From: Jessica
I have a Standardbred who is 15 years old. She never learned the basics of walk trot and canter so now we are retraining those muscles and learning balance. Leah is wonderful and willing but I have noticed that after a good workout, she is stiff for a couple of days. I make sure that she is turned out every day the weather permits for as long as possible (we have to share the paddock with other horses too). She is usually out for 4 and 5 hours at a time anyways - sharing the paddock is not a problem. I know what it is like to have sore muscles and obviously this is to be expected during her retraining phase. However, I don't want her muscles to become tight and knotted, as my own have in the past. I know that this leads to problems elsewhere in the body and I was wondering what exercises, especially stretching exercises I could do with her, or massage, to keep these muscles from knotting up.
I know there are supplements and shots and things which I don't believe in giving her. Her work load is not that heavy at all and I would hardly call it high performance, but I would like your advice on this matter, I myself don't believe in giving this kind of medication unless absolutely necessary.
Any advice or exercises you could give would be great. Thanks!
Jessica and
Leah
Hi Jessica! You sound like a very thoughtful and sensible owner; Leah is lucky to have you. ;-) You're quite right, when a horse (or a human, for that matter) is learning to use its body in a completely different way, it is very likely to be stiff and sore after workouts. This is especially true for the older horse (or human). There are several things you can do to help your mare.
First, be sure that your warmup is long and thorough. Start out with a good grooming, and then do at least fifteen or twenty minutes of walking and five or ten minutes of trotting on a long rein before you ask your mare to work.
When you work her, be sure that you don't ask for too much at once. Focus on quality, ask for a little at a time, and don't forget to let your mare stretch her head and neck (all the way to the ground if she wants to) every three minutes. Talk to her, praise her efforts, and keep her as relaxed as possible.
After you work her, be sure that your cool-down (or "warm-down", as I prefer to call it) is equally thorough, and that she gets another chance to trot on a long rein and then walk until she is cool and dry.
On any day that you ask for more and come away thinking "Wow, that was a real workout!", plan to take it easy the next day. If you can alternate your days of intense schooling with days of hacking out, you'll both be happier and she'll actually make faster progress. Muscles have to be given time to recover and rebuild after workouts; you can go for long walks every day, but if you're also doing hard gymnastic work, use your good sense and treat your horse the way you would treat yourself if you started on a bodybuilding program in the gym. You wouldn't work every set of muscles hard every day, and you would do lots of warming up, stretching, and suppling work EVERY day.
You would also back off a little if you found that you were sore ALL the time, because you would realize that you were trying to do too much, and that pushing your body too hard, too fast, was going to tear it down instead of building it up. Keep your mare's work comfortable for her. You don't have to canter a mile: you can trot it, or walk it. It will take more time to walk a mile (or two, or three) than it will to run the same distance, but the low-impact workout is safer and provides the same benefits. In other words, you could make Leah very supple and fit even if you did nothing but WALK her for the next six months. I realize that this isn't likely to appeal to you, but it's something you might keep in mind. ;-)
It will help if you can also do some passive stretching after your warmup (before your workout) and before your warmdown (just after your workout).
There's a good video on the subject: "Basic Equine Stretching" by Nancy Spencer.
Massage is also very helpful. A good grooming is a nice massage for a horse, and if you want to do more, there's a very useful video to help you with that! It's by Jack Meagher, whose book "Beating Muscle Injuries in Horses" is probably the single best book on the subject of pressure-point massage for horses. The video has the same name.
Your best asset is your own good sense: notice when your mare is moving with shorter strides, or seems uncomfortable, and increase your warmup time and grooming time accordingly. Notice whether she is most sore one day or two days after a big workout, and adjust your schooling and hacking schedule accordingly. Notice weather changes, and remember that she'll need a longer warmup and warmdown in colder weather, and that she's likely to be more stiff and uncomfortable if she hasn't had much turnout that day or the day before. Like so much else to do with horses, this is going to come down to paying attention to your horse's behaviour and movement, drawing the correct conclusions, and acting in your horse's best interest. It sounds to me as though you're already on your way.
Jessica
Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE is a free, subscriber-supported electronic Q&A email newsletter which deals with all aspects of horses, their management, riding, and training. For more information, please visit www.horse-sense.org
Please visit Jessica Jahiel: Holistic Horsemanship® [www.jessicajahiel.com] for more information on Jessica Jahiel's clinics, video lessons, phone consultations, books, articles, columns, and expert witness and litigation consultant services.