JC Dill

I find it fascinating that people get so freaked out about ditches being more than 3 feet wide, when a normal canter stride on a normal sized horse is 12 feet long.

There is a common misconception that a jump is “just a long canter stride” or that jumping a ditch is “just a long canter stride”. One mistake is thinking that the jump happens during the regular suspension phase of the canter stride. However, jumping anything, even a ditch, is not “just a long canter stride”. The footfall of a jump and moment of suspension of the jump within the footfalls are both totally different from the footfalls and moment of suspension in a canter stride.

In a normal left lead canter stride, the horse lands with the right hind foot first, then about 3 feet further the left hind lands, with the right fore landing in tandem about 3 feet ahead of that, then about 3 feet after the right fore touches down, the left fore (leading leg) lands (about 9 feet ahead of the right hind) which happens after the right hind has already broken over and begun flight forward. During the moment of suspension the right hind comes forward and lands about 3 feet ahead of the left fore (about 12 feet forward of the previous landing) but at no point in the stride is there a “12 foot gap” between the group of footfalls.

You can test/prove this to yourself by cantering your horse on a freshly dragged area of the ring, then get off and examine the hoof prints. The takeoff point of the jump is where the front feet land at the end of a canter stride, but the horse doesn’t just lift up the feet and clear the jump, commencing with a normal canter stride (starting with a hind hoof) on the other side. Instead, the horse changes the stride to produce the 4 footfalls of the jumping effort.

As the horse approaches the takeoff to a jump (at the end of the last full canter stride) the horse pushes off, pushes up with the front legs (only!) as they end the last regular stride, lifting the shoulders up to the angle for the take-off of the jumping stride. Then the hind legs are brought up to the same spot where the front legs were (not passing the front legs as happens during suspension in a regular canter stride), with the hind hoofs landing in the same spot (the “take-off spot”) as the front hoofs. Then the horse pushes up from the hind legs to further propel the horse’s body over the jump. On landing, the horse lands front legs first, landing and pushing up again (patting down and back up), bringing one (if not both) of the front legs into the air before the hind legs land. As the hind legs land the horse commences the first post-jump canter stride although the sequence will often be a 4-beat stride as the first-to-land front leg is often still in flight and can’t land in tandem with the partner hind leg. The beginning of the jump starts with the front legs pushing off at the end of the previous stride. Then the footfall of the jumping “stride” is hind, hind, suspension, front, front – with a jump/suspension phase in an entirely different point in the hoof-falls from the regular canter stride of hind, hind/front, front, suspension.

For more info, see:

Muybridge – Jumping horse animated gif
Muybridge – Jumping horse animated jpeg

Posted via email from jcdill’s posterous

There are 10 steps to training a horse to stand for shoeing:

1. Standing: Horse stands still while you work around them. (You can’t do anything if they don’t stand still!)
2. Brushing: Horse stands still when you stroke the legs (brushing).
3. Unweighting leg: Horse stands yields to pressure (unwieghts the leg) when you push forward on the fetlock, without moving off (becoming scared). It’s OK if they do 3 and 4 together but if they don’t, focus on getting 3 alone before asking for 4 (the actual lifting).
4. Pick up leg: Horse yields the leg (picks it up) when you press on the tendon, or push the fetlock forward (leg lifting cues).
5. Hold leg: Horse allows you to hold the leg in the “home position” briefly (home position is the place where the horse lifts the leg, you don’t try to move it you just briefly support it at that position then let it go). Briefly means 1-3 seconds. Slowly work up to holding the leg for longer periods of time.
6. Pick out hoof: Horse lets you pick out the leg while it is held in the home position.
7. Move the leg: Horse lets you move the leg to other positions away from the home position (forward, back, to the side).
8. Hold the leg in the “farrier” position: Horse lets you place the leg in the farrier position for brief moments (less than 30 seconds). This step actually has 2 components, because there are 2 “farrier positions”, one where the farrier trims and nails on a shoe, the other where the leg is pulled forward and the farrier rasps off flares or clenches and finishes the shoeing job. You have to practice both of these positions if you want your horse comfortable and happy letting the farrier hold the leg in both of these positions.
9. Trim the hoof: Horse lets you place the leg in the farrier position and perform a farrier task (such as removing the shoe or trimming).
10. Nail on a shoe: Horse lets you nail on and clench a shoe.

The most frequent problem horses occurs is when the handler jumps from step 1 (maybe) to step 6 to step 10 and never works on the intermediate steps and stays there until the horse is completely comfortable with what you are asking.

If the horse moves away while trying any of these steps, it’s because the previous step wasn’t really solid and the horse wasn’t really accepting it. Go back a step and get it solid before moving forward again.

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American Animal Hospital Association
Through the AAHA Helping Pets Fund, veterinary care is possible for sick or injured pets even if they have been abandoned or if their owner is experiencing financial hardship.

Angels 4 Animals
Our services range from financial aid to complete treatment to those pets and pet owners in need.

Care Credit
A credit card company for health care, including veterinary care. With a comprehensive range of plan options, for treatment or procedure fees from $1 to over $25,000, we offer a plan and a low monthly payment to fit comfortably into almost every budget.

Feline Veterinary Emergency Assistance (FVEAP), a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization that provides financial assistance to cat and kitten guardians who are unable to afford veterinary services when life-threatening illness or injury strikes.
Seniors, People with disabilities, People who have lost their job, Good Samaritans who rescue a cat or kitten – any of these folks may need financial assistance to save a beloved companion.

God’s Creatures Ministry
This fund helps pay for veterinarian bills for those who need help.

Help-A-Pet
Our efforts focus on serving the elderly, the disabled, and the working poor.

IMOM
We are dedicated to insure that no companion animal has to be euthanized simply because their caretaker
is financially challenged.

The Pet Fund
The Pet Fund is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit association that provides financial assistance to owners of domestic animals who need urgent veterinary care. Often animals are put down or suffer needlessly because their owners cannot afford expensive surgery or emergency vet visits. Companion animal owners must often make the difficult decision to put an animal down or neglect urgent medical needs because of the costs involved. The purpose of the Pet Fund is to work towards a future where decisions about companion animal medical care need never be made on the basis of cost.

Shakespeare Animal Fund
www.shakespeareanimalfund.com
Anyone can apply for funds, but SAF offers assistance primarily to those on fixed incomes or with annual incomes below $35,000. Exceptions are made depending on circumstances. It is always a one-time grant.

United Animal Nations
The mission of LifeLine is to help homeless or recently rescued animals suffering from life-threatening conditions that require specific and immediate emergency veterinary care. We strive to serve Good Samaritans and rescue groups who take in sick or injured animals. In certain cases, LifeLine can also assist senior citizens and low-income families pay for immediate emergency veterinary care.

UK Assistance with Veterinary Bills
Most of us can cope with the financial commitment involved in the day to day care of our pets. However, how many of us come out in a cold sweat when our pet is ill or injured and we know we have to take it to the vet? Most of us are fortunate enough to be able to afford it but, some of us who love our animals dearly cannot. Unfortunately we do not have a PDSA or a RSPCA Centre within our area, but there are a few charities who may be able to help.

There are 10 steps to training a horse to stand for shoeing:

1. Standing: Horse stands still while you work around them. (You can’t do anything if they don’t stand still!)
2. Brushing: Horse stands still when you stroke the legs (brushing).
3. Unweighting leg: Horse stands yields to pressure (unwieghts the leg) when you push forward on the fetlock, without moving off (becoming scared). It’s OK if they do 3 and 4 together but if they don’t, focus on getting 3 alone before asking for 4 (the actual lifting).
4. Pick up leg: Horse yields the leg (picks it up) when you press on the tendon, or push the fetlock forward (leg lifting cues).
5. Hold leg: Horse allows you to hold the leg in the “home position” briefly (home position is the place where the horse lifts the leg, you don’t try to move it you just briefly support it at that position then let it go). Briefly means 1-3 seconds. Slowly work up to holding the leg for longer periods of time.
6. Pick out hoof: Horse lets you pick out the leg while it is held in the home position.
7. Move the leg: Horse lets you move the leg to other positions away from the home position (forward, back, to the side).
8. Hold the leg in the “farrier” position: Horse lets you place the leg in the farrier position for brief moments (less than 30 seconds). This step actually has 2 components, because there are 2 “farrier positions”, one where the farrier trims and nails on a shoe, the other where the leg is pulled forward and the farrier rasps off flares or clenches and finishes the shoeing job. You have to practice both of these positions if you want your horse comfortable and happy letting the farrier hold the leg in both of these positions.
9. Trim the hoof: Horse lets you place the leg in the farrier position and perform a farrier task (such as removing the shoe or trimming).
10. Nail on a shoe: Horse lets you nail on and clench a shoe.

The most frequent problem horses occurs is when the handler jumps from step 1 (maybe) to step 6 to step 10 and never works on the intermediate steps and stays there until the horse is completely comfortable with what you are asking.

If the horse moves away while trying any of these steps, it’s because the previous step wasn’t really solid and the horse wasn’t really accepting it. Go back a step and get it solid before moving forward again.

This is a list of equine VMTHs (Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospitals). I will be updating this list as new entries come in.

Western US:

University of California at Davis (UC Davis) in Davis, CA (west of Sacramento)
Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, CO
Washington State University in Pullman, WA
Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR

Central US:

Kansas State University (KSU) in Manhattan, KS
University of Missouri in Columbia, MO
Texas A&M in College Station, TX
Oklahoma State University (OSU) in Stillwater, OK
University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, WI
Mississippi State in Starkville, MS
Louisiana State in Baton Rouge, LA
University of Minnesota Large Animal Clinic in St. Paul, MN
University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville, TN
Michigan State University in Lansing, MI
Perdue University in West Lafayette, IN
University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Urbana-Champaign, IL
College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University in Ames, IA

Eastern US:

Virginia-Maryland (VA-MD) in Blacksburg, VA
Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center Morven Park / Leesburg, VA
University of Florida (UFL) in Gainsville, FL
University of Pennsylvania (aka “New Bolton”) in Kennett Square, PA (near Philadelphia)
Tufts University in North Grafton, MA (NW of Boston)
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, NY
Ohio State University in Columbus, OH
North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC
Auburn University in Auburn, AL

Canada:
University of Guelph and Equine Research Centre
University of Montreal

Australia:

University of Sydney, University Veterinary Centre in Camden, NSW

Belgium:
University of Gent/Ghent, Clinic
of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

Denmark:
The Royal Danish Veterinary College (KVL) was recently absorbed into Copenhagen University as its Life Science section. The horse clinic (a teaching referral hospital) is moving or has just moved from its Fredriksberg base to Tåstrup. (Site in Danish only. store husdyr = large domestic animals.)

France:
ENVA – Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort (Maison d’Alfort is a suburb on the southeast of Paris that can be reached by metro: has a companion animal service, but I think no separate equine unit on site)
ENVL – Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Lyon, Clinéquine
ENVN – Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Nantes Le CHUV pour les équidés
ENVT – Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse La clinique équine de l’école vétérinaire de Toulouse accueille

The Netherlands:
Utrecht University Universiteitskliniek voor Paarden (in Dutch, but anyone answering the phone or email will speak English). Large, referral teaching hosptial. Also has a travelling clinic which will come to you without a referral. Utrecht is located in the centre of the country. The hospital is in the Uithof, past the medical teaching hospital, on the edge of the city. (paard = horse) Big. The equine unit has its own, large, building.

Norway:
Norges veterinærhøgskole, Oslo Equine Teaching Hospital (Hesteklinikken) small unit: 30 referred horses annually.

United Kingdom:
Bristol University The Equine Centre (teaching referral hospital)
Cambridge University The Queen’s Veterinary School: Hospital (teaching referral hospital)
University of Glasgow, Scotland. Weiper Centre for Equine Welfare
University of Ediburgh (Scotland) Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies Large Animal Hospital, Roslin (near Edinburgh), Scotland
University of Liverpool Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital big, new, facility
University of London, Sefton
Equine Referral Hospital, Royal Veterinary College (teaching referral hospital) in Hatfield? or North Mymms?

ANIMAL CARE IN EGYPT (ACE) in El-Gouahera, Luxor, Egypt – Animal care centre at El-Gouahera, Luxor – treats over 100 animals daily – mostly horses and donkeys, but also camels, goats, sheep, water buffalo, dogs and cats, poultry and wildlife.

BROOKE HOSPITAL FOR ANIMALS at Broadmead House, 21 Panton Street, London SW1Y 4DR – Founded in 1934 to provide free veterinary care for the working animals of the poor in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and India. Running five clinics in Egypt, one at Petra in Jordan, five mobile clinic teams and a static clinic in Peshawar in North-West Pakistan and five mobile clinic teams in Lahore; two mobile teams caring for equines working in mines and on tonga stands in Delhi.

GAMBIA HORSE AND DONKEY TRUST (GHDT) – UK contact and Co-Founder: Heather Armstrong, Brewery Arms Cottage, Stane Street, Ockley, Surrey RH5 5th, Tel: +44 1306 627568
GHDT aims to reduce rural poverty by increasing productivity of working horses and donkeys through animal welfare and management education. The Trust appreciates voluntary veterinary assistance from time to time.

GRENADA
University of St George’s Veterinary School provides veterinary care for the local animal population.

ISRAEL
SAFE HAVEN FOR DONKEYS IN THE HOLY LAND (SHADH) – UK-registered charity providing help for the donkeys of Israel, to improve their status and promote their welfare through education. Rescue centre based at Moshav Gan Yoshiya, near Netanya and Hadera.

SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANIMALS ABROAD
(SPANA) – SPANA treats more than 300,000 working animals each year through a network of 18 refuges and some mobile veterinary clinics throughout Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Syria, Mali, Mauritania and Ethiopia. Its education programme teaches children and animal owners the principles of care and respect for their animals.

WORLDWIDE VETERINARY SERVICE (WVS) – Registered UK charity which supplies veterinary resources and aid to animal charities in developing countries. These include volunteer vets, support staff and medical supplies. They match the interests of volunteers (vets and non-vets) to the requirements of associated charities.

I said “don’t do that”. This is why.

Venus and Peggy are out on pasture.

The property is divided into 4 pastures. They are side by side with gates between them. Let’s call them A, B, C, and D. A is on the north end of the property, D is on the south end. There are hills along these pastures. Horses in Pasture A can see and hear horses in Pasture B, but not horses in C or D. (This is important.) The fencing between these pastures is not very good – 3 strand high tensile wire. Horses can pretty much walk thru this fencing if they have enough motivation. In order to keep horses in a particular pasture one has to be aware of their motivation for going thru the fence and avoid triggering that motivation.

At the time there were 18 horses on this property. Some of the horses were as thin as a 2 or 3 on the condition scale. Others were fat, bordering on obese (up to 8 on the condition scale). I wanted to put the fat horses in field D, the thin ones in field A. Field D had sparse grass, field A had a lush valley and the new grass was coming in nicely after a few winter rains.

One owner claimed we couldn’t split up her horses because one in particular (let’s call him R) would freak out if he was separated from “his herd”. In fact, she didn’t even want him separated from 2 mares belonging to someone else. Those were the mares he liked best. Well, they were thin, they needed to be on the lush pasture so I led them over. R fussed for a few minutes but then settled down. The mares fussed for a few minutes in pasture A but then also settled down.

Things were fine… until pasture D was overgrazed. This was because that one owner had 6 horses in that field and 3 of them shouldn’t have been there. So with the thin horses in with the fat horses, the field was overgrazed too quickly. Some of the horses started going thru the fence into pasture C. This wouldn’t be a problem except that the bottom of pasture C is a marsh. Lots of lush grass is coming in, exactly the wrong grass for these fat horses. (Several are prone to founder.) However, it would be unsafe to put these horses in pasture B because they would be across the unsafe fence from the horses in pasture A. I said it was a VERY BAD IDEA to put these horses in pasture B unless they opened the gate to A. However, a few weeks later, instead of heeding my advice, the fat horses were moved into pasture B and the gate between B and A was left closed and locked. For a few days things were OK. Then the owner of a new horse (L) in Pasture A decided she wanted to put him in pasture B instead. No one asked me if this was a good idea. Well, it wasn’t.

L had bonded to 3 of the mares in pasture A – when they moved him L called to the mares and they back to L. All this calling alerted R – suddenly he knew where the missing mares were. If the fat horses had been in pasture C or D this wouldn’t have been a problem – they can’t hear the horses in pasture A from there. But in pasture B they could hear the horses in pasture A. And so all hell broke loose.

L and R started tearing up along the fenceline between B and A. Their pacing dug a trench at the gate, a double trench, one for front hoofs and one for hind hoofs.

Eventually the mares came over and they ran up and down the fenceline on their side. The ground was all torn up on both sides of the fence.

Finally they came over/thru the fence.

Two of them were relatively unscathed – missing a few patches of hair but not seriously hurt. However Venus cut her right hock on the wire.

Other horse owners noticed these 3 horses in Pasture B on Sunday. But they failed to notify anyone (the owners of these horses or the people responsible for the pasture) that they were not where they had been and confirm that they had been moved. And they failed to notice Venus’s injured hock.

Yesterday morning I got a phone call. Venus has a cut on her leg, swollen leg, and isn’t putting weight on it. I “better get down there right away”. SHIT. I had a job interview at 1 pm – I canceled it. I started trying to reach a vet. My first choice vet was out of town, I called her backup. Backup vet is backed-up – 3 other emergencies are in line ahead of me. The earliest she might get out there is 7 pm.

Did I mention that this property has no facilities? There are 2 catch pens – one is very dangerous (torn up field fencing between the catch pen and the pasture), the other is a round pipe corral. There is no electricity. No running water except the water troughs. No barn or run-in shelter. Having the vet out at 7 pm (after dark) is not optimal.

I keep calling around. I discover that 4 of the 5 1-vet practices have gone to a convention, leaving the 5th vet to cover for the other 4. That’s the vet who can’t get to me until 7, at the earliest. I call the big practices. They also have vets out of town and the remaining vets are over-booked and can’t come out today.

I loaded up the truck with halters and meds and wraps and make the 1 hour drive to the pasture. Mike (my best friend’s husband) returns my call (they own the other 2 mares that went thru the fence) and goes up to the property to see what’s up. He finds Venus, not far from the round pipe corral. She’s not putting any weight on the leg. He has no halter or rope with him, but he can stay with the horses and help encourage them to move towards the corral (instead of away) so that she doesn’t get moving in the wrong direction.

My truck needs new brakes. My SO offers to let me use his truck. It’s on empty so I had to stop for gas on the way – the first gas station I tried was closed (their printer wasn’t working – WTF?) and I had problems using my debit card at the second station (I think the mag strip is failing) but finally it worked. Filled the truck, got on the road. Arrived around 1:30 pm.

Found Mike and Venus. Haltered Venus and slowly lead her down to the round pen. Her leg is very swollen from the hock to the fetlock. The wound oozes deep yellow puss with every step and Venus is very reluctant to step on the leg. Finally get her into the pen. Grab my camera and take photos.

Count horses. There are 19 horses total on the property now, but only 15 are here. Peggy is one of the missing. Peggy and Venus were together, and based on the wound I’m certain Venus came thru the fence and injured the leg on the wire. I’m worried about Peggy – Is she caught on the fence?! Venus’s leg is ugly but it can wait a few minutes longer – I can medicate it in the dark if necessary. First I need to make sure Peggy is OK.

Mike and I walk over to pasture A. The gate between B and A is closed. The ground is all torn up – we can see how the L and/or R were running the fence line all agitated and trying to get the 3 mares in A to join them.

We find Peggy and the other 3 missing horses in A, none of them seem to have been up by the fence and they are happy to stay in A. We return to the AB fence and lock open the gate so that we won’t have any more horses separated by the inadequate fence and hurt on the fencing.

We walk the A-B fenceline and find the damaged fence. The fence and the ground tell the story. I take photos.

As we walked back to Venus, we see a corner fence post with blood. The blood isn’t the type of fresh blood from a wound caused at that moment, it’s dirty and has clots and clumps – it’s the type of blood that comes from a congealing wound.

We returned to Venus. I decide that I’m going to cancel the vet call and treat her myself for now. The wound is too old, it can’t be stitched. The main thing she needs are antibiotics. While calling around to try to get a vet out before dark, the nearest large clinic said I could get penicillin at the nearby feed store rather than having to drive all the way down to the clinic. So I head off to get penicillin, carrots, feed for the next few days while she stays in the corral. Mike heads home to get a vet book (so I know how much penicillin to give) and feed bucket. I went to the feed store to buy medication and feed. Back to the horses. Mike brings carrots. I halter Venus and give her 20ccs of penicillin in the rump. She doesn’t even flinch – what a good girl!

I put on rubber gloves (mostly to keep my hands clean because I’m not going to significantly “contaminate” this wound) and get out some sterile gauze pads. I quickly wipe the wound. Venus stands pretty well but lifts her leg. She doesn’t try to kick me, but she really doesn’t want to leave the leg on the ground. I have Mike feed her a carrot bit each time I wipe her leg. I wiped about a dozen times, swooping my finger down into the pocket of the wound. I drew out a bunch of puss, and a lot of just “goop” from the wound. I couldn’t find any openings in towards the joint, or any foreign objects in the wound. Just a lot of puss and oozing and swelling and granulated tissue is already forming – it has been at least 3 days since the injury.

I put a large glob of furacin ointment on a gauze and worked it into the wound pocket, leaving the gauze on top. Bandaging was a bit tricky as Venus kept lifting the leg and I needed her to stand on it to properly wrap the leg. But finally she stood on it, and a roll of vet wrap later she’s bandaged.

The leg below the wound is covered with puss ooze. She’s probably going to lose a lot of hair – there’s really nothing we can do about that. I glob on a lot of petroleum jelly to help soften the dried puss ooze on the leg. I’ll see if I can hose the leg clean on the next day.

I made a mash with 2 tablets of bute and hay pellets. She had a few bites but prefers eating the grass in the round pen. She will have it all eaten down in a few hours and I’m sure she will start to eat the pellets.

More photos.

jc

>How do I get my horse to not trot or run down the hills?

It sounds like you are starting at the top of the hill. Start at the bottom of the hill, at the walk go up just a few strides, turn and come back down (still walking). Repeat.

Do all of this on a loose rein.

Increase how far you go in small increments as he walks nicely down the shorter segments. For the first day you might just focus on walking up and back on the lowest section of the hill 3 or 4 times and quit there, to quit before you get to the “tough” bits and establish a good theme to hill work. The next day you can work on going further.

If you get to a point where you turn him back down the hill and he doesn’t stay at the walk, turn him back up the hill again, stop, walk a few strides up, then turn and walk a few strides down (not all the way down) then turn and walk a few strides up, then turn and walk a few strides down (a few more than you went up). If you can feel him “start to break” from the walk then turn him BEFORE he breaks.

Remember, you do all of this on a loose rein. It’s his job to stay in the walk without further cues, when you have put him in the walk. You only use the rein to turn him. Pretty soon, when he feels like he’s about to break out of the walk and you lift one rein to turn him he will shift back into a solid walk *without* you needing to actually turn him. Then that single rein lift also becomes a “reminder” cue you can use to help him stay at the walk, but if it becomes repeatedly necessary then you have to turn him and head uphill again.

This also works for barn sour horses. Rushing downhill and rushing back to the barn are the same problem – different triggers (heading downhill, heading back to the barn) but the underlying problem is the same.

Phil Taylor has a wonderful article in Sports Illustrated explaining why Barbaro’s fight to survive after his hind leg was shattered in the Preakness is such an endearing story to so many people. Horse owners, horse lovers, sports fans, and even people who never thought much about horses or sports before are avidly following the story, caring deeply about each news item of improvement or setback.

Barbaro has become the Seabiscuit of our age. Wouldn’t it be nice if Laura Hillenbrand writes about Barbaro next?