Joelene Pitt CERT

02/03/2024

💦 𝙀𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙀𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙮𝙩𝙚𝙨

🐴 Again I am, unsurprisingly, seeing a trend of people reaching for electrolyte supplements this time of year with the age old question of “which one is the best?” being a common one that comes across my desk.

🧂 I’d like to preface this article by saying that I am absolutely not anti-electrolyte supplements, but I do feel it’s important for us to look at the bigger picture sometimes and consider what the WHOLE diet is providing.

💧 Let’s set the scene. You have a 500kg horse who has travelled several hours and competed intensely enough that they are sweating heavily and are showing signs of exhaustion.

⚛️ The 5 major electrolytes you are probably considering supplementing include Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Chloride, and Potassium. As you have read Stable-Ised Equine’s previous articles, you are well aware that plain salt (sodium chloride) needs to be supplemented daily, so your horse is already receiving their base serving of 50g salt/day.

❓Let’s look at what Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, and K your 500kg horse would receive from the recommended daily serving of 5 popular electrolyte supplements. I’m not going to name names because that isn’t the purpose of this article.

Calcium: 0g, 0.7g, 1.6g, 2.19g, 0g
Magnesium: 2g, 0.5g, 1.4g, 0.192g, 1.53g
Sodium: 10.3g, 12g, 14g, 13.1g, 21g
Chloride: 23.4g, 28g, 29g, 28.4g, 43.2g
Potassium: 8.35g, 7g, 8g, 10.4g, 12g

🧂 Now, let’s look at how much Na and Cl 50g of plain salt would provide:

Sodium: 19.5g
Chloride: 30.5g

🌿 “Where are you going with this, Karly?” I hear you ask. Let’s look at what Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, and K a kilogram of good quality lucerne hay would provide your horse if offered:

Calcium: 12.4g
Magnesium: 3.2g
Sodium: 1g
Chloride: 4g
Potassium: 14.2g

🧂+🌿= If we add the 50g of salt and 1kg of good quality lucerne hay together, this combination exceeds the amount of Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, and K provided by the recommended daily serve of each electrolyte supplement listed above.

🐎 So ask yourself; would your hot, sweaty, and tired horse benefit more from an electrolyte powder added to their feed or water, or from a kilogram of lucerne hay that no only provides electrolytes, but also provides other benefits such as gastric acid buffering, saliva stimulation, fibre to keep the gastrointestinal tract moving and gut microbes happy, and protein to support muscle recovery and development?

🐴 There is no right or wrong answer. What benefits one horse may not necessarily benefit another in the same way, however it does pay to be aware of what your horse’s diet as a whole is providing and not just assume that every horse needs every supplement.

🌐 I love putting together these free resources, so if you found this article interesting, I’d love if you could let me know in the comments and give it a share. 🩵🐎

20/12/2023

Ok I am done for 2023!! Yay! What a year of ups n downs.....

Thank you all for your support throughout the year, I truly appreciate it 🙏 I have had a huge year of doing Remedial Therapy on your beautiful horses n dogs, n looking forward to another year next year, if I can 😉😊💗

Merry Christmas To you all 🎅🎅🎅🎄🎄🎄🎅🎅🎅

Happy New Year to you all as well 🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊🎉🎉🎉

Stay safe n be happy 😊

09/12/2023

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠…

I’ve never seen a more misunderstood animal more than 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞…

I’ve been trying to tell you that I am in pain, but you don’t seem to listen.

I show you that I’m in pain by not being willing to work but you just call me 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 or 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐲. Instead of helping me, you just 𝐤𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫.

I show you that I’m in pain by rearing when you try to ride me, but you enjoy showing people you can sit to a rear. Instead of getting off and listening, you just say “𝐇𝐞’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭!”

I show you that I’m in pain by throwing my head in the air, but you just say it’s one of 𝐦𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬. Instead of helping me, you just buy 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 so that I can no longer 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫.

I show you that I’m in pain by bolting, but you just get scared and decide I’m not the one for you. You sell me and I still remain as 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.

It’s our responsibility as animal owners to do right by them, horses can’t speak, they communicate through their actions. So we need to listen!

9/10 times “negative behaviour” is caused my pain, the rest is learnt behaviour. Either way I always check for pain first.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, deserves the world. The amount of tolerance, loyalty, patience and trust the hurting horse has, is something I can only dream of having.

Written by - The Horse-Centred Approach

Artist - Ruby Campbell

17/10/2023

👌👌👌

Why we should ride young horses forward and down...

It is a commonly accepted training principle that we should encourage young horses to have a low head carriage. But why is this?

The muscles of the horses back are still immature at 3,4 and even at 5 years old. This is a combination of being developmentally (age related), and physically immature, in the sense that they lack the muscle condition which comes from years of training-induced exercise. Of course the maturity of their muscles will come naturally with time, and as we work them through groundwork and under saddle. But how can we get to this point, while protecting these fundamentally weak muscles and avoiding musculoskeletal injuries further down the line?

By utilising the passive ligament mechanism, we can allow the horse to support the back and carry the weight of the rider with very little muscular effort. This allows the epaxial muscles of the back to be free to perform their primary functions in movement, rather than acting as weight lifters.

The passive ligament system of the back is primarily composed of, well ligaments, the nuchal and supraspinous ligament to be exact.

The nuchal ligament is a strong, collagenous structure, originating at the extensor process of the occiput (the back of the skull), forming attachments to the cervical vertebrae, before inserting on the spinous process of the fourth thoracic vertebrae. Here the nuchal ligament broadens in the region of the withers, before continuing as the supraspinous ligament running along the top of the spinous processes of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae and terminating in the sacral region of the spine.

This creates an inverse relationship between the position of the head and neck and the balance between flexion and extension of the spine.

Generally speaking, lowering the head induces flexion in the thoracic region (the back is lifted) and conversely, raising the head creates extension in the thoracic region (the back hollows/drops). This is because the elongation of the strong and elastic nuchal ligament created when the head is lowered, creates a forward traction on the high spinous processes of the withers, and travels through the supraspinous ligament to lift the thoracic region of the spine. Comparatively, shortening of the ligament raises the head.

This system has provided an evolutionary advantage to the horse, as while they are grazing, the weight of the thorax and abdomen is supported passively by the ligament with very little muscular effort over long periods of time (up to the 16-19 hours per day they can spend grazing in the wild). Equally, because of the stored elastic potential energy in the liagement when it is stretched for the head to be at ground level, the horse can quickly raise its head to gallop away at the first sign of a predator.

Furthermore, lowering of the head and neck, stretching downwards and forwards, straightens out the natural S curve of the horse's spine. This lifts the bottom of the S curve, the cervico-thoracic junction and the ribcage, which creates lightness in the forequarters when the horse is moving. Further back, flexion in the thoracic region, increases the spacing between the dorsal spinous processes as the most dorsal aspect of the spine is stretched out. This posture is particularly therapeutic for horses with kissing spines.

In fact, the degree of flexion of the back is most marked between the 5th and 9th thoracic vertebrae, but is also significant between the 9th and 14th. Consequently, the arching and lifting of the back takes place directly under the saddle and therefore works to support the rider.

This is particularly useful in young horses; it allows the young horse, whose muscles are not mature enough to carry the rider, the chance to support its back and lift the weight of the rider by moving the head-neck axis rather than using active muscle contraction.

This means that the horse can use its muscles solely for movement; creating a loose, swinging back, free of tension, and suppleness in the gait.

Here we have the opportunity for us to slowly develop and condition the epaxial musculature of the young horse. Which will create a foundation of strength and suppleness of the back and the core to support more advanced movements later in their career.

Comparatively, if this system is not used, and the young horse is pulled into a shortened outline, it is the Longissimus Dorsi muscle which takes up the role of supporting the weight of the rider. But theLongissimus Dorsi is not designed for weight carrying, it is primarily a movement muscle.

Muscles act in the direction through which their fibres flow; the Longissimus Dorsi works in the horizontal plane, originating in the sacral and lumbar region of the spine and inserting through the lumbar, thoracic and ending in the cervical region. The Longissimus Dorsi primarily acts to extend and stabilise the entire spine, while also acting unilaterally to induce lateral flexion of the back. You can see the Longissimus Dorsi in action when watching a horse moving from above; the large muscle contracts alternately on each side of the back in the rhythm of the gait to stabilise the movement.

Once the Longissimus Dorsi is required to lift the weight of the rider, the muscle becomes blocked and stiff. Muscles are designed to work through a process of contraction and relaxation; held too long in contraction (to carry the weight of a rider, or support a shortened outline) and the Longissimus Dorsi will fatigue. This will lead to muscle spasm and pain within the muscle. Not only will the horse lose the strength to carry the rider, but they will also lose the natural elasticity of the back which will reduce the fluidity of their gaits.

Over time with greater overuse and fatigue, the Longissimus Dorsi muscle will atrophy, requiring the recruitment of other muscles, such as the Iliocostalis, to take up the role of stabilising the back and supporting the weight of the rider. Other muscles which are equally not designed for weight lifting. And so the cycle continues and the performance of the horse suffers.

With this knowledge in mind, we can understand why it is so essential to make use of the passive ligament system, by striving for that forward and down head carriage. Furthermore, that we also allow our young horses regular breaks, working on a loose rein to allow our horse to come out of the outline, stretch out, and reduce the risk of fatigue.

I always marvel at the intricately designed systems of energy conservation to create efficiency in the horse's way of going. It is our role as a rider to have an awareness of and make use of these systems; to allow our horses to go in the most efficient and beneficial way for them possible, upholding their standard of welfare.

Image credit: Tug of War, Gerd Heuschmann