NAF 5 star weekly video tips

Tip 7 – Emile Faurie – What is a half halt and how to use it ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWPQN9sBYNc

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Six Tips for Feeding Horses to Minimize Colic

By Kentucky Equine Research Staff · August 18, 2014

If you’ve been unlucky enough to hold a stall-light vigil during the wee hours of the morning, then you know how terrifying a bout of colic can truly be. If you know that your horse is at risk for colic, consider some of the following strategies to avoid future episodes:

Recognize there are a large number of reasons that horses can colic, including change in season, activity level, dental status, internal parasites, and nutrition;

Abrupt changes in diet can change the delicate microorganism balance in a horse’s intestines;

 Avoid feeding large quantities of concentrate or cereal meals, varying grazing times, and other dietary changes, including supplement use;

Higher fiber diets are helpful for maintaining a healthy gastrointestinal tract. Offer horses a minimum of 1-1.5% body weight in forage daily (2-3% is ideal unless weight gain is an issue);

If forage is restricted for any reason, slowing intake rather than limiting intake is recommended; and

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, changing batches of hay can be problematic. In fact, experts* suggest that switching hay can pose a greater risk of colic than changing concentrates. Hay should be switched over the course of two to three weeks.

In sum, the equine digestive tract evolved over thousands of years to process a high-fiber, low-starch diet that was gradually consumed over approximately 16 hours each day. Such a diet supports a stable and constant population of microorganisms in the equine digestive tract.

 Rapid alterations in the population of microbes due to changes in diet can trigger colic episodes in many cases. Thus, manipulating management to best mimic a horse’s “natural” diet and feeding pattern can help minimize colic, especially in at-risk horses.

http://www.hartpurysaddleryshop.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=222_231&products_id=586

*Durham, A. 2013. Feeding the horse with colic. Proceedings of the British Equine Veterinary Association Congress.

Nutrition FAQ from  Spillers horse feeds 

Q) I am competing my horse regularly and feel he needs more energy, but when I feed a traditional competition mix he gets too excitable. What options do I have?

Answer) This is a common problem amongst horse owners either you can't feed too much as it makes matters worse, or your horse ends up with not enough energy for the work you want to do. 

Traditional competition feeds are normally high in cereal starch and are therefore best avoided when choosing feeds for naturally exuberant or difficult characters.

 Fibre and oil, on the other hand, release fuel to the horse gradually and tend not to encourage excitable behavior, despite being valuable sources of energy. 

It is therefore possible to feed hard working or poor doing horses plenty of calories whilst keeping over-exuberance at bay. 

SPILLERS RESPONSE^® Slow Release Energy Cubes and Mix are ideal for these types of horses; providing a medium level of energy suitable for the competition horse without the high level of starch seen in traditional competition feeds.

Spillers care line have a team of nutritionists waiting to answer any more questions you may have.  01908 226626

Slow response coming soon to our Click and Collect 

http://www.hartpurysaddleryshop.co.uk/index.php?cPath=222_54

Ring.01452 700 800 for more info and pricing

Ammonia. A bigger threat to your horse’s health

May 08, 2014

by Tim Smalley

Nobody likes the smell of ammonia in the stable. It gets into the back of your throat, makes you cough, makes your eyes water. If you wear leather boots in a stable that smells strongly of ammonia, you may also notice that it eats holes in your boots in a surprisingly short time.

If it has that effect on humans and leather boots, it is logical to expect it to have an equally negative impact on horses. Experienced owners and grooms know that minimising or eradicting it is important to their horse’s health and well-being.

As long ago as 2010, The Horse Trust  announced initial results from research it has been funding at the University of Glasgow to test and measure the effect of ammonia on the respiratory system. The research by Prof Sandy Love at Glasgow, “confirmed that stabling horses results in increased exposure to environmental ammonia and that this is associated with respiratory problems”. Prof Love has subsequently gone on to test what effect different environmental conditions have on these results. The Horse Trust 2010

It is also known that ammonia attacks the hoof horn in the same way that it attacks other organic materials such as leather. The horn is the outer defence of the hoof against infection. When breached, bacterial and fungal infection can invade the inside of the hoof, causing potentially irreparable damage to the structure of the foot.

Ammonia is produced by an anaerobic organism called Micrococcus ureus which converts the urea in urine into ammonia. M.ureus thrives in a damp, airless environment, so clearly the type of bedding you use in the stable, and how you management it, will pay a big part in the level of ammonia in your stable.

For all it’s faults, the straw traditionally used in stables had the merit of allowing urine to drain down to the floor, and formed a well-aerated bed. Many of today’s purpose-made types of bedding are the opposite – dense, un-aerated and highly absorbent, and therefore more likely to raise the level of ammonia in the stable and increase the risk of ammonia damaging your horse’s hooves, skin and respiratory system.

We have always disputed the value of an absorbent bedding, for this reason. We believe at least the surface of the bed must allow urine to drain away, ideally to be absorbed at the lowest level, away from contact with the hooves or skin.

That’s the way we believe a BEDMAX bed performs. Each bag of BEDMAX contains a mixture of larger and smaller shavings, which naturally ‘layer’ themselves when you make the bed. The larger flakes sit on the surface, the smaller ones fall through the larger ones and form a more absorbent layer on the stable floor.

Customers who use BEDMAX have often told us that one of the things they like about our shavings is that they appear to reduce the smell of ammonia in their stables. This may be because our shavings are made of pine, which gives off a characteristicly strong, clean, healthy smell. But we’re also exploring the possibility that the same antibacterial defences in pine that science has proved kill off many strains of bacteria, including E.coli, may also kill or control the M.ureus bacteria that converts urea into ammonia.

This is why Hartpury Saddlery stock Bedmax-For more information and pricing, click the link

http://www.hartpurysaddleryshop.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=222_54_63&products_id=141

RUG CLEANING FROM HARTPURY SADDLERY

Have you ever stopped to think?

IS MY RUG CLEANING COMPANY USING THE SAFEST METHODS

 FOR MY HORSES SKIN?

You may think cleaning is cleaning

however there are factors to consider when thinking about the longev- ity of your rugs, and exactly what you are paying for. 

Have you ever thought about what happens to your expensive rugs when you drop them off for cleaning and more importantly 

RE-PROOFING?

 As a horse owner myself, I have spent a lot of money on rugs over the years and want to ensure they are looked after and treated professionally when I send them off for cleaning. So with this in mind Hartpury Saddlery has undertaken research to bring you not only the best rug cleaning service around but facts behind the dirty job too.

Detergent-free washing-

 cleaning your horse rugs detergent free ensures a thoroughly clean rug with no risk of an itchy reaction for your horse, avoids skin conditions - and it is totally environmentally friendly.

Disease prevention-

 is important to all horse owners, therefore it is essential your rug cleaning service has methods in place to prevent any spread. Good storage practices, separate areas for clean and dirty rugs and no bags should ever be taken from customers for transportation and defiantly not returned in them.

Reproofing-

 is an important part of ensuring the long life of your rugs and keeping your horse dry and comfortable. It is essential that the right product is used to do this. we only use Nikwax aftercare treatments.

"The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation claim that Nikwax are the only manufacturers of aftercare products that contain no fluorochemicals.

"Fluorochemicals are able to enter human tissue, which can have harmful effects on fertility and hormones. They are also known to spread environmental pollutants into water and the air"

 So when we use Nikwax we know it is safe to 

                           You,Your Horse & your rugs.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND PRICING use the link below

http://www.hartpurysaddleryshop.co.uk/rug_cleaning.php

Local news- Hartpury therapy Center

Fizz Marshall’s therapy blog: When life gives you lemons…

• Fizz Marshall
• 24 August, 2014 -

My last blog was written while visiting my family in Scotland, and what a lovely week I had. It was straight back to work though on the following Monday as we made the final preparations for the horse trials here at Hartpury.

The main job for Team Therapy was to run the trot ups and we had beautiful sunshine for the first horse inspection on the Wednesday, with the total opposite of torrential rain for Sunday’s renewal. Despite this, it was a great week, but one not without challenge to the organising committee.

The deluge we endured through Saturday night and into Sunday morning left almost half the outdoor international arena, complete with showjumps, under water (pictured right). In whole-hearted “when life gives you lemons” fashion, the team gave in to the weather and moved the showjumping inside; take that Hurricane Bertha!

We are so fortunate to have the scope to be able to do such things here at Hartpury, and hopefully it only served to add to the atmosphere of the final day of competition.

Business as usual

With a full yard of in-patient horses, it was business as usual for us during the horse trials. The warm up and exercise schedule in the schools meant some very early starts for my team and I to get our horses worked.

We were also granted permission to use the fully-dressed Hartpury arena prior to the beginning of the dressage, which was a big help. The most surprised of all our horses had to be the racehorse, who seemed to think he’d changed profession and had been fast-tracked to the Olympics when he walked in there. Here’s hoping he won’t be needing an alternative career as we send him back into training this week, but nonetheless he has now been wholly familiarised with flowers, white boards and massive cross-country fences as part of his worldly education.

Aside from running the trot-ups and helping out in the D box at the end of the cross-country on Saturday, my personal involvement in the whole thing took an unexpected turn at 6.30pm on the Wednesday evening when I was asked if my horse and I would be a replacement for the CCI* guinea pig, who had had to pull out at the last minute.

After a minor panic, I said yes and set about borrowing a set of tails from Donks’ owner Ibby (who was here competing in the CIC3*) and managed to see a copy of the test at 9pm that night. Donks can be a bit spooky, despite having evented to 3* level in his illustrious career, and so meeting the flowers that night was essential preparation for the next morning.

All in all, the test was a bit excitable but we absolutely loved it and have some beautiful pictures to boot.

Embracing hydrotherapy

Historically, summer always used to be a quiet time of year for us. Since the inception of our partnership with Three Counties Equine Hospital in 2011 however, we have increasingly moved away from this trend.

Alongside an increase in cases across the board, our Aquafit water treadmill continues to enjoy something of a renaissance (pictured top) and it is great to have so many people keen to use it.

I think a lot of the current increased interest in water treadmill exercise is coming from vets, who are now more aware of the potential uses of equine hydrotherapy and thus are actively suggesting it to their customers as an option. We are also lucky to have some super clients who are happy to recommend us to friends and so a lot of our cases are generated by word of mouth too.

Most of the horses who come to use the water treadmill do so on an outpatient basis, being boxed up and brought in anything up to 3 times per week.

The types of horses that we see in these instances are mostly sport horses, with the odd racehorse in there for good measure. Many of these will not have anything particularly wrong with them, rather that they have it included as part of their regular work regime to substitute a lunging session perhaps, or often to provide a way of mobilising hard-working legs and bodies in a low intensity way.

The water temperature is set somewhere between 14°c and 17°c (depending on the time of year) and so is relatively cold compared to what we would like to bathe or swim in. Because of this, you get an added cooling effect on the horse’s limbs which, combined with the pressure of the water, means their legs feel fantastic at the end of a session.

The suitability of the Aquafit depends on the case, but I personally use it for my own horse about twice per week. It helps me when discussing the use of it with prospective clients knowing that I practice what I preach and we never put a horse on their without veterinary referral or agreement; it is a powerful piece of kit and so you really do have to know what you’re dealing with.

That said, we have had some fabulous results for the horses that use it. This machine that arrived here before the walls were even built around it in 1999 continues to have a firm place in our repertoire.

Fizz

Feeding Treats to HorsesBy Kentucky Equine Research Staff · August 7, 2014

If you love your horse (and what horse owner doesn’t?), you probably like to feed him treats from time to time. Your horse is happy to gobble up whatever you offer him, and always wants more. Everyone at your stable has a different idea, however, on what sort of treats are best, which ones should be avoided, and how and when to feed treats. What’s the best answer?

Horses are programmed to eat small amounts of food on a continuous basis, so your horse will ALWAYS want another treat, but for his well-being, learn to say no.

What to offer as treats. Almost any fruits, and many vegetables, are safe treats for healthy horses. Apples and carrots are traditional favorites. You can safely offer your horse raisins, grapes, bananas, strawberries, cantaloupe or other melons, celery, pumpkin, and snow peas. Most horses will chew these treats before swallowing, but horses that gulp large pieces of a fruit or vegetable have a risk of choking. Remember to cut treats into smaller pieces before feeding. A few sugar cubes or peppermint candies (one or two) are okay, as are many of the commercially available horse treats sold in equine catalogs.

What not to offer. For various reasons, these vegetables are less desirable: onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and any other food that tends to produce intestinal gas or belongs to the nightshade family. Some horses like chocolate and a small piece won’t hurt anything, but avoid it if your horse competes in events where drug testing is a possibility, as substances in the chocolate can cause a positive test.  

How much to offer. For all treats mentioned above, the best amount to offer is “not very much.” This means that one or two pieces of any treat will be enough. Horses are programmed to eat small amounts of food on a continuous basis, so your horse will ALWAYS want another treat, but for his well-being, learn to say no. All treats add calories that most horses don’t need, but the more important reason to limit treats is because the horse’s digestive tract contains a delicate balance of bacteria and other microbes that are essential to intestinal function. It’s incredibly easy to upset this balance, especially by feeding things that aren’t part of the normal diet. Feeding too many treats of any kind can start a cascade of events that can easily end in colic or another malady.

More thoughts on treats. Treats can be fed by hand or by putting them in a bucket or feed trough. Some horses that are hand-fed tend to become nippy; others have better manners. Using a bucket is probably safest, but if you want to feed by hand, put the treat in the middle of your flat hand and think about pushing it slightly toward the horse’s mouth rather than withdrawing your hand as he reaches toward it. This inadvertent action by the owner is often what causes the horse to lunge for the treat. Don’t get in the habit of feeding treats every day, and certainly don’t give your horse a treat on a regular basis such as after each lesson in the ring. If he begins to expect a treat at a certain time and doesn’t get it, you may be asking for misbehavior.

Take-home message. Small pieces, not too often, only a few at a time, don’t give in to those pleading looks. Your horse will be better off because you have limited his “extras” and fed treats only in moderation.

For a low calorie great value tasty treat:

 http://www.hartpurysaddleryshop.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=230_11&products_id=53

Robert & Claire Oliver – Introducing your novice horse to the show ring ...

NAF 5 star top rider tips- this weeks from Robert and Claire Oliver







Before you go check out our new CLICK & COLLECT service



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Jumping from all Angles-So cool to watch

Seven Reasons Why You Should Watch Your Horse’s WeightBy Kentucky Equine Research Staff · March 24, 2014

Let’s cut to the chase: obesity is just as detrimental to horses as it is humans. And here’s why:

Let’s cut to the chase: obesity is just as detrimental to horses as it is humans.

1.  Overweight horses have a propensity to laminitis, the often life-threatening disease that wreaks havoc on hoof tissue. The damage is sometimes so profound that the entire hoof capsule sloughs from the underlying soft tissue.

2.  Wear and tear on joints increases substantially as horses carry more bulk. Overweight humans are often relieved of joint pain as they lose weight, so the scenario is likely similar for hefty horses.

3.  Recent research has uncovered a definite link between obesity and metabolic problems, including equine metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and hyperinsulinemia. Some of these problems can increase the risk of laminitis.

4.  Many overweight horses develop lipomas, or fatty tumors.  When a pedunculated lipoma forms in the abdominal cavity, an increased risk of small intestine strangulation occurs, causing colic.

5.  Heavy horses have a harder time working, more than ever in hot or humid weather. Exercise intolerance is fun for neither the horse nor the rider.

6.  Obese horses have a harder time becoming fit or conditioned for regular, prolonged exercise, particularly after lengthy periods of rest.   

7.  Feeding horses to excessive body condition can be hard on the wallet, and this is especially true when horses are fed primarily processed feedstuffs like hay, hay products, or concentrates.

Keeping horses at a healthy body weight often requires dedication by the owner. Finding appropriate forage, maintaining a strict grazing schedule, outfitting horses with grazing muzzles, and implementing an exercise schedule takes time, but the effort is well worth it when the result is a healthy, sound horse.

Need a bit of guidance in slimming your horse? Consult with an equine nutritionist. Don’t have one in your area? Register or log in to Equinews.com, and then go to Answer Exchange to submit a question to KER nutritionists.

For our NEW FEED STORE click and collect service visit- www.hartpurysaddleryshop.co.uk

Part 5 of 5 of our blog series- 

Optimizing the Care and Management of Your Equine Athlete

Complementary Medicine/Early Screening for Injury

Acupuncture is becoming more prevalent as an adjunct treatment and diagnostic modality for various conditions in horses. Many sport horses have acupuncture performed on a routine basis to maintain and potentially enhance their athletic performance. An estimated 80% of elite show jumpers and dressage horses are treated with a combination of traditional Chinese medicine (acupuncture and chiropractic) and western medicine.

The use of complementary medicine in animals has closely paralleled its development in human medicine and is becoming more and more mainstream. The two most widely used are veterinary acupuncture and chiropractic. The American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture, the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society, the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association, the Chi Institute, and the International Veterinary Chiropractic Association all work to promote excellence in the practice of complementary therapies through establishment of standards, educational programs, and accreditation exams.

Sarah le Jeune, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, ECVS, ACVSMR, CVA, CertVetChiro, a board-certified equine surgeon and board-certified specialist in equine sports medicine and rehabilitation at UC Davis, is also certified in both veterinary acupuncture and chiropractic. Le Jeune focuses on the treatment of various performance-related musculoskeletal injuries and lameness by an integrative approach including acupuncture and chiropractic. She received her acupuncture training from the Colorado State University and the Chi Institute in Florida and obtained certification in veterinary chiropractic by the International Veterinary Chiropractic Association. Because of her personal involvement with performance horses, particularly jumpers and dressage horses, le Jeune was motivated to pursue all possible treatment and management modalities to maintain and preserve soundness in athletes.

Acupuncture therapy could be effective as an adjunctive treatment in the following conditions:

• Musculoskeletal problems: Muscle soreness, back pain, osteoarthritis, degenerative joint disease, obscure lameness, tendon/ligament problems, laminitis
• Neurological disorders: Seizure, laryngeal hemiplegia, facial and radial nerve paresis
• Gastrointestinal disorders: Diarrhea, impaction, chronic colic, gastric ulceration, ileus
• Other chronic conditions: Heaves (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, recurrent airway obstructions, asthma), anhydrosis, uveitis, behavioral problems, Cushing's disease, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, infertility, renal failure, geriatric weakness, skin problems
• Performance enhancement and prevention of disease: Horses experiencing performance issues associated with musculoskeletal pain, who must comply with prohibited substance policies mandated by show associations, can benefit show-side from acupuncture and/or chiropractic treatments. This occurred at the 2008 Olympics, the 2010 World Equestrian Games, and the 2012 London Games in compliance with the FEI.

The physiological effects potentially induced by acupuncture include:

• Pain relief
• Promotion of microcirculation
• Anti-inflammatory effects
• Regulation of gastrointestinal motility
• Immunoregulation
• Endocrine and reproductive regulation
• Antipyretic effects

When performed by a trained and qualified veterinarian, acupuncture is a very safe medical procedure. Very few negative side effects have been reported in clinical cases and most horses tolerate the treatments well with minimal restraint and no need for sedation.

Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt

When performed by a trained and qualified veterinarian, acupuncture is a very safe medical procedure. Very few negative side effects have been reported in clinical cases and most horses tolerate the treatments well with minimal restraint and no need for sedation. Acupuncture is not usually recommended during pregnancy as it can cause uterine contractions. It is also not recommended as the sole treatment modality in cases involving fractures, open wounds or infectious conditions. However, it can easily be combined with other traditional therapies.

Veterinary acupuncturists and chiropractors can add valuable information to the physical examination of the horse and findings can be used to localize and treat sources of discomfort. In a recent study, le Jeune and colleague Jim Jones, DVM, MS, PhD, of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine sought to obtain scientific evidence for the use of acupuncture scanning in predicting lameness in horses in a routine clinical setting. It was hypothesized that horses exhibiting a painful response during palpation of superficial acupuncture points along the neck, back, and rump (acupuncture scan) would also show signs of lameness as determined by a conventional lameness exam.

The study was conducted in 102 client-owned horses that were presented for routine acupuncture, reduced performance, or lameness. Each horse first underwent a brief (less than two minutes) screening scan of acupuncture points and was classified as positive or negative for acupoint sensitivity. Then each horse was evaluated in the conventional manner for lameness and categorized as lame or sound. In this study, acupuncture scanning had a high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy (all around 80%) to detect lameness. The conclusion of the study was that an acupuncture scan could be a useful, quick screening tool during the physical exam to identify horses that should undergo a full lameness exam and other diagnostic testing.

Chiropractic care focuses on the health and proper function of the spinal column, although the pelvis, limbs and head are also considered. When a chiropractor examines a patient, he/she is looking for joints with a reduced range of motion. The common principle in all chiropractic theory is that joint dysfunction affects the normal neurological balance found in healthy individuals.

A chiropractic adjustment involves a high velocity, low-amplitude thrust that induces segmental spinal motion. This motion usually exceeds that created by normal locomotion. The adjustment activates muscle spindle cells and other local proprioceptive receptors, which provide stimulation to override the neurologically induced restrictions in that area and inhibit the perception of the painful stimulus.

The goal of any adjustment is to restore the optimal range of motion to that joint, which will subsequently alleviate inflammation in and pressure on surrounding nerves and soft tissue. The inflammation makes it difficult for nerves to transmit their messages accurately, similar to static on a telephone line. Considering that nerves coupled with the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system) control everything in the body, improving their ability to communicate well enhances overall health. This is particularly important in the spine. Note that chiropractic is not recommended in cases involving fractures or infectious conditions.

To become fully accepted in the veterinary and scientific community, there is a need to perform scientifically sound clinical trials for horses undergoing acupuncture and chiropractic treatments for a variety of conditions, such as described for acupuncture scanning as a diagnostic modality earlier in this section. Other types of studies that would be very useful for performance horses include the following:

• Can acupuncture and chiropractic cause a horse to bear weight more evenly and to use its body in a biomechanically more efficient manner? Objective and noninvasive methods of assessing foot-fall patterns and lameness in horses can be performed with force plate analysis, which would be an excellent tool to quantify the response of different treatment modalities in clinical patients over time. UC Davis recently acquired a force plate to enhance lameness evaluation and research by providing objective information regarding limb loading and multifactorial lameness.
• To what extent do acupuncture and chiropractic promote gastrointestinal motility? Colic is a very common problem in horses and is frequently related to changes in gastrointestinal motility. Acupuncture and chiropractic are currently being used as adjunctive therapies to promote gastrointestinal motility. An objective assessment of motility in clinical patients could be performed with noninvasive monitoring devices such as the Smartpill. This could have significant implications for postoperative ileus, a common complication following colic surgery.

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Reprinted from The Horse Report (Spring 2014) with permission from the Center for Equine Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis (UC Davis). 

Part 4 of 5 in our blog

Optimizing the Care and Management of Your Equine Athlete

Podiatry

Scott Morrison, DVM, has been a veterinarian specializing in equine podiatry at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., since 1999, bringing with him years of experience as a farrier. As the podiatry caseload increased, Rood & Riddle built a podiatry center that is staffed by veterinarians, technicians and farriers. Currently, Morrison's caseload is 100% podiatry. He has graciously provided the following information on the care and maintenance of the equine foot.

The foot as a distinct structure is designed for support, with limbs extremely dependent on the health of the entire foot for support. Structural collapse can occur due to disease (laminitis, white line), trauma, conformation, regional overloading (one area of the foot receives more than its share of the load), ratio of body weight to foot size, poor shoeing and foot care, and/or environmental conditions (overly wet).

For a foot to remain healthy and accommodate its basic functions, it needs to have proper form and structure. Balance is the term most widely used when describing the foot's form and structure. A balanced foot is believed to be functionally efficient and capable of providing support to the limb. A balanced foot is not necessarily perfectly symmetrical, but it does possess a degree of symmetry and is free of hoof capsule distortions such as flares, dishes, bull-nosed dorsal wall, crushed/collapsed wall, contracted heel, etc., which are all signs of imbalance.

For a foot to remain healthy and accommodate basic functions, it needs to be structurally strong and balanced. Characteristics of strong and healthy foot structures are:

• Strong, thick sole
• Strong, robust wall that is free of distortions (flares, dishes, underrun/collapsed heels, contracted heels)
• Well-developed bars
• Even wall growth

The heel of the equine foot functions primarily as shock absorption and houses such structures as the frog, digital cushion, collateral cartilage and an elaborate vascular system. The heel also contains various sensory receptors that allow the horse to feel and negotiate the ground surface and foot/limb position. The toe is basically designed to cut into the ground and stabilize the limb for traction. If one region of the foot is compromised or structurally unstable, it affects the foot's ability to support the weight of the horse.

Distortions, or shape changes, are a sign of over- or under-loading a particular region of the foot. These distortions are seen as collapsing or structural failure of an area of the hoof wall. These hooves do not respond well to normal loading forces and are more susceptible to trauma and injury. The point of ground contact affects the manner in which the foot and all the structures above it are loaded. This is the essential concept underlying the importance of dynamic balance and the ability of the horse's foot to provide support, shock absorption, traction, and proprioception (the perception of position and posture).

A preventative hoof care program can help ensure that foot structures are balanced and remain healthy. Keeping your horse on a short regular shoeing interval is one of the key management factors in keeping most athletes sound. As feet grow long, they become more out of balance, and when a foot is out of balance it puts all other anatomical structures at risk of injury (foot, limb, back, neck, etc).

Proper conditioning for the physical demands of specific athletic disciplines is important and goes hand-in-hand with attention to the foot.

Footing and shoe type should complement each other. When deciding what type of shoe your horse should wear, consider the type of footing your horse is on. This will dictate what kind of web width or traction devices might be appropriate. Also consider any pre-existing conditions such as conformational abnormalities, old injuries, degenerative joint disease, or chronic heel pain. There are some shoeing modifications that can help alleviate stress on these various conditions and prolong your horse's career. Foot problems or developing pain are usually indicated by performance-related issues such as jump-refusing, shortened gait, altered head carriage, tripping, forging, and overt lameness.

Signs that the hoof wall is unhealthy include cracks, shelly walls, and shoes that come loose frequently or fall off. To improve wall quality, first we evaluate the horse's nutrition to ensure that the diet is well balanced, because over- or under-supplementation can cause wall problems. Keeping the hooves painted with a pine tar-based product can help decrease the wet to dry cycles that often deteriorate the walls.

Intermittently, foot radiographs should be taken and reviewed for balance by your veterinarian and farrier.

Photo: Erica Larson

A podiatry exam and foot evaluation should be part of a routine examination of equine athletes. Intermittently, foot radiographs should be taken and reviewed for balance by your veterinarian and farrier. If needed, a plan can be devised to decrease wear and tear on the feet. Equine podiatry has been practiced by a few veterinarians over the past three or four decades and is a rapidly growing field. Many veterinarians have worked as farriers prior to going to veterinary school, and many of them have combined the two professions to advance foot care.

As we have learned more about equine podiatry, we have identified some areas of research needed in this field:

• Hoof wall quality studies. We need better diagnostics to determine why some walls are weak. Is it nutrition, mechanical, infection, management, or genetics? - More kinematic studies on how shoe modifications affect disease and what effect shoe modifications have on horses with different conformational deviations.
• What might be the role of stem cells in healing different foot diseases like laminitis, navicular apparatus disease, and soft tissue injuries in the hoof?
• Many conditions of the foot still are not completely understood such as canker and some forms of coronitis (irrritated, crusty, swollen coronary bands). Although many treatments may help alleviate these conditions, more research is needed to understand the cause of these conditions.

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Optimising the Care and Management of Your Equine Athlete- Part 3

Follow this 5 part blog over the next few weeks for expert advice,  research and essential tips on care and management of your competition horse.

Part 3- Environmental Factors

Susan Stover, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, is the director of the J. D. Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. She is an internationally recognized expert in the field of racehorse injuries and has spent a number of years studying the reasons for death and injuries among racehorses in order to develop prevention strategies.

Significant progress has been made in discovering the causes of catastrophic injury in racehorses and we now have a better understanding of the events leading to bone fracture along with better techniques to detect stress fractures in live horses. Stover and her team have identified race surface and exercise factors that place horses at increased risk for catastrophic injury and have provided horseshoe recommendations to prevent suspensory apparatus injury.

Performance horses incur a wide variety of athletic injuries that are unique to their particular athletic pursuit. Stover and her research team are working hard to discover risk factors, preventive measures, and effective treatments for these athletes.

Injuries to structures that support the fetlock and digit (suspensory ligament, superficial and deep digital flexor tendons) are the primary causes of performance limitations in show jumpers, dressage horses, and eventing horses. The likelihood of injury to these structures increases with increasing limb loads, as might occur with harder surfaces or higher or more difficult jumps. High limb loads induce extremes of carpal (knee), fetlock, and coffin joint hyperextension and can cause damage to the supporting tendons and ligaments.

While several factors affect limb loads and limb biomechanics, a key factor that can be managed for injury prevention is the arena surface that horses are performing on. There is some evidence to support the association of surface with injury and the role of surface in limb biomechanics. Unfavorable ground conditions (soft or heavy ground) were associated with failure to complete the Grand National event. In a study of hoof landing in elite jumping horses, differences were observed between sand and turf surfaces. Differences were also found in hind-limb fetlock motion and hoof slide of racehorses between a dirt and a synthetic track surface, and forelimb dynamics in horses between turf and synthetic surfaces.

In elite dressage horses, fetlock hyperextension was greater on the synthetic surface than the dirt surface (note the opposite result to that found in racehorses).

Surface characteristics affect maximum limb loads, loading rates, and hoof accelerations. Forces associated with these loads and accelerations spread up the limb, with higher loads and forces causing greater joint extensions and higher tendon and ligament strains. Superficial digital flexor tendon strains differed in horses traveling on asphalt, sand and synthetic surfaces. Epidemiological evidence for racehorses on flat surfaces indicates that racetracks and race surfaces appear to affect risk for racehorse injury. Although the results of different studies are somewhat inconsistent relative to which types of surfaces have the greatest risk for injury, two larger scale studies found that injury risk in racehorses was higher for dirt surfaces than for synthetic surfaces.

In a recent study with elite dressage horses, fetlock joint and hoof motion were compared between dirt and synthetic dressage arena surfaces. We found that fetlock hyperextension was greater on the synthetic surface than the dirt surface (note the opposite result to that found in racehorses). In addition, the synthetic surface had a higher load rate than the dirt surface (note the opposite result to that found in some racehorse surfaces). We found that the hoof of dressage horses at an extended trot interacts with surfaces very differently than galloping racehorses.

Not all dirt and synthetic surfaces would produce the same result, however, because surfaces vary markedly in their physical characteristics. The research study also measured the physical characteristics of the surfaces because this information is most useful in designing new surfaces for injury prevention. Thus, there is a need to customize surfaces for individual horse occupations.

Given the high relevance and broad interest in arena surfaces and the large financial investment associated with ring installation, the equine community would greatly benefit from footing recommendations based on science, with the long-term goal of establishing mixtures and management ideal for each discipline. This work could significantly impact wastage in the industry and reduce the need for medications to alleviate pain and inflammation in the performance horse.

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Reprinted from The Horse Report (Spring 2014) with permission from the Center for Equine Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis (UC Davis).