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CONDITIONING / TRAINING / HELPFUL HINTS

By Nancy Beacon (Canada East Team Coach)

Riders: My name is Nancy Beacon.  My nosing into your horse and riding affairs is now OK as  I am "Officially" Coach for Canada East Team!  You will hear from me from time to time.  I will not be TELLING you what to do or how to do it; rather, I will be sending you statements of things that one can do on or with horses to improve a performance or deal with a problem and remind you of things we all know anyway.  You will most likely read something that I heard from you!  In fact, its likely as I have never had an original idea in my life!  I am not a Veterinarian - just experienced.  Keep riding!

5/ Last Minute

Fill a bucket 3/4 full of warm to hot water, pour in a generous amount of Mr. Clean . Drop into the bucket your nylon halter and biothane bridle. All of it. Soak for a couple of hours , a day, or whatever. When you remember it. Take it all out. Using a grooming brush or household scrub brush scrub your halter clean. With a cloth wipe your bridle clean. then you can shine up the bridle with Armoural or equivalent!! And you will have it all looking real pretty!!! Please check your trailer and tow vehicle tires for equal air pressure and make sure nothing has a slow leak!!! Did you get the annual certification on the trailer? Its time to arrange to board the dog, get someone to take care of the horses at home while you are away . Make sure all things are paid up on the cell phone and the batteries work on the heart meter. You will need (along with the Pit Crew) one cooler for your favorite food. One cooler for ice only. (some drinks could be put in it or ice wraps) and one cooler for the Pit Crew food. At Least. Confer with your pit crew . See you down There!

Nancy B. Coach

 

4/ Coach. Ready

You still have time to get your horse's blood tested.  Be sure he has all the required vitamins and minerals and chemicals required to be in top shape.  This should be your second test, but not too late to be sure. I also expect that you horse has been recently wormed and that you have an appointment with the Ferrier.  He could also give you a set of new shoes that would fit your horse that you can in turn give to the ride Ferrier in Kentucky in case you lose a shoe. I'm confident that you are confident enough so that although you will use a heart meter on board, you don't really need it as you know at what speed his heart reach certain heights.  You also know how long it takes for his heart to reach ride parameters. Please tell you pit crew what that number is . 

  

  I expect that you have at least two girths, two saddle pads and three set of interference boots that work for your horse and please let your pit crew know where they are kept. Trim your horse's bridle path so the bridle will slip on easily and not get tangled in the mane. I expect that you have ridden at home with the weight required to be carried in Kentucky.

   I hope that three weeks before the horse trailers to the ride,

you can find a 50 miler, better yet a 75 miler to enter  and ride in - not to place first but to have fun on.  Start your horse with the starters, working on a compromised control .   (A bit of psychological Horsemanship). Do certain sections at certain speeds. Finish with a horse with energy left and no wounds. You both will feel good and READY!!!

   If there is no ride, stage a 50, getting friends to pit crew for you.

Go out for supper afterwards. 

Hey its fun!!! 

Love you all,

Nancy Beacon (Coach)

3/ "hooves"

         An Endurance experienced vet. and me and from now on you can tell when a horse had a hard ride and probably which diagonal the rider prefers.  By noticing the horizontal deep cracks on a horse's hoof. Often there will be a 3 to 4 inch crack horizontal to the ground on one front hoof.  Then observe hoof growth from the coronary line and guess  that this horse had a hard fast ride  3 months ago and you

post on the right diagonal. This is a stress crack , precursor  to

"road Founder" However it is not "founder"  until the crack goes all the way around the hoof. Then the outer wall will shed and possible the coffin bone will turn.  When the coffin bone turns . Your horse will have naviculur and be  unusable for endurance.  The horse will grow new hoof usually within 9 months and if the coffin bone hasn't turned , he can be back into endurance.  This extreme case doesn't often happen , but keep an eye on your stress cracks .  It is from concussion and heat in the hoof and is often found in top Endurance horses . Part of the sport. But know what that crack means and be

aware of it .  As with so much of the horse's health , That crack isyour responsibility.

         Then there is the abcess in the hoof, Very Painful for the

horse.  Some horses are more prone to abcessing than others.  Two abcesses in the same hoof can cause lots of trouble .  The constan infection causing the coffin bone to turn  thus navicular .  A habit to help prevent infection from entering the hoof  is after your shoer has nailed a shoe onto your horse coat the nail holes or entire hoof with a hoof sealer . I am using simply Absorbine's Hooflex .  for the last 8 years my shoer and I have been coating every hoof  that a nail has been hammered into with something..  I have not had an abcess since and Murray's customers have not had one abcess.

     Now for some fun:  Our sport has gone from a long tough thinking ride to a race.  You need to ride a heck of a lot faster than I did, so where do we  turn this Endurance horse into a race horse?  At the Track.  Find a race track.  Hopefully there are no ground hog holes on a race track so you are safe to  get on the track and gallop on.  Get that heart rate up, fill those lungs and  work on speed.    .   You need to "feel" the speed . Also get the control, Get that horse used to your asking for his gears.  He is not going to be easy to slow down

and speed up on the trail where you need it if you don't practice.

Congratulations to those who have made their COC this season! 

Love ya' Nancy Beacon.

2/ "hot swollen splint"

  A hot swollen splint can be serious on a horse.  Ice it and call the Vet.  A splint is (my definition) a bump on the cannon bone. A com

on,mon stress splint occurs on the front leg inside of the cannon usually just below the knee.  Stress splints show up usually on the 3 to 5 yr. olds that are beginning to do work, and is usually just a bump not tender to the touch nor giving off heat - in fact you will wonder just when it got there .  This stress splint is rather normal and will not lame the horse. Two years down the road it will disappear, absorb into the bone, making it stronger.  So watch for splints but don't get upset with yourself for putting a cold splint on your horse; it is part of the conditioning process.  [Note: Most things that go wrong with my horse are my fault, until proven otherwise.  So I am guilty.  I'm assuming you have a similar sense of responsibility] If the "splint" is big, swollen and laming, and on the outside front or rear, it could be a whack or trauma from another horse in the pasture. Cold treatment and DMSO may be required, or whatever your vet says. Lay off for two weeks.  A splint can break off and float making re-occurring lameness. A floating splint can be operated on easily and is cheaper than a new horse.  Healing is quick. You will be riding again in no time.  Watch that splints are not from interference; even boots cannot protect the horse that interferes badly.

  Now for some fun! I guarantee you will be INTERVIEWED by someone when you don't want to leave your horse, when you think you don't look good or you really don't want to be bothered ‘now! Just so we don't make a fool of ourselves, let’s plan the INTERVIEW.  Always, always, agree to be interviewed. Always, always answer to the inevitable questions: "I love the venue". "The people are so friendly". "Its wonderful here".  Then they will ask about your horse.  Think of a sentence or two of human interest about you or your horse.  A dull interview will not be reported.  We want Canada interviewed.  We want Canada to be printed.  And we want Canada to look good so you are obligated to give a decent interview.  Practice the INTERVIEW.  Be Prepared.  Gail Jewell is one of us and was interviewed for the Chronicle of the Horse; I'll quote that piece at the end of this e-mail.  But before that: you are obligated also to keep up the Canadian reputation for being most fun at the party after the rides. So your Endurance doesn't end until all the shirts are traded and all the dancing is over!!  Let a Canadian be the last one standing!

  Gail Jewell's interview:  "Jewell, Kelowna,B.C. was an endurance veterinarian  for many years before she realized the riders were having more fun than the vets.  She took up "serious" endurance three years ago, and she now has a unique partner in Apache Eclipse. "He's very vain; very self absorbed," she admitted. "If he were human, he'd stop and look at himself in every mirror he passed. " ‘Apache’ was a bit wild at the beginning of the ride, doing the trantor and tossing his head, but he found his little bubble on the second loop and was doing very well, " Jewell said, “His CRI was 44/44 most of the day." 

Jewell is focusing on building Apache's resume for the 2010 WEG. 

1/ "hitch in the getalong"

 THE HORSE:   You have all heard of the "hitch in the getalong" --That is a slight lameness in the rear end . It is hard to specifically define by the ride vets. Usually it is not a long term thing if it is slight. Then the oft recommended two weeks rest works.  What it is in  my unprofessional terms is a stretching of  muscles and their supporting tendons and ligaments of the  rear end.  

  Your Endurance Horse of 6 to 10 years  experience can over extend, slip a bit , get into deep sand or mud and not be affected  because his Muscles ,tendons, ligaments, etc are strong  through long time conditioning.  Starting a young horse or beginner to trails and speed is a different story as they have not developed the strength of the old timer.  So to get the second horse going,  do not let him extend to that beautiful fast trot for long.  Start at a half mile  then increase gradually  Take six months to a year to develop the extension or if he already has the extension, don't let him use that third gear  until you have worked up to it.  This same gradual  stress  (you need to stress a horse a little in order to attain higher goals)  pertains to up hills . Let him canter when he need the momentum up a short  hill. Eventually he will be able to trot all the way up a gradual hill .

  Your horse can be trained and conditioned to walk, trot, walk , trot, up Vermont hills (which are several miles long). Mathew Mackay Smith explained that horses are horizontal so can use the momentum  of a down hill to get half way up the next hill.  This can be a fun time especially in a rolling hill area .  Trot the last part of a  downhill and see how far it carries your horse up the next hill.  Always be conscious of his strength pushing you up that hill  and stop as soon as he gives up a bit. A slow trot up a gradual long hill is the best training course, but even that can be overdone.

   I lamed a beautiful white Arab called Napoleon. Jim Mitchel my vet asked (after much trotting and studying) If he had a marvelous thrilling fast trot.  I said Yes .  He said Don't use it !!!!  You used it too much too fast.  Condition him . Don't have so much fun!!!  Lesson Learned. Two weeks, and  I had him back.    

   A horse can also get a hitch in the getalong by falling in the field, slipping sideways anywhere and you may never know. If your seasoned horse gets it and two weeks are not enough It could be a big problem as those are big muscles.  

   OK Story told,  Next time splints.  

   Thanks for reading this Nancy Beacon(Coach)

 

Nancy Beacon

Canada East Team coach

Please note my new me.com address!

rabbitrun1@me.com

519 924 2347

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