health & wellbeing
There’s a lot written about how to manage injuries – first aid, diagnosis, treatment options and rehabilitation, but the final stage of the process, bringing your horse back into work, needs just as much thought. Here Team McNab share their thoughts on the best ways to regain your horse’s fitness after injury and advise on some of the pitfalls to avoid along the way.
Back to work after
injury Team McNab Eventing advises
Injuries are an inevitable part of competing and after enforced time out of work; the rehabilitation process back to full fitness can be tricky. Finding the right programme, which is dependent on the type of injury, is crucial. It is important to work closely with your vet to decide when the time is right to start a horse back into a fitness programme and there are certain factors to take into consideration, such as how long the horse has been out of action, age, breed and how much fitness has been lost. This will determine how long the road back to optimum fitness is likely to take.
As competitive event riders, Kevin and Emma McNab know only too well the highs and lows of training horses and the disappointment so often felt when an injury ends a promising season. Here, they
offer their advice on bringing a horse back into work following an injury.
Consider your end goal. If you have a competition in mind, work back from the date of the event to build your regime accordingly. If you just enjoy leisure riding, the process is likely to be easier and more a case of building up the workload gradually. At the very beginning of the rehabilitation process, assess your horse and understand any weakness they possess as this will affect the plan. If your horse lacks muscle or is weak behind the saddle, more time will be needed to build fitness at a slower rate. Remember that warming up and cooling down is very important when building fitness, helping to keep your horse as comfortable as possible and muscles in the best condition.
The first few weeks must be
Welfare project helps more than 500 horses
Providing worming advice to over 500 horses was the contribution by Zoetis to a UK equine healthcare and castration project. Organised by the British Horse Society (BHS) and with vets provided by the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA), the project targets horses recognised by Welfare Officers as needing help.
Members of the Zoetis UK equine team joined volunteers from The BHS, BEVA and a number of equine welfare charities to attend special clinics around the UK over the past two years, in areas identified as having high numbers of horses that may benefit from additional support. Wormers were prescribed and administered by vets as part of a responsible worming programme. In addition attending vets provided a castration service to help reduce unwanted breeding and improve welfare. Horses were also given microchips and passports to help with identification and traceability. The sessioans have been instrumental in improving relationships with horse owning communities, giving them an approachable source of practical
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veterinary care and advice. Penny McCann, equine product manager at Zoetis said: “We are very proud to support these very worthwhile and well-organised clinics. Several different members of our equine team have attended over the past couple of years and have really enjoyed volunteering their time and knowledge to help make a real difference.”
Regaining optimum fitness after injury requires planning and time
spent slowly building up the cardiovascular work. Walking on roads helps to strengthen ligaments and tendons and hacking is preferred to schooling, as working in straight lines places less stress on the joints. Further into the regime, hill work can be incorporated as this is great for building fitness and increasing muscle on the hind quarters. After all, this is the engine of the horse! An ideal plan for an event horse returning to full fitness would involve one month of walking, one month of trotting before moving on to canter work in the third month. Kevin says; “When bringing any horse back from rest, always allow plenty of time to get them fit and allow an extra two weeks for any setbacks. Short cuts only lead to pulled muscles and more time off.
“Fitness is also about more than just building your horse’s stamina; it is a combination of work, grooming and feeding. It is vital to feed according to workload, gradually increasing the rations to meet the demands of the extra energy requirements. “Always check your horse’s legs before and after every exercise session, as this is the only way you will notice any changes. We use Koolpak from Robinson Animal Healthcare, which provides instant relief to legs, reducing heat and swelling with cold therapy.”
Robinson Animal Healthcare has a wide range of products for all your first aid requirements. Visit www.
robinsonanimalhealthcare.com
Getting technical this summer
The comfort of the athlete is always at the forefront of Ariat’s innovative apparel designs and during the summer months when temperatures rise, it is important that riders have the technology to maintain their cool and remain healthy in the saddle. The AriatTEK Heat Series has been designed to do just that, with the technology featuring in a range of Ariat’s products.
Ariat’s exclusive Moisture Movement Technology is
included in a selection of tops, perfect for the hotter weather, including the Tri Factor, Sunstopper, Cambria and Odyssey. This technology is designed to pull moisture away from the skin and in turn it evaporates through the fabric, keeping you dry and comfortable all day long. So don’t get caught in the heat this summer, when AriatTek can keep you cool.
Visit
www.ariat.com
Odyssey Seamless
Discussion to provide worming advice at one of the special clinics
Cambria Polo
www.theequinesite.co.uk
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