Renegade Equine

01/07/2025

Bridle fit matters!

11/27/2024

11/23/2024

"Above all, we must realize that each of us makes a difference with our life. Each of us impacts the world around us every single day. We have a choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place – or not to bother." – Dr. Jane Goodall

📸: KATHERINE HOLLAND PHOTOGRAPHY

11/02/2024

10/25/2024

Credits

10/23/2024

🙌🙌🙌
This!

Get off the horse.

When they’re struggling, when you’re having a bad ride. When their antics are scaring you.

Don’t be afraid to get off.

You aren’t “letting them win” because the horse is not your adversary.

It is not you versus your horse.

It’s you and your horse versus the problem.

And many times, getting off and going back to groundwork can be incredibly beneficial for helping your horse through their struggles.

If they’re scared, having you there beside them on the ground instead of on top of them can bring them confidence.

If you’re scared whilst riding them, getting off the ground lowers your anxiety and likely, also your horses.

The “ride through it” mentality is primarily for human ego and negates the benefit of groundwork.

You don’t need to ride through it.

Sometimes doing so is stupid and dangerous.

Sometimes doing so is traumatic for the horse.

So, don’t be afraid to get off.

Don’t be afraid to take a break.

Don’t be afraid to work through the issues on the ground.

You don’t need to be “tough” and ride through it.

Softness and patience have value and merit.

Oftentimes, the last thing a stressed flight animal needs is toughness and force.

Giving them patience and remaining by their side as a supportive companion is more beneficial than you might imagine.

The mentality of always riding through antics and always getting back on after a fall is a harmful one.

There’s a quote “you’re either going to the hospital or getting back on, hospital or on” that I’ve seen many proudly share.

You can be injured without needing a hospital visit.

Your horse can be fried and not in a place to learn following a fall.

Honouring your horse and yourself by having the humility to know when to stop is a strength, not a weakness.

So, don’t be afraid to get off your horse.

“Riding through it” is not the flex people think it is.

09/25/2024

09/25/2024

09/25/2024

09/13/2024

Below, two lumbars and sacrums with two very different stories.

The top specimen is from a standardbred/welsh 13.2hh pony who despite having ECVM made it to 25 with only a few minor symptoms. She was put down for laminitis and arthritis getting the better of her. Her lumbar and sacrum are the normal anatomy for this area.

The bottom specimen a 8 year old Thoroughbred returned from racing in Hong Kong shows a very common finding among my dissections. 60 percent based on my dissections across breeds but very common in mainly thoroughbreds. This guy has what’s known as a sacralised lumbar aswell as sacral spurs. The sacralised lumbar I believe is a heritable trait although there has been no study it is in humans inherited through genetics from parentage. In my opinion the sacral bone spurs are from early hard work when the growth plates between S1 and S2 are still open. The sacroiliac joint is made of two parts and if under load grows osseous bone to strengthen the area and can fuse to the pelvis.

In my opinion sacralised lumbar is a major limiting factor for performance as it appears to compromise the function and mobility in the hind end. These horses are very stiff and do not track up. They can’t take weight through the hind end joints well and have trouble engaging the pelvis. Secondary compensation is often an issue that goes along with this.

I’ve heard multiple stories now that insurance companies are not paying out on horses diagnosed with ECVM because it’s not an injury but an inherited trait that can limit performance. So it leads me to ponder….. how many heritable traits will strike off insurance claims in the future with further study into skeletal variations/malformations. Will this push breeders to think more seriously about skeletal conformation? Will insurance companies lead the charge on researching the limitations of these skeletal variations? Will genetic testing for heritable skeletal traits be the future of breeding horses for optimal soundness? Don’t forget that the gene for kissing spines has recently been found, will horses with kissing spines now be considered a heritable trait and not an injury.

Will this void insurance claims?

I have put together a video on my patreon page to explain further.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/skeletal-in-hind-111909060?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

09/11/2024

The “problem horse” 🐴

There is such a recurring theme in the clients I’m seeing that I really feel the need to talk about this more. Time and time again I am seeing horses displaying significant signs of pain, who have been to the vet to have some diagnostics and been told there is nothing wrong, the horse definitely isn’t in pain and they need to send the horse to a trainer. It is incredibly frustrating and upsetting as an owner when you really feel something isn’t right but are being told by professionals that the issue is you and you’re overthinking it or being soft.

The idea that a problem is purely behavioural is a fallacy in and of itself. Behaviour is a manifestation of how the horse is experiencing life, whether that be pain/discomfort in the body, the environment, the people, the training, the diet, trauma, past experiences etc. It is unfortunately not packed into two neat little boxes of either pain or behaviour and, even if it was, the idea that we could easily rule out pain with the limited diagnostics available is unrealistic.

When we have a horse that is displaying concerning behaviour, beyond the usual joint, back x-rays and scoping for ulcers, we need to consider hind gut issues, liver issues, hormonal issues, muscle myopathies, congenital defects, old injuries, compensatory patterns, the list goes on. Often we do find pathology, medicate it and declare the horse pain-free and ready to crack on without considering the other factors at play.

I cannot emphasise enough the role of environmental factors. Sometimes we are chasing pathology, buying expensive supplements, paying every professional under the sun to fit our horse’s tack, train them, give them bodywork and hoof care while entirely missing the fact the horse’s basic needs are not being met. If your horse is stressed in his living environment you are setting yourselves up to fail. Horses that are living in a chronic state of stress and have very little ability to down-regulate their nervous system are unable to thrive and develop healthy bodies.

So many horses have poor posture which is causing tension and soreness in their bodies, it is so normalised that it seems to be rarely recognised as an issue as horses can still perform at high levels even when their bodies are compromised, we’re used to seeing horses with poor muscle development. Winning trophies does not necessarily mean the horse is comfortable, it means the horse is compliant. A lot of training views compliance as the main measure of success without really seeing how the horse is feeling both emotionally and physically, with the training itself often contributing to more tension, stress and strain on the body.

All of these things together create the “problem horse”.

I feel really strongly that we need to start looking at things differently if we want to train ethically and also increase longevity for our horses. What if instead of just medicating the horse then sending the horse to the trainer to be “fixed”, we took a step back and really looked at the whole horse and maybe why this happened in the first place.

I genuinely think we’d have much more long term success if we took the pressure off, made sure their living environment was the best we could get it, learned to help our horses down-regulate their nervous system and train at the horse’s pace in an environment they’re comfortable in. In doing so we can really help their bodies and support them as best we can with their issues.

Watching horses find relaxation in their bodies, find peace around people and start to find joy in movement through slow, low-pressure training doesn’t make very exciting videos but it does transform horse’s (and people’s) lives.

If you take anything away from this just know that you absolutely CAN train pain, people are doing it every day and getting 100k views on their reels, so don’t disregard your horse’s voice just because he is somewhat compliant or someone told you to. Behaviour is communication, not something to be fixed. There are people out here who will help you and your horse and not dismiss your concerns. 🐴

www.lshorsemanship.co.uk