Hidden Creek Stables

01/02/2025

[From 2020]
"Turning a horse out until its third birthday and then beginning race training will adapt the skeleton to turnout for a year, but not to training or racing. The bone modeling system will largely atrophy. The horse is then introduced to training and will have to recreate the vascular supply and cell population devoted to remodeling. By contrast, the horse who trained at two only had to repurpose the vasculature and cells already present for growth.

This can be complicated by the fact that the heart and lungs, which are oft-used indicators of a horse’s fitness, don’t respond to training exactly the same way as bone. Horses have such relatively large heart and lungs that they respond faster than the skeleton to training, especially when a previously sedentary horse begins training. Dr. Larry Bramlage believes the horse who went through a year of turnout and began training at three is at greater risk of skeletal injury down the road because its skeleton may be less able to keep up the pace. Thanks to heart and lung conditioning, the rested horse may appear to be getting fit just as quickly (or even moreso) than his stablemate who trained at two, which could fool a trainer into increasing his workload too quickly for the skeleton.

The data bears this out. Year after year, the Equine Injury Database has shown that 2-year-old runners had a significantly lower fatality rate than 3- and 4-year-olds. Preliminary data released earlier this year showed that older horses who had raced as 2-year-olds had a decreased risk of career-ending injury to those who had not."

https://bit.ly/4iVCrVP

12/27/2024

12/27/2024

This was a Christmas gift

12/27/2024

12/27/2024

Guys these are all still available!

Maybe a late Christmas gift?!

12/13/2024

12/08/2024

So I know that I'm a "feed guy" but I am also a horse keeper and every winter I see a whole bunch of blanket wars some up in various groups so I thought I would add my opinion and observations to the mix.

This photo was taken yesterday as my three Quarter Horse mares stuffed themselves with free choice hay which, as you can see, they are not shy about wasting.

They are standing outside in a steady 30 mile per hour wind with snow blowing horizontally. This is their choice because 100 feet away they have access to their stalls which are bedded with a foot of straw, heated buckets and a pile of exactly the same hay.

These mares would much prefer to be outside than in. However, if they were not wearing blankets they would most likely be huddles in their stalls against the wind.

I point this out because while it is mostly true that horses will survive the cold weather as long as they have shelter and forage it is equally true that blanketing them can be very beneficial.

Every year I see newbies posting advice on blanketing and so many of the comments are from the "I've been around horses my whole life" crowd advising that "horses don't need no damn blankets!".

There are also many comments spewing myths that blanketing is dangerous and will "make a horse sick".

These ideas are, in my own humble opinion, nonsense.

To be sure over blanketing can be a real problem as it can cause some issues with heat stress. The only problem I ever had with blankets was a boarder of mine who had a OTTB and insisted that if she were cold the horse was too. I was constantly removing heavy second blankets because the animal was dripping in sweat while the temperature was 34 F.

Tossing a horse out in 25 F weather with only a thin sheet can be equally problematic.

In general if you use a sensible strategy of midweight fill blankets you really can't go too far wrong.

But why blanket at all? Wild horses don't wear blankets!

Unfortunately the people with this attitude never have the opportunity to see the frozen carcasses of the wild horses that NEEDED BLANKETS.

The ginormous fat ass on the left side of the two in front is my 22 year old AQH mare, Flair. When Flair was young she would be standing outside grazing while covered with ice from freezing rain and not wearing a blanket. She much prefers being a little on the chillier side.

I noticed that when she turned around 15 she would start hanging out in the shelter for much longer periods.

The fat ass on the right is my 32 year old AQH mare, Skippy the Wonder Horse. She is an older lady who prefers being comfortable.

Would these lovely matrons survive the winter without blankets? Almost surely!

So why do I blanket them?

The first reason is obviously to help them be more comfortable.

The next reason is that they will stay out of their stalls moving around which is great for both their physical and mental well being. As an added benefit for mois, less mucking to do.

The third reason is that they will consume less hay which is a great budget consideration. Why spend money on hay if I can prevent them from burning calories just to stay warm?

The final reason is that blanketed horses will drink more water which avoids things like winter impaction colic.

One horse that is not in this picture is my beautiful Raven. Ray was an OTTB mare, granddaughter of Secretariat that unfortunately, at the ripe old age (for an OTTB) of 28, succumbed to an old tendon injury this past August.

Blanketing for Raven was not optional. She was a typical thin skinned Thoroughbred.

She was 14 years old the first winter she came to me and she grew a luxurious, thick coat as beautiful as any sable cape ever worn. We had one night where the temperature was 40 F with a light drizzle of passing showers. When I went out for morning feed she wouldn't come up to the barn.

Fearing the worst I grabbed her halter and walked out to lead her in. She was shivering so violently that she could barely walk. From that moment on Raven was blanketed any time the temperature dropped below 50 F and she was always a plus one so if the Quarter Horses needed a blanket Raven had two.

In my travels as a "feed guy" I encountered so many owners who refused to blanket their horses while complaining that they were hard keepers. I was forced to stand there with their miserable, shivering horses in cross ties and restrain myself from beating them with a dressage whip.

This message is for the owners who have been shamed or misinformed out of blanketing your horses. Just do it if you believe that your horse will be better off.

If you go to the barn and your horse is huddled in the run in shed or shivering slightly or is a dripping muddy mess blanketing them will be a benefit.

I feel the same way about shoes. If a horse will benefit from them then put them on.

This is only my opinion, other opinions are welcome but I've cared for lots and lots of different horses over the years and I've never had one that didn't benefit from a blanket.

Cheers!

11/24/2024

Personal project I’m already regretting and only halfway done..

11/19/2024

Smooth is fast.
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Less is more.
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Quiet hands, use your body. These horses follow our hips in a turn.
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Ride with confidence. Know where you are going and how you are getting there.
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Breathe, relax, this is supposed to be fun.
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There will be another barrel race, if this one doesn’t go as planned it’s not end of the world.
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📸Bee Silva
⠀

11/10/2024

To develop the horse symmetrically in body and limbs you can use gymnastic exercises.

*** CORNERSTONES ***

The core of the gymnastic exercises consists of the circle, shoulder-in and haunches-in. All the other exercises are derived from these cornerstones.

🐴 The circle is used to develop the Lateral bending of the body and spine, the Forward down tendency of the head and neck and the Stepping under the center of mass of the inside hind leg (LFS).

🐴 Once the inside hind leg can step under, this hind leg can also start to take weight. To do so we use the shoulder-in and counter-shoulder-in. These exercises are designed to school the hind leg in function of the inside hind leg. As a result of taking the weight, the horse will bend the inside hind leg more and free the outside shoulder.

🐴 Once the horse can bend the hind leg as an inside hind leg, we can also start to school the hind leg as an outside hind leg. To do so we use first the haunches-in (travers) and later on the renvers. In the renvers the horse can lean less against the wall/fence with his shoulder, so it's a bit more difficult than the travers, but as a result he really supports himself with his hind legs.

*** ALL EXERCISES ARE RELATED ***

All exercises relate to one another and differ slightly:

🐎 The only difference between shoulder-in and counter-shoulder in is the position of the fence/wall. The same applies to the haunches-in (travers) and the renvers, also there the only difference is the position of the wall.

🐎 The difference between shoulder-in and renvers is the bending in the spine, which is the opposite. In these exercises the same hind leg has the opposite function ('inside' in shoulder-in, 'outside' in renvers). The same applies to counter shoulder-in and the haunches in.

🐎 The half pass is 'just' a haunches-in over the diagonal, and the pirouette is 'just' a haunches-in on a small circle. Both half-pass and pirouette require support of both the inside as the outside hind leg. Therefore in both exercises the shoulders must lead to be able to keep the center of mass in front of the direction of the hind legs, only then both hind legs can support the weight. So both the half pass and pirouette also relate to the shoulder-in.

*** NUMBER OF TRACKS AND DEGREE OF BENDING ***

Now all exercises can be done on 3 or 4 tracks, or 2,5 tracks or 3,75 or 3,99 ;) and your horse can have more or less bend in his spine. Now there is no 'perfect' number and the exact degree doesn't matter. What matters in ST is that you choose the number of tracks and degree of bending where your horse can support his body and center of mass best with both hind legs. And that depends on the conformation of your horse: if he has a long back or a shorter one, if he has long legs, or shorter ones, if he has a long neck or a short one. So choose the degree of bending and number of tracks where your horse can move in optimal balance and with most quality.

*** HOW TO DEVELOP THESE EXERCISES? ***

First start the circle, then after a few training sessions add the shoulder-in, and the moment the the horse can do this exercise for 66,6% of quality, add the haunches-in. From there you can start practising the variations.

**** HOW TO DEVELOP THE HORSE EQUALLY? ***

To develop a horse equally in body and limbs all exercises need to be done to the right and to the left (or as they say in English: on the right rein and on the left rein).

When doing these exercises there will always be an 'easy' side and a difficult side. To develop the horse equally, do the 'difficult' side a bit more often and it's also an idea to start with the 'difficult' side and to end with the 'difficult side'.

The moment the horse starts to feel more equal, switch to train the exercises 50-50.

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Click here for more information:

Circle:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/circle

Shoulder-in:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/shoulder-in

Haunches-in:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/haunches-in

Renvers:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/renvers

Half pass:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/half-pass

Pirouette:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/pirouette

Lateral movements:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/lateral-movements

Ladder of exercises:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/a-logical-system-of-ever-increasing-exercises

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