18th August, 2008

Having a nice part time rest. Sick to death of the TV coverage, the ads, the endless focus on a few sports but not a bit of them all and very few horse things of course. I can recite every advert off by heart and will make real sure that I never buy any of their goods for terrorizing me for 10 days :) We are back on deck next week.

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AND THE WINNERS WERE?

Those who loved their Horses :)

The German Eventer and the Grey and the Isabell so it seems.

Pics from the Games, taken by the KER Folks.

Hi,

Here is the latest very quick update. The dressage was rather thrilling yesterday. Isabell started with the most amazing test and was scoring between 84 and 86%. So beautiful and flowing, loose and attentive, Satchmo was such a pleasure to watch. Very lightly ridden. Unfortunately he had a bit of a panic in the first Piaffe, so Isabell sacrificed that movement and went back into passage, for the second Piaffe it was just stunning. It was so inspiring to see how quietly she took him through his little moment – and in training this is exactly the way she rides him. Very soft and stretching with short but intense periods of collection – but without the force as seen with many of the other riders.

Interestingly when she entered the stadium prior to commencing her test she walked him in on a long rein, lots of pats. Once she reached the C end she just popped him in passage then shoulder in, into canter and entered the arena. Everyone else has come in Passaging or extended trot and really hurtled around the outside, her approach was basically the complete opposite – and it really showed – such a happy horse. At the end of her test she didn’t get off like all the others, but did a quick interview whilst on satchmo. She then rode back out to the warm-up arena and trotted him out long and low to cool him off. I have a new idol! What an inspiration. Sorry I don’t have many pics as I videoed her test instead. We heard that she even flew with him as she said he hadn’t flown much and she wanted to be with him. We have even seen her walking him in hand and most other riders get their grooms to do it. I think the scores reflect the obvious difference in horsemanship. Pretty awesome.

I have also attached a few photos of the feeds and supplements that we have been providing to the horses. Thought you might find it interesting.

Gotta run – showjumping on tonight.

Take care,

Very interesting :)

 

Hayley and Relampago

Isabell and Satchmo

Isabell and Satchmo

Used at the Games

Hendra toll: the search for truth

It would appear that things are not all good within the Veterinary Controls in this Country.


KANDICE Pritchard could hear the ear-splitting screeches from a colony of flying foxes as she trudged through a paddock to feed her horses one chilly winter's morning.

Casemma, a mare, was hot to touch. Soon the animal started stumbling and throwing fits.

"I took her straight to the hospital," Ms Pritchard recalled yesterday. "They put her straight into a stable next to two other horses.

"I said to (the veterinary staff): 'I don't know what's going on, should she be going into a box with the other horses?"'

Just 17 hours later, on June 7, the horse died in the Redlands Veterinary Clinic, in Brisbane's southern bayside.

Ms Pritchard believes her mare, Casemma, was ground zero for what appears to be a mutated form of the killer Hendra virus.

Two more horses treated at the same veterinary hospital died before the clinic alerted Queensland's Department of Primary Industries a month later. Biosecurity Queensland, the government agency in charge of exotic disease control in animals, has concluded it was "improbable" that any of the trio died from Hendra virus, even though no samples could be conclusively tested.

By the time the clinic alerted authorities, five other horses were suffering inexplicable neurological problems, which were later discovered to be the result of the Hendra virus. Four died.

The only survivor, a racehorse named Tamworth, was destroyed on Friday by order of Queensland's Primary Industries Minister Tim Mulherin, acting on the advice of the federal Government's Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases.

The order to euthanase over-rode advice by the DPI's Hendra virus expert group, which had recommended the surviving horse, which beat the virus, be studied for a year, as a "low-risk" option to improve scientific knowledge.

Hendra Virus, named after the Brisbane racetrack suburb where it was first detected in 1994, is a deadly rabies-like disease that health authorities believe can be passed from bats to horses, and on to humans.

A vet and a nurse from the Redlands clinic remain seriously ill in hospital after being diagnosed six weeks ago with the virus, which killed horse trainer Vic Rail in 1994 and Mackay sugarcane farmer Mark Preston a year later.

The owners of horses which died in the Redlands clinic in the lead-up to the Hendra outbreak now want an independent inquiry. Two have lodged complaints with the Veterinary Surgeons Board, alleging the clinic did not properly sterilise equipment or thoroughly clean itsstables.

The Redland clinic's owner, David Lovell, sits on the Veterinary Surgeons' Board.

Dr Lovell said yesterday he would step aside should the board decide to investigate his clinic, but dismissed his former patients' complaints as "just ridiculous emotive rambling".

He denied that any of the first three horses had displayed the same symptoms as the five confirmed with Hendra Virus. Ms Pritchard's mare, he said, could have been poisoned from eating clippings from a hedge.

Ms Pritchard, however, said the hedge had been in the paddock for years. Instead, she pointed to a nearby colony of flying foxes, which are known to carry the Hendra virus.

Dr Lovell said the other two of the three horses that died - Loddy and Noddy - died of complications from pre-existing problems. But he admitted medical equipment was not sterilised between each horse being treated at the clinic, and that syringes sometimes were left in the stables.

"Oh, for God's sake, that's going to happen every now and again," he replied when asked about allegations from one owner that she had found a syringe in her horse's feed bin. "There'd be hundreds of syringes used every day ... there would be occasions where that would happen; I do it myself. For the volume of work that's done in the place the breakdowns are very minor as far as frequency is concerned."

Dr Lovell insisted his clinic's cleanliness was "well within the realms of industry standards".

"I'm sure we go to a lot of lengths that other people don't," he said. "I've got no problems with it. I think the issue will be what standards are going to be applied across the industry in future in light of what we've had here. There's never, ever been this sort of thing before."

Describing himself as the world expert on assessing horses with Hendra Virus, Dr Lovell insisted he had no idea what he was up against in the latest outbreak: "This is an entirely new disease. It's a bit tough to be able to anticipate something like that."

In earlier outbreaks of Hendra Virus, horses had respiratory problems; this time they had neurological symptoms.

Investigations by The Australian point to a chain of sickness between horses at the clinic. Ms Pritchard's mare, Casemma, had been stabled next to a Clydesdale, Loddy. Loddy's owner, Pam Smith, said she took her horse home when she considered him cured of kidney failure.

Five days later, he was running a fever. She rushed him back to the clinic for treatment, but he died the next day, on June 17.

Ms Smith said Loddy had been in a stall next to Regal Power, a stock stallion being treated for a broken jaw - and one of five horses the DPI diagnosed a couple of weeks later with Hendra Virus.

Tamworth, the $195,000 racehorse put down on Friday, went into Loddy's stable a few hours after the Clydesdale died.

A week later, owner Warren Small was at a barbecue when the clinic contacted him to say the horse was wobbling as if it had been doped. By the time the DPI placed the clinic in quarantine, Tamworth had recovered.

Leonie Parker, who lives in Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast hinterland, is convinced her Arabian stallion Noddy also died of Hendra Virus after colic surgery. Six days after she took her horse home, she noticed his limbs and testicles were swollen and took him back to hospital. He died a week later.

Noddy died two days before the DPI diagnosed the first case of Hendra Virus on June 26. In an interim epidemiology report, Biosecurity Queensland concludes that the first three horse deaths were "improbable cases" of the Hendra Virus.

Queensland's chief veterinarian, Ron Glanville, also said it was improbable that the first three horses died of Hendra Virus, even though no blood samples were tested or autopsies carried out.

In a letter to Ms Smith, he said tests of Loddy's blood smears were "negative for Hendra Virus but not conclusive". "I do not consider that we will ever know conclusively either way," he wrote in an email on August 11.

The Hendra horses probably had been infected through "nose to nose contact", he said. "They were in adjoining stalls with just wire mesh between them. If there's equipment used on an infected horse and then on a non-infected horse, that could potentially spread the virus."

Dr Lovell said his clinic's equipment was sterilised daily. "They're cleaned in between each horse, that means flushing it out and cleaning it with disinfectant," he said. Asked about allegations the stalls were not always cleaned between each horse, he said: "We have a full team of people who are working all day, every day cleaning the stalls."

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Eight horses killed in wagon races

Eight chuckwagon race horses were killed at the weekend at a meeting at Marquis Downs in Canada.
One was a pull horse named Brutus, on Ray Mitsuing's team. He was eight years old and broke a hind leg on a corner. Mitsuing blamed the going for the accident.

"This is the worst track we've ran on all season," Mitsuing told the StarPhoenix newspaper. "The track is so beat up, the surface is totally screwed.

"They need to resurface the whole thing if they are going to keep running horses on it."

The other seven who were killed were outriding horses.

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British rider killed in cross-country fall


British Eventing is investigating the death of a rider during the cross-country phase of the Hartpury Horse Trials in Gloucestershire yesterday.
Emma Johnathan, 23, fell at fence 19 and was pronounced dead at the scene. Emma, from Petersfield, Hampshire, was riding her own horse, El Nino, a nine-year-old mare, in the two-star class at Hartpury. She had ridden El Nino at two star events at Barbury and Longleat earlier this year.

Hartpury Horse Trials organisers were not releasing any details of the accident, but it was reported in The Times that fence judges could not identify the cause of the accident, and that Emma had been riding well.

On the Horse and Hound website yesterday, a fence judge said: "Emma rode beautifully and did absolutely nothing wrong. It was one of the best approaches to the fence that we had seen. It was just a tragic and very unfortunate bit of bad luck."

The cross-country court at Hartpury was designed by Olympic designer Mike Etherington-Smith in 2007, and has been described as "challenging". In a pre-event statement, organisers said the event's new cross-country course designer, Eric Winter, had made very few changes to the 2007 course, which had remained untested due to the floods that hit Gloucestershire last summer.

Alex Fox, Chairman of British Eventing said: "On behalf of the whole sport, I would like to extend our deepest sympathy to Emma's family. The thoughts and prayers of eventing people all over the UK are with them at this sad time."

In a statement, Hartpury College, the organisers of The Mitsubishi Motors Hartpury Horse Trials, Mitsubishi Motors and all those associated with the event, extended their deepest sympathy to Emma's family and friends.

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LETTERS OF THE DAY

Hi, i am writing to get your advice on a quarter horse we are breaking in, we have done all the ground work etc with him and now are riding him, our problem is that he will not move forward when you ride him, we first rode him in the round yard and followed behind with a lunge whip, we have tried spurs but he doesnt seem to feel anything or care about pain at all, i have led him off another horse while my son rode him but he just will not move, he will go backwards though which we have tried reverse psychology using that and still no luck, do you have any suggestions for this horse. Thanks Lisa

That has to be simple confusion Lisa. It doesn't happen and has never happened to me and it is over 20,000 of them now. You have to go right back to the half, with a dressage whip and teach with sophistication. Slight leg on, horse doesn't understand, light tap,tap on the side of the rump behind the hip (where the engine is) walk a few paces. Stop. Cluck to the horse, talk English to the horse, reward the horse immensely, rest in between all moves and repeat, repeat. You have to teach the Horse what leg means and you won't do it with spurs. That is a huge error and most unfair. Best of Luck.

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Hi John,
Have been an reader of your website for a couple of yrs now and it is invaluable. Just thought I might give some feed back and back ground on myself as your site has certainly given our horses a lot. I have applied some of your techniques to solve minor behavior issues and such, my favorite being “I like your bum but show me your face”. I would say that my wife was a little skeptical with me when I used this on her mare, though beautifully natured; was at times a little dominate and disrespectful at times. She especially had a bad habit of turning her bum to you when she walked off, no longer an issue with any of our four now. My wife also had some trouble at feed time with her mare but now Sally (the mare ) is more than happy to stand her ground – another one of your techniques applied.

I am only an amateur horseman really and would say still only a novice under saddle and prefer my Sydhill half breed over the general purpose saddles that I see most have. I have to say our horses are all very respectful and well mannered, especially ground manners which is a pet hate of mine – most of this is due to education from your site and a little quantum savvy / parelli stuff mixed in, but mostly your site. Legendary mate.

Never been a fan of pony club stuff, my interest is mostly in the Western performance side of any performance discipline as an on looker but to be honest our interest is in partnership with our horses and pleasure riding, trail and the like.

I just re-read your article on greasy heal and thought this worth a mention. We have only had three cases of this (well, what we believe to be greasy heel), all of which we inherited with the horse. In all cases I have treated it with Potties White ointment and it has worked a treat. Rub in daily until the scabs soften and you can get to the base of the infection. Sometimes a little bleeding but I like to take it slowly each time and let the ointment soften the sores so they rub off and avoid too much pain on the horse, makes acceptance for the next day easy. Even in the worst case it cleared it up in a week. I pretty much swear by Potties White for any minor cuts etc.

Wives are always skeptical Mike :)  I had a classic case of that yesterday in fact. I was down the Shopping Centre. A most dangerous place to be these days. I backed out of my front on parking bay and went to drive off and felt a big bump. Looked around and a Grey Headed Lady had come out just after me and backed into our car. I had a quick look, no damage, gave her a wave which she was mighty relieved about as I was wearing a Cowboy Hat :) and home I came. Told the Boss who insisted on going outside with a torch to examine the car. See....I have that too :)

Anyways, I do have a question. I have recently purchased myself a new mare quarter horse cross – a real dear little girl and exactly what she was said to be. She has done mustering etc etc, and thus far is bomb proof including around traffic etc. I have had many tell me to gather up my reins ( good old English style) but have always really liked just giving the horse their head as we mosey along. Well to the point, Linda (the stock women who sold me Chrissy) said she goes real good on leg aides and likes big belly reins. I had to think a moment to get the meaning “big belly reins” . Well perfect, she has come back to my riding style and I am advancing well as she teaches me how she interprets leg aides. She is everything I wanted and we are bonding real good. Rarely is there any need to open the rein to aide the leg queue and only apply for when I feel warranted and she stops from the seat.
We walk and trot on big belly reins and she comes off the leg when I apply it right.
You might need to read between the lines – remember I am only a 51 yr old amateur. Now to my question – someone made a comment to me that I should keep contact in the trot and canter as that is what horses need to keep them under control. At this point I do not see the need as my girl just goes along real nice with good loose reins and at most all I need to do is apply the slightest pressure to get a real quick stop. Our off the track standies being trained by my daughter (bought your dvd’s by the way) go along nice in a walk with loose reins but I do see the need for some contact during there training.
So, is it true that my mare will over time go bad if I continue to ride on loose rein? Just to clarify, if the leg is not working well enough which could be me I do enforce with some rein to indicate that what my leg means is this. But like I said, in general she goes real nice on big belly reins. Not quite sure what queues I should use to open and close gates but she just does it – she is teaching me as much as I am her to be honest.

I have looked quite a bit over your website but am struggling to see where she fits in – fare to say I am not the sharpest tool in the shed .

Well, I await the comments from the expert????

Mate – one day I will win lotto and come and observe you training for a week. Well, one needs to dream 

Thanks in Advance,

Mike

Lol Mike. I saw some big bellies down the Shopping Centre hahaha. They are getting bigger by the day. Imho, the person who can ride at the trot and canter on a loopy rein has the greatest ability of them all for they are the one's with true control. So be congratulated. Besides that, you are a Pleasure Rider with a Western side and that is how you should be Riding the Horse. It would be fair to say, if Judges critically and by experts, that of those who ride with a contact at the trot and canter, across the entire English World, probably only about 10% would be doing it by the Classical Dressage Book anyway. It's a funny thing. I meet many a Husband who is having a bit of a go as they support their wife's passion and they often show much more Horse Sense than their partners. Natural common sense. There is a young bloke here who is a complete Learner. He hasn't even got the trot down yet. He was watching Mrs. HP this week, as she rode her young Horse. He have his first moments of coming onto the Bit. He remarked from his seat, that the Horse was suddenly looking good. He was right, he saw the moment. The Standy does need the support and is in no way relevant to your Horse or visa versa. Kind Regards and thanks for your kind words. I hope you win lotto too. I won it 18 years ago when I met my wife :)

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Hi there. I am desperate for some help. I took in 2 weanlings last week. Both of which have had no human interaction!! One is a filly and the other a colt. They are 4 months old now and I have had them for one week. Well the filly is doing great. I can rub all over her body and brush her. I have not haltered her yet but plan to soon. Wanted her to learn that humans are not a threat before doing such. The colt on the other hand is very difficult. He still will not let me touch him but he will approach me. Other times he will pin his ears back and yet to push me away from the filly. I don't back away from him. Instead I ignore him and love on the filly. I am at a loss on how to coax the colt into accepting humans. Should I just give him more time or force it on him? I was hoping to get his trust and go from there. Any advice would be great!

Forgive my sarcasm for a moment but go ask all those who subscribe to the belief that you shouldn't touch young Horses until they are weaned. :) None of this happens when they are sorted as Foals. HANDLING OUR FOALS WITH RESPONSIBILITY  

You have a problem for even though you have won the Filly, wait until you put a Halter on and start pulling on a lead rope :) As for the Colt, you don't want to know. Pardon me for educating within an answer but I can tell you that even if you successfully got about the Filly and indeed Halter Broke her, following the same principals that you are using now (which is most admirable) the quality of the result judged in real terms across the many instances where the 'chips are down' going forward, will be at about a 3/10. I suggest you get your local Horse Trainer in to finish them fast and then you will be right. It will only take a week and your Horse and yourself will be far safer into the future. Don't worry at all about your worries in the yellow highlighted sentence. It never happens if done with Justice. Especially with the Colt. The Filly could well be a gentle soul and if she is, there is no reason why you couldn't succeed right the way through and add on afterwards, learning by watching the Trainer with the Colt but I would stay away from him completely. They are almost always too much of a fistful for the Amateur in this state. Regards

Coincidentally, read this next letter!

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Hey John,
Firstly I would like to say - I LOVE YOUR SITE! It's wonderfully comprehensive, the videos are fantastic and it's easy to see how well your methods (your common sense methods) really do work!
I have to say, I was sucked into the whole touchey feeley approach of natural horsemanship, especially when I bought home my beautiful little brumby filly, who was substantially more traumatised than most of the brumbies that are caught.
Unfortunatly, these methods weren't exactly effective for us, to start our relationship and get her to be happy, and not scared of me. And due to my naiviety and not being at all forceful I had a few issues with her...but thats not the point.
I got the 'you can be foreceful, but gentle' method knocked into me fairly quickly, especially when that meant I had to send my baby back to the brumby place for some extra training, and it was knocked back into me by my neighbour who is an ex-jackaroo, who, back in the day worked with breaking in northern territory brumbies (and they are BIG brumbies compared to my 13hh girl) Haha..

Thanks for that. The Lady above would be most interested in your comments. Melissa.

Nevertheless, I need some help on building my round yard while the brumby is on holidays.
We've decided to build a 24ft diameter round yard, with posts 6ft out the ground and obviously buried 3ft deep.
But, I'm finding it difficult to find plans, or even good photos of round yards that size to give to my dad as a guide!
If you could please offer me some information that would be great, whether its plans, photos or just general info like the number of posts needed for the 24ft yard, that would be fantastic!

Cheers, thankyou & keep doing a wonderful job Melissa

I'll take measurements for you tomorrow.

Oh an, I keep seeing horses being led the pony club way, and yet no one seems to understand why they keep getting run over by the horses, or the horses become ignorant headed....they don't seem to trst the idea of having the horse follow behind you :(

It is called brain washing Mel :)

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Hi John, I'm having a problem with my shettie that was turned out for winter, he doesn't want to be caught!! I have read your catching article but what do you do if you go into the paddock with a bucket and he does 20 metre circles around you? He will turn and face me but not come anywhere near me and definatley not close enough to slip the lead rope over his neck. I tried leaving an old headstall on with a rope but he got caught up and I don't want to risk that again.I was told to drive him away if he goes to nick off when I approach him but that hasn't made any diffrence , he actually shakes his head and does a little pathetic kick out as he runs off ( I know, I know, disrespectful). He is in a 3 acre paddock. He has a very wary personality and it’s a bit disheartening for my little girl as she can't get him either.If I bring the car in do I chase him around even if when Im on foot he doesn't do a big 3 acre run for it just sort of self lunges himself around me. Any hints on technique and body language would be appreciated.
thanks Maree

The simplest thing for you Maree would be to put the long rope back onto him. Remove what he got caught up on. If the rope gets hooked up and he has to stand and await his release, all good training. Perhaps then he will see the error of his ways. As long as he is in no danger, so what that he gets caught up. I call that a training opportunity. Shetlands are not dangerous as Big Horses and you can get away with Blue Murder with the. They are cool :) Surely, if you are home, why can't you leave a rope hanging? Take it off at night if you like but as I said, I can't see the worry. I couldn't train you to train the Horse here but catching him 10 times per day and a one handful of stable mate or a carrot should improve him anyway. Leave the Old webbing Halter on over night with a two foot piece of thing telecom type rope on so you can catch him with a bucket the following day to install the long rope. Regards

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