Equestrian Tales

A horse who had just undergone a colic attack or colic surgery needs nutrient for healing and immune function.

But feeding them too much might increase the chance for intestinal shutdown and colic relapse or for breakdown of the abdominal incision. It is advised that horses be given with only water and possibly intravenous fluids.

Horse shows held all over the globe with a very wide range of guidelines, equipment, events and clothing used. These are the most common types for horse shows:

• Equitation, sometimes called seat and hands or horsemanship, refers to events where the rider is judged on form, style and ability.
• Pleasure, flat, or under saddle classes feature horses who are ridden on the flat (not jumped) and judged on manners, performance, movement, style and quality.
• Halter, in-hand breeding, or conformation classes, where the horse is led by a handler on the ground and judged on conformation and suitability as a breeding animal.
• Harness classes, where the horse is driven rather than ridden, but still judged on manners, performance and quality.
• Jumping or Over Fences refers broadly to both show jumping and show hunter, where horses and riders must jump obstacles.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestrianism

One of God?s beautiful creations is horses. Here are some interesting things I?ve gathered about them:

1. There are more than 350 breeds of ponies and horses can be found

2. If you want to know how old a horse is, all you need to do is to count its teeth

3. 10 Pounds is the weight of a horse?s heart

4. A horse is able to drink 10 gallons of water per day

5. Horses spend more energy lying down.

6. Horses usually live for around 20 to 25 years. Some of them can live up to 5 years more.

7. “Samson,” was the tallest horse recorded.

8. And my favorite fact: After being born, it only takes a foal about 1-2 hours to stand up and walk.

Now, imagine us, humans, are like them. Then we wouldn?t have to crawl for the next 9 months or so after we are born. How cool could that be?Image source: www.buzzle.com

The next thing that we can do is to explain terms such as the pace time. The pace time is the ideal time to safely but quickly ride the set trail. When the competitors arrive they send out teams of two or three to ride the trail. Checkpoints set along the ride ensure that the riders are staying on course and are not overworking their horses. Each group of riders is timed. Riders are penalized for either riding too fast and beating the pace time, or too slow and taking longer than the pace time. The group to come closest to the pace time wins the competition.(Source:Wikipedia.org)

A hunter pace is a form of competition involving horses and riders. In a hunter pace a trail is marked for horse and rider to follow. On the day of the competition, early in the morning, the hosts of the event send an experienced horse and rider to ride the trail as fast as it is safely possible to do so. This morning ride is called “the dead body run”, and it establishes two things: 1. that the trail is clear and safe for the competitors and 2. The “pace time”. These will be further expounded, well kinda, on the next entry. Source:Wikipedia.org

In spite of popular myth, most modern “broncs” are not in fact wild horses, but are more commonly spoiled riding horses or horses bred specifically as bucking stock.

Bronc riding – there are two divisions in rodeo, bareback bronc riding, where the rider is only allowed to hang onto a bucking horse with a surcingle, and saddle bronc riding, where the rider is allowed a specialized western saddle without a horn (for safety) and may hand onto a heavy lead rope attached to a halter on the horse.

Bull Riding – though technically not an equestrian event, as the cowboys ride full-grown bulls instead of horses, skills similar to bareback bronc riding are required.

(Source:Wikipedia.org)

The pace race is a commonly used term in equestrianism. But what really, is this simple term all about? A competitive pace race is a timed race in which the objective is not to finish in the least time, but to finish within the prescribed time and in the best physical condition. In some races, the prescribed time is very narrowly defined and the winner is the competitor who finishes closest to the prescribed time. In other races, the prescribed time is a window and competitors who finish outside the window (too early or too late) are penalized or disqualified.

One of the ways you can take care of your horse is to give it a fly repellent to make it more comfortable. The exact ingredients differ depending on the rider, but here’s a basic recipe for a natural fly repellent.

A mixture of olive oil that fills 3/4 of a large glass jar and with a head of crushed garlic is left to sit for about a week or so. Seal the lid well, and shake the mixture well every now and then. When applying to the horse, use a foam brush to brush the solution around the eyes and in the ears, the latter as a prevention for the horse contracting ear gnats. The solution may also be applied between itchy teats. Remember to change the solution at least every 6 months, due to it becoming rancid over time.

The equestrian events organizer, British Eventing has placed their proposed move to a new and independent office on hold as the recession takes hold allowing them to save some cash that was supposed to be allocated for the said project. Reasons were mainly financial but there have been criticism from former top executives and members of the committee who have been asking the feasibility and cost of such a move by their group. The recession is taking its toll and nobody wants to spend a ton of money merely to move into an office they can call their own. Currently, BE is sharing its facilities with the British Equestrian Federation, the move would have given them independence and sole use of facilities at their proposed new location which would greatly solve their problem for space and the lack of it.
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Imagine the humiliation of a bronze medal winner from the 2008 Olympics in horse riding, Norwegian Tony Andre Hansen when his medal was revoked and he was suspended from the sport till early next year due to a detection of a banned substance on their animals. The substance was capsaicin, a derivative of the chili pepper plant that is used to relieve muscle pains for horses. This is also used by horse riders to train their horses to jump higher, placing it under their belly making it very uncomfortable for the horse thus reinforcing it to jump higher every time it misses a jump. The case was deemed as animal cruelty and thus resulted in his title getting stripped and a fine was issued to the said rider. He was one of four riders found to have the banned substance on their animals which the IOC tested for several banned substances, taking samples before the event. The sheer number of tests that were done, for both humans and animal participants and the ensuing investigation is why the verdict has only now been made known assuring the rights of animals and the equal protection they are getting from the Olympic governing body. Poor equines!