Some of my favorite cavalletti exercises #3

We are now beginning to transition from the basics to the intermediate.

These are some useful distances between elements of a double, triple or combination:

                                     Pony                                         Horse
Approach at Canter: 
    Bounce                 10-12'                                       11-14'
    One Stride            21-24'                                       24-26.5'
    Two Stride            31-34'                                       34-36'


Approach at Trot: Between Jumps 1 and 2
Bounce                    9-10'                                         9-11'
One Stride               16-18'                                       18'
Two Stride               30'                                            30-32'

                           Between Jumps 2 and 3
One Stride               19-21'                                        21'
                           Between Jumps 3 and 4
One Stride                20-22'                                       22-24'

Trotting Pole Distances:
       Pony                  4-4.5'
       Horse                4.5-4.75'

Placement Poles:
Trot Approach:   9' from base of fence
Canter Approach: 19-20' from base of fence

Average stride length:
                                Pony                                 Horse
Trot                       3.25-4.75'                      4.5-5'
Canter                   Varies by size                  9'-12'

In the Warm Up Ring-Jumpers

Everyone has their own warm up routine before they enter the ring with their horse, and I know that every horse is an individual and requires different things. This being said, I've found a routine that I've had several of my trainers follow with small variations on the theme to suit the individual horse.
The routine goes something like this:

• Walk 7-10 minutes to warm up
• Trot-5-10 minutes to loosen up and become supple
• Canter- 5 minutes- bend side to side to supple and then extend down the long side, shorten along the short side and incoportate several fairly small circles, then extend again down the long side. (This is an exercise that has been practice while schooling at home and will increase your horse's ability to "explode" from a tight turn which will gain seconds during a jump off.
• Now, you are ready to jump. The flatwork portion is to warm your horse up, loosen and supple him and make sure that he is awake before you begin jumping.
• Cross rail or small vertical
• Make the vertical a bit bigger
• Small oxer
• Larger oxer
• Back to a Vertical to finish- this will sharpen them up in front

Some trainers, depending on the horse, want the horse to finish with a rub before entering the ring so that the horse jumps with a bit more effort once in the ring. This will depend on the natural carefulness of your horse. This works very well with some very sensitive horses who are naturally careful because they remember the rub and end up jumping their little hearts out to avoid the rub once in the ring.

To create the rub or the fallen rail, place the top rail of the last vertical just off the cup on one or both sides, usually "wind" from the horses' jump will be enough to knock it down regardless of them touching it.

If you are lucky enough to be called back for the jump off, don't overdo the work you do between your first round and the Jump off.

Preserve your horse's energy and keep things short. Remember, they've already been warmed up and jumped, so now just wake them up and fine tune.

I prefer to do this with a short canter around to make sure that they are awake- maybe another round of "explode-come back".

Finally, I might angle a vertical to make sure that they are willing to take the jump on a slice. Then off to the ring I go!



Tisolde winning the Classic in Jacksonville in 2007



Some of my Favorite Cavalletti Grid Exercises #2

As promised, I will be doing 4-5 exercises a week. Currently, we are still on the basics.

Basic Cavalletti Exercises #2

So everyone loves chrome, but how do you keep it Bling-tastic for the show ring?

We read this little tip in the Chronicle of the Horse about a year ago and used it on our Alla 'Czar mare Czola who has two very high white socks and a white blaze when she went to the BWP-NA Inspection for her Hunter Book approval and it worked like a charm. Fortunately, she is one of few horses we have at the moment that has a significant amount of bling, but should we have more with high socks and blazes, we'll be using this trick each and every time.

What you'll need:

1. Clippers with a #40 blade



Czola after the BWP-NA Inspection

2. Box of Corn Starch
3. Water
4. Bucket
5. Towel
6. Hard brush

What to do:
(1 month before the show)

1. 1 month before the show, clip the white socks with a #40 blade. This will allow the starch to stick and dry more effectively.

What to do:
(Day before the show)

1. In a bucket mix Corn Starch (you will use at least 1/2 the box- the full box, depending on how much white you are working with) and Water until it forms a thick paste
2. Slab it on the high whites, like you would a poultice. Don't worry too much about getting it beyond the white areas- this can be taken care of easily the next morning.
3. You can either leave it open to dry or you can wrap the legs over night to dry as you would a poultice

What to do:
(Day of the show)

1. Use a hard brush to chip away the crust of corn starch that remains (make sure to get it all)
2. Use a damp towel to go along the borders of the white areas and along any stray corn starched areas that aren't white

The End Result: Sparkling whites that will repel dust and ensure that your bling stays bright for your time in the spotlight.

Czola after the BWP-NA Inspection

Some of my Favorite Cavalletti Grid Exercises

Every few blog posts I will be posting a Cavalletti Exercise guide (5 Exercises at a time) that can be printed out and kept on hand for those that have access to cavallettis. I cannot stress enough the importance of cavalletti and grid work for your horse and invaluable skills that can be fine tuned with their use, no matter how green or advanced the horse.

Enjoy!

Cavalletti Grid Exercises: Basic #1

Click to Enlarge

*Next time: Cavalletti Grid Exercises: Basic-->Medium

Horse Care Tip #2: So your horse has a tendon injury...now what?

So your horse has just been diagnosed with a tendon injury. This dreaded news may make some think that it is the end of their horse's career, but it doesn't have to be. In this blog, I will share with you the rehabilitation program that Sakura Hill Farm has used to successfully return performance horses back to full work and continue their careers in sport.
The vet will more than likely suggest an alloted time for stall rest (with or without hand walking) depending on the injury.

Other treatments may be suggested, such as Stem Cell Therapy, Shock Wave and Ultrasound Therapy. You may, like us, decide to invest in owning or renting a very expensive machine called The Game Ready Machine.

  We are firm supporters of this machine and have used it along with our program to rehabilitate successfully several soft tissue injuries. The machine combines intermittent compression with circumferential cold, which aids in reducing swelling, speeding up recover time and preventing further tissue damage. To read more about The Game Ready Machine, please click here.

So what happens now that your horse has been stall rested and is ready to begin back into work? The following rehabilitation program was suggested to me by Director of the Mount Holyoke College Equestrian Center and daughter to a soft tissue specialist at the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School.

What I was told was that the crucial concept of the rehabilitation program is that *WALKING IS ESSENTIAL TO RECOVERY.*

After stressing the tissues through trotting or cantering, walking allows for the tissue to recover, heal and regenerate. The way I think of it is  by visualizing a rubber band that you are trying to fit around something. If you stretch it too hard too fast, it will break. If you stretch it only a little it bounces back. What you need to do is stretch it just enough that it doesn't break, but it retains its length, becoming more and more pliable every time. In order to do this, you must slowly stretch it and let it bounce back, stretch it a bit further and let it bounce back until it retains its new length without breaking. The key here is to let it bounce back, or in relation to the horse, return to walk for a period of time.

Another way to think of this concept is when you blow up a balloon. Have you ever blown up a balloon and you blow and blow and then you hit a point where it becomes very easy to blow it up to completion? Well, that point is hard to reach, but once  reached the rest comes more easily. This analogy stresses that the start of the rehabilitation program is the most crucial.

So how is it done?

 The seriousness of the injury and length of time  the horse has been stall- bound and out of work will determine whether or not each stage is completed within 1 week or 2 weeks but for the sake of this blog entry, let us assume that the horse has been stall bound for a long period of time (90 days) and is not only being returned to work to rehabilitate the injury, but must also be building fitness and therefore is going through each phase at 2 week intervals (a very conservative approach) In other words, approximately 4 months. If you are taking the "Fast route" for a more minor injury, it would take approximately 8 week before resuming jumping.

• Week 1 & 2:   walk 10 minutes, trot 5 minutes (split between both directions), walk 10 minutes=25 minute session

• Week 3 & 4:   walk 10 minutes trot 5 minutes (one direction), walk 10 minutes, trot 5 minutes (the other direction), walk 10 minutes (notice that the trotting has doubled in time, but so has the walking).=40 minute session

• Week 5 & 6:   walk 10 minutes, trot 7 minutes, walk 10 minutes, trot 7 minutes, walk 10 minutes=approximately 45 min session

• Week 7 & 8:   walk 10 minutes, trot 10 minutes, walk 10 minutes, trot 10 minutes, walk 10 minutes=50 minute session

• *Week 9 & 10: walk 10 minutes, trot 15 minutes, walk 10 minutes, trot 15 minutes, walk 10 minutes, canter 5 minutes, walk 10=65 minute session (once you reach 15 minutes of trotting each direction, you may introduce 5 minutes of cantering)

• Week 11 & 12: walk 10, trot 15 minutes, walk 10 minutes, trot 10 minutes, walk 10 minutes, canter 10 minutes, walk 10 minutes= 75 minutes *(notice that the second set of trotting decreases by 5 minutes as the cantering sessions increase by 5 minutes)

• Week 13 & 14: walk 10 minutes, trot 15 minutes, walk 10 minutes, trot 5 minutes, walk 10 minutes, canter 15 minutes, walk 10 minutes=75 minutes

• ***Week 15 & 16: walk 10 minutes, trot 15 minutes, walk 10 minutes, canter 15 minutes, walk 10 minutes=60 minutes (this resembles more or less a normal workout and can be considered completion of the program.)

Now you can begin to slowly introduce jumping.

With this program and the use of our Game Ready Machine after each workout, we have had no re-injuries and all of the horses returned to full work. Obviously each horse is an individual and must be treated as such. Pay attention to their fitness- some horses may not be able to endure 25 minute sessions from the beginning--it is up to the rider's discretion to determine how fit your horse is and how to moderate this program to fit each individual situation.

Good luck and I wish your horses a speedy recovery!


Oilily VDL on a walking trail ride (a great way to keep them mentally happy while rehabing)



Training (Tack) Tip #1: For a little extra umph, when you need it.

While riding in England with Olympian Tim Stockdale I learned some  insider training tips from him which I will  share with you in this and upcoming blogs.

TIP: Save the open front hind boots for the big classes.

At home we tend to not use hind boots at all on our performance horses, unless they have specific interference issues. If they do have interference issue, we use regular fetlock boots such as These.

For the big money classes, when you need that extra little something to ensure that the back rail of the oxer stays up, you might try using open front hind ankle boots such as These. For sensitive horses, the elasticated strap is milder than some of the other boot alternatives, however it might not be enough for the less sensitive horses.

Tim preferred this brand of open front fetlock boots for his big classes, the Veredus  Pro Jump Fetlock Boots. The straps of these boots weren't elasticated and therefore could be pulled quite tight to make the less sensitive horse kick out the little bit extra.

            Monica & Tisolde competing at Jacksonville with her full length hind boots.