Tabla de contenidos para May 2018 en Practical Horseman

6 Things to Do in MAY ◽ JOIN some 160,000 spectators at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, May 2–6, in South Gloucestershire, England. The world-class four-star event attracts top competitors from around the globe; www.badminton-horse.co.uk. ◽ CHEER ON student athletes as they vie for team and individual titles at the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association National Championships, May 3–6, at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA; www.ihsainc.com. ◽ EXPERIENCE the pageantry of the Run for the Roses, May 5, as Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY, hosts the 144th renewal of the Kentucky Derby. A field of 20 Thoroughbreds will thunder 1¼ miles around the racetrack during this first leg of the Triple Crown; www.kentuckyderby.com. ◽ ATTEND the annual Virginia Gold Cup steeplechase classic, May 5, in The Plains,…

1 This is a very tight, secure rider with a beautiful release. Her heel is down and her ankle is flexed. Her toes are turned out, close to the acceptable maximum 45 degrees. This allows for a viselike grip in the calf, but more recently we’ve modified the leg for more suppleness. Also, her stirrup iron is more in the middle of the ball of her foot, instead of the more typical one-third of her toe in the iron, though this is acceptable on cross country. She is dropping back with her buttocks a little close to the saddle. Her seat should be slightly more out of the saddle so that she can maintain her balance throughout the arc of the horse’s jump. Her posture is beautiful, and we can…

Any activity involving horses will always carry an inherent amount of risk. Add in the element of galloping a horse at speed over solid cross-country obstacles, and eventing carries one of the highest risk levels for serious injuries and fatalities among all equestrian sports. Statistics gathered over the last two decades have painted a disturbing picture. Since 2004, the Fédération Equestre Internationale reports that 14 event riders around the world have died at international competitions due to fatal accidents on cross country. While the FEI only reports fatalities that occur at international competitions, the website horsetalk.co.nz has tracked 38 riders around the world who have died from accidents during both national and international events for the same time period; it lists another 17 riders who have died in eventing since…

Your horse is plainly not himself. He’s gone from perky to plodding in work and he flinches and pins his ears when you groom him. Last week he seemed a little off in front. That lameness improved, but now his hocks seem stiff. What’s going on? A tiny tick could be the cause of his problems. Ticks, blood-feeding relatives of spiders and mites, can transmit serious diseases through their bites. In this article Linda Mittel, DVM, senior extension associate with Cornell University’s Animal Health Diagnostic Center in Ithaca, New York, helps explain what you need to know. Horses are susceptible to two serious tick-borne diseases that are widespread in the United States, Dr. Mittel says—Lyme disease and equine granulocytic anaplasmosis. We’ll cover both as well as equine piroplasmosis, which is…

“I’m passionate about fire rescue and EMS [Emergency Medical Service]. I enjoy helping people. As far as eventing, the organizers put so much into the events to make everything the best they can, and the volunteers are the backbone that make that happen.” Greek philosopher Aristotle famously pondered that the essence of life is “to serve others and to do good.” Lifelong horseman Mike Smallwood, of Dickerson, Maryland, embodies that concept as a selfless volunteer. He has served his local community as a volunteer firefighter for more than 20 years and donates even more of his spare time to support equestrian competitions along the East Coast by volunteering in whatever capacity necessary. After logging 221 volunteer hours at United States Eventing Association recognized horse trials in 2017, he was rewarded…

Eventing is a strange business. We do it for one simple reason—cross country. Yet in order to enjoy those wonderful competition moments at the gallop, we spend endless hours trotting in a circle in search of the elusive 10 on a dressage movement or vainly looking for perfect strides in an imperfect show-jumping world. Most eventers gladly pay this price to finally go cross country. The irresistible thrill of galloping across open fields and over jumps on a horse who loves the sensation as much you do makes any price seem small. But here’s why I say eventing is a strange business: Cross country is the most fun of the three phases, the hardest to learn and entails the most risk, yet we practice it the least. In addition, many…

Picture yourself approaching a maximum Advanced-level drop: 6-foot-7 inches. As you get close to the edge, it looks 10 times bigger than it did when you walked the course. But your horse takes two shuffling steps, then bends his knees and hocks to crouch his belly down toward the ground before dropping softly over the edge. As his front feet leave the ground, his body tilts underneath you like a teeter-totter—his front end rotating downward while his hind end rotates up. There’s a bit of a jolt on landing, but not so much that you can’t reorganize your reins quickly and steer toward the next skinny element of the combination, which your horse hops neatly over. Throughout the entire experience, you sit quietly in the saddle, keeping your legs closed…

Corneal edema is an eye condition that can cause a horse significant pain and even reduce vision. The cornea is the clear, dome-shaped surface covering the front of the eye; its tissues are arranged in five layers. Normally, fluid leaks slowly from inside the eye into one of those layers, called the stroma. The innermost layer of the cornea—the endothelium—pumps the excess fluid out of the stroma. But when the endothelium gets damaged and stops working correctly, the cornea fills with water and swells and corneal edema occurs. Until recently, there were few options for horses suffering from this condition. When cornea didn’t respond to medication, veterinarians could treat the horse for pain but couldn’t halt or reverse the problem. Then veterinarians Nicole Scherrer, DVM, and Mary Lassaline, DVM, PhD,…