Horse&Rider Magazine – December 2017

WIN

A HOLIDAY FOR YOU + YOUR HORSE

The UK’s best-selling equestrian monthly

EXERCISE

FITNESS PLANS

FOR EVERY RIDER

YOU NEED TO TRY FIREWORK-PROOF YOUR HORSE Behaviourist’s top tips

Vet’s guide to wound management

How

goal setting

DIY horse massage

Simple techniques that really work

ON TEST Middleweight turnout rugs Technical stirrups

could transform your horsey life

g n i p m u j Show

s s e c c u s

e l a d k c o t S m i T h t wi

IPN Consumer Magazine of the Year

Issue number 573 December 2017 n On test – middleweight turnouts and technical stirrups n Goal setting – how it could transform your horsey life n Tim Stockdale’s showjumping masterclass

THE FLATWORK

OFFICE

£4.20

Dec 2017

In this feature. . .

➤ Improve

your jumping position ➤ Make the

Combination

CONFIDENCE Does the sight of combination fences fill you with dread? Tim Stockdale will have you sailing through them in no time

As told to Lucy Turner. Photos: Bob Atkins. With thanks to MS Amlin for their help with this feature, amlinplus.com

Our expert

Tim Stockdale has been a key figure in the world of showjumping for many years. Having discovered a talent for the sport at the age of seven, he’s represented Great Britain on more than 50 occasions.

Our model

Abelardo E Z, known as Eze, is a 17.2hh, nine-yearold gelding. He’s currently competing at 1.40m.

42 HORSE&RIDER

A

combination is a row of two or three fences with no more than two strides between each and, with so many jumping efforts to tackle in such a short space of time, they’re a common sticking point for riders. If just one element of your approach isn’t quite right, the chance of making it through the combination leaving all the elements standing are slim, but get it spot on and your horse will fly through with ease.

In the saddle

distance in combinations ➤ Perfect your approach ➤ Ride positively

DID YOU KNOW?

The easiest combinations are those with two strides between the fences because they give you more time between jumping efforts. Treble combinations with one and two strides between them are a little more tricky, whereas a treble with just one stride is the most difficult, particularly if there are two consecutive oxers, because your horse has ➤ to stretch without much pace.

HORSE&RIDER 43

Going for

g al Has your riding hit a rut? Are you struggling to decide what direction to take next? H&R explains why setting goals could be the answer

How do they work?

Goals increase your motivation because they give you a target to work towards. How often have you found yourself trotting aimlessly around the arena without a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your horse that evening? Before you get on, spend a few minutes thinking about what your aims are – maybe to perfect the movement that let you down in your last dressage test or improve your horse’s way of going. You then need to break this down into a series of small steps that you can work through. Having a goal gives you a specific direction in which to focus your efforts and energy, and knowing exactly what you want to achieve greatly increases your chances of success.

62 HORSE&RIDER

N

o matter how technically skilled you are in the saddle or how talented your horse, it means nothing if you haven’t got your head in the game. We all go through periods when we feel our riding has stagnated or we’re unsure about where to go next, whether it’s only for one schooling session or a whole competitive season.

Studies have shown that setting goals can have a massive impact on your motivation and there’s also a strong correlation with improvements in performance. But how can you apply them to your riding?

Skill up

When setting yourself a goal, it’s important that you have the skills required to follow it through. If not, it can leave you feeling demoralised and divert your focus. Instead, tailor your objectives towards learning the necessary skills one at a time, then go back to your original goal. Breaking down your desired outcome into a series of small, achievable steps not only makes the task feel more manageable, but you’ll also get the thrill of success each time you achieve each one, too.

For instance, if you’re looking to move up a level in dressage, start by challenging yourself to perfect each new movement first. Once you’ve managed that, you can start to think about practising a higher-level test or filling in an entry form.

Mind matters

Goal: Jump a clear round at your next competition

Stepping stones for success

Here are some examples of how you can break down your goal into achievable steps...

1. Develop a balanced, rhythmical canter on the flat

OP TIP

T s to ting the step n If whe crea you goal you find an achieve your ep st at make th own d can’t do one, it ak re b goal and te ia ed rm ve te u’ in steps until yo into further k to then go bac achieved it, l. oa g your original Goal: Learn a walk–canter transition 1. Ensure that your horse is responsive and in front of your leg 2. Make sure he’s working into the bridle

2. Build confidence over a cross-pole

3. Compress his walk down into short, energetic steps 4. Ask for a walk–canter transition

3. Use a grid to improve your horse’s technique

If you’re going to set yourself a goal, it’s important that you have the skills to follow it through 4. Gradually increase the height of the fences

5. Give your horse confidence with fillers and other fence dressings that you might see in a competition arena

➤ HORSE&RIDER 63

How a wound

HEALS

Photos: Bob Langrish, Bob Atkins, Horsepix. With thanks to XLVets Equine for their help with this feature, xlvets-equine.co.uk

Horses tend to be accident-prone, which means that dealing with wounds is part and parcel of being a horse owner. Vet Sally Hodgson, from Hook Norton Veterinary Group, explains how wounds repair and how you can help the process

H

orses have an incredible ability to injure themselves on virtually anything and, quite often, the cause of a wound remains a mystery. But whatever the type, severity or cause, understanding more about how wounds heal will help you ensure your horse’s injury has the best chance of repairing as quickly and neatly as possible.

Types of wound

There are various different types of wound your horse can sustain. The most common include lacerations, puncture wounds and incised wounds. Other types include grazes, bruises, haematomas, contusions, complicated wounds and burns...

Our expert

Sally Hodgson BSc (Hons), MA, VetMB, MRCVS is a vet at Hook Norton Veterinary Group, a member of XLVets Equine. She has a particular interest in internal medicine, anaesthesia, lameness and rehabilitation after injury.

68 HORSE&RIDER

Wounds

l lacerations are when the skin is torn in an uncontrolled direction and are usually caused by blunt objects. A common cause of lacerations is getting caught in wire

l puncture wounds are when a hole is created in the body by a sharp object. A thorn penetrating the skin or treading on a nail are two common causes

l incised wounds are cuts with clean, straight edges, similar to a surgical wound, and are usually caused by sharp objects such as metal, glass or flint

Ask a vet

Skin deep?

A wound that goes all the way through the skin is described as being full-thickness. If it doesn’t go all the way through the skin it’s called partialthickness or superficial. Grazes and contusions are examples of superficial wounds, while full-thickness injuries include puncture wounds.

The healing process

For a wound to heal, three processes have to take place and they overlap in time and space – this means that different areas of a wound may be undergoing different healing processes at the same point in time.

1 The inflammatory and debridement phase. Any dead or dying tissue has to be removed and bacterial contamination or infection brought under control.

Inflammation is the body’s initial response to a wound and it brings immune system cells to the area to start cleaning up. This produces a thick discharge. Debridement means the removal of dead or damaged tissues. This phase may last up to five days.

2 The repair phase. Any tissue lost due to the wound is replaced in the repair phase.

This usually begins within 12 hours of trauma but can’t be completed until the debridement phase has ended. The time taken to repair the damage depends on several factors, including how much tissue has to be replaced, how good the blood supply to the area is, and how long the inflammatory and debridement phase lasts.

Lost tissue is replaced by a layer of granulation tissue that brings new blood vessels and specialised cells called fibroblasts, which make tiny strands of a type of collagen. The granulation tissue is quite weak until 5–15 days post injury, when it becomes much stronger.

Granulatio

A full-thickness wound

n tissue

l grazes are small, superficial wounds that only affect the top layer of skin.

They’re caused by abrasion from a rough, hard surface such as concrete

l bruises happen when tiny blood vessels are damaged, resulting in bleeding.

They cause skin discolouration, but the skin is intact.

Bruises are caused by a blow to the body or standing on something

l haematomas are swellings caused by a large volume of blood accumulating under the skin.

Similar to bruising, they’re caused by a blow to the body, but often with more force

l contusions are severe bruising with damage to the skin. A common example of this is when a horse has been kicked and the hair and top layer of skin removed

n

atio Epithelialis

3 The maturation phase. A new top layer of skin must grow across the granulation tissue – this is called epithelialisation. New skin cells must move inwards from the blood vessels at the edges of the wound. Epithelialisation is a very slow process – at best the new cells can migrate 1.5mm in 10 days.

As the new area of skin forms, the blood supply behind the healing edge decreases and the cells shrink and become more densely packed together, forming a scar. This process is called contraction.

Contraction contributes to the Contraction reduction in size of a healing wound by reducing the area needing to be covered by epithelialisation.

Wounds can’t heal without producing some scarring, however massaging the scar tissue using aqueous cream may Scarring help to reduce the final size of the scar. Wound contraction continues for months after the wound has closed over.

l complicated wounds include any type of wound that involves other structures as well as the skin, such as joints, tendons, eyes, or the chest or abdominal cavities

l burns often affect the top layers of skin, but in severe cases can extend to the structures below.

They can be caused by heat, extreme cold, friction, chemicals, hot water or strong sunlight

➤

HORSE&RIDER 69

! !) !.ƫ +./!Ē % !.ƫ ) # 6%*!ƫ+*ƫ/ (!ƫ*+3ē

$+./! * .% !.1'ċ +)ĥ/$+,