Whoooa there. The cracks are starting to show.

There are 24 hours in a day.

7 days a week.

52 weekends a year....

Your horse, #equineathlete needs rest days to gain fitness, and learn skills.

YOU need restful sleep to be a good rider, a trainer, and provide the welfare your horse needs (Restful sleep does not come from a place of exhaustion).

You can be anything you want, but you can't DO everything to get there, and you can't be everything.

We live in an incredibly fortunate country/state/culture of opportunity, and more so if you are an equestrian competing -this is undeniably a position of affluence (yes, even if you work your gluteals off making if happen!)

There will always be more potential and choice offered to you than is physically possible to take up, without the cost of relative and real consequence.

You are not a failure for saying 'No'. This is not a failure. You don't have 'less of what it takes. But you do some of what it is made from... 💪🏼

You are not a failure for saying ‘Yes’ either, but you may find it harder for you & your horse, a greater risk for you & your horse, and far more challenging than fair, for you & your horse - to achieve what you are aiming for, or even complete the necessary steps along the way.

So, slow it all down until you remember that you are supposed to be feeling at a minimum satisfaction most of the time throughout the journey (this is vital for the learning, recovery process), and the head space to recognise that you have to primarily provide what your equine athlete needs first, to get to this point, sustainably.

The most important bit of being an equestrian is learning to release the pressure at the right time, and say “enough, for now.”

I explant more on this in this video blog x

#resetequinesem #sustainableequinemobility #equineathlete #equestrian #horsebehavior #horserider

Conflict Behaviours - How can they begin?

Conflict behaviours are responses shown by animals that are experiencing an inability to cope with mental, or physical discomfort. These conflict behaviours expressed in equitation, or horse handling may be caused by the application of simultaneous opposing cues.

For example 'Go' from the legs/seat/whip and 'Stop' from the hands/seat/lead/reins at the same time. Common phrases like "ride them into the hand" perpetuate this.

The conflict arises from the horses inability to sufficiently experience relief of response motivating pressures that may increasingly become pain producing pressures. Remember, the horses initial active coping response to pain is to run or move faster, if it is able to functionally move. So continuing the persistence of pressure expecting a lightening of the horses response is unfortunately a misguided approach.

When we consider this from the basis of working with horses that may have a training origin asymmetry, a physiological origin asymmetry or a locomotive asymmetry / lameness... the nature of humans initially is on the focus of 'training' to communicate the desired corrections, and from the ground trainer or the rider it is usually to respond to the consequences of asymmetry to develop straightness, or evenness through the reduction or 'micro-managing' of any potentials of the horse falling off line, or breaking from rhythm.

In this circumstance if their is a poor use of the aids, to recorrect or react to developed training origin asymmetries, and the response is more reactive rather than formative ( focused on shaping the correct response) from the trainer - aids are likely to be conflicting also, which rapidly leads to a possible complex array of conflict behaviours.

The issue here is that in an acute or chronically acquired physiological state of asymmetry or lameness, the horse cannot comfortably with relaxation maintain or achieve symmetry or straightness - and if given little option, through likely conflicting aids, the outcome will be conflict behaviours however mild or major in presentation.

The key message to remember when beginning to understand, is that conflict behaviours are physical manifestations of fear.

Over the coming weeks we will be covering the topics of conflict behaviours, discussing identification, developing understanding, talking about possible cause and the ideal response from you, the caretaker or trainer of the horses you work and play alongside.

#resetequinesem #equestrian #thoroughbredsofinstagram #horsesofinstagram #horseridersofinstagram #horsebehavior #equitationscience

Navigating the basics of Electrolytes

When we see that our horses have foamy, dripping sweat - we can be sure that this fluid loss is rich in electrolytes.

We can also see the evidence of a horse that is appropriately utilising it’s in build system of thermoregulation - cooling, when required, to prevent damage to the tissues of the body. With a poor balance of electrolytes, the horses body can actually start to compromise on this innate response to cooling or warming, and ‘malfunction’ and this is when ‘survival’ can lead to consequences.

Electrolytes play an important role in nerve function, muscle function, cell activity, and fluid balance. Too little can cause issues with not enough fluid being available to the various cells and tissues, and not enough chemical compounds to generate the electricity to make the nerve cells work, or force for the muscle cells to contract and glide past each other - and too much can cause too much fluid being drawn into areas of the horses body, also resulting in dehydration of tissues. So it is a balancing act.

The horses sweat, and electrolyte needs are made from a balance of sodium (31%), chloride (55%), potassium(16%), magnesium (0.005%), and calcium (0.012%).

The table or pool salt you have at home is predominately (90-95%) Sodium Chloride.

For your horses needs, an electrolyte that is primarily Sodium Chloride, and potassium chloride is essential.

500kg horses can loose approximately 10 grams of electrolytes per litre of sweat, and when this occurs consistently for 1 hour a horse can loose anywhere from 5-12 litres depending on the environment, and how long they have been sweating for.

The biggest key indicator is to be aware of how long they have sweated for - this will tell you how much they need. For example, a non endurance/working horse on an average schooling routine may spend a total of 60 minutes being ridden. If 15 minutes if warm up, and 15 minutes is cool down, 30 minutes would potentially be moderate sweating time so therefore the horse could loose approximately 2.5-6 litres of sweat, or 2.5 to 3.5 in ambient temperatures (not to hot, not too humid, not too dry, not too cold.) The best way to judge this is by using a sweat score.

Sweat Score 1: Under the saddle is a combination of dry, dark, sticky, or moist. The throat (under the jaw and down the neck) is sticky or moist, and the flanks are darker than normal.

Potential Total Sweat loss*: 1-4 litres.

Sweat Score 2: Under the saddle & the throat are both wet, there are small area’s of foamy white patches at the edge of the saddle blanket, and foaming may have started at sites between the throat latch of the bridle, reins and between the fore or hind limbs.

Potential Total Sweat loss*: 4-7 litres.

Sweat Score 3: There is white, grey or dirt coloured foam around or on the leather of the bridle/strapping, the flanks and belly of the horse are clearly wet, and the area under the saddle blanket/ saddle and girth are consistently wet.

Potential Total Sweat loss*: 7-9 litres.

Sweat Score 4: The throat (under jaw and neck) and flanks (under abdomen/belly) are completely wet, above the horses eyes on the eyelids are moist and have dark creases, and there is clearly visible foaming between the limbs.

Potential Total Sweat loss*: 9-12 litres.

Sweat Score 5: The horse is actually dripping fluid above the eyes (eyelids - it will be blinking the drips of sweat away) and under the belly, or from the sides of the saddle blanket.

Potential Total Sweat loss*: 12-18 litres.

*The duration of sweat inducing physical activity will also indicate how much the horse has lost.

So, for your average horse, on an average day, this could be a loss of from 25 to 35 grams of electrolytes in a hard schooling session. Now, the trick is, we don’t want to replace ALL of this potential loss, only 50% as the horse will easily gain the other 50% from its diet, and environment. Proving all of this loss orally, for the horse to digest can create issues with digestion, and hydration.

Horses usually only tolerate concentrated consumption of up to 62% of their dietary ‘salt’ (inclusive of electrolytes) needs.

So, that comes down to 12.5 - 17.5 grams of balanced electrolytes on an average day or work.

Electrolytes are vitally important to be at appropriate levels, before exercise is undertaken to have primed the body for ideal performance as well as the needed recovery DURING and after exercise has completed. Giving the full electrolyte requirements after exercise, can actually place stress on an already stressed and depleted nervous system and body. We want to provide this to the horse regularly, to keep it topped up, so we don’t need to ‘catch up’ so to speak.

So providing a horse that is undertaking performance or sweat inducting physical expectations, with a regular, moderate level of electrolytes to keep the system topped up ready for the heavier days is ideal management. Plan to have the electrolytes in the horse, for when you need them, you can always top it up later. So if we are talking about the horse mentioned above, then.....

A daily electrolyte ‘bank’ = 12.5 - 17.5 averaged.... = 15 grams of balanced electrolytes daily.

Approx. 2 Teaspoons.

Feeding salt can be important, but it really should only be considered as a part of the horses normal diet, and not to replace lost electrolytes from sweat. Horses can have dietary requirements of 20-100mg per kg of salt - but be aware that this provided in a large amount in a feed can create issues with over drinking, or the horse being reluctant to eat it’s concentrated feed. Research has shown, that providing free access to salt gives the horse the best opportunity to self source this as they will tend to chew wood, eat bark, and undertake other forms of non nutritive chewing to assess salt.

A daily sodium chloride/salt requirement for a 500kg horse is (50grams) x 62% = 31grams Sodium Chloride salt.

That is approx. 1 x tablespoon (with horses not fed a concentrated pre mix feed), but must be provided with an electrolyte in performance horses, and can cause issues with over drinking during feed consumption leading to potential poor digestion of feedstuffs and rapid passage through the digestive tract.

Many feed stuffs (pellets, mixes, concentrates) have salt in them at quite high levels, averaging at 40-50 grams per average feed provision (based on 4-5 kgs of recommended rate of feed with a ratio of 1% of added salt), so check your numbers first, provide the free access to salt (lick or trough), and also always always provide a regular electrolyte for your working or performance horses that undertake sweat inducing work daily.