A New Year, A New Plan. Resolutions for Equestrians
By Sarah Mesa for Equestrian Services, LLC
Lose weight. Get out of debt. Quit smoking. Everyone has resolutions for the New Year, and horse people are no different. Here are three of the most common equestrian-related resolutions and tips on how to follow through on them:
1. Find More Time to Ride
Everyone wants to ride as often as they can, but it seems like busy schedules, bad winter weather and other factors are working hard to keep you out of the saddle. However, snow, howling winds and late nights at the office do not have to keep you from improving your riding and exercising your horse.
Many riders think that only time in the saddle will improve their skills. However, fifteen minutes of well-planned exercises - mounted or unmounted-- can do more for your riding than an hour of trotting in circles. You are not going to make any improvements if you do the same things every time you ride anyway. And remember: practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect! Without a strategy and a clear idea of what your goals are, all the time in the world cannot help you become the rider you want to be.
Now is actually the perfect time to sit down and map out a game plan for you and your horse for the coming year. So the next time you just cannot muster the energy to spend a couple of hours at the barn, focus instead on one or two simple exercises you can do that will only take about 30 minutes, and work from there.
2. Improve My Riding
 To many equestrians, spending hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars on riding lessons and training fees every year is the only way to advance their riding skills. But that 60-minute lesson once a week will only get you so far. The things you do on your own and even out of the saddle can not only improve your riding, but also help you get past those frustrating plateaus we all find ourselves facing at one time or another. Do your research; read up and talk to your instructor or trainer to find simple exercises of increasing difficulty that you can practice outside of your lessons.
 In addition, many riders overlook the biggest contributing factor to improving their riding - physical fitness. What is the point of spending $150 to ride in a clinic with that top rider you idolize, if halfway through your lesson you can barely catch your breath, let alone master the new skills you are attempting? Regular cardiovascular exercise - walking, biking or aerobics-- can all help you build up your endurance.
Staying flexible gets harder the older you get. But loose, limber muscles help keep your body supple. That suppleness is what lets you isolate certain muscles and relax in the saddle, and it enables you to refine your aids. Yoga, which has become increasingly popular recently, is an excellent and gentle way of improving your flexibility.
Talk to your doctor to determine your current level of fitness and develop an exercise routine that will not only improve your riding, but also increase your energy and help keep you healthy.
3. Keep My Horses from Draining My Bank Account
Hay, grain, vet bills, farrier bills, new tack, fixing old tack . the list of ways to spend money on your horses is never ending. Careful annual planning and smart choices can save you from unexpected cash flow problems.
 Taking care of your equipment, for example, will make it last longer, saving you more trips to the tack shop. If you have a leather saddle and bridle, regular cleaning and conditioning will keep the leather from cracking and breaking, so make that part of your new year's resolutions. And learn to do it right; the biggest mistake people make is over-oiling their tack. Too much oil can actually dry out the leather, causing it to wear out faster.
Also, instead of spending your money on expensive conditioners and shampoos to keep your horse's coat shining, focus on proper nutrition. A healthy diet will do more for your horse's appearance than ten bottles of Show Sheen!
Emergency vet bills can be the biggest hit to a horse owner's wallet, but daily maintenance and a watchful eye can prevent a lot of problems. Make sure fence rails are in good condition and your pastures are free from debris that can cause injury to your horse. Daily grooming is an excellent time to do a quick check of your horse. The more familiar you are with your horse's body, the sooner you will notice any irregularities.
Following these simple steps can not only help you keep your resolutions, they can also make 2006 a better year for you and your horse. Happy New Year! |
 Old Man Winter vs. Your Horses: What You Don't Know Will Hurt You
by Alejandra Abella, Project Director, Equestrian Services, LLC
Winter is a tricky time for horse owners, so now that the old man has come to visit, let's do a quick review of the items we should have planned for in preparation for his arrival, and a few of the things we can still fix!
Planning is the Key
As it is always when it comes to horses, planning is the key to success and planning begins with the design of your equestrian facility.
Designing your barn with indoor and/or close access to water is paramount, and building in water systems that lead directly to each stall make life a lot easier in the winter. That is because in cold climates, locating your water source away from your barn translates to walking over snow -or worse-sheets of ice to get to your water. In addition, when the ground freezes so does your hose, which means you have to lug its dead weight to and from the spigot, drain it after each use and then store it somewhere warm. Once you have paid for a chiropractor visit or two, as well as the hospital bill for your broken leg, you will realize that the expense of bringing the water in to your barn was well worth it!
 Speaking of water, make sure the naturally falling variety has a place to go! Check the state and location of your barn's gutters and downspouts, because melting winter snow and ice can drive a river through your barn access or worse.into your stalls! If you did not do so to begin with, designing a course for water to follow before winter comes and the ground hardens (ever try digging a French ditch out of frozen-solid earth?!) is of the utmost importance, as is reinforcing or engineering the ground where water must absolutely pass.
Manure can become another problem in winter, especially for small operations that may be used to spreading almost as they pick. Even if you have enough non-pasture land to spread your manure (and this is the only safe way to spread!) snow and ice can clog a small spreader's gears. Therefore, if you had not planned for a manure shed you now probably have an unsightly mountain of manure sitting somewhere in or around your barn. And for big operations that have their manure hauled away, planning is still important when it comes to winter access because manure hauling trucks need engineered surfaces and good access to get to your manure shed come rain, snow or sleet!
Which brings us to the bigger issue of access. Even if your horses are on pasture most of the year, come winter you will most likely need to feed hay, which means you need good access for those heavy, long delivery trucks. Driving over your pasture or lawn to get to your hay shed may not have caused too much damage before, but on a wet winter day those trucks can leave deep tracks on the dirt or worse, become stuck. Of course they must also be able to turn around without damaging structures, but this access issue can affect your vet, your farrier and your trailer too year-round, so good access routes should be built into your farm planning and design.
For the Good of Your Horse
 Ahh, the beauty of winter with its cozy afternoons in front of the fire and the soft cashmere sweater your grandmother knit for you. We all try to escape the winter cold and replace it with warm, fuzzy memories, but doing the same for your horse can make winter feel more like that hot place down below with the guy in the red outfit with the pitchfork and the bifurcated tail.. you know the place. And so does your horse if you are over-blanketing him! Horses that are allowed to grow their natural winter coats are happiest at temperatures of about 30º to 50º F, as they have their own warming mechanisms with two layers of fur and a middle, insulating layer to trap warm air. Blanketing a horse too early in the season will inhibit this natural coat growth, and heavy blankets that are never taken off will matt down the hair, crush the insulating layer and cause rubs!
Water, as always, is of great importance to you horse. In fact, it is the absolutely most important nutrient and the risk of dehydration is as high -if not higher-in winter as it is in the heat of summer. So make sure you provide your horse with consistent, clean, and tepid water, because many horses will not drink cold water, or will drink less of it than they should. And make sure that you have consumption meters on automatic waterers; an electrical short in your heated waterer will scare horses away from drinking or your horse may be ill and not drinking enough. Catch this before it leads to colic!
 Finally, make sure your horse receives enough turn-out in the winter. We tend to overprotect our horses and leave them inside, but harmful ammonia fumes can build up in stalls very quickly, and closing off ventilation sources to keep the cold out can be very harmful to your horse. If you are afraid about horses slipping and sliding, the best solution is to take their shoes off for the winter (plus, it gives the hooves a rest and time to recover from all that shoe-nailing!) or, if they absolutely must be shod, you can use petroleum jelly or non-stick cooking spray on their soles (not the shoes!) to keep snow and ice balls from forming. But adequate turn-out should always be a concern and a priority, and your horse will thank you for it.. ever seen the first thing your horse does when he is let out onto fresh snow? That's right, it looks fun because it is.and healthy, too. Old Man Winter can be your horse's friend, instead of his foe, the more you know.
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