personalised and interactive planner that reminds you when to test for worms and when to treat. NOW available in App format. Learn more about individualised worming strategies at www.smartworming.co.uk

RESPONSIBLE WORMING

Scan your phone over this QR code to take you straight to the App

Use medicines responsibly *When you purchase EQVALAN® Duo oral paste, subject to availability, during September and October 2012. One free weightape per customer. Merial Animal Health Ltd. CM19 5TG, UK. EQVALAN® is a registered trademark of Merial Ltd. © Merial 2012. All rights reserved. Advice on the use of this or alternative medicines must be sought from the medicine prescriber. Legal category UK: POM-VPS IE: LM . EQVALAN® Duo oral paste contains ivermectin and praziquantel. EQVALAN® paste for horses contains ivermectin. Read packaging before use. For further information call the Merial Customer Support Centre on UK: 0845 6014236 or IE: 1850 783783. September 2012 33 www.equiads.net

Horse Behaviour

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September 2012

Field & Stable • Horse Behaviour

Speaking The Language, Part 4 A series by SUSAN McBANE explaining equestrian and scientific terminology in relation to equine behaviour and psychology, and its effects on horses and training (This series is based on a glossary of equestrian and scientific terms presented at the First International Equitation Science Symposium, 2005. The glossary description is given in inverted commas, followed by Susan’s discussion.) AGAINST THE HAND: ‘When a horse does not stop/slow/step back from the bit correctly. Consequently, the rein contact feels heavy to the rider. This is usually accompanied by a hyperreactive (hollow) posture in which the neck shortens or lengthens during locomotion or transitions. There may be an element of learned helplessness in this behaviour. A horse may also be described as being against one of the rider’s hands, in which case it is heavy on one rein only (lugging), demonstrating a diminished response to the turn signal of that rein.’ THE state of being ‘against the hand’, also sometimes referred to as ‘against the bit’, is mainly due to the horse never having been ‘mouthed’, that is, accustomed to having a bit in his mouth and taught correctly how to respond to different types of pressure applied to his mouth through the bit. The old way of mouthing a horse, still used in some quarters, was to fit the

horse with a mouthing bit which had three metal keys or ‘danglers’ hanging from the mouthpiece which were/are meant to encourage the horse to play with the bit and salivate, so keeping the mouth soft and familiarising the horse with the feel of the bit. Mouthing bits are still available. They usually have a straight-bar, and I mean straight not half-moon, mouthpiece which must be quite uncomfortable, and they can encourage horses to try to get their tongues over the bit to escape the discomfort, and the possible irritation of the keys. The basic answer to this is usually to raise the bit up in the mouth, which makes it even more uncomfortable as it stretches the corners of the lips. A more modern and sensible approach is to fit a young horse with the type of bit in which it is intended to train and work him, preferably a simple snaffle. Eggbutt joints at the ends of the mouthpiece remove any risk of trapping the corners of the lips between a loose ring and the mouthpiece which, as you can imagine, is excruciatingly painful. A comfortable mouthpiece is one which will conform to the shape of a horse’s mouth, such as a French link or a lozenge mouthpiece which is much more comfortable and logical than a single-joint bit or a half-moon/

mullen mouthpiece. The double-jointed mouthpiece has some movement in it so the horse can play with it, which the half-moon does not, and the two joints lie more comfortably in the mouth than a single joint. The correct fit is to have the bit wide enough to enable you to fit the width of one finger at one end of the bit between the horse’s face and the bit ring. The correct and comfortable height for a jointed bit is so that it makes just one wrinkle at the corners of the mouth, although two (no more) may be acceptable in the early days of accustoming a horse to the bit to discourage him from putting his tongue over it. Thick mouthpieces are not as comfortable as we used to think. Research has shown that in almost every horse the available space in the mouth is taken up by the tongue, so the thicker the mouthpiece the more uncomfortable it will be. A normal thickness is fine. I feel it is best to use a substance which is not flavoured as we can never be certain that the horse likes the taste of it, no matter what claims are made for it; the horse has enough on his mind, and in his mouth, without also having a possibly awful taste to make him associate bits with unpleasantness. You can give him his favourite titbit occasionally to distract his attention from the bit a little and keep a nice taste in his mouth. One old practice which, again, is still in quite widespread use in some ‘traditional’ yards, is to leave the bit in the horse’s mouth whilst he is in his stable, sometimes for hours, and also whilst he is eating. This is really unkind, and counterproductive. More enlightened trainers only put the bit in whilst the horse is actually being schooled or just led about the premises where there are sights and sounds to distract him from its presence a little in cont. on p.36

September 2012

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Field & Stable cont. from p.35

the early days. If these steps are taken, the horse will get used to the bit in small doses. He can then be accustomed in-hand to its pressures in the stable or a small enclosure before riding him in it. Scawbrig bitless bridles are very useful at this stage as they allow the bit to be fitted in the mouth and can have reins attached to it or not, but do have reins attached to a noseband which the rider uses exclusively for a while, gradually introducing riding from the bit. Other similar schooling bridles are available and well worth buying. With a horse gradually mouthed in this way, trained correctly and progressively to respond to bit pressures (see below) and subsequently ridden correctly, mouth and bit problems are unlikely to occur. The horse will not learn to go ‘against the hand’. TEACHING LIGHT RESPONSES Horses learn to respond to pressures on the bit by means of a term you have probably heard of – negative reinforcement – PROVIDED that the trainer applies and stops those pressures (aids) accurately - in the right way and with precise timing. ‘Negative’ in this instance does not mean bad but is used in the mathematical sense of subtracting something or taking it away, in this case bit pressure. ‘Reinforcement’ can be taken to mean ‘confirmation’ or ‘reward’. So, if you

apply pressure via the reins on both sides of the bit to teach the horse the aid to slow down, stop or move backwards (all of which use the same muscle groups), and remove that pressure (subtract, or stop applying it) the instant the horse complies, you are using negative reinforcement correctly, and your horse will learn quickly (after about five repetitions) that the movement he has just made will stop the pressure. The aid becomes lighter and the response calmly given. All the aids we give a horse are meant to stimulate him to do something. In the discipline of Equitation Science, there is a phrase which goes: ‘the aid stimulates but the release teaches’. This means that when we apply pressure to a part of the horse’s body he will be stimulated to do something to remove or stop it. When he has done the right thing, we must absolutely instantly stop applying the aid. This teaches him that to get rid of that particular feeling or pressure, he must perform that particular movement (including standing still, if required) and the pressure will stop. It takes about five repetitions for a horse to reliably start to understand and respond to the connection, or association, between the release (cessation) of pressure and the movement. He will associate the release with whatever he was doing the instant before you stopped it. As a basic example: imagine you have your green, young horse in-hand in a reasonably large stable or small

enclosure. You want him to learn to respond to pressure on both sides of the bit by slowing down, stopping or stepping back. Making sure that there is some space behind him, stand on, say, the left side of his head more or less at arm’s length, facing his tail, hold the reins with your left hand behind his jaw and apply a gently vibrating pressure on the bit, straight backwards towards his neck. After one, or at most two, seconds, if he hasn’t offered to move back, keep up the bit vibration and start tapping him gently but clearly on the front of the left cannon with a long schooling whip. In due course, the horse will lift the leg and move it back, if only a few centimetres. This is your cue to stop both your aids immediately and rub him on his withers which will give him a pleasant sensation to associate with what he has just done. As mentioned, after about five repetitions of this, he will start to understand and respond promptly. After a break with kind words and fuss, repeat everything from the other side. There are, of course, many ways of schooling horses. The above is an example of equitation science, the big advantage of which is its clarity to the horse and, when applied properly and continued, the complete removal of confusion from the training process. I find that horses become calm and confident because they know where they stand, become interested in the training process and not only compliant but light to hand and leg. (To find out

more, visit www.equitationscience. co.uk and www.aebc.com.au.) In classical riding, the same principle is applied of stopping the aid the instant the horse complies. (‘Don’t keep asking for the salt once you’ve got it,’ was how my classical trainer, Dési Lorent, used to explain it.) Another very important principle is not to apply two conflicting aids at the same moment – ‘legs without hands and hands without legs’ is the familiar exhortation in classical circles. In the case of horses who are ‘against the hand’ – the subject of this article – their riders are usually giving them a constant go aid with the legs and a constant stop aid with the bit – confusion exemplified. Horses can also go against the hand when they have been previously accustomed to go in that way and their riders have been in the habit of riding them up to the contact. It also happens because riders have been taught to take a firm contact to help their horses to balance. In practice, restricting the natural use of horses’ heads and necks in this way results in their actually having difficulty in balancing themselves, rather than being helped. PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE The in-hand work to teach him to slow down, stop or step backwards helps such horses tremendously, and should be repeated as a handling technique whenever the horse exerts pressure on cont. on p.38

Buttercups... pretty or poisonous? In response to Julie Holgate’s comments about buttercups in the August issue, readers might be interested to know that we have managed to eradicate creeping

buttercup by spraying in either Spring (April) or Autumn (Sept) with Headland Spear using a spraying system on the back of an ATV.

Headland Spear contains the active ingredient MCPA. It will selectively control weeds in established agricultural grassland such as thistle, nettle,

buttercups, ragwort and soft rush. For best results, spray when annual weeds are at the seedling stage and perennial weeds when the flower buds are forming provided the crop is at the recommended stage for treatment. Spraying should ideally be carried out in warm weather when the weeds are growing vigorously. As a registered smallholder I am able to purchase this from my local agriculture store. However, it is not available otherwise. Pulling up buttercups sounds like hard work! Susan Dilworth Ceredigion

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September 2012

Field & Stable • Training

BEDMAX RoR Series Winner The 2011 Retraining of Racehorses (RoR)/BEDMAX Racing 2 Eventing Winner has finally been able to accept her trophy at the recent Hickstead Derby. Camilla Kruger now living in East Sussex won the inaugural eventing series last year on thoroughbred racehorse turned eventer, Princability

The RoR/BEDMAX Racing 2 Eventing Series of ‘starter eventer’ classes for ex-racehorses, is aimed to give eventers an opportunity to compete at 90 and 100 level classes exclusively for ex-racers. Last year more than 200 exracehorses competed in the inaugural series and Camilla and Princability came out on top. Retraining of Racehorses or RoR is British horseracing’s official charity for the welfare of horses who have retired from racing.

Cost and comfort benefits Verdo Horse Bedding is made from environmentally friendly, biodegradeable wood pellets. This increasingly popular form of horse bedding is more cost effective than traditional bedding such as wood shavings, because it’s cleaner, more comfortable, less smelly, less wasteful, easier to use and more hygienic, because of the pellets’ impressive absorbency.

Among the benefits compared with wood shavings, are; • Costs up to 40% less • Mucking out time reduced by at least 50% • Easy to move in 15kg bags • Storage requires only 20% of the space • Muck heap massively reduced Visit www.verdohorsebedding.co.uk or find Verdo Horse Bedding on Facebook and Twitter.

Camilla’s passion for eventing – and exracehorses came from her upbringing on a farm in Zimbabwe. She began riding her Grandfather’s ex-racehorses in the African Bush and is now Eventing across the United Kingdom. Camilla commented; “I feel very passionate about retraining racehorses as it allows them a “second career”. Thoroughbreds are very willing, have great attitudes towards work and with sound training it makes them an ideal candidate for a successful new career in Eventing”. “The BEDMAX/RoR series is very important in the equine industry, as it firstly, creates a genuine awareness of the huge potential of retraining race horses and secondly, it gives added value to owners and riders competing racehorses at events. This will hopefully encourage more people to consider taking on racehorses and show they can compete and win at the highest levels in the future.” BEDMAX Managing Director Tim Smalley, commenting on the very first BEDMAX/RoR eventing series said; “We are very proud to have presented Camilla with her trophy. It is a tribute to the energy and passion she has for offering ex-racehorses a second chance. We wish her all the best in her future in eventing”. For more information on the BEDMAX/ RoR Racing 2 Eventing series visit www.bedmaxshavings.com.

September 2012

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Field & Stable • Horse Behaviour • Insurance cont. from p.26

his headcollar or bridle in-hand, such as when leading to and from the field. Do this before riding him, as well, and your work under saddle will be much easier. Horses form habits very quickly. Even if you do not ride your horse into your hands or up to the contact now, you or someone else may have done so in the past. The horse could have formed the now-confirmed habit of going in this way which is uncomfortable and possibly painful for him and unpleasant for you, if you are a sensitive rider. The concept so often taught of needing to ‘hold a horse together and get his head in’ clearly goes against the very lightness which is the aim of all the best horsemen and women. The description at the start of this article mentions ‘learned helplessness’, which means that the horse has learned that he is always asked or made (by means of firm, unrelenting bit pressure) to go in this way and feels helpless to go in any other – so he carries on doing it. To help him get out of this downward spiral, first make sure his bit and bridle are comfortable – bit fitted as described above and bridle and noseband loose enough to be comfortable, enabling you to slide a finger easily under all straps and fit the width of two fingers between the noseband and the front of the horse’s face (the nasal bone), so that the horse can actually feel your aids rather than have to tolerate a dulling, overall tightness on his head and in his mouth. Allow him to walk along naturally on a long rein and correct any tendency to push on to your hands by raising them straight upwards with a gentle but definite contact, slightly vibrated if necessary, whenever the horse leans on them. As soon as the head comes up, lower your hands and release the contact to reinforce/reward his correct response. Repeat as required. This will get your horse up into a horizontal balance with a gradual backward shifting of his weight, and start to lighten his forehand. When he can balance and hold himself better in walk, take him into a slow trot and carry

on from there. Slow and careful wins the race. The glossary description above mentions a hyper-reactive, hollow way of going, typical of horses who are excited, anxious or frightened. They pull forward on to the bit and are heavy in hand but the feel is different. The in-hand training above is excellent for them as well. If done correctly, it teaches them how to respond to bit aids, lightens them up and calms them down because they become confident and feel safe. ‘Lugging’ is a word not used much in the UK but horses who do it are fairly common. Of course, horses who hang to one side, don’t turn lightly to a particular side, or drift off line when moving may have mouth, saddle or other physical (or rider) problems which should be investigated. If these are not the problem, poor training could well be the reason. To teach a horse in-hand to turn from pressure on one side of the bit, the principle and technique are the same as for stepping back. Stand on the opposite side of his head to that to which he does not turn readily; so, if he doesn’t obey the left rein, say, stand on the right side of his head, have the reins with the buckle on his withers and hold the left rein with your right hand, whip in your left. Very slightly turn his head to the left with a gentle but definite vibrating pressure on the left rein and tap with the whip on the side of his right cannon. If you have done the previous in-hand work properly, he will catch on to this fairly soon and step to the left, then you instantly stop the aid and rub his withers. Continue as above. SUSAN McBANE has an HNC in Equine Science and Management, holds the Classical Riding Club Gold Award and is a Practitioner Member of the International Society for Equitation Science. She co-publishes ‘Trackingup’ with Anne Wilson (see advert this issue). For lessons and clinics in and near Lancashire, ring 01254 705487 or email horses@susanmcbane.com.

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September 2012

Insurance • Transport

Additional Travelling Seats in Horse Transport Malcolm Tagg, Director General, Vehicle Builders and Repairers Association Limited Seats themselves must be tested and approved before they can be installed. All new builds up to 3.5ton GVW will, from April 2013, require certification that the seat and seat belt anchorage is correctly fitted and, for larger vehicles, October 2014.

The landscape for horse transport purchasers is changing and important information about ‘travelling seats’ is the subject of this article. 1. Travelling seats to the rear of the driver need to be tested (as do their fixings as installed by the bodybuilder) 2. Dates the changes apply – up to 3.5 Ton gross vehicle weight April 2013; larger vehicles October 2014 3. VBRA is the lead trade association for vehicle body builders in the UK 4. The EU directive referred to is 2007/46/EC (The Recast Framework Directive) Ordering capital items such as horse transport can be fraught for a huge variety of reasons. An added burden your horsebox builder must be aware of going forward, is the need to ensure that any seating fitted behind the driving position intended for use whilst the vehicle is in motion must be properly tested for safety. Seats to be used whilst in motion must face forward or backwards, not sideways; seats on bulkheads must also be approved.

Certification comes in the form of a Test Report from a relevant authority stating that the builder has submitted the seats he uses (including his methods of fixing them) and complies with stringent independently witnessed tests. Simply saying “our seats are all tested” is not sufficient; their method of mounting has also to be tested and approved. New World In the new age of Whole Vehicle Type Approval, which covers defined safety related technical requirements concerned in any build, all body builders involved in building horseboxes on new chassis must submit their company to scrutiny as ‘fit and proper’ to do such work by demonstrating that what they do and how they do it is correct, convincing the authorities they have adequate quality assurance and conformity of production systems. This allows the builder to issue certification of conformity. Alternatively they must submit each vehicle for inspection by VOSA and prove, in a similar fashion, during inspection, they have the right credentials to fit the seats in question. What does this mean to the end user? Firstly some builders may only fit particular seats (the ones they’ve had tested). If they’re not certified for your preferred alternative seat or layout they simply cannot fit it.

As part of the first registration process the builder must provide conformity paperwork evidencing all the safety related technical requirements he is involved with from the Type Approval directive (eg lights, seats, masses and dimensions, locks and hinges, brakes, heaters etc) have been met. He also needs periodic re-approval. In your discussions at the planning stage be aware some of the flexibility that used to exist will disappear from the market. Take this into account and listen carefully to your chosen builder who is expert on what is and is not allowed. For example – unless you specify travelling seats behind the driver your builder may feel obliged to include a notice above non compliant fixed seating, or in the documentation you receive as owner, that ‘it is not to be used whilst the vehicle is in motion’ – it‘s not him being pedantic he’s helping you comply with your legal obligation; if you choose to ignore it contravention of the legislation is your fault, not the builders! You may need to pay a bit more. Unpalatable though this may be, without doubt all body builders have to jump through some very expensive compliance hoops the cost of which simply cannot be absorbed into existing prices. Added Burdens This requirement, in future enshrined in additional regulation, is one of a number of changes to the world of vehicle body building from the very smallest vehicle or trailer to the very largest. Most competent body builders are presently going through considerable upheaval in their businesses which

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is changing their engineering and administrative landscape. Enlightened horsebox builders are already adapting to the changes, regardless of their company size. Many VBRA members are working towards approval through our toolkit training program. As an organisation we are intimately involved with all parties in the implementation of these regulations providing support and guidance to members helping get them to where they need to be, to best serve you their customer, ahead of the game. There are 71 technical requirements in this regulation some of which require expensive testing – seats and anchorages are one of those testable requirements. The number of requirements which affect your vehicle vary by size and use. It’s not complicated for a body builder – just some different (sometimes expensive) rules to comply with which need communicating to you in your planning meetings. As ever, for the right outcome you should discuss your requirements up front. In the future if your chosen builder cannot supply proof they comply with these new requirements you will have to consider an alternative; ensure builders you approach have the relevant compliances in place. Currently this applies to building on new chassis units, but the seating requirements will be the NEW LAW and be assured that contravention could cost you dear. Contact VBRA on wvta@vbra.co.uk they’ll be happy to supply details of these requirements and also a list of member builders who comply. www.vbra.co.uk

September 2012

Equi-Style

The new Autumn/Winter 2012 collection from Caldene continues with the classic British country look The Caldene range covers leisurewear and competition gear to help ensure riders have the right look at all times. The new Fashion tweed coats are traditionally tailored and designed to ensure you have timeless glamour whilst wearing one. For the competition circuit, Caldene will have riders dressed to impress with high end fabrics and beautiful designs, so riders truly sparkle in the ring. All the jackets are elegant, fitted and made with both comfort and durability in mind. Caldene have introduced an incredible new tweed jacket. The Quorn tweed

jacket is designed to offer an elegant fit, ensuring a smart look for all occasions. The jacket is made from Scottish Tweed, is 100% wool and manufactured in Yorkshire. Special features include an inset velvet collar, ticket pockets and jetted pockets for ultimate comfort and style. The Quorn jacket is available in sizes Girls, Maids and Ladies (from 24” to 42” in selected colours). Colours available are Green/Pink, Green/Lilac, Light Green, Dark Green and Brown. For the finishing touch to a competition outfit, Caldene feature an exclusive range of show shirts and stocks. Designed to fit the rider correctly, the range is also durable and comfortable. The Caldene outerwear range features the Heath belted waxed cotton jacket, and the fashionable Nettle quilted gilet. The Caldene range will certainly keep you warm and comfortable through the winter months. The new outerwear range is available in a range of classic colours, including Camel, Black, Navy and Berry. The new leisurewear is co-ordinated with the outerwear and comprises of a

rugby shirt, hoody and long sleeved zip top, all are embellished with grosgrain fabric. The leisurewear items are very versatile, looking great when worn on casual occasions or down the yard. New for the Caldene range, is the Borage long sleeved rugby top. Borage is a great everyday essential, with a button front fastening and a stripe on the sleeves. Available in sizes S, M, L and XL, in the colours black and plum and priced at around £40.50. The Autumn/Winter 2012 legwear line will see new colours introduced to existing favourites. There is also a range of new and exciting legwear that you will love. Look out for the Hornbeam, jean style breeches with diamante rivets on the pockets. Caldene now offer a range of riding hats, designed with safety in mind, whilst ensuring style and flare. Stand out from the crowd with the new Lumos riding hat from Caldene. The low profile, lightweight design, features a rear back neck lined panel for security, style and comfort. The hat also includes a removable, breathable padded Coolmax™ lining with moisture management and a multiple vented ventilation system for efficient and effective airflow, ensuring your head stays dry and cool whilst riding.

The hat conforms to EN1384 safety standard with BSI Kitemark and a PU thin outershell. The hat has an easy clip fastening. Supplied with soft fabric carry bag. Available in Junior sizes 63/8 - 63/4, Adult 67/8 - 71/2. In colours Black/Red, Brown/Champagne and Navy/Silver. Priced at around £76.99. The Caldene collection offers an extensive range of quality equestrian items that combine practicality, versatility and style. For further information please contact Caldene on (01274) 711101 or visit www.caldene.co.uk

Tack & Turnout â&#x20AC;˘ Transport

September 2012

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September 2012

Tack & Turnout â&#x20AC;˘ Transport

September 2012

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Equi-Style

A trusted name in essential equestrian clothing and leisurewear the Harry Hall collection is stylish whilst still retaining its practical, functional and traditional look riders have come to love The new Harry Hall logo is featured on the leisurewear and gives it a much more fashionable feel, while still appealing to both the young and more mature equestrian devotee. As ever Harry Hall riders are able to benefit from a selection of new accessories which co-ordinate with the whole collection, helping to complete the look. Harry Hall dedicates time and resources to researching the equestrian market and what equestrian fans really want. Harry Hall is trusted for producing affordable and fashionable clothing for the everyday rider. Influenced by its history and heritage the experienced team at Harry Hall continue to provide essential equestrian clothing and accessories. The clothing range is practical yet full of fresh new innovations, and the colour palette reflects this, using shades of Navy, Grey Marl, Wine, Red and Teal to create a warm winter feel. The outerwear items have been specifically designed to be rider friendly and can be worn in all weather conditions, for all equestrian activities. The range includes quilted fitted leisure jackets to stylish gilets. Look out for the Worsley quilted belted jacket which is an essential for the winter months. Ideal for the autumn is the ladies Dervock gilet which is perfect to wear over rugby tops. The Dervock is a padded quilted gilet featuring two way zip and detachable hood. Available in red and navy, in sizes S – XL. Priced around £36.50. The Autumn/Winter 2012 leisurewear range will sport the Harry Hall logo embroidered on traditional

style rugby tops, tunics and fleeces. Available in a variety of colours, the styling throughout the leisurewear includes fashionable Oxford shirt fabric detail. A great addition to your winter wardrobe is the Douglas from Harry Hall. This stylish long sleeve rugby top features elbow patch detail and quilting across the chest and shoulders. With Oxford shirt fabric under the collar it is available in Grey Marl, Navy and Red, in sizes S, M, L or XL and priced at around £42.50. New legwear has also been launched to match the leisurewear and outerwear range, consisting of pull on style, traditional zip and a fun collection of jodhpurs. The new Joddings are set to be

popular and are an updated version of the jodhpur style leggings. With high quality boots on offer, the Harry Hall range has every type of footwear for the keen equestrian. The new Snowboot range is set to be big for the colder season. Harry Hall has also launched a cutting edge range of classic jodhpur and

paddock boots. All feature a specially designed sole unit with both a single directional grip pattern and a dual shock protection system. The fore-foot grip pattern has been created for anti slip, whilst the design ensures easy removal from the stirrup. The dual shock protection combines a heal impact absorber together with lightweight EVA cushioning both in the heel and fore-foot areas. The boots also include a comfy gel insole that absorbs impact and pressure. This eases the pressure on ligaments and joints and will help ensure relief and comfort on the heal and ball of the foot. The boots in this collection are the Clifton, Hartford, Princetown Hi-Rise and Boston. The Georgetown Country Boots from Harry Hall are a statement piece for autumn.

These long country boots are created from hard-wearing grained leather. Designed to be durable with a two piece density outsole and gel insole they simply look great. The boots feature a waterproof and breathable lining. The Georgetown country boot comes in Black and Brown/Copper and in half sizes 3 to 8. RRP around £111.50. Harry Hall clothing and footwear is ideal for the keen equestrian and looks great when worn casually out and about at country events. For further information please contact Harry Hall on (01274) 711101 or visit www.harry.co.uk

Tack & Turnout â&#x20AC;˘ Transport

September 2012

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Equi-Style

Tottie Tottie launches a fantastic new collection for Autumn/Winter. When it comes to Tottie you can always be sure of something a little bit different! The leisurewear range is modern, cosy and functional, offered in a rich pallet of grey marls, navy, claret and pink to suit all tastes or occasions. The new Delphinium fitted rugby top, is warm and fashionable with a floral trim. A comfy yet fashionable collection, it features all sizes and shapes from tight fitting garments, mixed with more sporty looser and longer items. This year Tottie are expanding the children’s wear range,

which is designed and launched with the ‘horse mad’ girl in mind. Tottie has introduced a range of winter accessories, to keep riders warm and cosy this winter. Featuring knitted hats, scarves and leg warmers. The Bow hat from Tottie is perfect for winter. The beanie style hat is warm and soft, with a pretty bow at the front. Available in Grey and Black and priced at around £12.99. For further information please contact Tottie on 01274 711101 or visit www.tottie.co.uk

Dubarry joins host of brands in Aivly’s Clothing Showroom Dubarry, best known for its range of stylish waterproof boots, will be leading the way in country fashions this autumn with Aivly Country Store invited to showcase this prestigious brand in the region. Tweeds with a twist to gorgeous leather handbags are amongst the coveted range. Ariat Kids Clothing comes to Aivly this autumn

Well known for stocking leading brands with ranges for children and adults, Aivly Country Store has leapt onto the new children’s collection from Ariat. Launching this autumn we can expect items that will look great in and out of the saddle, joining leading brands such as Musto, with the all new ZP (Zara Phillips) range due in this autumn. Visit Aivly Country Store, Crow Lane, Ringwood, Hampshire BH24 3EA. www.aivly.com. Tel 01425 472341.

Love layers this Autumn/ Winter with Ride-Away Sadly we can’t predict the weather over the coming months, but we can predict that layering is going to be key this autumn/winter. When people talk about layering, they generally think in three layers: the base layer, mid layer and outer layer. The base layer sits next to the skin, and can take the form of a technical top that helps keep the wearer dry and comfortable. The mid layer is where the warmth comes from- think hoodies and fleeces and you’re there. More than one mid

layer can be worn at a time, depending on the wearer’s needs. Last but not least, the outer part, the shell…the waterproof element. Look for breathability (as this will help keep you comfortable), and consider the thickness based on your level of activity. The great thing about layers is that, as you get warmer, you can remove them, to help control your temperature. For more information on Ride-Away’s great layers, see www.rideaway.co.uk, or call 01347 810443 to speak to the knowledgeable team.

The Magic Touch A new addition to the Saddlecraft glove range, these Magic Gloves are interwoven with special thread on the thumb and first two fingers to enable activation of touch-screen mobile phones and tablet computers. This innovative, yet inexpensive product, is bound to be a hit with today’s tech savvy horse owners, while the ‘one size fits all’ sizing means that you may have to hide them from your friends and family - or perhaps buy them each a pair of their own. Suggested selling price £2.99 Contact Westgate EFI on 01303 872277 or visit www.wefi.co.uk for stockists.

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September 2012

Equi-Style

New jodhpurs from Countrywide offer added stickability! Leading rural supplier Countrywide is pleased to announce the launch of their exciting new update on the traditional stikki bum jodhpur. Part of their exclusive Kadence brand, made from tough stretch black denim incorporating a synthetic suede seat with silicon pimples, adding real stickability to where a riders legs and bum make contact with the saddle. Sara Blackshaw Countrywide’s Equestrian category manager comments, “We are really excited to be launching a new ladies stikki bum jodhpur to our customers from our Kadence range. Offering comfort, safety and style, they are ideal for when you need that extra bit of grip in the saddle.” The Kadence collection is exclusive to Countrywide and consists of all the essential and stylish equestrian products including; rider clothing and footwear, stable and rider equipment and rugs. The range offers well-made items that represent excellent value for money with a fashionable twist. Kadence always use fabric and trims that will stand up to the rigor of an outdoor lifestyle.

Three boots in one from Ariat What do you get when you cross a wellington, country and riding boot? The brand new Women’s Ariat Derwent Boot! Ariat is excited to launch the style for autumn 2012, which combines comfort, fashion and performance to offer a hybrid boot that fits into all outdoor eventualities! Stepping forward into winter will be easy with the Ariat Derwent Boots, the robust and practical design provides the wearer with a classic and fuss-free looking boot, with all the technical trimmings that they could ask for. Great for looking smart, the Ariat Derwent Boots feature a suede leg, stretch panel for fit, buckle detail and waterproof, full grain leather foot. Despite being packed full of practical benefits, the Ariat Derwent Boots don’t compromise on all-important style and appearance and suit a wide range of countryside pursuits. Perfect for walking and riding in, the Ariat Derwent Boots feature a rubber midsole for durability, exclusive ATS Technology for comfort and support and a flexible Duratread outsole for stability. This combined with the stirrup friendly design, means that the wearer can switch from working on the ground to sitting safely in the saddle, quickly, efficiently and without the need to change footwear!

September 2012

Whether stomping through puddles, or riding high this season, the Ariat Derwent Boots provide a versatile and traditional style of footwear which complements any winter apparel. The Ariat Derwent Boots are available in women’s sizes 3 – 7.5 and 8.5, in chocolate and black, RRP £189.99. For more information about the comprehensive collection of footwear available from Ariat, visit: www.ariat-europe.com or telephone: 0845 600 3209.

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Schooling • Tack & Turnout • Training

Riding a “square” If, following on from our last flatwork session, you now have a horse who leg yields easily and happily then you will find this exercise useful. In order to progress his training you must be able to use your outside aids effectively – think of the half pass where the outside aids coax the horse to move into the direction of the bend rather than fall away from it. We have taught the horse to move away from the inside leg in a bend, now we need to show him how to be “contained” by soft outside aids. Riding a square off the track means your outside aids are responsible for keeping the horse straight and turning him on the corners. If you ride the square on the track it is likely that the horse will simply “lean” on the wall and you will pull him round the corners with your inside hand

– not what we’re trying to achieve! So be strict with yourself and stay 3 or 4 metres off the wall. Begin in walk and as you get to the corner, look and turn your body around it – stay sitting up very straight through your torso, don’t collapse. Keep your weight down your inside leg and gently use your outside leg and both hands as a pair - keep your hands low, and imagine you are turning the chunk of his withers and shoulders – to turn the shoulders around the corner. The neck and body of the horse will stay fairly straight – it’s more as if he is pivoting around his back legs. Of course the corner will be more curved than appears in the diagram, but try not to let the horse fall out towards the wall. Then ride straight. On the straight sides make a conscious effort to look up and ahead, not at your horse with your body weight and rein pressure totally equal and symmetrical. Then – another corner.

Rowan Tweddle BHSII (SM) B.Sc Hons

When you can do this in walk on both reins with no loss of rhythm then try it in trot and canter. You may want to make the square bigger, but do try not to end up just relying on the wall to turn the horse rather than your outside aids. In canter it may be easier to do a rectangle just off the track using the whole arena. Do work on maintaining a nice easy rhythm during this exercise – it can be easy to get a little tight and ruin it, remember no movement is worth losing the rhythm for. When the horse can do this easily with a fairly straight neck and body, add in a little flexion. When you are teaching the horse new things, a good trick to keep your riding harmonious and subtle is to imagine you are being watched and want to make it appear very, very easy and fun!

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September 2012

Tack & Turnout â&#x20AC;˘ Insurance

September 2012

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Saddle Fitting

Top tips for choosing the right numnah Saddle fit is the most important part of ensuring your horse’s comfort when it comes to sorting equipment for a horse; although it’s not the most visible item you use on your horse, nor is it necessarily the most attractive in terms of colours or eye catching extra’s, the numnah or saddlepad you use can have a surprisingly big impact on your horse’s comfort and the way he or she performs.

suitable. Alternatively, if your horse has lost muscle tone along his back or the saddle fits very generously, a thicker saddlepad or shimmy pad would provide more comfort on a temporary basis

Shape It is vital that the saddlepad you choose is properly shaped to follow the contours of a horse’s back. If it doesn’t, it will press down on the horse’s withers and back and cause a lot of discomfort.

Make sure you choose the right shape of saddlepad to fit the design of your saddle. There are so many different designs of saddles on the market today, it is well worth taking your saddle to your saddler to check the fit of the saddlepad – even if you think you have the right shape! How well does your saddle fit your horse? This is very important because the saddlepad can have a significant impact on saddle fit. For example, if you put a thick saddlepad under a narrow saddle or one that fits very well you could cause pinching, loss of blood circulation and general discomfort. A thinner cotton quilt saddlepad is likely to be far more

Check you have the right top straps for your saddle - do you need longer straps or D straps? Your saddle material Design is crucial, but materials are also very important to a horse’s comfort. A breathable, natural material such as wool is preferable to most man made materials.

Here are some top tips for choosing the right numnah or saddlepad

Size The size of the numnah or saddlepad you choose is only relevant to the size of your saddle NOT the size, shape or type of horse.

Strap positioning Check the girth straps are in the right place.

Looking after your saddlepad - how easy is it? Make your life easier by making sure the saddlepad you choose is machine washable. Discuss saddlepads with your saddle fitter Although many saddle fitters will check if you regularly use a saddlepad and ask to see it when they fit a saddle, other saddle fitters may not take the saddlepad you are planning to use into account when fitting - which could cause a lot of potential problems. When you are about to buy a new saddlepad, ask your saddle fitter about the saddlepad you are currently using and the one you are proposing to buy – to check its suitability for the current fit of the saddle or see what saddlepad or numnah they recommend as this may be a better option. Flap length and shape Having the right flap length and shape is key to a good fit and will reduce the chance of a saddle rubbing a horse.

Getting value for money The saddlepad you need or want may not be the cheapest but look at the fit, the materials, the making, the stitching ... and consider whether you want to be buying a replacement in months or years because either the saddlepad falls apart or it does not fit properly. The old saying: ‘you get what you pay for’ is certainly very applicable when it comes to saddlepads and numnahs. What do you want your saddlepad to do for you? If you are competing, does the saddlepad you are purchasing conform to any regulations in the discipline you plan to take part in - or is the right type for what you are planning to do? For more information visit www.nuumed.com

Seat width Make sure the seat of the numnah (it is not an issue with saddlepads) is wide enough for your saddle. And if you use a half pad on top of a saddlepad, make sure the saddlepad is big enough. Too often you see a saddle and a half pad sitting over the back of the saddlepad which causes an immediate pressure point.

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September 2012

Tack & Turnout • Saddle Fitting

www.midkinleith.com Wide range of quality tack & clothing at bargain prices

New For 2012 - KM Elite Plain Cotton GP Numnah Top quality cotton numnah. Velcro girth fastening & D-Ring Velcro attachments for easy fitting. Part of the KM ELITE Distinction range. KM ELITE is now the leading brand offering the best quality at the most affordable prices. Our sheepskin products are the choice of many professional riders, and are ideal for everyday and competition use. Using our signature cotton quilted fabric which is of the highest quality and has a high wither shape. £29.99 from www.kmeliteproducts.co.uk Telephone 01403 759659.

RigidFree™ technology from Solution Saddles Solution Saddles offer a range of high performance RigidFree™ saddle models; available in GP, Jump, Dressage and Show style, providing a solution to your saddle fitting issues whatever level you ride at. RigidFree™ technology - performs better for the horse and rider: • Completely flexible - can be fitted to any horse or pony • No rigid parts - freedom of movement without restriction • Close contact - Improves horse and rider synchrony • Shock absorbing - protects the back from pressure and trauma

leathers in Derbyshire, England. We offer a home consultation service through a network of trained Approved Advisors. All saddles are available on our rental service and to purchase on 3, 6 or 12 month payment plans - from £150 per month! Visit: www.solution-saddles.co.uk or contact us smart@solution-saddles. co.uk / 07738 711099 to find out more.

Solution Saddles designs have been developed through investment in scientific research to produce the most technologically advanced saddles available. Robust and objective scientific testing methods have been used in the design of the saddle to meet our objectives of improving equine welfare and performance. Our top of the range RigidFree™ saddles are made with premium quality materials and English

September 2012

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Saddle Fitting

The Ten Most Important Rules of Saddle Fitting Pat Crawford seeks advice from KEN LYNDON-DYKES. Ken has been saddle fitting for over thirty-five years. Involved with horses and ponies from the time he was a child, during the eighties he liaised with some of the world’s leading riders to create what became one of the most popular ranges of saddles of that era. Ken’s personal equestrian interests were hunting with the Bloodhounds and eventing (he competed at international level). It was while Ken was eventing that he began to appreciate the fundamentally important part the saddle plays in relation to the horse’s wellbeing and ability to produce optimum performance. He also recognised that ‘mistakes’ and ‘misconceptions’ weren’t confined to novice riders. ‘Far from it’, Ken comments, ‘some of the very worst problems I came across actually involved elite riders!’ At one time the largest saddlery and clothing retailer in Europe (59 independent and in-store shops), Ken relinquished his wider retail interests to concentrate on saddle fitting. Along the way, he wrote ‘Practical Saddle Fitting’ (publisher:J.A.Allen), regarded as the best and most comprehensive book on the subject ever published. He has given talks, lectures and demonstrations for equestrian groups in this country and abroad and he is frequently appointed as a ‘professional witness’ in cases involving saddlery.

2. When contemplating purchase of a new saddle Ken says it is very important to think carefully about how it is going to be used. ‘There are specialist saddles available to fulfil the needs of practically every discipline and interest but, when the budget doesn’t stretch to the purchase of more than one saddle, compromises will have to be made. This may well involve buying a GP, Event or some other type of multipurpose saddle.’ 3. The internet has considerable influence on saddle purchase: does Ken recommend buying online? ‘Generally speaking I think it is ill advised. There is no doubt that there are some seeming bargains to be had when buying from the internet – but a ‘bargain’ is only really a ‘bargain’ when the purchase fulfils expectations and is right for the job in hand. The best saddle in the world is a useless tool if it doesn’t fit the horse concerned – or if the rider finds it uncomfortable. I wouldn’t like to count the number of times I have been called on to sort out problems concerning saddles that have been bought on the internet. For certain, it is many, many times!’

Dipped short back, asymetric shoulders

High withers

7. How often should the fit of the saddle be checked? ‘How long is a piece of string? The regularity of checks relates to all sorts of variables such as level of the horse’s fitness when the saddle was originally purchased, the horse’s age – especially in the case of very young or ageing horses – how consistently the horse is managed and so on. It is up to the owner to monitor changes in their horse’s shape and arrange fitting checks accordingly. Delaying until a problem occurs is neither economic nor good management.’

KEN’S TEN TOP TIPS.

1. Ken says that all saddles, whether new or second-hand, should be fitted by a qualified and registered saddle fitter ‘But’, he says, ‘do some homework before making the appointment. The saddle fitter will have a list of questions and it is very important to ensure he is provided with accurate answers’. Ken explains that the saddle fitter will need to know the horse’s breed or type, age, fitness level, competition or schooling level, the wither shape and any idiosyncrasies that could have an influence on the fit of the saddle. Ken continues ‘The saddle fitter will also need accurate – accurate information about the rider including height, weight, experience level, et cetera.

and has lost muscle and gained fat! Nor, for that matter, at the end of a demanding eventing season when the animal may be running up a bit light. These sorts of situations cannot always be avoided – but I do warn the owner the saddle will need to be adjusted commensurate to changes in the horse’s shape’.

4. Asked if he would recommend buying two cheaper saddles or one expensive saddle, Ken responded ‘Generally speaking you get what you pay for in terms of craftsmanship and materials but if the two cheaper saddles are well-made – and fit correctly – they might represent a better buy for the rider who is involved in more than one discipline’. 5. Is there a ‘best’ time to have a new saddle fitted? ‘Ideally I don’t want to fit a saddle when the horse has just come up from a period at grass

6. What is Ken’s advice about buying ‘synthetic’ as opposed to ‘leather’? ‘My personal preference is the latter but in recent years the design, materials and craftsmanship employed in synthetics have come a long way. Generally speaking, a well-looked after leather saddle holds its value better than a synthetic saddle. On the other hand, some of the synthetic saddles on the market now represent remarkable value.’

8. Have you experienced any situations when you have found it impossible to fit a saddle? ‘I cannot recall any instance of being unable to select a saddle that fits the horse concerned but I have known several instances when it has been impossible to provide a saddle that fits the horse and is also suitable for the rider. The

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majority of those occasions have involved a close-coupled horse and a substantial rider – the horse simply cannot accommodate a sufficiently large saddle for the rider. That problem is insuperable.’ 9. If you had to select one particular point that you regard as fundamental to a well-fitting saddle, what would it be? ‘I wouldn’t want to be put into that situation because saddle-fitting is rather more complex than that! Forced to give an answer, I would say the balance of the saddle because this embraces several fitting essentials. For the saddle to be balanced the angle of the tree must conform to the slope of the horse’s shoulder and the shape of the tree must correspond to the shape of the horse’s back. A balanced saddle affords the best possible bearing surfaces and so distributes the rider’s weight over the largest possible area.’ 10. You have been saddle fitting a very long time. Do you think it is more complicated than it used to be? ‘Not more complicated because the principles of saddle fitting haven’t changed but more difficult because over the years we have seen the introduction of new disciplines and sports. The saddle fitter requires indepth knowledge of all of them - and he must combine that understanding with vast and ever-increasing product knowledge. Without that, it just isn’t possible to provide the client with the service they have a right to expect.’

One final point? ‘Yes – a saddle should be perceived as an ‘investment’ – not simply a ‘purchase’’.

September 2012

Saddle Fitting

Mindbuzzler for a wide range of saddles At Mindbuzzler we aim to assist our clients to make informed choices and to be knowledgeable about changes in their horse which will affect the fitting of the saddle. We are always happy to provide advice if you are unsure about the fit of your saddle whether you have purchased a saddle from us or not.

Compact Saddle from Passier and a similar solution from Massimo. Massimo also provides a perfect solution for very wide horses and ponies. Passier & Stubben offer standard width from 26.5 cm to 32 cm (measured at the tree points with no panels attached). Massimo offers as standard widths up to 42 cm.

We offer saddle fitting resources including videos on our blog ( http:// www.mindbuzzler.com/category/saddlefitting-resources/) and on our shop website (http://shop.mindbuzzler.com/ content/6-saddle-fitting-guideline).

We also cater for Riding for the Disabled with the Massimo Smile which was developed in Germany together with some disabled riders to provide a perfect solution for a reasonable amount of money.

We have also heavily invested into finding solutions for common problems, such as a short coupled horse with the

To find out more phone 01337 870489 or 07446112672

It’s all about the adjustment The buzz word in today’s equestrian saddle fitting industry is surely ‘adjustability’. This is because being able to adjust a saddle as a horse changes shape, ages, comes back into work, matures or overcomes illness is key to providing the most accurate fit. With this fit comes comfort and performance. WOW Saddles are almost infinitely adjustable - they offer 168 fitting combinations for the horse, and 72 fitting combinations for the rider. Beyond these figures, Flair air-bag flocking allows even more adjustability. Adjustments to be carried out to the flocking without removing the saddle from the horse, or even having the rider dismount. Flair distributes saddle-created pressure, therefore increasing bearing surfaces. WOW saddles with Flair are especially good for asymmetrical

September 2012

horses, because Flair provides a flexible, gaseous bearing surface that is even, without pressure points. In terms of physical problems, WOW fitters are regularly called out because conventional saddles have failed to perform, for example due to severe asymmetry in horse and or rider, undiagnosed recurrent lameness, for cold backed issues, or for horses that are simply under-performing. The range from First Thought Equine covers all conventional saddles, including VSD, GP, XC, dressage, western, plus a Baroque saddle that is ideal for Spanish horses, and a stock saddle, used for sports like polocrosse. A new jumping saddle co-designed with showjumper Phillip Spivey will launch in late 2012. WOW saddles – for ultimate rider position, feel and comfort. Visit www.wowsaddles.com

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Saddle Fitting

When Fit and Quality Really Matters! In the last few years, more and more horse owners around the world, have started to realise the true importance of a correctly fitting saddle, for both horse and rider.

Tekna S Line Saddles Tekna has launched a new range of ‘S Line’ saddles which have interchangeable gullets, thereby offering horse owners even greater flexibility. All of Tekna’s saddles are built on a lightweight synthetic tree, with latex and flock combination panels to further maximise fitting options. Combining traditional style with the many advantages of modern synthetics, Tekna tack bears a striking resemblance to real leather but is much easier to maintain, its QUIK-CLEAN materials being mould and abrasion resistant with breathable properties for improved performance, durability and comfort. Available in dressage, jumping or GP styles, Tekna S Line Saddles come in sizes 16” to 18” seat with med, med/wide or wide gullet options. Prices start at £510. Contact Westgate EFI on 01303 872277 or visit www.wefi.co.uk for stockists.

Yes we all want value for money and a saddle that stands the test of time, but have you ever wondered why some saddles cost £1,000 while some can be twice as much. Here we look at - 10 reasons why your saddle is a sound investment. The Society of Master Saddlers offer advice on what to look for in your saddle when making a new purchase and the best process to go through to ensure an exact fit for horse and rider. 1 – It is vital that you have a thorough consultation with your saddle fitter. This may take up to three hours but is time well spent to get the best end result. If required have your trainer and physiotherapist on hand at the same time. 2 – When your saddle is ready and finished, don’t simply allow it to be sent in the post, in the hope it will fit, make sure a return visit is part of the buying and fitting process.

3 – We all know that old saying ‘You get what you pay for’ and in any walk of life you have to pay for expertise. When buying a new saddle you should always get it fitted by a Society of Master Saddles Registered Qualified Saddle Fitter, as you are guaranteed they are fully qualified, professional and have a minimum of three years’ experience.

helping to maximise your partnership and ensuring neither horse or rider have to compromise.

4 – Making sure the saddle is created from the highest quality leather from around the world and the craftsmanship behind the saddle is at the top of the skill level helps to result in a superior quality product.

9 – Remember saddles need to be checked regularly as the horse gains fitness or changes as it gets older.

5 – When having your saddle made, go for a supplier who can make a saddle where all design features are interchangeable across the entire saddle to provide the highest degree of comfort and freedom for the horse and support and security for the rider.

8 – Remember there is ‘leather’ and there is leather! Cheaper quality leather can have a tendency to be slippery, not great when in the saddle, and not the best policy to scrimp on quality in this instance.

10 – By following the nine points above and with experts on hand to check your saddle on a regular basis, this will ensure your investment will hold high value if later resold or changed. To find out more information on The Society of Master Saddlers visit www.mastersaddlers.co.uk or contact on 01449 711642.

6 – Whatever your discipline, from dressage to showjumping, crosscountry to showing or leisure riding, a bespoke saddle should be designed and fitted by highly trained experts who really understand your horse’s needs. 7 – Your saddle should balance comfort, with style and performance,

Top tips for finding the right dressage saddle for you! When it comes to investing in a brand new saddle, what should you be looking out for? We spoke to Sara Morrison from Saddles Deluxe, a division of premium on-line retailer Dressage Deluxe. A trained saddle fitter for her top tips…. FIT THE HORSE FIRST Of course the rider has to be comfortable, but if your horse isn’t, then neither will the ride! I always fit the horse first then try and accommodate the rider’s wish list.

saddle also suits your conformation as well. For example some of our brands offer smaller saddle flaps to accommodate shorter legs or extra length added at the front to allow for longer legs –talk to your saddler about these options –after all you want to sit in the correct riding position, without compromise. Sara Morrison: saddles@ dressagedeluxe.co.uk www.dressagedeluxe.co.uk 0800 321 3001 or 07740 281 591

INVEST IN THE BEST Buying a new saddle is a big outlay, so make sure you choose your saddler with care. Working with a fully trained saddler, who also has a good understanding of your chosen disciplines is also key. SMOOTH RIDER The majority of dressage saddles we stock are covered in calfskin, as it offers the rider excellent grip, as well as softening straight away. However be careful to follow the manufacturers cleaning guidelines in terms of which products you should use, otherwise it could affect your warranty. ALL SHAPES AND SIZES Riders all come in different shapes and sizes, so make sure that your

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September 2012

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New Official British Showjumping Clothing Available Exclusively at EquestrianClearance.com

Look out for the exciting new range of British Showjumping clothing available exclusively at EquestrianClearance.com The brand new range keeps the traditional red and navy colours and celebrates all that is British with a Union Jack design featuring on many of the items. Included in the range are gilets, hooded sweatshirts, polo shirts, full zip jacket and riding socks. Items are featured in red and navy colour ways and match perfectly as a collection. The new merchandise has been launched in a bid to support the London 2012 theme and raise the bar in British Showjumping. The Oxer Blouson comes in both Fleece Lined and Summer Cotton versions. The top quality fleeced lined blouson has a water resistant exterior fabric whilst a soft fleece lining and collar will keep you snug. A fashionable design with functional features; this jacket includes a contrasting two-way zip, zipped side and internal pockets. Elasticated cuffs and waistband will keep the breeze out. The summer version has all the great features of the above blouson but instead of a fleece lining has a cotton lining with Union Jack print design. Priced at £57.99 - Sizes XS to XXL.

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The Bullfinch Gilet is a soft micro-fibre quilted gilet with a two-way zip making it ideal for riding. A Union Jack printed lining makes it great fun to wear with stylish embroidery adding that extra touch. Priced at £40.99 - Sizes XS to XXL. The Arrowhead Hoodie is a superb quality hoodie made from 100% cotton, with a soft lining. It features a Union Jack print in the hood lining and comes with contrast colour cuffs and detailing. The hoodie has a kangaroo front pocket and thick shoe lace style pulls. Priced at £39.99 – Sizes XS to XXL. The Bank Polo Shirt is a hardwearing shirt featuring contrast colour sleeves and collar edging. The contrast colour panelling provides a slim fit look while flexible buttons, embroidered logo on the front and ‘British Showjumping’ on the back makes this a real winner. Priced at £26.99 – Sizes XS to XXL. Also available are twin pack British Showjumping Nylon Competition Socks which are both lightweight and hardwearing, priced at £10.99. The British Showjumping Baseball Cap comes in navy or red and will have you looking stylish whatever the occasion, priced at £9.99. For more information visit www.equestrianclearance.com

September 2012

Field & Stable

Set up your stable for the season ahead! The summer brings a welcome break for your wallets as horses enjoy increased turnout time and reduced quantities of bedding, but with winter on the horizon it will soon be time to bring our equine friends into a cosy stable to ensure they stay safe, warm and dry during the colder months. Bedding doesn’t have to be painful on your pockets this season though. Belvoir Bed is produced from a carefully selected combination of wheat and rape straw which is chopped, dust extracted and treated to offer your horse a hygienic, economic and super-soft alternative to conventional shavings and other bedding materials. The high absorbency of Belvoir Bed saves you time and money as only small amounts of bedding need to be removed each time you muck out, reducing your wastage, muck heap size and the time spent mucking out.

antiseptic, anti-parasitic and anti-fungal properties improving the hygiene and conditions of your horse’s stable. Belvoir Bed is multi-purpose, acting as not only bedding but also a method in which to keep stables clean and hygienic. Belvoir Bed is only available to buy direct and can be delivered to your yard in large pre-packed pallets helping to keep the costs down per bale, reduce mucking out time and save on trips to the local retailer. Prices start at £5.75 (including vat) for a tightly packed 20kg bale. On average 4 – 6 bales are required for initial set up with a top up of one bale each week. Contact Belvoir Bed today and get set up for the season ahead, tel: 01254 677 786 or for more information visit www.belvoirbed.co.uk

Belvoir Bed gives horse owners peace of mind that their horse is in a safe environment. Alongside the rigorous dust extraction process that leaves bedding virtually dust free, the product contains a unique formulation of Lemon grass and Cade oil which acts to reduce moulds and bacteria developing and being inhaled into your horse’s delicate respiratory system. The addition of these non irritant and non toxic plant extracts enhance the aroma of your horse’s bedding and offers

September 2012

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Healthcare • News

New Champions and Records Set A new British Side-Saddle Show Jumping Record was set during Aintree’s annual Showing Show, which may also be making its way into the World Record Books. Susan Oakes from County Meade in Ireland travelled over to the

competition, which was staged in the Aintree Equestrian Centre and together with her mount, Brandy & Red, set a new British side saddle jumping record of 5ft 8 ¼ inches. Remarkably, Susan, who hunts sidesaddle, has only being Show Jumping for 8 weeks before the competition.

Injury, Box Rest and OM3 to Hasten Healing Did you know that certain feed ingredients will retard a body’s ability to self-heal, e.g. sugars, acids?

pulp (unmolassed), good quality hay and ‘pure’ linseed (not soya) oil, rather than proteins derived from cereal grains.

Conversely, recently discussed research clearly demonstrates that by supplementing with pure sources of Omega 3 (not OM6), the body’s ability to self heal can be hastened. Dr Tania Cubitt PhD discussed these exciting equine findings at the 2012 Alltech Symposium in Lexington, Kentucky (research for humans and small animals is already in the public domain!). It is the same for any living being – for animals or yourself, large or tiny bodies!

The Natural Choice By choosing an intensive Omega 3 ingredient such as Ruggles & Stopitall’s Maxavita Green Lipped Mussel tablets, the injured body can benefit from a vital increase in its OM3 polyunsaturated essential fatty acid (PUFA) intake and all without the risk of increasing cereals or fillers that are often included within OM3 products. Not only are OM3 PUFA’s vital for good health (for helping the body better manage inflammation, injury, bone health, the immune system and general well-being), OM3 is also frequently deficient in both animals and humans.

The Details Did you know that an injured body’s nutritional requirements will increase due to the energy demands of healing? So to keep a healthy body condition and help the healing process, the injured horse has elevated requirements for both protein and energy, but also and very importantly, for certain trace minerals, vitamins and essential fatty acids such as Omega 3.

Equi-Ads launch new website In June 2012 the new Equi-Ads website went live, boasting a whole host of new and exciting features including a competition section and an Equi-Homes section. It has also still retained all of the features from the previous site such as the Advertisers Directory and the Events section. So whatever your equestrian need, Equi-Ads online will be able to fulfil it.

To thank our readers for their continued support throughout the years, Equi-Ads are running a number of special offers on their website, including free classified adverts for a limited time.

This might sound controversial but as long as starch and sugar levels are decreased, levels of fat and fibre can be increased to ensure the horse consumes enough ‘healing’ calories, but without taking in energy sources that could lead to excitable behaviour. What protein should you feed that will not make your horse fizzy? Excellent options are alfalfa, beet

The tablets are compact, crushable, without cereals, packed with OM3 and can be very fast-acting (7-10 days!). Research confirms that increasing OM3 intake (not OM6) helps bodies naturally deal with its healing process and helps reduce Omega 3 deficiencies. Thus supplementation is important for all injured bodies as well as for joints (including arthritis, bone issues with foals, competition bone stresses) and even after laminitis. For information on all the Ruggles & Stopitall Ltd natural product ranges for humans and animals, visit www.karenruggles.co.uk or call 01823 259952.

To see what the new website has to offer go to www.equiads.net

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September 2012

Events • Training

Spot The Difference!! You’ve heard of horse whispering, but how about horse clicking? Clicker training for dogs is now standard all over the country and a group of dedicated teachers hope that will happen for horses too! They are holding the World’s first Conference dedicated to horse clicker training in September – here in the UK. In one day, you’ll find out everything from how to start a new horse with

clicker training to how to use it to improve your dressage score. Eight of the best Clicker Trainers in the world will be giving presentations, led by horse training pioneer from the US, Alexandra Kurland. The Equine Clicker Conference is being held on September 23rd at Richmond, North Yorkshire. For more information go to www.hannahdawsonequine.co.uk/ conference

Carl Hester to star in Spanish Riding School’s 2012 UK tour Team GB dressage rider Carl Hester will be proudly showing off his team gold medal at his appearance on the UK tour of The Spanish Riding School of Vienna. Carl will perform his gold medal winning performance to the music that he rode to in the Olympics and also give a masterclass in some of the dressage moves that the modern day sport includes. He will also be amusing everyone with his behind the scenes stories of the London 2012 Olympics prompted by host for the show TV presenter Nicki Chapman. He commented; “Today has been momentous, I am dying with pride. It is hard to put this experience into words. To win gold with such a phenomenal team is just amazing! And to do it in London is even better! For me life is about challenges and so the next focus for me is an individual medal. And then I’m opening for the phenomenal

September 2012

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Spanish Riding School of Vienna in Birmingham. Life doesn’t get any better than this!” The Spanish Riding School of Vienna tour will take place in Birmingham at the NIA on 16th, 17th and 18th November. Not only will visitors get to watch a medal winning Olympian but will be treated to stunning displays from the white Lipizzaner stallions. Marvel at the trust and harmony between horse and rider during the in-hand work, sit back and enjoy the foot-perfect quadrille and look on in amazement as the stallions carry out their famous airs above the ground. To ensure you don’t miss out on seeing the world’s most famous school of equitation on home ground and to see Carl Hester, book your tickets today. Sure to be a sell-out, early booking will avoid disappointment. Tickets are now on sale, priced at £25, £35, £55 & £65, and available from www.livenation.co.uk

Healthcare • News

Freeze Marking should be a Priority All too often people leave it too late to secure their horses Freeze marking has been available for years and many people do treat it as a priority to get their horses freeze marked for protection against theft and to give themselves the peace of mind they have done the very best for their horses and ponies. However, there is a certain amount of complacency which has set in and owners will wait until something untoward happens at their home or yard before they decide to get their horses marked. Mary Awre of Freezemark knows this attitude all too well. “So often we get calls from worried owners saying their yard has been broken into and attempts have been made to steal their horses and could we come and mark their horses straight away. These are people who have owned the horses in many cases for years and have had freeze marking available to them all of that time.”

Valentine Jak Qualifies for HOYS

Mary continues – “Unfortunately, we cannot always go out to mark urgently and this is mainly due to prior bookings in different parts of the country and the fact that freeze marking is priced at a rate for everyone to afford. However, because of this generous pricing, we have to have a day’s work to go to any area. To avoid this panic situation, we advise people to book in their horses with us as a matter of course and we will get them marked in preparation for what might happen in the future. Now is a particularly good time for freeze marking, with the Summer shows and events over and horses able to have a break and also we are heading into those darker nights, when thieves can prowl around unnoticed” For bookings/details, contact Freezemark on 01295 788226 or visit www.freezemark.biz DON’T DELAY – TOMORROW MAY BE TOO LATE…………

Retrained Racehorse Valentine Jak has taken to the world of showing in his first season with qualification for both HOYS and Hickstead.

looks fantastic, his coat shines, he has good condition and topline and we get some great feedback from the judges.”

Owned by Gill Bolt, Jak is ridden by Jo-Ann Sharp who took over the ride in the autumn and is really enjoying the shows. Said Jo-Ann: “Jak raced on the flat as a two and three-year-old before Gill bought him from Rod Millman in Cullompton.

Jo-Ann’s successes with Jak include qualifying for the Tattersall and ROR Thoroughbred Show Horse Championship at Hickstead, winning at Royal Bath & West, and again taking the red rosette at Badgworth Arena to secure their HOYS ticket for the SEIB Racehorse to Riding Horse Championship.

“He wasn’t the best racehorse and after being re-backed, Gill has had fun taking him on sponsored rides, doing unaffiliated dressage and general Riding Club activities.

Adds Jo-Ann: “We very much had the racehorse to riding horse classes as our aim for the season and are over the moon on how well we have been doing.

“I had been talking to Gill for quite a while about letting me ride and show him and in September last year I started to be more involved with him and persuaded Gill to let me have a go at competing in some show classes.

“It is just a case of more mileage on the clock now and building his confidence and experience in the run up to HOYS.

“He has turned out to be a superstar and taken to showing really well, we couldn’t have asked for any more. “Jak is fed on TopSpec Comprehensive Feed Balancer and

“We are all very excited about getting our ticket and are looking forward to the big occasion.” For further information please contact the Multiple Award-Winning Helpline on 01845 565030 or visit www.topspec.com

The Importance of Autumn Worming During the autumn many horses are partly stabled, spending less time grazing. As the temperature drops, the roundworm lifecycle slows down taking longer for eggs to develop into infective larvae on the grass.

spring. A strategic tapeworm dose is also necessary in the autumn. EQUIMAX can be used to control roundworms, tapeworms and bots in a single dose in the autumn. Parasites to control in the Autumn

However even though exposure to infective roundworm larvae is reduced, it is still important to worm horses, to ensure they are free from infection and minimise pasture contamination for the following year. Both bot fly larvae and adult stages of tapeworm can remain in the digestive tract of the horse for at least 6 months. It is important that both of these infections are removed in the late autumn to prevent contamination of the pasture the following

Tapeworm As well as being infected with roundworms and bots during summer grazing, horses also become infected with tapeworms by eating forage mites, present in summer pasture and in hay and bedding over the winter. This exposes them to tapeworm infection all year round. A treatment for tapeworm is therefore recommended twice per year, once in the autumn and once in the spring.

Only two wormer ingredients are effective against tapeworms, pyrantel (used at twice the standard dose rate) which controls one species of tapeworm or a single standard dose of praziquantel, which is one of the ingredients in the original combination wormer EQUIMAX. EQUIMAX kills all three species of tapeworm that affect horses.

treatment of roundworms, tapeworms and bots at the end of the grazing season.

EQUIMAX also contains ivermectin, so in the same standard dose used to treat tapeworms it also gives up to 10 weeks roundworm control and controls bots. Bots In a recent trial (Coles et al 2003) EQUIMAX demonstrated 99% efficacy against bots and 100% efficacy against tapeworms. This makes it an excellent choice for the

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September 2012

News • Tack & Turnout

New Ceva leaflet helps horse owners understand equine back pain Ceva Animal Health has produced a leaflet to help horse owners understand the cause, diagnosis and management of equine back pain. It complements Ceva’s helpful series of waiting room leaflets for horse owners. The management of back pain in the horse can be a particular challenge to vets and a source of frustration for owners. Early diagnosis is likely to be associated with a more favourable outcome but it’s important to ensure that other causes of pain and poor performance such as lameness, are not contributing to the horse’s clinical signs.

the treatment options and the general prognosis. Copies of the new leaflet are available, free of charge, from your local equine vet practice. Leaflets on ‘Understanding bone spavin’, ‘Understanding navicular disease’, ‘Understanding sacroiliac disease’ and ‘Equidronate© discharge instructions’, are also available. For further product information contact your local Ceva representative or Ceva Animal Health Ltd, Unit 3, Anglo Office Park, White Lion Road, Amersham, Bucks, HP7 9FB, Tel. 01494 781510.

Acute back pain can be a result of trauma, such as a fall, damaging the bony and soft tissue structures. If severe trauma is incurred, horses may develop neurologic abnormalities. Chronic back pain may be a result of abnormalities in the bones that make up the vertebral column, such as: impingement of the dorsal spinous processes, arthritis of the articular processes and vertebral spondylosis. ‘Understanding back pain’ clearly explains the anatomy of the back, as well as the clinical signs of back pain and how it is diagnosed, including

Need A New Saddle? Looking for a new saddle, but money is tight? Thinking eBay is a good place to start? Think again! With eBay and the internet today providing such as easily accessible method to buy cheaper or second hand products, it may appear on the surface to be an ideal way to sell unwanted saddles or purchase a new one for a seemingly low price. However a word of caution from The Society of Master Saddlers. Says Hazel Morley of The SMS: “A saddle should be correctly fitted to each individual horse to ensure it is not only comfortable but also helps your horse or pony to perform at their best. “You may know the size of saddle and the width fitting you need as well as having the basic knowledge on how a saddle should fit, but for something as important as a saddle, it is vital that you turn to the expertise of a professional Society of Master Saddlers’ Registered Qualified Saddle Fitter.” Did you know all Society of Master Saddlers’ Registered Qualified Saddle Fitters must have a minimum of three years’ experience, so you can trust they know exactly what they are doing. The Society of Master Saddlers is in place to safeguard the quality of work, service, training and qualifications of those who work in the saddlery trade from

September 2012

manufacturers and retailers through to individual craftspeople and saddle fitters.

Tried and Tested - Jack Murphy ‘Cloverhill’ Wax Jacket

Committed to providing the highest levels of welfare, safety and optimum performance of horses and their riders, the society works hard to maintain standards throughout the industry. Adds Hazel: “Remember, a cheap saddle off the internet that may look like an attractive offer in the first instance can easily in the long run become expensive, when it doesn’t quite fit correctly or your horse gets sore and in pain. “Always call out your local SMS Registered Qualified Saddle Fitter, who will be happy to give advice and guidance and when possible will repair your existing saddle, not demand you need a new one.” To find your local saddle fitter and for more information visit www. mastersaddlers.co.uk or contact The Society of Master Saddlers on 01449 711642.

Brave the outdoors in style this winter with the Jack Murphy Cloverhill wax. This flattering belted jacket will add a touch of elegance to any outfit. A versatile jacket which is beautifully tailored and ideal for either dressing up or down an outfit. In typical Jack Murphy Style all the little details have been thought of from the luxurious checked lining inside the jacket

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to the finer little details on the collar. A must have purchase for this winter! Available in True Black and stunning Chestnut colour this season. RRP £150, Available in sizes: UK 8-18 For more information visit www.jackmurphy.eu/

Arenas • Events • News

SPILLERS® donates £12,000 to help laminitis research

The Monty Roberts Autumn Tour 2012 Learn the Secrets of Extraordinary Horsemanship! Who is it that many top racehorse trainers, showing producers, polo players and dressage riders go to when they’ve got a horse that’s special but quirky? Monty Roberts of course! And he’s back in the UK this autumn, along with Kelly Marks, his first instructor, for a 10 stop tour.

Robert Eustace, founder of the Laminitis Trust, receives a cheque from Rachel Austin Brand Assistant at SPILLERS®

SPILLERS® has donated £12,000 to the Laminitis Trust, to help fund important research on this potentially devastating condition. The funds were raised as the result of a special campaign run by SPILLERS®, which involved the feed company donating 20p to the Laminitis Trust from every bag of SPILLERS HAPPY HOOF® sold, during the months of April and May 2012.

condition and we are proud to be able to support their endeavours.” Robert Eustace, founder of the Laminitis Trust continued: “We are extremely grateful to SPILLERS® for this generous donation. All the money will be used to help fund our laminitis research projects. Horse owners should select feeds carrying the Laminitis Trust Feed Approval Mark logo to help them keep their animals at the correct body weight and reduce the risk of laminitis.”

The Laminitis Trust, founded in 1998, is the only registered charity dedicated to supporting research into equine laminitis. Clare Barfoot RNutr, the research and development manager at SPILLERS®, said: “The Laminitis Trust is at the forefront of essential work to discover the causes of this painful and debilitating

For friendly feeding advice on how to keep your horse or pony safe from laminitis please telephone the SPILLERS® Care-Line on 01908 226626, email to careline@spillers-feeds.com or visit the SPILLERS® website at www.spillers-feeds.com. You can also join Team SPILLERS® on Facebook.

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Equi-Ads Get your copy of Equi-Ads delivered to you, hot off the press, every month and never miss another issue! Equi-Ads, now in its 17th year of publication, is well known for its in-depth articles on health, management and training issues. Each month, topical articles on feeding and healthcare are provided by experts in the various fields, together with behavioural and training topics, all designed to provide the reader with practical advice on building a better relationship with their horse and ensuring his well being. Cut out the coupon below and post it to Equi-Ads Ltd., Office 1, Tayview Estate, Friarton Road, Perth PH2 8DG, with a cheque made payable to Equi-Ads Ltd.

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The world famous horseman will be demonstrating his methods with a variety of local ‘problem’ horses. Issues may include difficult clipping, nonloaders, spookiness, napping, kicking or simply a nice young horse to start with his first rider. Whatever they are presented with on the day, Monty will show how these intelligent and effective techniques can help you to produce a willing equine partner both in and out of the saddle. Satish Seemar, racehorse trainer at Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Zabeel Stables in Dubai says “One of the greatest advantages of my professional career has been using Monty Roberts’ teachings, thereby creating harmonious partnerships between my horses and myself. My love for horses came from within; my knowledge came from schools and Universities; but my horsemanship was truly awakened during the four years I spent with Monty Roberts as a student.” Will Simpson, showjumper and Olympic Gold Medallist comments “It doesn’t make sense to learn everything the hard way like we used to. I love to spend time with a teacher like Monty Roberts. You’re talking about generations of horsemanship that he’s mastered.” Whether you ride competitively, or simply enjoy leisure time with your equine partner, Monty’s methods can help you achieve a deeper understanding and clearer communication with your horse, strengthening your partnership.

Having experienced growing up with a violent father, Monty’s most importance message is the greater effectiveness of a non-violent approach, with no force or aggression “Being beaten never taught me anything but fear, resentment and to get away” said Monty. Now is your chance to find out for yourself what so many other riders and owners have found so deeply moving about Monty’s non-violent methods, and learn the secrets of his extraordinary horsemanship! Sat 13th Oct Hadlow College, Tonbridge, Kent Wed 17th Oct Easton College, Norwich, Norfolk Fri 19th Oct Bishop Burton College, Beverley, Hull Sun 21st Oct Myerscough College, Preston, Lancs Tues 23rd Oct Greenlands EC, Carlisle, Cumbria Thurs 25th Oct Ingliston Country Club, Bishopton, Renfrewshire Sat 27th Oct Reaseheath College, Nantwich, Cheshire Wed 31st Oct The Grange EC, Okehampton, Devon Fri 2nd Nov Hartpury College, Gloucester Mon 5th Nov Crofton Manor, Fareham, Hants Book your tickets now online at www.intelligenthorsemanship.co.uk or call on 01488 71300. It may just change the way you work with horses and people forever. If you have a horse that you think Monty might be able to help, please call the Intelligent Horsemanship office on 01488 71300 for the chance to be selected.

A well-constructed arena allows you to ride in all conditions, even heavy rain! Building an arena, even on a budget, is a costly exercise, but if you want to take your riding or competing to the next level, or even if you just enjoy schooling, a correctly constructed arena is a worthwhile investment that will pay you back in time, offering far more continuity of training, irrespective of the weather. In addition, a good surface, whether waxed or ‘dry’ (unwaxed), will look after your horses’ limbs and prevent soft tissue damage by means of working on a secure footing.

please do not hesitate to contact the team at Martin Collins and they will happily supply you with any advice you require. Contact Alex Goldsack, Northern Sales Manager, on 0161 928 4096/07951 529615 or visit www.martincollins.com.

If you need further general information or advice on arena construction, a free no obligation site visit, a budget quotation for a full arena build or surface supply only,

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September 2012