We bought the horses back into work with plenty of
time to spare this year. They have all
had a good month to six weeks walking and a month of lunging. If you talk to any Rugby
player or athlete, the pre-season is the most important time of the year for
gradually building up fitness along with good condition and strengthening so
the body is more capable to take the knocks and strains throughout the arduous
season. This, I think, is most important
for the racehorse and we learn all the time what to do and how to do it
better.
Firstly the horses have all
summered here well, turned out in the paddocks.
The grass in the area has not been as good as it has been in
previous years and (as with my local stock farm of young cows) we have been
feeding the horses ad lib hay whilst out in the paddocks, alongside a good
conditioning feed. This has greatly
helped the horses with the grass losing its quality slightly earlier this
year. It has also enabled me to train
them exclusively from the field for longer.
Only a few weeks ago have they started to come in at night and they are
still turned out for the day after exercise, all together.
One of the areas I am
concentrating on this year in the pre-season training is strengthening the horses’
back. I find this area to be one of the
weakest links in the racehorse, an area where racehorses commonly have problems
and an area that is often overlooked, which in turn can cause problems
elsewhere. A strong core and back, with
good top-line and muscle is key to starting the season off well, as muscle
protects the bone. If the horse is
guarding against back pain then very often other problems arise from this. So this year, after all the horses finished
their walking we lunged them all for several weeks. We have been given a wonderful, fully
sheepskin saddle which is incredibly soft and comfortable. The horses have really enjoyed working with
their heads down, opening up their backs and strengthening and building up
their muscles along their top line. The muscles along their hindquarters are
also strengthening and their core strength is building. I find lunging makes them more equal in
muscle strength from one side to the other. We spend equal time on both reins
and a bit like us, some horses prefer leading with their right or left leg and
muscle up unevenly accordingly. By using
the lunge equally I find they get used to having to use themselves better
throughout the whole of their bodies.
The horses are really enjoying
being out in the paddocks during the day and having a play (see the picture below). We have only had to
shoe one horse at the moment as he was getting more wear than growth and we
needed him to be comfortable in his work. We might find that he has grown
enough foot after a month to take them off again. Nothing is set in stone here and they are
here to race with or without shoes, dependent on the horse and every horse is
different.
Here are some pictures of the
horses being lunged and you will see that their heads are in a good position
and their stride is really opening up. The
sheepskin saddle being used is a CHRIST Lammfelle bareback pad, I have recently
ridden the horses in it. It is very
comfortable for horse (and rider!) and there are some excellent benefits from
using this bareback pad, in particular allowing the back muscles to work
without anything restricting them. We
are very lucky to have the saddle on the yard.
Gustav (left) enjoying a play in the paddock with Kavanaghs Corner
Gustav (above) lunging
Headly's Bridge (above)
Kavanaghs Corner (above)
Water Rail (above)
