Many factors that affect your horse's health are out of your control. Here are four general rules that can help keep your horse on track.
Rule 1: Schedule regular custom hoof care.
High-quality hoof care is the foundation of horse health. Ideally, a professional farrier will come in every six to eight weeks to observe your horse closely and keep track of his specific needs.
Any changes to the horseshoe are best done slowly over the course of a few visits. Dramatic adjustments, even to fix an imbalance or other problem, can put stress on the structure of the foot and leg. To avoid pain, strain, or worse, give these structures time to adjust. Reduce the weeks or months of exercise required for significant changes in foot biomechanics to complete the acclimatization process.
Also take regular pictures of the horseshoe so that changes over time can be tracked. If something goes wrong, a review of the photos may reveal the point at which things started to change.
Rule 2: Don't rush into a training program.
A fitness program will not only help your horse perform better, it will also help it stay fit by strengthening its muscles and other important structures. Controlled movement challenges the target tissues, and subsequent repair and replacement of these tissues during recovery makes the system stronger than before.
A horse that walks 24 hours a day on a pasture of 10+ acres is likely to walk long enough for light trail riding, which includes walking, trotting, and lounging on pasture-like terrain.
• Start with 20 minutes of exercise at least four days a week. Incorporate walks, trots, and eventual short turns into every workout. You want the horse to work until he's challenged, but not dangerously fatigued. When he's ready for more challenging work, either increase the distance of the workout or increase the speed -- never both.
• Do not work if the horse appears sore, lame, reluctant or grumpy. In his previous workouts, you may have asked for too much. Give him a day or two to recover, then try again, returning to earlier levels of need.
• Try a little cross-training. Highly specialized conditioning can increase a horse's risk of injury, not to mention physical or mental burnout. Well, it's a good idea to jump a dressage horse, get the tame horses downhill, and ride each horse.
Rule 3: Pay attention to ground foundations.
Horses evolved to travel on smooth, slightly spongy ground, cushioned by a thin layer of vegetation and soil. Any deviation from this ideal may have sanity issues.
The types of stomping that pose the greatest threat to health are obvious: large, sharp rocks can cause painful bruises; smooth, loose casings can cause horses to slip; inhalation of mud that reaches the middle of the cannon bone can cause sprains at every step tendon.
If a galloping horse suddenly changes from good ground to a patch of freshly raked dirt, he won't be able to defend himself. If riding somewhere unpredictable, keep an eye on what's coming. For example, the deep sand of the beach puts enormous stress on the tendons and ligaments of most non-coastal horses. But a horse that is sand ridden regularly and judiciously will have the necessary strength and size to handle it.
Rule 4: Warm up.
A proper warm-up gently and slowly stretches the horse's muscles and ligaments in preparation for more intense activity. It also facilitates the circulation of key structures. In addition to preparing the structure for work, the warm-up allows the horse to mentally "synchronize" and prepare it for training.
If the horse is sitting idle for long periods of time between shows, remember to start warming up not only at the beginning of the day, but some time before each show.
