Tabla de contenidos para August 2018 en Practical Horseman

Competing as a Junior rider (many years ago!), I thought I didn’t have much riding talent and that everyone at the stable was better than I was. Needless to say, this attitude didn’t do much for my confidence. After one particularly bad round, I remember sitting in a deserted stairwell crying and debating whether to just give up. But I didn’t. I loved horses, riding and competing too much. So I kept working hard and got better over time with lots of practice and good instruction. By the time I moved into the amateur division, I was consistently riding over courses without any major bloopers and won a fair share of ribbons, all while having fun—my own brand of success. I thought of this while reading Olympic eventer Phillip Dutton’s…

It’s most hunter riders’ nightmare: the long approach to a single fence. This question can be found at the beginning, middle or, most often, at the end of hunter courses at every level. For the horse, the long approach can be tricky if it’s going into or away from the in-gate, encouraging him to rush toward home or be sluggish going away. But this course element is mostly a rider challenge. With so much time to think about how things are going, what you should be doing or not doing and how you will find the distance to the fence, it’s hard to resist the temptation to do something. Most often, riders interfere with the horse too much. They change the rhythm, move forward or come back because they have…

You’ll see a lot of professionals showing off a good gallop on the long approach, especially when it’s the final fence on course. If you do it well, you can be nicely rewarded by the judges. It’s tricky, though, so make sure you’ve mastered opening that stride smoothly at home before showing it to the judges. The gallop must match the rhythm of the canter used throughout the rest of the course. You don’t want to have a slow rhythm the whole way around, then all of a sudden shoot off like a rocket. It’s not a free-for-all gallop. Your horse’s frame and your leg, seat and rein contact should stay the same even as he’s opening up his stride to cover more ground. You still want a consistent rhythm…

The Irish are known for their bold style of cross-country riding, and Joseph brings that boldness to the way he teaches as well. While honing his own mental strength with the help of Olympic performance psychologist Charlie Unwin, Joseph mastered the art of quickly and effectively building trust with students and then finding the precise moment to push them. It’s not a question of whether or not riders will be pushed out of their comfort zone when riding in one of Joseph’s clinics—they absolutely will. One would think this is a big ask in a 90-minute cross-country lesson, but time and time again Joseph had riders tackling tricky questions and jumping technical combinations they never thought possible. I am one of these success stories. As an adult amateur eventer, I…

▪ Post emergency contact information for your vet and farrier in the barn and save it in your phone.▪ Know how to take your horse’s temperature, pulse and respiration and be aware of these typical resting vital signs. “We do resting TPRs for every horse in the barn and those should be posted in every barn or in a notebook,” says Samantha Burton Henley, facility manager at Sandy River Equestrian Center.▪ Check your first-aid kit monthly and toss out and replace expired medication.▪ Replace anything you take out of your first-aid kit as soon as possible.▪ Educate yourself. Make sure you know how to use everything in your kit or have your veterinarian show you. Practice wrapping your horse’s leg before a stressful emergency situation.▪ Keep your horse’s health records…

□ CHECK OUT Practical Horse man’s lead-up coverage to the FEI World Equestrian Games™ (Sept. 11–23 in Tryon, North Carolina) all during the month of August. Announcements, photos, exclusive interviews and more will be featured on Prac’s social-media channels and its website; www.practicalhorsemanmag.com. □ WATCH as ponies and riders from across the country compete for hunter, jumper and equitation championship titles during the USEF Pony Finals, Aug. 7–12, in Lexington, KY; www.ponyfinals.org. □ FOLLOW Prac Associate Editor Jocelyn Pierce as she competes in the longest and toughest horse race in the world, the Mongol Derby, Aug. 8–17. Go to www.mongolderby.com for live tracking and updates on the race’s 40 participants as they cover some 600 miles of rugged Mongolian terrain on native horses. For daily reports on Jocelyn, go to www.practicalhorsemanmag.com. □…

No-Bulk Belt If you’re tired of belts adding unwanted bulk to your breeches, Unbelts has a solution. Created to fit standard belt loops, these stylish belts are 1½ inches wide with a1/8-inch-thick metal buckle in a custom design. They sit flat with no waistband gap and nothing poking out of your jacket. Available in an array of colors to match all your show outfits, they are also one size fits all, adjusting from a girl’s size 6 to a woman’s 24. In addition, these belts are machine-washable and come with a “500 wash and wear” warranty; $35; www.unbelts.com. Novel Noseband With the Tota Comfort System Drop Noseband, the bridle cheeks are moved off the delicate nerves and bones of the horse’s face, shifting pressure away from the poll. The curved…

Mandy Porter’s career cake is spiced with appearances at three World Cup Finals and three Nations Cups. The icing is 13 grands prix wins over the past 18 months. But her resume doesn’t reflect the horsemanship—and compassion—that happen between the wins. That story is told in a quiet stall in Wilsonville, Oregon, where Mandy traveled 1,045 miles to spend a final moment with her retired grand prix star and 2007 and 2008 World Cup mount, Summer. The Belgian Warmblood mare had sustained a pasture injury that left euthanasia as the most humane option. “Mandy wanted to say goodbye,” says the rider’s longtime supporter and Summer’s owner, Barb Ellison, who “can’t say enough nice things about her. But probably the most telling thing is that she flew up here to say…

Thirty-year-old Nick Haness has a varied and impressive résumé. A southern California native, he made his mark as a talented catch rider and mostly self-funded equitation star as a Junior. Proceeds from developing young horses and investment prospects enabled him to go pro at 18. He has since established himself as one of the national A-Circuit’s top hunter trainers and riders and a coach to several winners in the Junior and Amateur divisions. His Hunterbrook Farms is based in Temecula, California. To learn more about Nick’s story, go to practicalhorsemanmag.com/lifestyle/nick-haness-triple-threat.…

A hoof problem might not always warrant an emergency call to your vet, but you want to have supplies on hand to deal with the situation. It is not uncommon for horses to lose shoes in the field or while being ridden, but in some cases the shoe will become loose or twisted on the foot. If that happens, bring the horse inside and call the farrier to come and remove the shoe. However, if the horse is standing on a clip it is important to remove the shoe as soon as possible. “The danger of standing on a clip is that it can come in contact with the coffin bone, depending on sole depth and placement. At the very least it usually causes a hoof abscess,” says Sarah Feathers,…

No matter how extensive your first-aid kit is, it should never replace a call to your veterinarian in an emergency—or even if you’re not sure if you have an emergency. Serious symptoms like puffy eyes, sudden lameness or reluctance to walk, profuse bleeding, breathing problems and signs of colic (such as pawing, depression, excessive sweating, etc.) always warrant an immediate phone call. “My personal preference is always a phone call,” says Sarah Feathers, DVM, of Great Valley Equine Veterinary Services. “That doesn’t mean the vet has to come out. Just describe the symptoms. If you can handle it, great. If not, I’ll be there.”…

Ward, Stewart Make History At Devon For a record 10th time in his career, McLain Ward, riding Clinta, won the $250,000 Sapphire Grand Prix of Devon CSI*** at the 2018 Devon Horse Show in Pennsylvania. A victory in the grand prix is always special for Ward because the event is named for his legendary Olympic mount Sapphire, who won it in 2007 and 2009 and was retired in Devon’s Dixon Oval six years ago. In this year’s late-May event, five horse-and-rider pairs from a field of 31 moved on to the jump-off, but Ward and his new mount, an 11-year-old Oldenburg mare, produced the fastest trip at 36.91 seconds. “She’s been incredible,” Ward said of Clinta. “We’re very excited about her.” Adrienne Sternlicht, who is trained by Ward, came in…

Big wins have put Mandy Porter in the national and international spotlight many times throughout her career, but developing young horses at home and up the levels on the show circuit is the bread and butter of her business. Breeders are a consistent source of horses and she helps them as a rider and an advocate. Serving on various young-horse development committees over the years, Mandy works with industry stakeholders to promote domestic breeding and affordable ways to develop the horses they produce. Discounted young-horse stabling and entry fees, initiated on the West Coast by Blenheim EquiSports show management, are “fabulous,” Mandy asserts. “It’s important because we have some good breeding here. To encourage people to want to buy horses here, we’ve got to have a way to produce them.”…

Rider stamina and fitness play a role in the execution of a long approach to a single fence, especially when it is placed at the end of the course. Sometimes a rider gets tired at that point and can’t keep her leg on to maintain the stride or a straight track. Especially if you can’t ride every day, do some form of fitness work that increases your stamina and builds core strength. Core strength helps you be totally in balance with the stride you’ve set for the course. Often it’s a brain fitness issue. Even though you don’t want to fixate on the fence, the long approach demands that you focus on what you’re doing and keep your nerves under control. Ours is a mental sport and game. Working with…

Irish Olympian Joseph Murphy, 41, grew up in Mullingar, Ireland, playing Gaelic football and didn’t start riding until he was 16 years old. He developed his bold cross-country style while catch-riding with the Westmeath Fox Hounds, later earning his jockey license and winning point-to-point races. It was only when he met Danish event rider Dot Love that he started eventing. Joseph competed in his first three-day event in 2003 when he was 27 and made it to his first CCI**** eight years later in 2011. Since then, he has completed 20 four-star events with multiple top-15 finishes at Badminton, Burghley, Luhmühlen and Pau. Joseph has represented Ireland at four European Championships, the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 World Equestrian Games. Now based in County Down, in Northern Ireland, with…

Esco Buff, an accredited professional farrier with both the American Association of Professional Farriers and the American Farrier’s Association, believes that every farrier, regardless of his or her specialty, should know how to do balanced trims, regular nailed shoes and glue-on or tape-on shoes, which don’t require nails driven into the horse’s hoof. Several of his own interns want to be farriers who only trim hooves, but they have the knowledge to make an educated evaluation of an animal and determine whether he needs shoes. If they can’t do the job themselves, they refer the horse to someone who can. Online resources can help you find a farrier in your area to trim or shoe your horse correctly. The American Farriers Association (americanfarriers.org) has a directory of members by state.…

Emergency situations can happen anywhere, so consider packing a duplicate travel kit that has basically the same contents as your at-home kit. You could store it in the tack room of your trailer or another easily accessible area, such as your barn tack room, so you can grab it and put it in your truck before a trip. The kit could be organized into a similar transportable container as your home version or you could even keep everything in a duffle bag as long as it stays in a weatherproof location to keep all the contents clean and dry. Having two complete kits can be pricey to stock, but you’ll have a better chance of having all the supplies you need in an emergency.…