Tonight I have been accused of making comments that are quite ambiguous and potentially quite damaging because I shared science based research that found that exercise/ training programs in a young horse had benefits to skeletal development. I have since shared further articles that have shown that there are also benefits to the cartilage in response to early exercise, and that tendons are at less risk of damage due to work prior to maturity than after. Amidst my reading I have found what I always thought to be so - loaded activity is of great value to strengthen musculo-skeletal tissues. Such knowledge is of great importance to any horse person who wishes to train a horse from beginning to end, who wishes to enhance the ability to maintain soundness in their horse throughout training, and to know that they have given their horse the best chance possible of being strong enough for the work of training under saddle. A horse was not meant to live in a stable or a yard, nor a 3 acre paddock, it was meant to live somewhere where it could graze huge areas, where it could run, dodge obstacles, spin, jump logs and creeks, play with herd members, rear, buck, pig-root, and travel a minimum of 10km per day. Our management inherently makes them weak, hence they must do something from a young age - and the younger the better. Take your young horse out with others on trails - lead it, it does not have to be ridden,free jump your horse, push it down lane ways, make it run on varying terrain. Keep your young horse as physically active as possible to enhance the strength of their bones, joints and muscles. Let them do a bit of tear and repair - and then when you complete their initial training and put them into work under saddle you will know you have given them the best start possible. You would not like your human children to sit in the lounge room until they are fully grown, so why do you lock your horse up in a small yard until it is and argue with people who suggest this is not the optimum? I ask you what is the difference?
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 12:06:36 +0000
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