Arizona
I happened to be on the backside of Saratoga Raceway in Saratoga Springs, NY the other day and what a pleasant scene it was. Of course, I was there early in the morning to watch the workouts on America’s grandest track. It was a typical August morning after a rain with a heavy mist. You could hear hoof beats and heavy breathing long before you could ever see the speeding horse and its rider. The backside was a buzz with grooms hot walking horses, assistant trainers making sure everything was getting done, and the trainers watching their horses every move. If you ever get the chance to be in Saratoga for their August meet, don’t miss it because you’ll see the world’s best race horses, trainers, and jockeys. For instance the great “Horse of The Year” Rachel Alexandra, Kentucky Derby winner “Funny Cide” and 2 time Kentucky Derby winning jockey Calvin Borel were there working out each day. The barn setting is quite spectacular with it’s large pines, groomed lawns, and variety of birds gathering loose oats. The acrid smell of liniment and brace permeated the air. The clip clop of shod hooves on the pavement between the green barns echoed in the wee hours of morning. By early afternoon the clouds lifted and you could see the spired and gabled grandstand across the track. All morning you had no idea it existed.
If you watch carefully when these horses come off the track after their work you will see that the rest of their routine is quite extensive as well. After their work the horses are hot walked ( mostly in hand not on a hot walker), bathed, rubbed down, groomed, and braced before ever going back to their stalls. Stop and think about this. These horses are treated very similarly to professional human athletes. Have you ever been in a locker room after a football game? Each of the football players has their own routine to get the soreness minimized before they go home. Injuries are attended to and muscles are relaxed with either massage or whirlpools etc. Why is this important? Whether you are talking about race horses, football players, rope horses, cow horses, jumpers, or reiners all of these horses compete at high stress levels. Because of this they need to come down easy off a work to prevent injury. Remember any time you add speed to a situation you greatly increase stress to everything involved. Therefore you need to do everything you can to alleviate the effects of the stress BEFORE you put your horse back in it’s stall. Why would you go out and do a working cow horse class, get off your horse, and put it in a stall? That’s probably the worst thing you could do. Like any other horse involved with high stress it helps if you can cool it out and relax its muscles before you put it up. This will save you problems in the long run. Hopefully, you have a large place to turn your horses out which helps mind and body.
After over thirty years of treating lame horses I’ve been able to conclude some soundness observations. Horses that are kept in stalls constantly have many more physical & mental problems than horses that are turned out. Horses that can be turned out in a large area for part of the day have a much healthier outlook. Now I realize that many people do not have the option of turning horses out. That’s why I use the race track as an example of other things you can do to keep your horse healthy in a stall arrangement. Another thing to keep in mind is that with a successful race horse training program there is usually a farm involved where the horses can be turned out after the racing season. Every horse can use a break from high levels of stress whether it is mental or physical. Keep in mind where you see veterinarians, farriers, massage therapists, electronic shock therapy, and horse healers working the most. It’s not on ranches. It is where horses are stalled. My point is that if your horse is stalled most of its life you will have to work much harder to maintain it’s good health. When you finish roping a bunch of steers on him help him out a little and spend some extra time on him. Your horse will appreciate it. Don’t worry I don’t have a groom to do all these nice things for my horse either. That’s right I have to be my own hot walker, groom, massage therapist, farrier, part time vet, and stall cleaner. Yes, you can do it, especially if you like your horses.
The American Farriers Association did a study a few years ago as to which horses had the most injuries. Jumpers, race horses, and cutters topped the list. If you have a performance horse in your barn then you will have to work doubly hard to keep it sound. However, it’s worth it!
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