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Monday, December 3, 2007

Horse Health Topics Headline 2007 Adequan/USDF Annual Convention
By Lynndee Kemmet for DressageDaily.com

Interested in attending the lectures presented at the 2007 Adequan/USDF Annual Convention? You will be able to view all content on DressageTrainingOnline.com very soon. Stay tuned to DressageDaily for details as they come.

Conditioning and Rehabilitation Also Get Attention at the Adequan/USDF Annual Convention Educational Sessions

A fit horse is less prone to injury and that was one of the key messages Dr. Hilary Clayton sought to impart during her lecture on “Conditioning the Dressage Horse.” However, when horses do suffer from injury or illness, Kirsten Johnson, of the Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center in Versailles, Kentucky, has a process for returning them to health and the performance arena.

Dr. Clayton provided information on a number of approaches that can be used to develop the fitness of dressage horses, but she warned that not every approach fits every horse. “Conditioning approaches are specific to each horse,” she said. “You take away from each approach what is appropriate for your horse.” Among the things riders and trainers should consider when developing a fitness program for horses is the age, medical history and current condition of the horse, the sport in which the horse is involved and also the level of competition.

Regardless of fitness program chosen, Dr. Clayton emphasized that conditioning work must be consistent, meaning not done once in awhile but on a regular basis. Fitness work must also be increased gradually and allow time for recovery. In other words, after a day of heavy fitness training, do a day or two of an easy work-out, a trail ride or simply turn-out. “What I do not mean by an easy day is a day standing in the stall,” Dr. Clayton said.

A good rehabilitation program considers every piece of the horse puzzle, Johnson said. For this reason, the rehabilitation program at KESMARC involves everything – teeth, feed, feed, bedding, exercise – name it, it’s covered. “Our goal is to send back a horse that is not only ready but wants to be back in work,” she said. Attention to every detail of the horse’s care and recovery is the hallmark of KESMARC’s rehabilitation program.

Rehabilitation also involves prevention. That is, preventing the initial problem from recurring. “We need to address horses in a more proactive way,” Johnson said. “Before we send a horse back with its trainer we get with the trainer and ask ‘when did things go wrong?’ Horses need to be watched very closely when they reach the point in their training where it went wrong before.”

Johnson is a strong believer in the ability to return most injured horses to a performance level. When someone tells her something can’t be fixed, she doesn’t believe it. Through good daily management and care, a positive working relationship with veterinarians and farriers and the use of supportive therapies, such as water therapies and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, KESMARC’s rehabilitative process has worked miracles, Johnson said.