Lately I have been thinking about conditioning. After all,'tis the season. Soon, at least theoretically, the ground will be dry enough to get out of the arena and allow us to see some new scenery. It's a perfect time to strengthen a horses tendons and ligaments by doing trot work. In an arena, we tend to go in, perform the work we must (walk, trot, canter both directions, maybe throw in a couple of jumps) and then leave because it is cold, monotonous, and enclosed. This type of work does not strengthen the horse. Trot sets around a field or down the trail does. Strengthens the rider, too, come to think of it. Many studies have shown that it is trot work that strengthens tendons and ligaments. Hill work (trot up the hills, not so much down) builds muscle. Gradually building up to 30 to 45 minutes of trot work will help protect your horse from a bowed tendon or strained suspensory, not to mention provide both of you with a break from circling the arena.

I liked the following quote because humans often perceive that animals are "dumb" when they are actually just experiencing the world differently. When a dog has 300 million scent receptors to our 30 million, is it a wonder to us that they "see" the world with their noses? We laugh at things that captivate their attention, or that they ignore, but since they "see" the world with their noses, they must think that we need nasal bifocals. "We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth." Henry Beston

I've seen many devices used to urge a recalcitrant horse onto a trailer. Brooms, whips, lunge lines, plastic pitchforks, but the other day, a new and highly effective device was introduced to me. A horse was shipped in to see me, and the owner hobbled out of the truck, using a walker to support herself as she had just gotten the brace off of her broken ankle. She had wisely brought a handler for the horse, and at the conclusion of the exam, he walked the horse over to the trailer, at which point the horse decided he had had such a good time that he would rather stay. With his front feet on the ramp, he was pretty content to just hang out. I slapped him on the rump with my hand a couple of times, which he failed to notice. Then I saw the owner in my peripheral vision come around beside me, lift her walker, and used it to give him a wallop in his tushy. He walked right on the trailer. I think I will create a video and present this as a natural horsemanship method of loading a horse. I'm sure it will go viral!

The humble stirrup, a simple platform from which to easily mount a horse, derived from an old english term "stigan"; to ascend, then to "stirop"; to climb. Some feel it changed the world and created the feudal system in Europe. http://www.strangehorizons.com/index.shtml Certainly it changed my world. From the first time I learned how to use one and swung onto the back of a horse at age five, (OK, I was probably lifted or propelled) it allowed me to pursue my passion for riding, gave me the freedom to explore woods and fields and areas off the pavement where I probably never would have ventured, and gave me my livelihood. All hail the simple stirrup!

As I was grooming my horse, I peeled off a layer from one of his chestnuts and fed it to one of my dogs. Chestnuts, the horny growths that occur on horses legs by the knees and hocks, certainly don't look like nuts, and they are usually gray in color, so probably not associated with the color chestnut. So how did they get their name? I have no idea. They are also known archaically as night eyes, because at one point they were thought to help a horses vision. (Full disclosure: I got that question wrong at the NH 4-H quiz bowl back in 1975. When they asked "What is another name for the chestnut?" I answered "sorrel". I should have listened more closely with my finger not on the buzzer. Another name for the chestnut; not another name for a chestnut. Sort of like "it depends on what the definition of "is" is). Chestnuts are the vestigial toe from back when the prehistoric horse had five toes, and answered to the name eohippus. One toe became the cannon bone, two became the splint bones, one became the ergot, and one became the chestnut, but how did it get its name?

"Normal" people can look outside on a day with bad weather and say "Nope, staying in today". Animal people don't have that luxury. It's pull on the layers and the muck boots and get out there!

Autocorrect may be the app of the devil. I was heading into the racetrack to do a pre-purchase exam on a horse, when one of the track vets texted me and asked what I was seeing there. I texted back "PPE exam". Autocorrect changed it to "Pope exam". Boy, the other vet was impressed!

I always wondered about "floating the teeth" on a horse. We all know it means to file them down, but what a peculiar term. The only association I had between the terms "teeth" and "floating" was "my back teeth are floating", which does not mean the same thing. Turns out, "floating" is an engineering term meaning to smooth something down. Who knew?

Allen Equine Associates

I am just activating this facebook page; in the computer age I have just done the equivalent of picking up a pen and a piece of paper. It took me an hour to figure out how to post a picture. Surgery is easier! Stand by for more....

Allen Equine Associates