KSM Equestrian Enterprises

12/09/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AtgMV2DG1/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Every morning at dawn, at his “home” racetrack of Belmont in New York City, or at whatever track he happened to be, the Thoroughbred racehorse named Secretariat would stick his head out the stall and wait for his pal. The stall had a strong door, of course, but the usual way of keeping horses in their stalls is to slide the door back into its slot and attach strong, foot-high webbing into bolts on either side of the door set at the horse’s chest height.

This allows a curious horse to stick his head out, look down the hallways and watch everything. If a horse hears human footsteps or the clip-clop of another horse, he can check it out. Maybe say hello. Racehorses spend most of their time in stalls, and an open door helps relieve boredom. Early every morning, with sunrise still hours away, groom Edward “Shorty” Sweat would walk down that long hallway to begin his day’s work, and every morning he saw the same thing. Secretary with his head out, watching for, waiting for, his best friend.

Secretariat was a kind horse, and playful. Eddie would toss the horse’s halter into the corner of the stall. Secretariat would pick up the halter with his teeth and drop it at Eddie’s feet; it was a game they played. Secretariat would try to steal the brush from Eddie’s hand, and he would pull on Eddie’s shirt like a pup playing tug-of-war.
Eddie was Secretariats groom, the man who cleaned his stall, gave him his food and water, put on his bridle and saddle, picked the dirt and stones from his hooves, put on his blanket, loaded him in the van and drove him to the next track and the one after that. This was Eddie’s job, and he did it better than anyone, according to many people long familiar with horses and grooms and racetracks. But looking after Secretariat was more than a job for Shorty Sweat. For him, that horse was like a son, brother and best friend all rolled into one.

Eddie knew, for example, that Big Red – as many now called him – hated to have his ears touched. He knew that the horse slept standing, facing a corner. At night, when the barn was quiet, the horse would lie down, but not on his side. He would fold his front legs beneath him and listen for strange sounds. When he heard one, he would quickly stand up. ready to run if called upon.

When Eddie would arrive before dawn, Secretariat always stuck out his tongue. Eddie would grab it playfully and shake it as if he were shaking another man’s hand. Ron Turcotte, the horse’s jockey, or rider, started this by one day reaching into Secretariat‘s mouth and grabbing his tongue as a greeting. The horse must’ve thought this was another good game, because every morning after that, Big Red would stick out that big pink tongue of his, and Eddie would shake it.
“Hey, Eddie,” Secretariat was saying.
Hey, Red,” his groom would reply.
This was their routine morning greeting through late 1972 and into 1973, when Secretariat was The Reigning King of Racehorses.
~By Lawrence Scanlan
THE HORSE GOD BUILT

11/18/2024

Kara Stark McGrew

In the Collective Marks section of all of our national dressage tests, there are two score boxes for the rider. The first of these is for “position and seat.” What the judge assesses to determine this score are elements of equitation that are the foundation for effective communication with the horse. A correct, balanced, and independent seat is necessary for successful training and competition.
The test sheets list five directive ideas that the judge considers in formulating the collective mark for rider position and seat:
* Alignment
* Posture
* Stability
* Weight placement
* Following the mechanics of the gaits.

In this first part in this new series from USDF Connection magazine, Jayne Ayers looks at how judges evaluate the rider in the dressage tests, beginning her focus with the first directive: “alignment”.

Filled with helpful diagrams, you won’t want to miss this rider biomechanics article: https://yourdressage.org/2024/10/18/rider-biomechanics/

11/15/2024

Grand prix dressage trainer Matt McLaughlin shares an exercise to correct a horse that is late behind with flying changes.

11/15/2024

Did you know that a horse with a moderate hair coat starts requiring additional calories for body temperature regulation when the outside temperature drops to approximately 50°F?

As the temperatures start to drop, especially overnight, it's important to remember that cold weather prompts special considerations for your horse's diet and care. This is particularly important when it comes to the older members of the herd; consult your primary horse doctor to formulate a plan to keep your horses happy and healthy this fall and winter!

11/09/2024

Kara Stark McGrew

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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11/02/2024

Interesting

If you ride dressage, you have some mnemonic to remember the order of the letters around a dressage arena. But do you have any clue why those letters are there, and in that order?

07/25/2024

Truth !
Kara Stark McGrew

A small stab in the heart is what you feel when you put up the day's riding list and you see riders sinking heavily in their shoulders when reading which horse they are assigned for the lesson. A small stab in the heart for that horse that for an hour will carry around a rider who has already decided that he does not like his horse. A small stab in the heart for the horse that did not choose the rider himself but still does his best, lesson after lesson.

Riding is a privilege and something you have chosen to do. If you chose to ride at a riding school, your instructor assumes that you actually want to learn how to ride. The instructor's highest wish is that you get good at it.

Often there is a plan and a thought as to why you are assigned to that exact horse. Before you mount up next time, ask yourself "what can this horse teach me today?" All horses have something to give, a feeling or a new tool in the box.

The art is actually in being able to get a lazy horse to move forward, to get an uncertain horse to gain confidence, a naughty horse to focus or a tense horse to be released. It takes work. If you think a horse is boring, it's more likely that you don't ride the horse as well as you think! It's not easy to be confronted with your own shortcomings, but it is in that very situation that you get the chance to truly grow as a rider.

The excuse that "it's not my kind of horse" is actually a really bad excuse. A good rider can ride any kind of horse. A good rider has trained many hours on different types of horses to become a good rider. A good rider can find and manage the gold nuggets in every horse.

If we absolutely want to ride, it is our duty to strive to do it as best as possible, even if it's only for fun. We owe it to every horse that carries us upon it's back.

Copied and shared with love for all of our horses, ponies and riders 🐎❤🐎

05/02/2024

Love hearing this statement today
‘You don’t learn by speaking with people who share your beliefs ‘

05/02/2024

Kara Stark McGrew

Heidi Chote explains what it means for a horse to be "in front of the leg."

03/15/2024

Kara Stark McGrew

You’ll relax, feel your horse, know what aids you need and clearly communicate for a prompt, willing response.

02/27/2024

Today I want to talk about the problem with being really good at taking care of horses:

You will have to decide when their life ends.

Not always - once in a blue moon a horse will do you the favor of tipping over quietly and instantly. I've seen it happen. It happened to our Perry last year, who was about 30 years old, and laid down and left the world in excellent weight with a shiny coat, sounder than the day he arrived, and no apparent issue that would have prompted a call to the vet.

But most of the time, when you're good enough at taking care of horses that your horses live to be 25+, you will have to make the call. Not only is this a big responsibility, but it's so hard for some people that animal control is kept busy every day with situations like horse owners who cannot accept reality and call the vet for a horse who can no longer get up on his own, or hasn't even tried for days. While you probably would make a better choice if you're here on my page - my content does tend to attract horsepeople who think mostly with their heads - I think we can all understand the emotions that make someone think, well, let's just call the fire department for help getting him up. Look, he's eating, he wants to live!

(Wanting to live does not = not wanting to die by starvation. They are two different things, even for human beings.)

Since we're mostly a senior horse sanctuary at this point, I'm going to share the guidelines we use here and maybe they will help someone else. There are other rescues with different standards, and we align with that more when it goes in the direction of "a day too soon" than months too late. This is just what we think, not necessarily the one true answer, and it's all debatable obviously because it tends to be a hot button issue -- but we need to normalize the discussion because that helps people make better and more humane choices for their animals.

Lameness: A horse can live quite happily, unridden, with a bit of chronic lameness even on a straight line - if that level of lameness is not inhibiting him from normal behavior. What's normal behavior? When the herd runs, he runs - he isn't gimping along far behind the others at a creaky trot. He still has a buck & fart in him on a cold morning. He can get down for a good roll and get up again without falling or needing assistance. He doesn't look worse than stiff like an old person would be at the walk - he isn't head-bobbing lame. He doesn't have a leg so arthritic that it looks like the letter C. He gets some pain management drugs if needed and he gets a quality joint supplement. Ideally he lives on turnout or if that's absolutely not available, someone gets him out of the stall every day for a long walk that will help him not to feel so stiff.

I saw a video from another "rescue" of a horse that was three legged lame trying to get back to the barn (on a downhill, ffs) at the most painful walk I have ever seen, and they thought it was great that he was such a "fighter." Ugh, no, he's only "fighting" because he has no way to put himself down.

Colic: Look, call it early. Either you have the money to go to the hospital, or you need to put them down if there's no improvement in a few hours. If they're really painful, that window of time is shorter. Horses have varying pain tolerances and there is absolutely the drama llama that will look like they are going to die for sure when the vet arrives and after an oiling and a walk, are perfectly fine and screaming for food six hours later. (Don't feed them. As a vet I know says, nothing ever died from not eating for 24 hours, but a lot of horses die from colic.)

Either way, you cannot screw around - get the vet out, make a decision. I do not think anybody is a bad person for not racing horses to the hospital for thousands of dollars they simply may not have any access to. We don't do it. If there's an infinite amount of money somewhere, we surely have not identified its location and we understand that many horse owners are in the same boat. A swift veterinary euthanasia is never a morally wrong choice, full stop - our duty to our horses is to prevent suffering, not make sure they live to see the next election. They don't care.

Accidents: These are hard. Your vet is going to explain to you all of the rehab options available to you -- that's their job. If a horse is 30 years old and steps in a gopher hole, do you really think a year of stall rest is how he wants to spend the last part of his life? Would you? We always have to think about the fact that a horse is designed to run with friends. If the odds are they'll never have that ability back - call it. It's going to be the right thing for both the horse and your financial situation. It absolutely pains me to see someone, often someone who doesn't have much of an income to begin with, bankrupting themselves trying to keep an animal alive. I know they are your best friend. I know death sucks. But you're not giving them a quality of life they even want, and you're annihilating your own life. It is absolutely fine to make the call.

Neurological conditions: This is a hot button for me. I cannot comprehend people keeping a horse alive who walks sideways, falls down, loses control of his hind end, etc. Please stop. A horse isn't you - he can't lie in bed comfortably, scrolling Instagram reels and watching reality television when he's unable to move around safely due to an injury or illness. It's incredibly scary for a horse to be out of balance and at risk of falling. He is a prey animal in nature - one of his intrinsic needs is being able to run away from a threat. If the neurological issues are from a disease like EPM, you can certainly try treatment but you should see improvement within a month or so if it's going to happen. If the neurological issues are from an injury and not getting any better - please, please do the right thing and put them down before they get stuck in a fence with a broken leg or neck from falling the wrong way. You do not want that to be your last memory of them.

Foals with serious problems: I could write pages on this but I already addressed some of it in my recent post about things you should know about if you're going to breed. A foal that will be permanently crippled has a very poor chance of any quality of life or of being fed and cared for and not coming to a bad end. If the vet can correct the issue with surgery, and you can afford the surgery, and it has a good chance of success, by all means go for it. But sometimes all you're doing is creating a $10,000 pasture pet that someone will have to care for forever, and the number of people who want to take care of any pasture pet (even their OWN that they used to show and compete with!) is a tiny percentage of the horse owning population and getting smaller by the day. No one enjoys putting down a foal but it's always a possible outcome when you breed your mare.

While I'm on this topic, please stop keeping mares alive long enough to give birth if something has gone horribly wrong for them. If they can't walk, put them down. I saw some moron once that had a pregnant DSLD mare in a sling after her tendons ruptured because they just had to get that baby. This is animal cruelty.

General quality of life: Sometimes there is not one specific bad thing, but a collection of things. Your elderly horse is arthritic and needs a lot to keep them comfortable day to day. They've also got Cushing's and need daily meds. Now they have a chronic eye issue. They won't take meds in food. Every day, you have a struggle trying to syringe meds into their mouth and treat their eye, while they bang you against the fence. You do all this just for them to continually rub the eye, making it worse, no matter what kind of hooded contraption you put on their head. The vet is at your house constantly, trying to patch this horse back together. You can't afford it and, worse yet, the horse isn't getting any better. At a certain point, some of them just sort of melt down - it's very common with the Cushing's horses, because that disease tends to make them prone to other infections. If there is a lot wrong, every day is a struggle to treat the issues, and there's no improvement, it may be time to make the call.

They just quit: Sometimes, without a clear diagnosis even after you spend the money for bloodwork and have carefully examined the mouth and the vitals, horses just quit. They go off food. They start staring into the middle distance. They don't interact with other horses anymore. They are borderline cranky or just dull to everything. I've seen them where they'll only eat cookies, and are even unenthusiastic about that. The life has left their eyes. We all want a diagnosis, but sometimes you are not going to get one, and you will have to call it. It's just part of being a senior horse owner. You can certainly necropsy, if you can afford it, and that may give you a clear answer, but when we see horses in this state who are not in this state due to long term starvation and neglect - if they are normal weight and well cared for but acting like this? Our experience is they are not coming back, and it is time.

What things have you seen and experienced that let you know it was time to make the call? Pictured is Orca, who is 38 and has Cushing's and looks old, but runs toward her breakfast mush like this every morning. She is making it clear she isn't done yet, and the day that changes, we'll help her out of this world into the next.