With USU Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Sciences and Center of Equine Assisted Services instructor Sarah Andersen.
Sarah works to keep horses in shape for learning and research purposes.
She is here today to share tips about keeping horses in shape, both physically and mentally.
Wynter Varner
Thank you for joining us today, Sarah.
Sarah Andersen
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Wynter Varner
What are some signs a horse may need a change in routine?
Sarah Andersen
That's a really good question, and it's going to come down to knowing your horse well.
If your horse has a change in performance, personality, or enthusiasm, that's going to be a sign that your horse may need some changes.
Some specific signs are horses showing increased fatigue, loss of focus, getting spooked easier, or being a little more resistant to your cues.
If you see some physical signs such as pain behaviors, stumbling, losing impulsion, or dropping out of gait, you may have to adjust your horse's routine.
They may either need a mental break or some additional help physically to be capable of the work we're asking.
Wynter Varner
How can you narrow down the root causes of these issues?
Sarah Andersen
Again, it comes back to knowing your horse so that you know where to start looking.
That way, you can recognize where these issues may arise from.
The other key component is having a trusted veterinarian that you can work with.
A veterinarian is going to be able to rule out physical conditions for changes for this horse.
If a horse is experiencing pain, they may have some arthritis in a knee or something going on in their back.
Working with a veterinarian who can run blood work, do X-rays, help patients, and really understand how the horse's body should work is going to be your first step in ensuring there's nothing physical going on that needs to be addressed.
Wynter Varner
What does the typical conditioning plan look like?
Sarah Andersen
It can look very different depending on your goals for your horse, which makes it kind of fun because you got to piece together different exercises and goals to get your horse where you want them to be.
A conditioning plan should be gradually graded so that the horse is improving in their workload as they go on through the plan.
We don't want to start a horse who has not galloped or cantered for a while, and just make them start galloping and cantering. They fatigue quite quickly that way.
We want to start in little increments and slowly improve our conditioning days.
We're also going to start with a really good warm up.
Having a horse do a nice marching walk for 10 to 20 minutes is going to help decrease that horse's stiffness.
It's going to increase their ability to handle the harder work as their blood is flowing more, their joints and ligaments and muscles get all warmed up, and they'll have sharpened mental focus.
Once that horse is warmed up and they're ready for a little more work, you're going to move into some focused exercises.
Here, we're thinking about what can build their fitness, whether it's musculoskeletal fitness or cardiovascular fitness.
After these focused exercises, we want to make sure you take the time to do a solid cool down.
That cool down period is going to help your horse come back to a normal respiration rate, temperature, and pulse.
Wynter Varner
What are some exercises you recommend for the conditioning process?
Sarah Andersen
Oh, there are so many exercises out there.
I have a couple key ones that I really lean into.
I work with lesson horses, and often that means they're a little older. So, I do a lot of walk work because walking builds muscle.
Long and slow distances are going to really help the horse move through their body and decrease stiffness.
Not being afraid to take long walks, going on a trail ride, or even leading your horse around is going to be really impactful.
Doing some trot and canter sets can be helpful as well. For example, maybe you trot for two minutes, walk for two minutes, canter for two minutes, and walk for two minutes.
This is done to help increase your horse's respiration rate and build some cardio.
Hills are another great exercise. You can walk up them, you can lead a horse up them, and going up and down hills increases the horse's muscle engagement in their hind end and their core.
Ground poles and cavallettis are great as well.
"Cavallettis" is just a fancy name for raised ground poles, so having a horse walk over poles or logs really encourages them to lift through their abdomen, stretch their legs up and down, and that's going to help build some top line.
There's other things such as riding on varied terrain, lunging a horse intentionally, doing some lateral work, and backing up a horse.
It's all going to help build the horse's strength.
I think one of the most key components is when you ride your horse, you should focus on good, balanced, correct riding.
If we can help our horse move in a way that is going to help them be strong, we will be able to improve their top line, physical capacity, and performance ability.
Wynter Varner
Thank you again for joining us today, Sarah.
Sarah Andersen
Yeah, you're welcome. I enjoyed it. Thank you.
Wynter Varner
This has been Wynter Varner with the USU Extension Education Highlights. Thank you for tuning in.
For more resources, visit the Extension website. Sarah recommends the free resource "Selection and Assessment of the Lesson Horse" to learn more about horse care and conditioning.
