HE WON’T LET ME TREAT HIS MUD FEVER CONDITION
Question: My horse has recently suffered with lymphangitis (swollen leg) brought on by mud fever. I have been given shampoo and cream by the vet but unfortunately it is proving impossible to apply. It is taking three people to do this and even then he is swishing round dangerously all the time. He won't even let me pick out his feet. Help!
HHG: I can understand your horse’s feelings – his legs hurt and there you are picking off scabs and making them hurt even more, and expecting him to carry his weight on his bad leg while you pick out the other feet. In addition there are three people all fussing around him when he tries to object to it all! Don’t forget, even if there are three of you, your combined strength isn’t sufficient to force him to do anything. Calm it all down – one person to do the dressing etc and one to stand by his head and pull his ears or massage above his withers or whatever technique you use to release endorphins and calm him down – they can also pass you whatever is needed.
You are really asking for two completely different things from him and he may be struggling to work out what you really want. One moment you want him to keep his leg on the ground then you want him to lift it up. I presume that your horse allowed you to pick up his feet before they started to hurt? If not you are going to have to start to train him as though he is a young horse by squeezing a fetlock and saying foot or similar – praise him if he moves it and progress until you can hold it up as necessary.
To apply the cream and shampoo you are asking him to keep his leg on the ground while you are working on his leg. I would suggest that you use advance and retreat. Work on applying the cream until it all gets too much for him then let him be for a few moments, then work back down his leg and carry on. It will help if you actually get your assistant to hold up the other leg on his same side while you work – but still use the advance/retreat and don’t try to force him to accept you hurting him, even if it is for his own good! If the cream is to remove scabs it may be gentler for both of you to apply the cream to a dressing then bandage it on and leave it overnight – when the dressing comes off the skin will be softer and the scabs will come off with the dressing (don’t forget to bandage both legs though).
To pick out his feet you are now saying "I am touching this leg so I want you to lift it up and keep it in the air". Perhaps while his legs are sore it may be easier not to ask for a full lift, just get him to rest his weight on his toe while you scrape the inside of his hoof clean .
Treat him with sympathy while he is hurt – it may take you longer to do what seems to you to be a simple task, but bear in mind how you would react if it was your leg!
MAKING SCHOOLING FUN
Question: Please could you give me some ideas about making schooling sessions fun for horse and rider? I loved Richard Maxwell's ‘Lungeing the lazy horse’ video and I would love to see what he would do riding the bored and switched off horse. I bought my mare from a riding stables and she has no respect for voice, seat, legs or crop when doing circles and in general schooling. She is, however, a joy to hack out and mannerly on the ground. I just keep thinking that someone at Horse Hero will have some ingenious strategy that could turn our sessions around.
HHG: Having been in a riding school your horse has spent much of her life going round in circles being ridden by people of all abilities. She has learnt that circles are boring and that the easiest way to get through an hour’s lesson is to switch off and ignore the aids of the person on top. All she has to do is to follow the horse in front. She enjoys going out for hacks because that is different, stimulating and enjoyable.
What you have to do is to make your schooling interesting so that she realises that there is something in it for her to enjoy. Don’t spend ages going around a school in circles - use ground poles, play music, try doing mounted games, play polo – use a ball and a long stick and try to dribble the ball around a couple of markers – use your imagination to make things fun. Do most of your schooling whilst out hacking where life is more interesting. Let’s face it – if you had to spend all your life going in circles around the same small area, you would get bored senseless too!
If you find that she is ignoring your aids then teach her that she has to listen. To do this, don’t keep nagging with your heels. When you ask for an increase in pace, make sure she is ready by giving a quick half halt then give the aid gently. If she ignores you, ask again more clearly. If there is still no response then demand using a strong kick backed up with voice and stick as much as is necessary to make her jump forwards. Make sure you don’t pull her in the mouth when she goes. Let her keep going forward for four or five strides before bringing her back to the original pace and repeating the process. She will learn quickly that it is a lot easier to respond to the first nice request, rather than being driven in to over reacting. Good luck – just make sure that life is fun and interesting for both you and your mare
PULLING AWAY AND GETTING FREE
Question: I have a lovely Polish horse, Arab cross Draught, who is endlessly obliging and generally easy to lead. However, if he suddenly takes it into his head that he doesn't want to do something, he will chuck his head away and because I am elderly, although fit and active, if I don't catch him absolutely straightaway, for safety I have to let him go. Although he is not terribly heavy, he has got a thick neck. In my defence I have even seen my farrier have to let him go (although he is brilliant with the farrier). In the general run of events this is not really a problem because he doesn't go anywhere once he's run off. He stands and waits apologetically to be caught. At an event, however, this could be a very dangerous habit. I have watched Richard Maxwell's excellent videos but they don’t address this particular problem. Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.
HHG: Your horse may be lovely in all respects, but he has learnt that he is bigger and stronger than you and your farrier and probably both of you together. Every time he pulls away from you he is rewarded by having freedom. Obviously there is no way that you are going to break this habit through brute strength. You have to use your brain and show him that you are leader and that the rope is only there as a guide, not a way of holding him next to you.
You may not think that Richard Maxwell’s videos provide an answer to your problem, but what his rope circling does is to train your horse to move towards you to release pressure, rather than to pull away to freedom. I strongly suggest that you buy or make one of his pressure halters and work with your boy just as Richard does in the two handling videos. You will find that just a few minutes of rope circling every day will solve the running off problem very quickly.
Please try it - just because your horse normally just pulls away and stops, one day something might frighten him and his reaction will be to run off and hurt either himself or you or a bystander.
JUMPING OUT OF THE FIELD
Question: I have an 8 year old, Dutch Warmblood show jumping mare. She has bone spavin and therefore needs daily turnout because if kept in all day her hocks become very swollen. However, especially during the winter, I have a problem with turning her out as sometimes she decides to jump the fence. Some days she doesn't and some days she does. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of fence is used as she just clears it.
This is of course causing me huge worries as she could get seriously hurt in so many ways. I was therefore wondering if anyone has experienced similar problems, and if anyone has any hints or suggestions as to what could possibly be done. She is only turned out from 9am to about 2pm.
HHG: You don't say what type of fencing you have or what condition it is in. If your horse does not respect the fencing - either because she can jump it or push through it - then who can blame her for getting out! Of course the best solution would be to find a turnout companion for your horse so that she has someone to talk to - horses are herd animals and appreciate a friend, whether it is another horse or even a goat or donkey.
If this is impossible, then I suggest that you strengthen the fence (and make it harder to jump) by running a strand of electric fencing inside the main fence. It doesn't need to be more than the usual 80cm high, but should be about 2 to 3 metres from the main fence so that it makes jumping a far less interesting option.
SWELLING IN GIRTH AREA
Question: My pony was hacked out yesterday for 10 miles then two swellings appeared under the girth area last night, either side of the midline. There are no other swellings anywhere, and all other vital signs are normal. The swellings are quite large (palm of hand size), hot and firm, uncomfortable when palpated, but he is eating up and seems just fine. It’s not a typical girth gall. Is it possible the girth (which is cushioned) was too tight? We were just walking up and down hills.
He has been walked out today and had a pick of grass with herbs. He had this once before, but not as extreme. I will call the vet if he gets any worse, but last time it cleared up in a day or two. He has not been out at grass for four days. Is this a lymphatic node area, the two swellings are identical and either side of the lower midline. There has been a new horse on the yard which came from a dealer two weeks ago, but it looks in rude health, and no other horses have any infection.
HHG: From your description I would say that these are girth galls. I imagine that your pony has not been doing much work lately and is probably beginning to shed his winter coat which will make his skin more likely to rub – the combination of sweat, hair and a bit of mud under a tight girth is an uncomfortable mix!
I suggest that you rest him (or ride bareback!) and rub surgical spirit into the skin around the girth area to harden up the skin a bit. A girth sleeve can sometimes help prevent rubbing – although on occassion it can make it worse, especially if it just absorbs more dirt and sweat. At times like this an old fashioned string girth is also useful as it allows air to circulate around the girth area. I hope the problem clears up quickly and agree that if it continues it would be a good idea to get it checked by your vet
MUTIPLE PERSONALITIES AND BACKING PROBLEMS
I have a problem with my young Appaloosa cross TB. His dam is a Harry Hotspur mare. In South Africa Harry Hotspur progeny are renowned for being a little (well, a lot) crazy but being really athletic and excelling in many disciplines. His sire was a Perdeprag (Friesian) horse and he generally throws really chilled relaxed temperaments.
My boy seems to have inherited BOTH personalities, which has posed more than a few problems! Most often he is a really relaxed chilled horse. Most would call him lazy, dope and /half asleep (you get the idea), but sometimes he just goes berserk. He looks very pretty when he does this but the problem lies in the fact that there seem to be very limited triggers or signs that he is going to go into crazy mode.
He is just 4 years and ready to be backed. We have done a lot of groundwork and lunging with him, as well as work with the bridle and saddle. The rider has lain across him a few times and he was fine.
Today we started out like normal with a little bit of groundwork and lunging. Then we tacked him up and repeated all the work again. He was very chilled and relaxed but responsive. Then we introduced the rider (my sister). She lay across him a few times before getting on completely. She dismounted and we repeated mounting. Then we let him stand for a while to relax and he was completely chilled. After this we got him to take a few steps forward and a few steps backwards. All was fine. I then led him around (my sister was still riding him) - no problem. So then I asked him to lunge to the left, we walked a few steps the stopped and changed rein. We made it half way around and then he went CRAZY.
Up until this point he was merrily chewing the food we gave him. His body language was relaxed, his stride long and loose and his ears flopping to the side. Nothing spooked him as far as we could tell. He bronc’d up and down on the spot until my sister decided that she was going to fall off anyway and so chose the sensible route and bailed out. She landed without injury. He continued to bronc and got away from me because he ran over me. He bronc’d around the arena then stopped and started grazing with no apparent signs of stress.
We then lunged him in walk trot and canter and it was like nothing happened. So we decided to try the dummy which he has never had on before. We put the dummy on and he was a little nervous but not unduly so. Since it is a very scary dummy (it’s made of bags that
crumple and make a lot of noise), we walked him around a little. He relaxed so we walked, trotted and cantered him again to see if we could get any reaction. He behaved like he had been doing this his whole life. It was not even 15 minutes since he bucked my sister off.
What would you recommend we do? First of all we need to back him but I am worried that this will be his response any time he doesn't want to do something or gets a fright. The two main issues are that he completely switches off (he stops thinking or responding to you) and secondly he doesn't seem to show many signs before he goes crazy.
HHG: It would be a miracle if you managed to train a horse who never decided to rebel or get frightened during the process, so a few minutes of bucking is nothing unusual or anything I would worry about at all. In fact, I would be more concerned if a horse accepted every strange thing happening to him without a reaction of some sort. Without some sort of reaction you do not know whether they are actually learning or are just accepting the inevitable. Educating a horse is about training him to do what you want by making it easiest to do what you want and praising him and also about correcting him (by lack of praise or a sharp ‘no’) when he gets it wrong.
I am not sure how long you have been working with your horse, but with any young horse the training sessions should be short (never more than 15 to 20 minutes), repetitive and frequent (two or three times a day). I try never to do more than one new thing in each session and always to end on a good note. It sounds to me that you just did too much with him in one session. Accepting a rider sitting upright rather than lying over the saddle is a big new step and I would usually just do this with a few steps forwards and backwards with someone at his head then finish. Later we would progress to lunge work, remembering that all horses are happier on one rein than the other so the change in direction to the less-liked rein is always where problems will happen. Have a look at Shane Breen’s long reining video where his really nice youngster rebels at changing the rein.
I don’t think the problem is with the breeding, more that you are asking too much at one time with a youngster. You need to go back over the work you have done slowly and carefully – it will be a little more difficult next time as I am sure your sister will be feeling a little nervous, and the horse will sense this, and he will then think there is something to be wary about. Make sure your sister is happy and relaxed about what you are planning to do each session and that you keep both her and your boy well praised whenever they get anything right!
I am sure that all will be fine and you will end up with a well trained horse, although it should take more than a couple of days!