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Is your horse really ready to work?

If you dont take 10 to 20 minutes to warm your horse up, you could end up with permanently stiff and tense muscles, shortness of gait, or even injury, says equine therapist Annemarie Bright
A few weeks ago I was called out to treat Oscar, a rather nice eight-year old, 15.2hh horse whose owner, Sally, wanted to improve her dressage marks. Sally was frustrated by the fact her dressage sheets consistently said that Oscar was tight through his back, not tracking up and wasnt taking the contact properly. Without improving these basic flaws, Sally knew she would never score higher marks.
Before I looked at Oscar, Sally and I talked about the work he was getting. Sally schools him at least four times a week, hacking out on two days and giving him one day off.
Through our discussion, the problem soon became apparent. Sally, like many of us, worked full time and only had 25 minutes to work Oscar in the mornings. Oscar wasnt getting enough time to warm-up and loosen his muscles ready for work. The muscles along his back had become short and stiff, making him unwilling, and probably unable, to use his hindquarters effectively, limiting his ability to become truly engaged. Behind the saddle, Oscars muscles felt rigid, with deep spasms that on palpation moved through his entire saddle area. The muscles had become so short and tight they had impinged the spinal process giving no flexibility in the spine and hindered the ability to lengthen and soften in the neck.
I explained to Sally that warming up, and cooling down is a crucial part of the exercise routine. When theyre not used, muscles become shortened and stiff, so its important that before we place excessive strain on them they are loosened and lengthened to prevent injury or damage. Working cold muscles can lead to spasms, pain, shortness of gait, lack of responsiveness and even affect behaviour. In Sallys case, although Oscar was trying to do what she asked, he found it difficult with muscles that were permanently contracted.
Muscles are the engine of the body turning energy into movement. Every movement from breathing to extreme physical exertion are undertaken by muscles. In simple terms muscles are bundles of fibres that need to be cared for as we would our skin. If we had a sore we would clean it and protect it. When theyre not in use muscles become shortened and stiff so its important to loosen and lengthen them before we put any excessive strain on them, otherwise they could be damaged.
Planning your warm-up
Warming up is the best way of getting to know how your horse is feeling that day, whether hes tight, stiff and sore and which rein needs more work. You can then tailor your schooling sessions accordingly.
As with us, when we jump out of bed in the morning our movement can be stiff and restricted, so consider what your horse has been doing prior to working. For example, a horse that has come straight from a stable will be less flexible than one that has been walking around a field.
Time of year also has an impact as the colder it is the longer it takes for muscles to warm up using an exercise blanket will help keep muscles warm during very cold winter days.
Your warm-up should vary according to the condition, age, breed and fitness level of the horse. Older horses, and those not in regular work, generally need longer to warm up as the muscles will be tighter and stiffer and joints less lubricated.
Different horses also vary in their requirements. A highly strung horse will become more mentally settled and calm after an active warm-up with lots of transitions and change of rein. Long and low canter work moving down into trot will also help to settle a fizzy horse. A nervous or tense horse will be reassured by a more familiar, repetitive routine, while a lazy horse might need lots of upward transitions, changes of rein and changes of speed within the pace, to get him more mentally alert and forward going.
Lunging is sometimes used to take the 'fizz' out of an excited horse. This isnt always the answer and its sometimes difficult to control the speed and the impact on all the soft tissues. Unless you are riding a horse, its virtually impossible to identify all areas of stiffness. Many times I have seen horses taken out of the stable and spun around on a lunge line with a hollow back, little engagement and high head carriage which just results in poor performance when they are ridden and contracted muscles.
Remember, it will take longer to warm up at competitions too, as the environment can create nervousness, anxiety or stress for a horse making it harder for the muscles to relax.
How to warm up
Before even getting on your horse, a good groom before tacking up will help warm and loosen muscles. Once youre riding, allow anything from 10 to 20 minutes to warm up, before doing any really hard or fast work.
Its important that your warm-up is active, as the purpose is to warm the muscle fibres, working them hard enough to increase circulation. Start by walking on both reins, giving each the same amount of time. Walking is good for opening and mobilising the joints. Within your walk ask for different speeds and some halts to keep your horse focused and listening.
You can then start riding circles, serpentines and changes of rein, in walk and trot. These movements encourage the horse to think, listen to your aids, bend and engage. Keep everything simple to begin with, working on improving your horses responsiveness to the leg and hand with transitions, and encouraging the hindquarters to engage.
Start by riding your horse long and low. This doesnt mean loping along on the buckle - your horse should have his head stretched towards the ground with a light contact from the rider whilst actively working through from behind. Upward transitions in this position will soften the neck and back and strengthen the hindquarters.
From long and low, then start working long and round, asking for a little more contact so that the horse keeps his head low and neck soft whilst bending his head towards his knees. This will lengthen neck muscles and help develop the core back and intercostal muscles, whilst lengthening the lumber and hindquarter muscles.
Counter bends are also good exercises for opening shoulders and improving your horses balance and softness. Walk in a straight line and ask your horse to flex his neck one way, and then the other.
Once your horse is starting to feel softer and is working through his back you can then start working on three tracks to improve suppleness. Shoulder-in, quarters-in, turn-on-the-forehand are great exercises for warming and stretching your horses lateral muscles.
Cooling down
Cooling down is just as important as warming up. Slowing the intensity of the work reduces the horses respiratory rate and heart rate, allowing the heart to return to its normal resting state, it also helps remove toxins (lactic acid) from muscles to avoid cramping and to keep the muscle fibres relaxed and remain soft.
As part of your cool down allow the horse to relax and stretch thoroughly to release muscle tension and soreness and switch his mind off.
If your horse has worked very hard, or has been competing, then a series of passive stretches can be beneficial to help the muscles release toxins, lengthen tight muscles, tendons and ligaments and loosen joints. Stretches are also a good way of identifying any injuries.
Annemarie Bright is a veterinary-approved equine therapist, qualified with the Institute of Complementary Animal Therapies. She specialises in offering horses relief from aches, pains and stiffness through a series of gentle, but effective treatments involving sports therapy massage.

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Dieting

Dr Derek Cuddeford, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh.

The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook-Julia Child)
What is it? It is the regulated consumption of food to attain or maintain a defined weight. So being on a diet does not automatically mean weight reduction although in the case of horses it usually relates to a reduction in fat stores and, as a result, a loss of weight. There are various diet programs available to people who wish to lose weight and they include high fibre diets, high protein diets, low fat diets and so on. Many books have been written on the topic and some quite esoteric ideas have been promoted and of course, everyone is looking for the quick fix to lose weight without any suffering. As far as humans are concerned, the only realistic ways to lose weight are to increase energy expenditure (exercise/physical work) and reduce energy intake. You can eat what you like, just less of it! Obviously if you can combine exercise with restricting energy intake then fat loss will be greater. Starving oneself leads to muscle wastage and it is inadvisable.
The problem we have with both horses and ponies is that they have a behavioural need to eat whereas we do not. Horses kept in a natural environment will generally exhibit eating behaviour over a 14 to 16 hour period although there can be considerable individual variation. Depriving a horse of food will mean that it cannot satisfy its motivation to feed and of course, in extreme circumstances, the animal may well develop abnormal behaviours. Unfortunately stereotypic behaviours such as cribbing, stall walking, weaving, etc are rather common amongst housed horses. The goal has to be to allow normal feeding behaviour whilst at the same time, restricting caloric intake.
One of the drivers for eating in humans is the feeling of hunger or emptiness so to help a person to diet (lose weight) one can adapt a diet that creates satiety more rapidly. This can be achieved by using high fibre feeds that contain a lot of indigestible cellulosic plant cell wall material. Most obvious resources would be cabbages/salads/etc which provide bulk but no energy; they contain empty calories. One cannot unfortunately translate this modus operandii to a horse that has evolved specifically to be able to ferment plant cellulose (fibre) so in fact to the horse this material represents a good source of calories. However, careful selection of the fibre source can get around this problem. The horse can only break down fibrous material if the enzymes produced by the organisms in the large intestine (caecum & colon) can penetrate the plant cellular material. As plants mature they develop the need for support as they grow taller. To achieve this lignin is deposited around the plant cells to stiffen the plant structure and make it more rigid. Unfortunately this process of lignifications renders the thickened plant cell walls (mostly cellulose and hemicelluloses) impervious to enzymes. So, the process of lignification renders plant material indigestible and thus the horse cannot ferment it to obtain energy-containing nutrients.
For weight reduction the strategy must be to select mature plant material so that the animal can eat ad libitum and yet lose weight. This means selecting very mature grass hays preferably containing timothy or cocksfoot grasses because these grasses lose their nutritive value much more quickly than say ryegrasses. One should avoid leafy meadow hay and go for the very stemmy types. When you crush the material in your hands it should be painful because the woody stalks will stick into your flesh! This means it is highly lignified and thus, an ideal component of a weight-reducing diet. Another approach is to use straw but one has to be careful here. Oat straw is too good and so is barley straw, particularly that from spring varieties of barley. The poorest quality straw is nearly always wheat straw but do not offer vast excesses of straw because this would allow the horse or pony to be selective. In this situation the material they choose will generally be of higher quality than that of the bulk. The approach to dieting horses hinges on qualitative manipulation of the diet rather than quantitative restriction as practised with humans.
Grazing muzzles and/or limiting feeding time by imprisonment compromise the animals welfare as they become frustrated. Unfortunately these are popular strategies employed by owners whose animals are prone to laminitis and are obese. A better approach is to make the animal work for its food. In the natural situation the horse/pony would be required to walk and search out its food which, in most cases, would not be abundant. Provision of a heap of forage on the ground or in a hay net means that the lazy slob does not have to walk anywhere but can just stand still eating. So, if the animal is to be fed, spread the food around, a little here, a little there and so on. Use double hay nets so the horse has to really work hard at getting its food and also use several nets each with a little in to create well-spaced feeding sites-make nothing easy. Another good trick is to shake out the forage over a heap of branches which will give the horse hours of fun trying to retrieve it bit by bit. When horses eat dry forage in the form of hay or straw they need to drink very regularly so place the water supply as far away as possible from where they eat so they are forced to walk backwards and forwards; a long narrow paddock is ideal for this purpose. If you have a horse walker, apart from the young girl next door, then use it to force horses/ponies to exercise. They will burn calories but maintain muscle mass and maybe, even increase it.
Care is needed when weight reduction is sought by changing the diet. Making qualitative changes that involve including high fibre levels (straw) in the daily ration requires that the animal be given time to adapt. Sudden changes can increase the risk of impaction colic particularly if you change from a wet diet (grass) to a dry diet (hay, straw, etc) since the animal will need to increase its voluntary drinking behaviour. Feed next to a water source at the beginning of dietary change and once adapted, separate feed from water as indicated already. Apart from gut dysfunction, a change of diet that leads to too rapid weight loss can precipitate a condition known as hyperlipidaemia where the animals body recognises a shortage of energy and responds by releasing masses of fat from body stores into the blood; once developed this condition often has fatal consequences. Thus, it is imperative that weight loss is regulated and it should not exceed about 20kg over a month for a 550kg horse which equates to a change in body condition score of about one. This requires some trial and error in terms of adjusting quantities and proportions of different types of forage in relation to activity in order to achieve the desired rate of weight loss.
It is a sobering thought that, according to James Galbraith, more die in the United States of too much food than of too little. As for horses in the UK this is probably equally true. Rather than adopting dieting as strategy to overcome obesity why not opt for prevention by giving your horse an appropriate diet that suits its energetic need and thus maintain a defined weight. Limiting your horse or ponies feed intake is behaviourally inappropriate............................

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Joint Support

Hermione Perry MSc Nutritionist, Brinicombe Equine

As we work our horses, we put strain on their joints. Under normal conditions small stresses and strains promote the bodys natural repair processes and ultimately lead to strengthening of the tissues. However, during hard work such as eventing or repeatedly riding and jumping on hard ground, the demand for repair may outstrip the supply, leading to a gradual deterioration of the horses joints.
The structure of joints is designed to prevent abrasion and damage to the bones. However, the major weight bearing joints such as the knees, fetlocks and small joints of the hock are particularly prone to degeneration due to the amount of work they perform. These joints are where two bones meet to allow a hinge-like movement. Each of the bones has a covering of articular cartilage to create a slippery surface to prevent abrasion and absorb concussion. Between the bones is synovial fluid, preventing the bones from actually coming into contact with each other, and acting as a sponge to absorb the pressure of movement it can be squeezed and squashed when the force of landing over a jump goes up the leg, without causing damage to the bones. The whole joint is surrounded by connective tissue and ligaments to give it strength and control the movement.
Osteoarthritis is a major cause of lameness in working horses. This is a disease which results in damage of the cartilage, causing inflammation, swelling, reduced mobility and pain. Certain horses are more prone than others:
Young horses with immature joints in hard work (eg flat racing)
Poor conformation puts extra pressure on certain joints
Poor shoeing and foot balance can cause unlevel weight bearing
Overweight horses put more stress on their legs
Unfit horses asked to work harder than they are able
Regular work on uneven or hard ground will increase the concussive forces on the joints.
Veteran horses will simply be suffering from the result of wear and tear over the years. As the body ages and becomes less able to repair the symptoms will reveal themselves.
Under normal circumstances, chondrocytes within the cartilage matrix will maintain the cartilage and synovial fluid by replenishing the collagen and proteoglycans. This reaction is controlled by the availability of glucosamine within the chondrocytes. The proteoglycans are large molecules principally composed of chondroitin sulphate and hyaluronic acid (Glycosaminoglycans). Changes within the cartilage result in a depletion of these GAGs and the cartilage becomes thin.
How does the degeneration start?
As the horse works, the joint is constantly being worn. As the tissues are being damaged, free radicals are created. The bodys own repair mechanisms are able to cope with this. Internal anti-oxidants help to mop up the free radicals before they accumulate and the chondrocytes set to work. However, if this wear and tear builds up to a point where the chondrocytes cannot keep up, the free radicals will accumulate and further damage will be done. Affected joints will develop inflammation of the synovial membrane (synovitis), the articular cartilage will thin, the joints will then start to rub against each other, resulting in erosion of the joint surface. At this point there may be few visible symptoms. Perhaps the horse will be reluctant to extend his strides, there may be a change in temperament as a result of pain, he may become stiff on one rein, or just not perform to his usual standard. Continuing to work the horse will cause more erosion; the joints become less slippery, ultimately leading to further inflammation resulting in stiff movement, lameness and pain.
What can be done?
As soon as a change in your horses performance and / or movement is noticed, the horse should be rested to slow the rate of joint erosion. A Veterinary surgeon should also be consulted to make a diagnosis. The most common treatment involves anti-inflammatory and pain relieving drugs. Some may recommend injections directly into the joint, but the most common long-term treatment is Phenylbutazone. The side effects of drugs are well known, phenylbutazone may cause liver damage with regular use. However, recent research has also demonstrated that phenylbutazone causes further deterioration of the joint the very area you are trying to help!
What is the alternative?
Currently, there is a lot of interest in alternative therapies for joint support. Nutrition is one approach which many horse owners find preferable to long term pharmaceuticals. Nutraceuticals are natural food ingredients which have health benefits. For joints, these include the chondroprotective agents such as glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate.
Glucosamine, Chondroitin sulphate & Hyaluronic Acid
Glucosamine is a major component of all the molecules involved in joint maintenance. The body produces its own glucosamine, but when demand outstrips supply there is a requirement for an additional source. Glucosamine is responsible for ensuring that the synovial fluid remains strong and flexible. Glucosamine has been of great interest to medical and veterinary scientists as it can be safely administered in the feed to increase the availability of glucosamine to the chondrocytes. Not all the glucosamine will be absorbed from the gut, but it is believed that if a significant enough dose is given (approx 10g per day) enough will be absorbed to have a positive effect on the joints. There are different types of glucosamine available as feed supplements, glucosamine hydrochloride being preferable with approximately 99% purity.
Chondroitin sulphate forms an important part of the structure of proteoglycans within the cartilage, but is also believed responsible for hindering the action of enzymes that cause cartilage degradation, and has anti-inflammatory properties. There is a question over the ability of the gut to absorb chondroitin as it is a large molecule, but preliminary studies have shown this to be a useful nutraceutical. Like glucosamine there are many grades available to the horse owner and it is important to choose a low molecular weight chondroitin (to increase the absorption rate) with 90% purity.
Hyaluronic Acid is the most predominant glycosaminoglycan found within the synovial fluid and it is equally important for the structure of cartilage. Without hyaluronic acid the synovial fluid would lose its ability to lubricate the joints and would leave the cartilage undernourished. Until ten years ago, hyaluronic acid was only available in injectable form and its high molecular weight could not be absorbed by the small intestine. However new forms have been developed to improve its aborption and it is now commonly administered as an oral feed supplement.
So what about the free radicals?
Glucosamine and chondroitin work to support the synovial fluid and cartilage, but do not have enough anti-oxidant capacity of their own to reverse the harmful effect of free radicals. Anti-oxidants are an important part of everyones diet. They are found in fresh fruit and vegetables but they are easily destroyed. For a horse on box rest, fed only hay and hard feed, it is vital to supply anti-oxidants in the diet. Each anti-oxidant has its own properties, for example, vitamin A is good for eye health, and we have all been recommended to take vitamin C when we have a cold. Certain anti-oxidants are also recognised for their support during joint degeneration. Proanthocyanadins are a specific type of antioxidant found in berries and nuts. They are reported to be many times more efficient at removing free radicals than either vitamin C or vitamin E. In human health they are recommended for heart health, but another major quality of these antioxidants is that they can prevent collagen destruction. During inflammation, proanthocyanidins will inhibit the breakdown of collagen, and actually help to make the collagen within joints stronger.
Other ingredients which may be of benefit:
MSM is also a useful addition to any joint supplement. MSM helps to support the blood circulation, helping to remove the harmful debris around eroding joints more quickly. By making blood vessels more permeable, it will also help to reduce inflammation, therefore returning the joint to its original flexibility. MSM is also a source of sulphur a vital mineral for soft tissue repair, which will therefore support healthy tendons, ligaments and connective tissue.
Rosehip Extract has recently been shown to have important anti-inflammatory properties for both horses and humans. In 2008 an Osteoarthritis Research Society congress presented two major research studies which demonstrated the pain relieving properties of a standardized rosehip extract. It is believed that GOPO (glycoside of mono and diglycerol), the active ingredient of rosehips, can switch off certain genes responsible for producing proteins and enzymes implicated in inflammatory joint destruction, and switch on genes that help produce collagen and cartilage. A Danish study on horses showed that those receiving rosehip extract had increased exercise tolerance and better rates of recovery.
Green Lipped Mussel (Perna canaliculus) is a specific species native to New Zealand. The mussels contain a unique profile of Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids which have natural anti-inflammatory properties, along with naturally occurring chondroitin sulphate. The mussel extract has been shown to offer benefits to a range of inflammatory related disorders including arthritis, but unfortunately not all mussel extracts are the same. There is a huge variation in the quality of material available which is affected by the time of harvest and processing methods. It is therefore important to choose a product produced by a reputable company.
To summarise:
Glucosamine to support the natural repair process and for production of chondroitin
Chondroitin to inhibit the enzymes that degrade cartilage
Proanthocyanadins powerful antioxidants which target collagen in joints
Hyaluronic acid to lubricate the synovial fluid
MSM a natural anti-inflammatory.
Rosehip extract for pain relief and inflammation
Green lipped mussel extract a source of Omega 3 for inflammation

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The Travelling Horse

Ben Sturgeon, BSc, BVMS, Cert EP, MRCVS

Travelling is not my favourite pastime, when will they invent the machine which zaps you from A to B in a microsecond? Probably still try and flog you drinks, duty free and a teddy with a captains cap on however. Its all very stressful and this is precisely what we dont want for our horses. You dont see Ussain Bolt arriving for the Olympics in second class, carrying his own bags, drinking dodgy coffee. No, first class and chilled lemonade. The aim is stress-free travel, for you and the horse. Although I will concentrate primarily on transporting the horse for competition, travel to studs, new homes etc will largely fall under the same, although less dogmatic guidelines.
My apologies in advance for some of the dull stuff, it has to be said, it could stop you going to jail.
Horse Passports
Since 2004 all horses must have a passport. Penalties for not holding one include a minimum fine of £5000 or imprisonment for 3 months, or both. The simple thing to say (and it varies between countries within the EU) is that you must carry your passport with your horse on every journey, regardless if its destination.
Journeys over 65km and 8 hrs in connection with an economic activity need to have a Transporters Authorisation issued by the State Veterinary Service (DEFRA). Theses are free and can be found on DEFRAs website.
Horse Position
When travelling 2 horses in a trailer, it is essential that the heavier is loaded on the right hand side, so that it travels behind the driver, helping balance at corners. The same is true for a single horse travelling in a double trailer. If no partition is present, use breast and breaching bars to support along with 2 lead ropes (attached to either side ring) to keep the horse central and stable.
. 2 or more horses must be separated by a partition (unless a mare and foal)
. An internal light is required for night travel
. It is illegal for a person to travel in the trailer
Horse Clothing
Just go buy Katie Prices stuff, she needs the money, its so pink and lovely.
Electrolytes and Water
Horses lose approximately 2 5lb of bodyweight for every hour they travel, this increases dramatically in hot weather, combined with a common refusal to drink while travelling it is not uncommon for a horse to become dehydrated. With stress and sweating, salts/electrolytes, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium and calcium are lost. These electrolytes help the transfer of water through cell membranes, for nerves to fire and muscles to contract. Large losses result in several neuromuscular and systemic disturbances including tying up, synchronous diaphragmatic flutter (thumps) and acid-base disturbances. Ensuring proper fluid and electrolyte replacement will prolong reaching fatigue and decrease recovery time. For human distance runners, running pace slows by 2% for every 1% loss of bodyweight due to dehydration. A runner running 10,000 metres in 35 minutes will add 2 minutes 48 seconds to their times. If applied to a performance horse doing a 9 hour 100 mile ride, 4% dehydration (an average seen on most rides) would increase time by 45 minutes. Many horses however are between 5 8 % dehydrated. Adding electrolyte supplementation is generally not necessary when feeding a balanced diet, but heavy training, transport, heat etc makes supplementation necessary. This may take the form of pastes, additions to water, salt licks etc, or in the upper echelons, weighting the horse to measure actual losses and replacing them via stomach tube during transport or on arrival. The important point is that you cant just start electrolytes when the problem arises, acclimatising the horse to drinking or accepting supplements before you actually travel is key.
Colic
Colic, usually secondary to dehydration along with the general fibrous feeds we provide during travel often result in colonic impactions. Training your horse to drink electrolytes, eat bran mash or even accept mineral oil is again prudent. Adding soaked hay during travel to help provide water and/or add apple juice to foreign water to encourage proper hydration may prevent this problem but monitoring your horse for faecal output, hydration status (gums wetness, skin tent, urination) and pain is important.
Feeding
In one trial, horses fed grain 3 hours before work showed peaks of glucose and insulin before exercise and then a rapid plunge during exercise (not conducive to performance). These horses never returned to the same levels during exercise as horses fed forage diets and then exercised. There is also a drop in fatty acids (another energy source) in grain fed horses. Despite this, the biggest effect on feed timing on horses performance will usually only be seen in horses subject to a large challenge on energy. This means 3day eventers, endurance horses, hunters etc who have to go long and hard for most of the day. Conversely, racehorses, though competing at great speeds, only have a short time when demands are made and the window is usually wide enough to cope with variable energy demands. Feeding during transport tends to be an after thought, throw him some hay to keep him quiet but when travelling to competition such feeding takes on a serious implication. Forage then is best and additionally feeding forage before exercise also has a protective effect against stomach ulcer development, the fibrous mat acting as a protective layer against the free stomach acid which will slop over more sensitive parts of the horses stomach during exercise (and transport). So what is the appropriate time to feed? A basic recommendation then would be feed the concentrate portion 8 hours before performance and feed the fibrous after and a small amount just before competition.
One further area of current interest is the use of fat in the diet to decrease glucose and insulin peaks. The glycaemic index measures how much glucose enters the bloodstream 90 minutes after a meal. Oats have a GI of 100, molasses 130, corn 80. Adding fat (1 cup normal oil) will reduce the GI of all feeds significantly making the horses glucose peak lower and more even.
The summary then would be to keep meals, especially forage small and frequent. Allow time for concentrates to be digested and add small amounts of fat to even out the glucose/insulin peaks. The aim is to have energy availability even throughout the day allowing the best possible competition.
Respiratory Disease
Small airway disease can be obviously exacerbated by long distance travel in a confined airspace with dust/fungal spores/endotoxins circulating. In sensitive horses it is known that a significant inflammatory reaction may occur within 15 mins of introduction into an unsuitable airspace. Management should be aimed at reducing this risk, increasing airflow, wet hay/haylage, prophylactic steroids etc. An older treatment, sodium cromoglycate has been used prophylactically but is currently out of favour. The most important condition to always consider with any longer transport is pleuropneumonia. This extremely serious condition is thought to be predisposed to by a reduced ability to clear mucus in the airways of a tethered horse combined with immunosuppressive effects of long travel and endotoxins and bacteria within the horses airspace. The condition may present initially as a depressed horse with a high temperature progressing rapidly to a septic pneumonia which despite aggressive antibiosis and surgical drainage is very often fatal. Every transported horse should have its temperature taken regularly for up to 72 hours post transport and any with raised parameters or signs of dullness and depression be started on antibiotics immediately.

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Managing nerves

Danielle Olding

Nerves are the brains way of alerting us to potential dangers and protecting us from doing anything rash! Many of us recognise when we are becoming nervous and experience clear symptoms from anxiety, doubt and negative thoughts, through to physical symptoms such as nausea, sweating, migraines, or an increase in breathing and heart rate.
For many of us, nerves do a good job in speeding up our reactions and making us ride with more purpose than usual. However for others, these reactions can take over and have the opposite effect making competing an emotional trial rather than a fun and exciting day out.
It is therefore important to accept that it is ok, even good to be nervous and learn to work with our nerves channelling them constructively into the job in hand rather than trying to eradicate them altogether.
There are a number of ways to manage nerves constructively:
Managing the physical symptoms
Step 1: Go into Peripheral Vision
This technique is useful for helping you get into a calm state regardless of what is going on around you. It allows us to see big picture and see what is happening either side of us as well as in front of us. By going into peripheral vision, any apparent problem or worry is viewed in the context of the bigger picture and changes the meaning that we place on such events. It has the effect of slowing your heart rate and triggering the relaxed response in your brain.
How to do it!
- Focus on a spot in front of you a little above eye level.
- As you focus on the spot, allow your awareness to extend either side of that spot in front of you.
- Allow your attention to expand even further so that you are now aware of what is happening either side of you (180 degrees) whilst you continue to focus on the spot.
- As you do this, notice how relaxed you feel. Now allow your jaw to relax even more.
- As you remain in this state focusing on the spot, consider the situation that you were concerned about and notice how your feelings about the event have changed (make sure your awareness is a full 180 degrees).
- When you feel calm repeat the process two or three times.
NB. You can do this exercise both on and off the horse whenever you feel nervous or anxious - nobody will ever know you are doing it.
Step2: Focus on your Breathing
Correct breathing is essential for staying calm, thinking clearly and remaining in a positive state. Experienced athletes are able to shift their breathing to change their emotional state and internal representations that directly affect their behaviour on the horse and their results.
How to use breathing
1. Notice how you are breathing when you feel relaxed:
- the rate fast or slow
- the location the chest, stomach or midway
- whether you are inhaling and exhaling through the nose and mouth
Pay enough attention to detail so you can repeat it
2. Practice replicating this breathing at times when it is appropriate for you to feel this relaxed.
3. Notice how you are breathing before and during schooling sessions, particularly when you are riding well (this may vary according to physical exertion). Pay enough attention to detail so you can replicate it.
4. Practice replicating the breathing before and during schooling sessions. Notice the results.
5. Notice your breathing before and during competition. If you are finding yourself feeling inappropriately anxious or nervous, adjust your breathing so that you are in (or at least closer to) the appropriate state. For example, it may not be appropriate to feel as relaxed as you did in point 1 above before the start of your race or cross country round.
Understanding the positive intention behind getting nervous
Very often, despite the fact that we might be inappropriately nervous, we still want to be able to ride and compete and actually enjoy it. This can cause a conflict between the part of us that wants to do it and the part of us that doesnt!
Exercise 1:
This exercise works with the subconscious part of your brain responsible for the part that doesnt. It requires you to establish a 'communication' channel with the part of you responsible for your negative responses causing you to be excessively nervous.
1. Identify the unwanted behaviour that you exhibit before or during a competition / race
2. Think about the issue and ask what is the positive intent of this behaviour? What purpose does it have? What does this behaviour do for me?
3. Ask yourself to think of at least three other ways that the part with the unwanted behaviour could achieve its positive intention.
4. Ask the part with the negative behaviour if it would be willing to take responsibility for doing at least one of these new alternative behaviours. If the answer is no, go back and review the choices and ask the question again until you get a positive feeling of acceptance of some kind.
5. Imagine a future scenario that would probably have triggered the old behaviour and notice the differences.
Exercise 2:
Setting up a Resource Anchor
This exercise enables us to call upon certain resources that would be helpful to us instead of feeling excessively nervous e.g. relaxed, calm, excited, confident. In basic terms, an anchor is a specific stimulus that leads to a specific response. For example, hearing a particular song on the radio might bring back specific memories or feelings from years ago when we first heard it.
You may prefer to have someone talk you through this process so you can concentrate fully on what you are doing.
1. Identify the resource you would like to have access to something that would make you feel good about riding / competing / jumping.
2. Remember a time when you had a strong past experience of that feeling it does not need to be associated with riding. Relive the experience as though you were actually there now. Make sure you notice the sights, sounds and feelings in detail.
3. Think about a shetland pony wearing silver spandex hotpants! (distract yourself)
4. Decide what triggers you will use for your chosen state. You may choose to make a physical sign (e.g. pressing your thumb and middle finger together), pull up a visual symbol or picture, or hear yourself say a word or phrase that will trigger the state. You may choose all three however you need to be able to fire them from your horse.
5. Go back into your memory and relive it again. When the positive feeling is strong, apply your trigger(s), hold them for between five and fifteen seconds and break out of the memory and distract yourself again.
6. Repeat step 5 two or three more times. Each time you do this it will become quicker and easier to access your desired state. Soon, you will be able to recall it just by thinking of your signal.
7. Imagine a time in the future when you would like this feeling. Fire your anchor and notice what feels different.

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From the Horses Mouth Ramblings of a Delinquent Twenty-Something...

Party time again & Maurice The Destroyer

Mum has been a bit more excitable than usual lately. I think it might be something to do with the longer days and the lighter evenings and the fact she keeps saying that summer is just around the corner. She forgets it was snowing only a few weeks ago.
She has been enthusiastically collecting show schedules and plotting dates on the calendar when Maurice and I will be out to parties. She returned the other day from a shopping expedition with enough shampoo and show shine to last us for the next five years and began wielding her scissors and trimmers with a mad glint in her eye. Yup, show season is well and truly upon us.
No sooner had she scraped off the mud, whipped off my beard and hacked off my feathers than I was bundled into the lorry on route to my first party of the year with Nice New Yard Owner and the Small Sparkly One. I sometimes think those two dont take my parties very seriously as the Small Sparkly One seemed more intent in packing the lorry with cakes and sweets instead of my essential wardrobe items. I just cant get the staff sometimes.
Anyway, despite the chill in the air and the fact that I had to warm up outdoors, I worked in perfectly for Mum, who seemed pleased and more than slightly surprised at how well I was behaving, despite this being my first party since Blair months and months ago. She forgets that I am a professional who can adapt his hoof to any situation, quickly and with proficiency.
When we were called forward for our class, I strode into the school, nodding politely to the One Who Decides Whos Best and my fellow competitors. I trotted and cantered at the places I was supposed to and even managed to do my best flicky-toed show-pony trot. And when the One Who Decides Whos Best hopped on to ride me, I was every inch the perfect gentleman. She seemed very pleased with me and said I was lovely. Mum muttered under her breath to the Small Sparkly One that I was lulling everyone into a false sense of security. I chose to ignore that.
The One Who Decides Whos Best decided I was handsome and brilliant and gave me a lovely red rosette and Mum was very pleased with me and gave me a big hug while we waited to go back into the championship. Mum, the Small Sparkly One and Nice New Yard Owner occupied themselves with coffee and cakes whilst I stood chatting to a lovely young filly called Harmony who seemed to be awestruck by my greatness.
After ages standing around in the cold, we were called forward for the championship and off I went to strut my stuff again. The One Who Decides Whos Best studied us all very carefully before deciding I was the best and giving me the champions rosette. Mum was over the moon.
Her happiness was short lived though as the following week we went hacking round the hills and Bounceypants came along to join in the fun. Mum isnt a big fan of my alter ego Bounceypants and I dont have the faintest idea why. I mean, he is lots of fun and is always the life and soul of the party. Whats not to love?
Anyway, I love hacking round the hills. There are lots of places to gallop and ditches to jump over. There are also lots of gates that Mum has to get off and open mainly because I refuse to stand still for her to open them while she is sitting on me, and getting back on again seems to be a problem for Mum too. She hops about on one foot while I impatiently spin around on the spot, urging her to hurry up. I dont like to waste any valuable galloping time waiting for her while she faffs about. As soon as her bottom is in the saddle, thats my cue to bound off at a flat out trot, regardless of whether she is ready or not.
We bounded round the whole hack in record speed, quite an achievement considering there was still some snow around and Mum had insisted that I was not to gallop flat out over the ice. She can be such a spoil sport sometimes. I wish she would learn to trust me and appreciate that I am as quick and nimble as a gazelle. Not like Maurice. He is more like Bambi on ice at times.
And talking of Maurice, he is back in the bad books with Mum again. Maurice has been identified as the phantom Snuggy Hood wrecker of our field. For the last two winters Mum has made me wear this ridiculous lycra hood thing that covers my whole face with only holes for my ears and eyes. Its supposed to keep me warm and mud-free but I just find it irritating and itchy. In the past I have tried to rub it off on trees and my haynet but have only managed to tear it slightly, which Mum quickly mends.
Then along came Maurice. He thought my Snuggy Hood was hilarious and insisted on pulling at it with his teeth. At first I would snap at him to leave me alone, and then I realised I could use his mischief making to my advantage. After a couple of days encouragement and a bemused Mum who couldnt understand my quickly disintegrating hood, Maurice finally ripped the whole thing to pieces, leaving me free to roll in mud and have a good itch. Unfortunately for Maurice, Mum witnessed the final act of destruction and screamed at him from across the field.
Maurice was given a severe ticking off which sent him into his usual sulk. Astonishingly I was also given a ticking off for allowing Maurice to wreck my hood. My punishment? No new hood until next winter, with Mum saying that by that time surely Maurice would have grown out of his wanton destruction stage.
I hung my head in mock disappointment and told her I would just have to live without it until then.
But I have a feeling that the easily-lead Maurice will NOT have grown out of his demolition habit by next winter. Not if I can help it.
Now I just need to work on persuading him to obliterate my purple lyrca all-in-one suit and my fly-rug
Translated from horse-speak by Gayle Culross

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Training the novice horse

Cora Roberts is a freelance instructor and lecturer and course director in equine studies at the college of West Anglia. She has competed for many years in eventing, show jumping and dressage.

Trainers, riders, judges all have their own ideas on schooling horses based on traditional knowledge and modern notions about horse psychology. But how much thought is actually given to equine physiology which is the baseline of a horses ability to develop into the Happy Athlete everyone talks about?
It is claimed by many horse people that equids are intelligent. An interesting theory because it depends on our definition of intelligence. According to the Oxford Dictionary intelligence is defined as: intellect, understanding, sagacity; a rational being. The adjective intelligent describes having or showing (usually a high degree of) understanding. This clearly does not apply to the horse. It would be far more accurate to consider the horse as a trainable creature much like the dog. And before the cry goes up about the great intelligence of our canine friends let me refer you to the simple but appropriate statement Dogs have owners, cats have staff. I leave it to the reader to draw the only possible conclusion!
It is true that horses are quick learners but they cannot differentiate between good and bad. They are blessed with an excellent long term memory which can work for, but also against, the rider. On the negative side they are poor at unlearning, hence the problems encountered when retraining an animal for a different use (e.g. re-educating race horses or driving horses). Sensitivity is another characteristic frequently attributed to horses, particularly animals competing at top level. Usually it is said within the context of how easy or difficult the horse is to work with. This makes absolute sense because all the horses senses are very sophisticated and acute. Equine vision, smell, hearing and touch are vastly superior to those in humans. The horses reactions to everything happening to him/her directly or in his/her environment are based completely on physical sensations and not on intellectual perception.
Many gifted horse handlers/riders, through observation and experience, have been aware of this and have used this to either increase or decrease sensitivity, e.g. create quicker reactions to finer aids or desensitise a horse frightened by, or hypersensitive to, certain things. Armed with the knowledge that training is primarily physical it is necessary to consider how equine physiology (the study of living organs and their function) responds to exercise.
What is Training?
It is a way to induce the bodys systems to undergo functional adaptation so they can withstand forces placed on them during locomotory performance such as galloping, jumping, dressage movements, etc. Therefore the aim of training is to enhance the properties of each tissue so that it can cope. The big problem is that the different tissues of the body respond differently to the stimulus of training. Undertraining (too little training) means that the horse will not realize his/her full potential whereas overtraining will lead to injury and possibly irreversible damage.
Before discussing how this affects working the novice horse, it must be pointed out that the respiratory system cannot be trained. Each horse is born with a finite lung capacity and this will limit the extent of extreme effort that an individual can undertake.
The Musculoskeletal System
Lameness is by far the greatest pathological condition affecting horses in work. The range of lameness can vary from just a feeling the rider experiences but that is not actually detectable with the human eye to non-weight bearing, so it should be of particular interest to anyone working a horse to know and understand how bones, joints and tendons respond to specific exercises in order to optimise training methods and to minimise risk of injury.
Bone Facts
Bone is alive! It is very hard and resilient but has some degree of elasticity and it is trainable. (If it were dead, fractures would not be painful nor would they mend.) Physical training will increase bone mass and density. The important point to note is that bone develops best when subjected to gradually increasing loads rather than long, continuous low levels of loading.
Practical application: bone needs only short periods of daily work to become stronger. To encourage development of bone mass, brief spells of trotting on roads for instance will be beneficial, but the emphasis is on brief. Hours of walking, trotting or cantering on hard surfaces will fatigue bone and can result in damage. Speed, too, influences the strain on bone. The faster the horse has to move, the greater the risk of bone injury. However, event horses, hunters, race horses, polo ponies, endurance horses and even dressage horses need to be worked at greater speeds on different albeit suitable surfaces for fitness, stamina and psychological reasons. The same principle applies brief spells repeated with increasing frequency as in interval training.
Joint Facts
Limb joints consist of a joint capsule, cartilage, synovial fluid and ligaments. They link bones allowing and absorbing movement. Moderate training improves their mechanical properties (flexibility without friction). But overload them with strenuous work (e.g. jumping, galloping on hard ground or working horses on uneven surfaces) and they will lose their load absorbing capabilities.
Practical application: both jumping and more advanced dressage movements put particular strain on joints. In both disciplines fetlocks in particular experience extreme flexion. In jumping the landing phase produces the greatest stress, whereas in dressage the extended gaits cause hyperextension. Clearly both need practice, and the best way to avoid excessive strain when jumping is to keep fences at a sensible height and in dressage to ask for progressive lengthening rather than exploding into the movement.
Tendon Facts
Tendons and ligaments are composed of fibrous tissue that is elastic but has a poor blood supply. The former connect muscle to bone, the latter connect bone to bone as in joints. They store energy during the limbs stance phase of gaits and release energy during take off and the swing phase. Very important to remember: tendons work close to failure point when working at peak performance. It is interesting to note that training has different effects on flexor and extensor tendons. Flexor tendons remain unchanged with work load but extensor tendons and ligaments become more elastic and gain mass. Prolonged box rest cause the latter to reduce in mass irreversibly!
One specific aspect of caring for tendons is thermoregulation. They are poor at conducting heat which means that they require proper warming-up in order to function optimally but also they cannot get rid of core heat easily, potentially damaging the fibres. Tendons can suffer indirectly through exercise when muscles tire leading to lack of coordination, which places them under extreme strain.
Practical application: All work must begin with a thorough warm-up. Exercises must be carefully controlled and finished before fatigue occurs. Protective bandages and/or boots (unless constructed from breathing materials) should be avoided. The detrimental effects of lengthy box rest can be counteracted by brief, regular periods of walking in-hand or turn-out in a roundpen.
Implications for Training the Novice Horse
Young, immature horses are especially susceptible to exercise induced injuries, including self-inflicted damage incurred during turn out or even in the stable. The first thing to say is: dont wrap a horse in cotton wool. Movement is essential to keep a horse healthy mentally and physically. However, riding poses a different problem because the horse has to deal with the riders weight and adjust to his or her shifting balance. Moreover the horse is expected to react quickly to the riders commands, which is very demanding on maintaining his/her own equilibrium.
A training plan is a good idea providing it allows flexibility and puts the horses welfare first. Setting goals in the form of competitions is fine but such plans may require modification depending on the horses progress. And dont get straight-jacketed by the ambitions of Young Horse Classes. They are useful for showcasing the charges of professional producers but it should be remembered that very few of their winners have gone on to do great things later in life.
The ingredients of good training are as follows:
a) Thorough warm-up (however long it takes)
b) Brief spells of work with rest periods in-between
c) Increase frequency of repetition with recovery breaks
d) Variation of work to avoid repetitive strain injuries
e) Regular rest days to allow tissue recovery and to relieve psychological pressure
f) Careful monitoring of the horses condition
g) Awareness of how the horse feels
h) Stop work if there is any doubt about the horses way of going
The trouble with horses is that they are big, strong creatures which leads to the impression that they should be indestructible whereas in reality their strength comes from a mass of complex, delicate structures that can be damaged more easily than we imagine. The good news is that with correct, careful training these structures can be strengthened to serve our purpose. The bad news is that generally riders/trainers are not knowledgeable enough to understand how the horse functions, resulting in unnecessary health problems for their charge. Further good news is that by learning more about the horses anatomy and physiology equine health and rider goals are achievable.

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Grass Sickness

Loch Leven Equine Practice

While many of us may have heard about Grass Sickness it is often not until we have had the experience of seeing a horse with the disease that we realise just how horrendous it is.
Loch Leven Equine practice explains
Equine Grass Sickness was first suspected in Angus, Scotland at the end of the 19th century. The disease soon spread, wiping out large numbers of the young working Clydesdales in the affected areas. Such was the concern that in 1918 a research team based in Aberdeen was established by the Highland and Agricultural Society to investigate the cause of grass sickness, which at the time was regarded as a serious threat to the working horse population in Scotland.
In the 21st century grass sickness continues to kill horses of all breeds and it is recorded that approximately 1 in 200 horses die each year from the disease in some parts of the UK.
Equine Grass Sickness is known to recur on previously affected premises and is more common in grazing horses aged between two and seven, with a peak at three to four years old. It is believed that some horses develop immunity to the disease, which would explain why it is more commonly seen in younger horses. Interestingly it has not been proven to occur in foals under six months old, which is believed to be associated with foals receiving milk containing antibodies from lactating mares. It is most prevalent in spring time, with a peaking of cases seen in May, although it can also be seen in autumn.
Great Britain has the highest incidence of grass sickness in the world although the disease is also well recognised in Eastern and Northern Europe and has been reported in North America. There have been several cases in Ireland.
Clinical signs
Labelled into three categories, acute, subacute and chronic, it is only the chronic cases that stand any chance of survival.
In acute cases owners will see a sudden onset of clinical signs, the major symptoms relating to a partial or complete paralysis of the digestive system which leads to signs of colic (including rolling, pawing at the ground and looking at the flanks), difficulty in swallowing and drooling of saliva. Foul smelling nasal discharge, paralysis of the upper eyelids, muscle fasciculations (tremors), sweating in patches and constipation may also be present. Colic signs can quickly progress to a very quiet toxic horse which stands dull and depressed hence sickness.
Subacute cases will often show the same clinical signs but less severe. In both cases the disease is fatal.
Although still very serious the clinical signs for chronic Grass Sickness develop slower and are not as acute. Mild, intermittent colic, difficulty in swallowing and a subsequent loss of appetite results in rapid and severe weight loss. The horse may appear tucked up and be shifting their weight, suffer from general muscle weakness, increased heart rate and temperature, depression and sometimes have inflamed nasal passages with dry crusts present, known as Rhinitis Sicca.
Diagnosis
The biggest challenge for vets is the diagnosis of the disease. This is largely made on clinical signs alone but with not all of the clinical signs always present chronic cases may look like other forms of colic or weight loss. With no conclusive non-invasive tests available the only way to get a 98% accurate diagnosis is to surgically remove part of the small intestine for testing, (an option which requires the horses abdomen to be opened, therefore requiring a general anaesthetic, which has obvious financial implications).
Treatment
Treatment of chronic cases is usually undertaken if the horse can be kept comfortable and can eat a small amount although this is by no means a guarantee of recovery. Horses are closely monitored during this time with the recovery period usually taking a matter of months and requiring hospital treatment. Getting them to eat is often the biggest challenge, so food should be made as palatable and be as high in energy as possible. Human interaction such as gentle grooming and toys to stimulate them, along with very short walks are also encouraged. Recovery is a long slow process with not all horses returning to previous form, although some do go on to make a full recovery and lead active lives.
Reducing the risks
It is still not proven what causes grass sickness and how to prevent it. There are thoughts that premises with previous reported Grass Sickness cases are at a higher risk, with young horses and the over-weight also deemed in the slightly higher risk category. Removing droppings by hand (as opposed to machine picking) and supplementing the horses intake of grass with hay/haylage is thought to slightly minimise the risk.
Research
Studies are ongoing with the Grass Sickness Research Team largely looking at the theory suggested by Tocher, a vet who carried out a study in the early 1920s, which showed that Clostridium Botulinum was the cause.
Recent work supports this theory but it still requires further investigation. The Animal Health Trust is therefore coordinating the development of the first nationwide surveillance scheme for Equine Grass Sickness, following funding from The Horse Trust in 2006. This is a joint project with the Equine Grass Sickness Fund, the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh and the University of Liverpool.
The surveillance scheme will provide valuable information for a future Grass Sickness vaccine trial and will allow the benefits of vaccination to be rapidly and accurately assessed. The scheme will also allow the identification of high risk premises and allow the calculation of accurate sample size requirements for a vaccine trial against the bacterium. This could be crucial for prevention of the disease in the future.
Owners with horses thought to have contracted Grass Sickness are encouraged to contact the Equine Grass Sickness Surveillance Scheme and fill in a short questionnaire, in order for the true welfare impact of Grass Sickness to be quantified. 

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Magnesium Calmers Explained

Jemma Noble, BSc (Hons) Equine Science, Nupafeed UK

It is widely accepted that supplementing magnesium can be of great benefit to both the horses health and behaviour. As a result it is uncommon for a calmer not to contain magnesium, so why do they not all give the same result?
Magnesium is vital in the body for a huge range of processes. Horses burn off magnesium in response to stress, be it from stabling, breaking, schooling, travelling, competition, a change of routine etc. The domesticated horse is exposed to extremely high levels of stress and it is therefore common for magnesium requirement to far exceed dietary intake. This can cause generally highly strung or sharp behaviour as well as more specific problems such as spooking, aggression, nervousness, bad travellers, box walking, weight loss and even head shaking.
These problems result from changes in both the nervous and hormonal systems. Low magnesium levels mean that calcium is allowed to overload the muscle and nerve cells making the nerves overly sensitive. Hormonally, there is an increase in levels of stress hormones, notably of adrenaline and cortisol.
Unfortunately the solution is not as simple as it may seem. Getting the required result from the magnesium you supplement very much depends on the type, quality and quantity used. Magnesium oxide for example, is a very cheap and readily available form of magnesium but unfortunately it is almost entirely insoluble so absorption is very poor.
Magnesium sulphate and magnesium phosphate are examples of readily available salts that would be in the horses natural dietary intake. The problem with these forms is that the complex sulphate and phosphate groups limit absorption. As a horse in the wild would be grazing large quantities of rough grassland and continually roaming, their intake would be far greater. Modern feeding not only decreases the consumption of magnesium by limiting roaming, but also hinders absorption through feeding of competitive nutrients in rich feed and because it reduces the amount of time food spends in the gut. Supplementing compounds such as magnesium sulphate is therefore rarely effective as the absorption rate is too low to overcome the problems of modern feeding and the stress of domestication.
Unfortunately, comparing the quantity of different magnesium compounds in various supplements is pointless because it comes down to how much is actually being absorbed rather than how much you are feeding. Also bear in mind that the food only stays in the small intestine (where magnesium absorption takes place) for a relatively short period. This means that each type of magnesium will have a different upper limit to the amount that can be absorbed from one feed. For example if you take two different magnesium compounds; magnesium-A and magnesium-B. If magnesium-A absorbs twice as well as magnesium-B it would be reasonable to assume that feeding twice as much of magnesium-B would achieve the same result but in reality all that would happen is that you would be increasing the amount that ends up in your horses bed without ever entering his circulation. What you would actually need to do is feed one amount of magnesium-B, allow time for complete absorption and then feed the same amount again a few hours later just to match one amount of magnesium-A.
To get the best from the magnesium you supplement, look for a liquid that has been specifically developed. The compound of choice is undoubtedly magnesium aspartate hydrochloride which has been scientifically and independently (i.e. not from the manufacturers own in-house research) proven to provide a level of absorption which far exceeds that of magnesium aspartate and magnesium citrate as well as the more readily available forms (oxide, sulphate, phosphate and protein bound forms).
The ultimate deciding factor is how much your horse needs because this varies greatly and comes down to the combination of the amount of stress your horse is exposed to and how well it naturally copes with that stress. If you are lucky enough to have a horse that is mostly laid back, you may well see an improvement with cheaper forms of magnesium. It is worth bearing in mind though that this may be a false economy; you could deliver the same amount of magnesium by feeding a lot less of a more effective compound.
To make matters more complicated, many calmers are not really magnesium calmers at all. Although they contain magnesium, it is often inadequate to make any real difference and if you see an improvement it is likely to be coming from an array of other ingredients, the more common of which are listed bellow:
Valerian this is a known herbal sedative which will cause drowsiness. If you are looking for a mild sedative this will work but it should not be used if you need your horse to be alert and it is totally banned for competition use. Long-term use of valerian in humans can result in depression, stomach ache, anxiety and nightmares. Whether or not these effects exist in the horse is unknown.
L-Tryptophan this is a form of the amino acid Tryptophan, supplementation increases the secretion of certain suppressive, good mood hormones such as seratonin thus producing a mild sedative effect. There is no dietary reason to supplement L-Tryptophan as the horses diet already contains far higher levels of amino acids (protein) than is natural to them. L-Tryptophan is legal for competition use in England but must be contained within strict limits; it is a banned substance in many other countries.
B-Vitamins different vitamins have different mechanisms of action but generally, when given in excess they have a suppressive effect on the nervous system which results in calming. Again there should be no dietary need for these vitamins as the horses needs are adequately met by dietary intake and by absorbing vitamins produced by bacteria in the hindgut, indeed B-Vitamins only have a calming effect when given in excess i.e. be aware that companies will play on the we dont eat enough vitamins concept that is so familiar to us.

In addition to these there is an array of herbs which may be included, in most cases it is not really known exactly how they work or proven that they do work at all, but many people believe in them and they may well have the desired effect.

To conclude, if you are looking for a calmer consider what you want to achieve from giving it. If it is the magnesium you are after be aware of other contents because it is probable that you will think you have solved the problem when in actual fact you are merely masking it. The great thing about magnesium is that it works not by manipulating the bodies control mechanisms to create an artificial calm, but by returning your horse to normal function, thus helping to overcome the negative effect of modern feeding and domestication. 

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New and novel ingredients for the laminitic

Hermione Perry MSc, Equine Development Manager for Brinicombe Equine

Laminitis is described as a multifactorial disease as no single trigger is entirely responsible for causing the condition. Likewise, a simple solution does not exist as a combination of factors needs to be considered. Many researchers are studying the disease by looking at the anatomy, diet, grazing and metabolism of glucose and insulin and it is hoped that eventually their findings will slot together so that we have a better understanding of its aetiology, and can develop practical methods for its prevention.
Laminitis is most commonly caused by incorrect diet, usually from excessive consumption of sugars and starch in either hard feed, or most commonly grass. It is triggered by a chain of events which start in the gut and lead to a metabolic dysfunction which reveals itself in the feet. As the cause is frequently dietary, and the horses digestive system is his first line of defence, it is possible to make adjustments to the horses feeding regime that will encourage a healthy gut and increase his chances of combating the condition more effectively.
In this article we will look at some of the feed ingredients which are currently being studied in the hope that they may be of benefit to laminitics. It must be appreciated that no herb or supplement is going to be a magic bullet as laminitis is such a complex condition; but it is hoped that correct nutrition along with veterinary care, exercise and good management will go some way to improving the quality of life for our horses.
Antioxidants:
Antioxidants are molecules capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation reactions produce free radicals which start chain reactions that damage cells. Free radicals are produced naturally in the system as a result of everyday life such as exercise or aging, but when there is excessive production, the likelihood and severity of illness or disease will increase.
When blood circulation is restricted, such as in the hooves during laminitis, the production of free radicals is thought to increase and this can cause significant damage both locally within the laminae and systemically. Trauma and inflammation which also occur during laminitis have also been implicated in the production of free radicals. A recent study (Neville & Hollands 2004) showed that chronic laminitics may have three times the amount of free radical damage when compared to non-laminitic ponies, even when they had not shown signs of the disease for some 24 months. The body protects itself from free-radical damage with anti-oxidants that stabilise the free radicals so that they can no longer cause damage. Antioxidants are produced naturally by the body but during times of stress it may be necessary to supply an additional source in the diet.
Horses and ponies suffering from chronic laminitis are often maintained on restricted grazing and a limited diet. However as fresh grass is the major source of antioxidants for horses this can have a counterproductive effect. It is therefore advisable to include a supplementary source of antioxidants in the diet of horses on restricted grazing, and particularly those who have suffered from laminitis who may have increased levels of circulating free radicals. Antioxidants for horses are often provided in the diet in the form of trace elements such as selenium, zinc & manganese, vitamins such as vitamin C and vitamin E and plants with high levels of antioxidants (particularly the spices). Anti-oxidants are not a cure for laminitis but research recommends their inclusion in the diet.
Magnesium
Recent research has shown a link between insulin resistance and laminitis (equine metabolic syndrome). This appears to be most likely in certain breeds of horse, such as the native breeds which are genetically adapted to live off sparse vegetation. Domesticated natives are likely to be kept on pastures much richer than they were designed to eat, and are therefore more sensitive to the sugar content than other breeds. A combination of too little exercise and a diet high in soluble carbohydrates (grass sugars) can predispose a horse to insulin resistance, and a cresty neck with fat deposits over the rump and above the eyes may result. If the body loses its sensitivity to insulin, it will not be able to produce enough to trigger the transfer of glucose from the blood into the cells, resulting in starvation and damage of the cells. It has been suggested that the provision of additional magnesium in the diet may help manage the insulin resistant horse. Magnesium affects both insulin secretion and action and therefore plays an essential role in glucose balance. Low intracellular magnesium levels may result in impaired insulin function. In general, forage in the UK provides adequate magnesium, but grass analysis has shown a huge amount of variation between crops and seasons and it is well known that spring grass is often deficient. As magnesium competes with calcium for absorption sites in the gut, a high calcium diet will also reduce the amount of magnesium that can be absorbed. It is therefore good advice to ensure that the laminitic pony receives adequate levels of all vitamins and minerals, and importantly magnesium.
Cinnamon
Like magnesium, cinnamon is also believed to help the cells to respond to insulin. A compound found in cinnamon known as MHCP (methylhydroxy chalcone polymer) is thought to inhibit enzymes that block the insulin response procedure. So far the only studies have been carried out on humans but research has shown that cinnamon can significantly reduce blood sugar levels in people with type-2 diabetes (a condition linked to equine metabolic syndrome of horses which is caused by insulin resistance). In the trial, 60 people with type-2 diabetes were given either cinnamon or a placebo. After 40 days those eating cinnamon showed reduced fasting levels of serum glucose by as much as 29% (Khan et al 2003). Extracts of cinnamon have also been shown to act as powerful antioxidants, which could lead to additional health benefits for the laminitic horse.
Live yeast
The trigger factors linking the gastro-intestinal tract with the onset of laminitis are complicated and not known precisely. However, we do know that excess carbohydrate reaching the caecum in the form of starch or water soluble fructans will result in the fermentation of bacteria that produce lactic acid (lactobacilli and streptococci), and that this occurs at the onset of laminitis (Garner et al 1978) (Medina et al 2002). One theory links the increase in lactic acid (and therefore decrease in pH) with the death of the healthy bacteria resulting in the release of endotoxins into the blood stream. It is believed that these endotoxins may be responsible for the vasoconstriction of blood to the hooves. An alternative theory is that the production of amines as a result of fermentation may be to blame. As lactic acid is produced and the pH drops, the permeability of the caecal mucosa increases so that potentially damaging amines can be more freely absorbed.
The effect of live yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) on the equine digestive system has been thoroughly researched and with our understanding of lactic acid production and laminitis, live yeast should be recommended for its positive effects on digestive balance. When live yeast is fed, the effect of excess starch consumption and acidosis on the microflora of the gut will be reduced, therefore helping to keep the gut stable. (Moore & Newman 1994) Without yeast, a high starch diet could lead to four times more lactic acid in the caecum than a high fibre diet. The same diet with yeast showed almost normal pH values in the hind gut (Medina et al 2002). With this understanding of the link between digestive stability and laminitis, live yeast could be recommended for its positive effects on digestive balance. Live yeast reduces the build up of lactic acid by helping to consume the excess glucose in the gut, and it will also help to mop up oxygen which is toxic to the beneficial microflora.
Our understanding of laminitis and how to manage it is improving all the time as a result of the extensive research being carried out with the collaboration of veterinarians and nutritionists across the globe. Currently, at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The Horse Trust is funding a project studying the effects of mint derivatives in relation to the pain of laminitis. As many laminitics have to be humanely destroyed as a result of the pain rather than the condition itself, the discovery of an effective pain reliever would be a fantastic result. As the pain is neuropathic the usual anti-inflammatory drugs are ineffective. In years to come, the combination of weight control, pasture management, regular exercise and targeted nutrition should see laminitis as an easily preventable condition for most horses.
References available on request.

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