Q&A

YOUR EQUESTRIAN QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Why is a horse’s breeding often described as ‘by stallion A x stallion B’? Why is the damline ignored?

Because stallions are much more prolific in the number of progeny they can produce and have their pedigrees more widely publicised than mares do, their pedigrees simply become more well-known. Referring to the stallion in a horse’s pedigree can, therefore, provide significantly more information about the horse you are interested in.

For example, a horse by Ubergabe (sire) x Arko (damsire) would provide more information than saying the same horse was by Ubergabe (sire) x Anna (dam). Unless you know Anna personally, this phrasing would only really inform you on 50% of the pedigree. An alternative way of referring to the pedigree is ‘Ubergabe x Anna (Arko)’, which tells you a lot more about the horse’s genealogy.

That being said, the dam line is often the most important for breeders. Because mares produce relatively few offspring – say 10 at most in a lifetime – if half of them performed well in competition, that’s a hit rate of 50%. A stallion might sire 1000 offspring, and if he also had five performing well, his hit rate would be only 0.5%. To match the mare’s hereditary prepotency, he would need to have 500 competing successfully. This is why breeders value performance in the dam line so highly.

My new OTTB is incredibly strong and runs at every opportunity. How do I find the brakes?!

Racehorses are trained to run into a contact. Therefore, a major part of retraining them is teaching them how to soften over their backs, necks, and poll and come into a softer outline, where they engage their hindquarter and lift their stomachs.

Using your body weight and leg aids to get ex-racehorses to move through their ribcage, alter their paces within the pace, or move up and down through lots of transitions between paces, is an excellent way to start the retraining process. Lots of direction changes are also helpful, as most OTTB are initially stiff to turn, and changes of direction will soften their bodies, remove the brace and make it easier to engage their hind end, whilst also, as an added bonus, keeping their concentration.

Putting pressure through the reins when they are becoming tense, distracted or stressed is the worst thing you can do! The only way to keep them calm and listening is to ‘change the subject’ by getting them to focus on something else (e.g. bending through the body) or something they find easier. Taking hold of the reins will literally create more speed and more tension!

Over time, as you progress in the re-schooling process, you will see improvements, and the contact will no longer be something to pull against. However, in these early days, rely on your weight and leg aids, and avoid the hands wherever possible! If your horse runs, simply ask for some changes in bend and direction, try and effect transitions through your seat and focus on remaining calm yourself. If you must use the reins, make sure you give and take, not maintain any kind of consistent pressure.

My vet says my horse has caries. She already had to have one broken tooth removed. How should I manage this issue?

Caries is the decay of the teeth. Caries are graded on the severity of the decay. A number of factors cause decay, but diet is a common cause and diastemas (gaps between the teeth) that trap food are also common culprits. With diastemas, as the food rots in the gap, it produces enzymes that eat away at the tooth's enamel. Similarly, if the tooth is not producing enough ‘cementum’, the food gets stuck on the chewing surfaces, which also has an impact and leads to decay.

Depending on the grade, the first thing to address is to see what we can change to prevent the decay from getting further into the tooth. This usually involves removing as much sugary content from the horse’s diet as possible and having that horse live in the most natural way with plenty of grazing. Also, the horse’s ability to wear his molars down evenly in a lateral motion and produce enough saliva when chewing will decrease the chances of caries. This requires regular dental care to ensure that lateral excursion is possible.

Caries’ treatment has advanced greatly in recent years, and procedures to manage it are now relatively routine. It is almost the same as us getting a filling. However, if the caries has become severe, this can lead to infection in the pulp of the horse’s tooth, and ultimately lead to an apical infection (at the root). At this point, the horse will require an extraction.

Caries can be detected by your dentist and managed over many years without it worsening, but if this isn’t the case, the tooth will require filling or extraction, and the priority becomes saving as many of the other teeth as possible.