Why is Common Sense not Common?
By P. Ann Turner
I must be getting old or something, or maybe it is just from being born in Jamaica, but why do people nowadays complicate their lives and the care of their horses beyond belief? It turns into a “storm in a teacup” scenario, where things are wildly going around and around, with no end in sight and the horse takes the fall for all of this.
Let me explain. If a horse has issues under saddle, before the owner thinks about whether or not the horse is sore, they change trainers, buy a $5000 custom saddle, a newfangled bit or some other training gadget like bungee reins etc., In my school of old British Pony Club, we were taught to “eliminate physical cause first”. So we checked the horse all over for soreness, we checked the teeth, feet, saddle fit and looked for signs of injuries or trauma – heat, swelling and cuts before we called out the heavy artillery! For instance, if a horse has a muscle imbalance – say shoulders that are unlevel, the gait will not be smooth and they will have a hitch in their giddyup. So why not do something about leveling out the shoulders, like bodywork, stretches and work over poles and hills before you buy a new saddle with shims that will shift and bruise the horse over time?
Then there is the feed. Oats and barley have been fed to horses for millennia – they have found oats in the stomachs of mummified Roman warhorses – so why all of a sudden a fascination with highly processed foods full of hydrogenated fats which the horse cannot digest or metabolize? Why do we think that the scientists in the lab know more than the animal themselves? I have fed a very basic diet to all my horses for 40 years – flatted oats and barley, flax, salt and a good vitamin/mineral supplement and I have NEVER had colic, laminitis, founder, insulin resistance, PSSM or hock injections. I rode a Secretariat grandson 6 days a week, drug free for 6 years and short listed for the Pan Am games in 1990. The only reason I am saying this is to let you know that I have done heavy duty competition and am not just a backyard trail rider whose horses never worked hard. How many people these days can say they are at the top levels of competition drug free??
I have a pet peeve about the new slow feeding hay nets – as I see the frustration in the horses that have them. Yet another gimmick – I have owned and cared for literally hundreds of horses of all breeds from ponies to draft crosses over the years, and if the horse’s appetite is satisfied, they do not rush their food. And I do not mean quantity of food, rather quality; it’s the difference between eating cornflakes and steak.
IF you are working hard you will really feel the difference. If a horse’s appetite is satiated they will not gobble their food. Even my half draft got decent hay morning and night – only one flake and the rest was the Jenny Craig hay to keep him at a good weight, but I certainly never frustrated him with fighting all day to get enough to eat.
It’s an interesting dilemma we have today, the more technology we have invented for ourselves, the more health problems and issues with our horses we seem to have. What’s wrong with this picture? Thirty years ago nobody had heard of an insulin resistant horse – now it’s an epidemic. Same with cancer and other illnesses in humans – in my mother’s day, a person with cancer was one in thousands – so where have we gone so terribly wrong? We need to get back to Mother Nature and listen to her. WE need to try and eat non GMO food and the same with our horses, it’s hard I know. Even the hay is modified for dairy cattle so we have to be diligent in our search. I always get my hay tested for sugar, as I would prefer higher protein and lower sugar, but I have not changed my horse’s diets in 35 years, except to lesson or increase the quantity for breed, size, personality and work load. Some horses and ponies can be grain free, but they cannot be mineral free, so I make sure they get supplements – as it’s not in the hay anymore – in a handful of bran or something to make it easier to digest. And by the way, I never feed dry grain, my oats and barley are always soaked to dissolve the salt and minerals, but also to prevent it swelling in the horse’s stomach and causing colic.
So before you got out and spend thousands of dollars, ask yourself “is this really necessary and how do I feel about doing this?” IF you don’t feel right, learn to trust your gut and your horse will thank you.
Ann Turner is Jamaican born of Scottish descent. She ran a 35 horse riding/training barn in Jamaica in the 1980’s and is now in Canada, where for 10 years, she owned and operated Wit’s End Farms, an Equine Rehab facility with her husband Anthony. Ann is now operating her new business called Ann’s Horsemanship which is a culmination of 40 years experience as a certified CHA Level 2 Coach and Equine Sports Massage Therapist, rider, trainer and clinician. She has been a keynote speaker at several horse symposiums, the most recent being the International CHA conference held in Lexington at the Kentucky Horse park. Ann travels and teaches, and you can also access her for Skype sessions. For more information, visit the website: www.annshorsemanship.com
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