My biggest mistake was listening to others about how I should be treating my horse, and how to continue his training. I look back and think, “What was I thinking for listening to them?” To this day, still see mistakes in their methods. I’m glad I woke up one day and started listening to my horse.
Karissa Wozniak, via Facebook

Not reading the labels your horse’s grooming products. Whether dilute in water before application or use gloves. Read the label and directions; it might save you hours of working up a lather … with conditioner. It takes longer to wash it all off then it did to lather.
Brooke Anderson, Texas

The biggest mistake I ever made was getting so caught up in moving up the levels and training that I forgot why I did it anyways. I lost that feeling you get when you accomplish something and the moment you cross the finish line after a clean cross-country and you feel as if you are walking in the clouds. Don’t ever lose that relationship with your horse where you are simply inspired by riding them and the partnership you have built. Because at the end of it all, whether you win or lose, you have a best friend for life who will try their heart out for you. ENJOY THE MOMENT!
Bobby Ann Christensen, via Facebook

Trusting someone else to feed my horses.
Elizabeth Brix, via Facebook

An acquaintance fed her horse’s hay on sand = sand colic.
Sally Weaver Lampson, via Facebook

Leaving my horses in someone else’s care and they ended up starving him... needless to say I care for my horses now and they never miss a meal.
Cayln Elliott, via Facebook

Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.
Natasha DeFeudis, via Facebook

Not having enough patience. It is easy to get frustrated on a bad day with your horse, but anger and violence never work with horses and never will. Its important to learn how to step back when you start to get angry and re-evaluate the situation and try to find a positive way to get your point across.
Maria Strong-Zupan, via Facebook

Never let anyone ride your horse! No matter how experienced they say they are!
Cheryle Klein, via Facebook

Not trusting my gut as to what was right for my horse. I am his voice, and I must speak up for him.
Trish Muskus, Florida

Having a “trainer” tell me how to ride/ fix problems on my horse when she was too afraid and inexperienced to ride her own horse. Once I saw her in action at her barn, I began to realize she had no idea what she was doing.
Dee Kellner, via Facebook

From a trainer’s point of view, I have learned to take boarders that trust in me that I have their horses and their own best interest at heart, listen to what my team (vet, farrier) says and take a consultation lesson with me before they make the move. Not everyone “meshes” and it’s a big decision.
Tulip Pond Farm, via Facebook

My biggest mistake was using a General Large Animal Veterinary Practice. Although the primary veterinarian was a well-respected horseman, his partner was not. A dog ran into the arena and started chasing my colt. He broke free and jumped out of the arena and slammed into the barn wall! He took a couple of seconds to get up. My least favorite vet that showed up. At the time I thought we did proper treatment. We did take x-rays, but he did not recommend splinting. Later he called and told me that the x-rays where okay. I did ask him to get his partner to look at them, but I didn’t hear anything. By Saturday night I was greatly concerned and I called in an Equine Specialist. Repeat digital X-rays did show a fracture! With his age, there was a decent chance with surgery. But this colt had heavy halter breeding, so his weight at that time was a concern (over 650 pounds). After a stiff splint was applied we drove him the 2 hours to the recommended University, but too much damage had been done and they we not able to approximate the fracture. Hard lesson learned, I should have immediately called the Equine Specialist when the Cow Vet showed up! To this day I only use Equine Vets and refuse to allow any vet I don’t trust on my property.
Jan Makens, via Facebook

My biggest mistake was not knowing the signs of Cushing’s disease. Neither the vet nor farrier caught the signs of foot trouble and thyroid issues (although they were separate from the Cushings). He went probably more than a year untreated. If I had known the symptoms, I would have gotten him tested. His last four years were very expensive, but I learned so much about him and diseases and ailments that I wouldn’t have given it up. He ended up passing (via euthanasia) last March because his arthritis had gotten too painful after three months of quarantine due to Strangles... But that’s another lesson.
Gina Hoeft, via Facebook

Pay the veterinarian. Other opinions are just that.
Kevin Cottrell, via Facebook

My biggest mistake in horse care when I was starting out was not finding a great coach to show me the way. If you work with the wrong people and don’t ask questions, you do yourself and all your horses a big disservice. Safety is overlooked, nutrition can be overlooked and bad habits are developed. My advice is to find a great coach or mentor who is certified or highly qualified to show you the ropes, so you don’t miss out on the right experiences.
Claire Ziff, Alberta

Read more answers to this question in the June 2013 issue of Practical Horseman magazine.

Liv is the founder of Professional Equine Grooms, an organization that seeks to inform and educate the horse world about professional horse grooming while providing ample resources for grooms. Liv began grooming professionally in 2006 and has ridden in a variety of disciplines, including hunters, jumpers, cutting, reining and dressage.

An overnight downpour has turned the trails to mud. You know you’ll be cleaning horse and tack if you go for a ride, but your horse is eager to stretch his legs, and you want to get out, too.
However, you can avoid one thing—that muddy, dirty tail. A simple mud knot will keep your horse’s tail relatively clean and protect it from anything the rain has turned into a tail-catcher.
Here, Andrea Scott Klug, who teaches, trains, and rides hunter-jumpers in Bradbury, California, shows you her step-by-step method for tying a secure mud knot.

Step 1. Holding the tail in your left hand, put your right arm underneath the tail.

Step 2. Loop your right hand back over the outside of the tail in a clockwise direction, and bring your hand underneath the tail so that the tail is looped around your lower arm.

Step 3. Hook the end of the tail between the first two fingers of your right hand, and pull the end through the opening you’ve created with your arm in slipknot fashion.

Step 4. Give a jerk on the end that’s still in your right hand to tighten the knot, which at this point should be about four inches below the end of the tailbone.

Step 5. Fold the knot that you’ve created up to the end of the tailbone, wrapping the end of the tail around the tailbone and tucking it in.

Step 6. Finish the job by putting a rubber band or tape around the tailbone at the top of the knot.

• Before you start grooming, wrap the tail in a damp tail bandage to help keep
  the hairs lying flat along the root. Slide it down to remove it when your grooming
  is finished.
• Work on the body and neck with a curry to break up dirt, then use a hard brush or vacuum to remove deep dirt.
• With a hot towel, rub the coat and "back comb" the mane in order
  to lift dander from the roots.
• Comb the mane to the right side and pull any straggly hairs.
• On the face, legs and body, use a soft brush and rub-rag to lift surface dirt.
• Maintain the bridle path, muzzle hairs, ear edges, forearms and cannon bones,
  as well as the pastern and fetlock areas with regular trims.
• Attend to the feet: Clean, brush and apply dressing to the sole, heel and
  wall of the foot. Don't dig too deeply into the sole or use dressing so often
  that the hooves become soft.
• Carefully clean and dry the pasterns and under the fetlocks because dirt concentrates
  in these areas and scratches can occur.
• Spray coat sheen in the tail daily and pick it free of tangles and debris.
  Do not brush it.
• Maintain a trimmed and banged tail to accent the hindquarters.

In warm weather

• Clean between jawbones and under the belly because these are favorite areas
  for bugs.
• Check the mane and tailbone for ticks.

In cold weather

• Consider body clipping horses in training so that when they sweat, they don't
  have cold, wet hair on their warm muscles.This article first appeared in Dressage Today magazine.

Q: If a mare with neurological problems gives birth, will the foal mimic her odd behavior? This is an ongoing debate at our barn. Some people are theorizing that as mom walks, baby walks, and as mom eats, baby eats. I understand that some foals, however, can be born with neurological diseases. Can you help us settle this?

A: Although it is true that foals sometimes mimic the behavioral patterns of their mothers, those born to mares with neurological issues generally do not imitate those deficits. At our neonatal intensive care unit, we have delivered many foals from mares who were afflicted with equine0 protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), one of the more common infectious neurological diseases seen in horses. These foals do not display any of the neurological signs their mothers do.

However, foals can be born infected with organisms that cause neurological disease that are passed down from the mother. For example, studies show that one of the organisms that can cause EPM, Neospora hughesi, can be transmitted via the placenta to the fetus carried by some naturally infected mares; however, the foals who were found to be infected with the protozoa did not necessarily demonstrate neurological signs for up to three months after birth. Likewise, transmission of the highly contagious equine herpesvirus type-1 (EHV-1) can also occur from the dam to the fetus via the placenta, but while these foals are born with EHV-1 in their bloodstream and various organs (lungs, liver, thymus), the majority of them do not show any neurological signs.

The most common cause of neurological disease seen in the newborn foal is neonatal encephalopathy. This can occur when the fetus is deprived of oxygen in the womb because the placenta is not functioning properly, usually because of a bacterial infection (placentitis). In cases like these, the foals are born with neurological abnormalities, such as incoordination and lack of the suckle reflex. Neonatal encephalopathy may also develop in foals who are deprived of oxygen for too long during the birthing process, as we often see with difficult deliveries (dystocias); these foals generally do not develop neurological signs for up to 18 to 24 hours. In both scenarios, the lack of oxygen leads to fluid accumulation in the brain tissue (cerebral edema), and damage may also occur to other organ systems, such as the kidneys and gastrointestinal tract. The prognosis for these foals is generally very good if they are treated early and appropriately.

Rodney L. Belgrave, DVM, DACVIM
Director of Internal Medicine
Mid-Atlantic Equine Medical Center
Ringoes, New Jersey

As a horse grows older, his needs can change rapidly. Before you fall into your warm-weather routines, give your aging horse a once-over to make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep him healthy and happy. Here are some areas to assess:

1. His coat. From 60 to 70 percent of horses over the age of 20 develop pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID, or equine Cushing’s disease), and one of the most noticeable signs is a winter coat that does not shed out normally. Contact your veterinarian if your horse’s coat remains long and shaggy well into spring. If he is diagnosed with PPID, the condition can be controlled with the drug Prascend, but for this year you may need to clip him to make him more comfortable.

2. His joints. Over time, most horses develop some degree of osteoarthritis. Overworking an arthritic horse aggravates the pain and stiffness of sore joints, but too little activity isn’t helpful either. Moderate exercise stimulates circulation, strengthens muscles and helps keep his weight under control. In addition, your veterinarian may suggest medications to ease discomfort and aid healing and/or supplements formulated to support joint health.

3. His teeth. A horse who has diffi-culty chewing hay or feed is at risk for a number of ills, including colic, malnutrition and choke. Regular dental examinations--ideally every six months--will identify and address issues such as uneven wear, cracked teeth and gum disease before they take a toll on a horse’s ability to eat.

4. His body condition. Keep tabs on your horse’s body condition and consult your veterinarian or an equine nutritionist if he’s getting too fat or too thin. Many older horses benefit from switches to easy-to-chew forages and/or higher calorie senior feeds. Implement any changes slowly to protect his digestive health. Also ask if your horse might benefit from a supplement. A number are available that can add vitamins and minerals to his ration as well as support joint and digestive health.

5. His feet. Make sure your horse’s farriery regimen is still appropriate. Does he still need shoes? Is going barefoot still the best for him? Also consider whether his feet are getting trimmed often enough.

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue #427.

Carrots, apples and peppermint candies will pique the interest of most horses who like treats, but there’s no reason to stop there. Just for fun, try experimenting with other tasty tidbits your horse might like as an occasional snack.

• Fruits: bananas, watermelon rinds, mangoes without the seeds, grapes, raisins, fruit juices

• Vegetables: peas, green beans, lettuce, celery, pumpkins

• Other: bread, bagels, cake or pastries (without chocolate, cinnamon or poppy seeds); pretzels, corn chips or potato chips; pasta; eggs; dried pinto, red or fava beans (but these are better cooked); beer

To be safe, cut or break treats into pieces of two inches or less; offer no more than one or two bites of a new snack on the first try, and then never feed more than two pounds at once. Also avoid offering sweet treats to obese horses or those with insulin resistance.

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue #427.

This is a story of a stupid mistake---one that led to a terrifying accident that could easily have cost my horse’s life. I still get anxious thinking about what happened that day, and part of me would like to forget it entirely, but I think it’s important to share my story. My goal is to remind people not to fall into bad habits or to forget that horses---even those you know and trust---are large, powerful and unpredictable animals.

My husband, Kurt, and I own a few acres in Columbia, Missouri, that gives us just enough space to keep a small herd for our family to enjoy. Our setup isn’t fancy, but it serves us well.

For my birthday one year Kurt built me a small but cozy barn that included one very large 10- by 20-foot stall and a smaller 10- by 10-foot stall. The walls are four feet of tongue-and-groove boards topped with vertical metal bars. The gaps between the bars are small---only 2  inches---but they allow plenty of light and air to flow through.

At the time of the accident we owned three horses: Cloud, a registered Quarter Horse gelding; Britches, a 12-year-old Haflinger gelding; and Jiffy, a 3-year-old Welsh pony cross. I’d bought Cloud just a year before; I’d been looking for a smallish, well-trained, unflappable horse, and he was a perfect fit. He was years younger and only slightly taller than Britches, so I didn’t anticipate my new horse would have any problems settling in. I was right. Britches took an immediate liking to Cloud, and they became good friends.

During the day, the three horses could come and go into the barn and stalls at will. I’d often find Cloud and Britches dozing together in the larger stall. To accommodate them at feeding time, I hung grain tubs at opposite ends of the larger stall and one in the smaller stall, for Jiffy, and I’d let Cloud and Britches eat their meal together.

Occasionally, I’d lock the two of them in the stall together for short periods of time--never longer than it took to receive a hay delivery or mow the fields. Neither horse had ever shown any aggression toward the other, and the stall-sharing arrangement worked well.

Until one day, it didn’t.

One Saturday morning in September 2009 I went out to await a shipment of hay. To get the horses out of the way I dumped a handful of grain into each corner feeder. Just as he always had, Cloud walked into the large stall and went to the far corner to
eat. Britches ambled in after him and went to his own corner, while Jiffy headed into the small stall. I then closed both doors.

Moments later I heard a horrible ruckus, and I spun around just in time to see Cloud kicking out at Britches with both hind legs. The kicks were high and powerful. There was no doubt he meant business. As Cloud backed up to take aim again, the pony scooted out of his way.

Cloud’s next kick missed Britches and landed squarely on the stall bars, four feet above the floor. His left rear hoof struck the metal with such force that it bent the bars just enough to allow his foot to slip through. His leg immediately dropped to the surface of the wooden wall, leaving Cloud standing on three legs, with his left hind stretched backward and upward, his hoof trapped between two thick metal bars. It happened in a split second.

Cloud panicked. He lunged forward and back, trying to pull his hoof free. With each attempt to back up, he pushed his leg into the adjacent stall almost to his hock. Then he’d scramble forward, scraping his skin down to the fetlock. Each time he lunged, it seemed he could rip his foot right off. It was horrifying to watch, and I was sure he was going to break his leg.

Two factors probably saved Cloud that day. One was that I had my cell phone in my pocket, and the second was that Kurt was home. He came running from the house as soon as I called him. I opened the stall door to let Britches out and tried to calm Cloud from a distance, but I didn’t want to get too close. He was wild-eyed with fear and pain.

With one glance at the situation Kurt sprinted to the garage and came back with a pry bar to widen the gap for Cloud’s foot. But he couldn’t get the leverage he needed to bend the bars.

Cloud’s panicky, crazed lunging continued, and his leg was becoming a bloody, raw mess. I feared he was stripping his flesh to the bone.

Kurt then ran into the adjacent stall and grabbed Cloud’s trapped hoof. I have no idea how he managed to hold onto it as Cloud continued to struggle, but he did. Arm muscles bulging, he lifted the gelding’s hoof high enough to reach the slight gap where the bars had been bent by the impact of the kick. Lifting the leg to such a steep angle must have caused Cloud intense pain. But with a mighty shove, and aided by a final lunge forward, Kurt forced Cloud’s hoof back through the bars.

The leg had been trapped for maybe 10 or 15 minutes.

Damage done
Cloud stood alone in the large stall, holding the injured limb in the air, his blood streaming down and pooling on the stall floor. With shaking hands, I called our veterinary clinic, and within 15 minutes Tawna Purcell, DVM, arrived at the farm.

Purcell listened carefully to our account as she examined Cloud’s leg. Then she gave him an injection of a sedative, xylazine. If his leg was injured and he placed his full weight on it in a fit of panic, he could make the situation much worse.

Within a few minutes, Cloud relaxed and rested the hoof gingerly on the ground. Purcell gave him an injection of phenylbutazone to control his pain and the inflammation, then she palpated and flexed his leg, looking for any indication of fracture, such as an area of extreme swelling or tenderness. Nothing made her immediately suspect a bone or joint injury, although that didn’t mean he didn’t have one; if he did, it just wasn’t obvious.

Next she began cleaning Cloud’s wounds, which, it turned out, looked worse than they actually were. In fact, most were just superficial abrasions that hadn’t removed any more than the top layer of skin. One deeper cut midway between his hock and fetlock gaped open and bled freely, but no bones or tendons were visible.

By the time Purcell was finished, Cloud’s leg looked much better, and he was bearing weight on it, but we were not yet out of danger. Cloud showed signs of pain as his fetlock joint was flexed, which, Purcell explained, might indicate some fractures in the area. Another possibility was that he avulsed a collateral ligament of the fetlock joint---in other words, pulled the ligament free from the bone. She took a series of radiographs of his pastern, fetlock and cannon bone to view later at the office.

Purcell covered Cloud’s wounds with Thermazene, a silver sulfadiazine-based antibiotic wound cream, and wrapped his leg from hock to hoof. Then, to protect his lower leg in case he had sustained serious bone or tendon injury, she used layers and layers of padding to create a thick Robert Jones bandage. She also applied a standing wrap to support Cloud’s uninjured right rear leg--sometimes, horses who injure one leg and are forced to bear a disproportionate amount of weight on the opposite side may develop laminitis in the “good” foot. Purcell left me a tube of phenylbutazone with instructions to continue administering it over the
coming days.

Rest and recuperation
Within an hour Purcell called to say that the radiographs showed no evidence of fractures or avulsions. That was wonderful news. But she did warn me that Cloud might have strained his ligaments by pulling so hard with his leg locked in such a high position. She suggested I keep him in his stall and leave the bandage on until she returned on Monday morning. I was to remove the bandage only if I saw any swelling of the leg in the region above the wraps.

Cloud was miserable confined to his stall. I spent most of the next day with him, brushing his beautiful coat, combing his tail, feeding him carrots, and wondering whether he would recover. I examined the leg above his hock so many times, I think I burned the image into my retina. The more I looked at it, the more I imagined it was puffing up. But Kurt, who came out to check on us four or five times that day, reassured me that the leg was not swollen.

Purcell removed the thick bandage when she returned on Monday morning, which was a bit dicey because the gauze pads were stuck to the wounds, but Cloud didn’t put up much of a fuss. I then walked him carefully around the exam area. To everyone’s relief, he was reasonably sound, considering what he had been through.

After examining the leg again and watching him move, Purcell said she doubted Cloud had sustained any serious injuries to his bones, ligaments or joints. His slight lameness, she said, was most likely the result of lingering pain from sore muscles he’d sustained during his struggle against the bars.

Still, we weren’t entirely out of the woods. As Purcell rebandaged Cloud, she said that we would have to wait to see if he developed a bony sequestrum. Sometimes, she explained, significant trauma bruises and kills a portion of a bone, which separates from the parent bone. The body treats that fragment of dead bone as a foreign object and tries to get rid of it--the signs are a horribly swollen leg and lameness that develops anywhere from one to three weeks after the initial injury.

The only treatment for a sequestrum is to surgically remove the dead bone fragment. Although Purcell assured me that the procedure is fairly straightforward and usually successful, we both hoped to avoid this complication.

Full recovery
Cloud was unhappy the next day, Tuesday. He’s not accustomed to confinement, and he paced in his stall all day. I gave him all the good-quality hay he wanted, but I could see that he was already losing weight.

Purcell came back on Wednesday to change the bandage. She had offered to show me how to do it myself, but I was too afraid I’d miss something, or wrap him too loosely or too tightly. The visit went smoothly, and Purcell told me I could begin hand-walking Cloud twice a day, which would help him cope with stall confinement.

She returned again late the next day and was pleased when she removed the bandage---the abrasions were healing nicely. She rewrapped both hind legs with plain standing wraps and turned Cloud loose in the ring for the first time since his accident. He cantered and bucked and had a great time. He was still noticeably lame at the trot, but Purcell said that was not surprising. He was probably still sore.

It was now up to me to take on cleaning, medicating and rewrapping Cloud’s leg every day. His wounds continued to heal well, and he was getting sounder, although I worried he was getting depressed because he couldn’t yet join his herdmates.

Purcell returned for a follow-up check when Cloud’s injury was two weeks old. The skin was nearly healed, but he had developed a two-inch horizontal crack on the outside of his injured hoof. Purcell explained that a cut on the coronary band probably disrupted the hoof growth in that area for a short time. She told us to keep an eye on the crack, but she suspected it would grow out of his hoof without causing any real troubles.

Cloud was still slightly “off,” but Purcell suggested I start light riding so he could stretch and strengthen his sore muscles. That Saturday and Sunday, I got on Cloud bareback and ambled quietly around the ring. On Monday, I trotted him under saddle, and he was sound.

We still had a few anxious weeks ahead of us, waiting for the dreaded sequestrum to appear, but Cloud continued to stay sound. Our farrier kept a close eye on the hoof crack, but it required no special treatment as it progressed down his hoof over the
following months.

Three years later, the only tangible reminder of that terrifying day is a single, very small scar midway down Cloud’s back leg. But we cannot forget what could have happened: If Cloud had slipped and fallen while trapped, his leg could have snapped, or he could have dislocated joints, torn ligaments or stripped flesh down to the bone.

We were very lucky, and for that we remain grateful.

Why did Cloud attack Britches? We’ll never know. But one thing is for sure: I’ll never again make the mistake of putting two horses in the same stall, no matter how friendly they are.

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue #427.

Recently, a friend told me she was having trouble finding a trainer to start her 9-year-old horse under saddle. One refused to take on the horse without giving any reason, then another told her that horses were no longer trainable after they turned 9. This surprised us both: Neither of us considers a 9-year-old horse to be “old.”

I am well aware of the prejudice against training older horses who’ve never been ridden or those still considered “green.” However, as founder and president of Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society in Waco, Texas, I have had the opportunity to work with such horses, and I can assure you that there’s no particular age at which it’s too late to start a horse. They’re all individuals---some young horses can be quite a handful, while some older ones settle right into their new jobs.

In fact, I’ve found that most older horses are more than capable of learning new skills or unlearning bad habits. Plus, they offer some important advantages that younger horses do not:

• Unless they were abused or totally neglected, older horses---even the untrained ones---often have a “been there, done that” attitude that enables them to stay calm in new situations. They’ve seen more of the world than younger horses have, and this, in many cases, allows your training to progress much more quickly.

• The personality of an older horse is already defined, so you know what you have to work with. However, this does mean that you need to carefully evaluate the personality of an older horse before committing to him, because he’s not likely to change. For
instance, work and experience may help eliminate spookiness, but an older horse who is more reactive and hotter than others will probably stay that way.

• Older horses have reached their full height, and any conformation problems will have shown up already. You won’t be left guessing what they’ll look like when they’re done maturing.

• The mental maturity of an older horse gives him a longer attention span. He’ll retain more from longer, more in-depth training sessions than a younger horse would.

• In most parts of the country you can probably acquire an untrained older horse for free or nearly nothing. Once you’ve invested your time in training, you may end up with a much nicer horse than you could normally afford.

Also remember that, thanks to improved nutrition and veterinary care, a horse in his late teens or 20s these days can still be in great physical shape. Riders who don’t mind putting in a little effort can often get a nice horse that they can enjoy for many years, for very little money.

Considering all of this, I would encourage anyone with time and training experience to take a chance on a slightly older horse, even if that horse has no or very limited experience under saddle. There are, however, a few things to keep in mind. First, make sure that your horse will be physically capable of participating in your chosen discipline (see “Health Check,” page 64). Then, consider whether you have the time, patience and experience you’ll need for the type of older horse you’re considering: There’s a huge difference between an older horse who has never been handled, one who has been handled badly, and one who has been handled well. Although I believe that any horse can be trained, some will take longer than others.

To help illustrate the challenges and rewards of working with older green horses, here are a few examples of some I’ve met who have gotten fresh starts later in life.

Jericho: Overcoming poor handling
Jericho was about 15 and still a stallion when he was discovered wandering back county roads. We can’t say for sure that he was abused, but it was clear that whatever handling he’d had wasn’t consistent. He had learned to get his way by pinning his ears and snapping. After he was gelded, his foster caretakers had to act as if he’d never been trained at all to relay a foundation of respect, working hard to establish good manners on the ground and to teach him that biting isn’t acceptable. Because he was so set in his ways, it took many, often trying, weeks to work through his bad habits. But once he was behaving better in hand,a trainer was able to begin preparing him for work under saddle. Jericho is ridable, and because of that it will be easier to find him a stable home, but he’s probably always going to be a handful, so he’ll need to be placed with experienced handlers.

The difficulty you’ll have training an older horse depends in large part on the handling he has previously received. Three types of handling in particular may increase the training challenge.

• Harsh discipline--immediate, forceful punishment for any misbehavior---may not necessarily be abusive, but it can produce a timid horse who is scared of making mistakes. He may be constantly waiting for you to come down hard on him, and it can take months of consistent, kind handling before he begins to trust you. This type of horse often benefits from a lot of handling on the ground before he’s started under saddle. You still need to discipline misbehavior, but you also need to give the horse a chance to do well and reward him promptly when he does the right thing.

• Inconsistent handling often results in a spoiled horse who doesn’t know how to behave. Although these horses were sometimes disciplined for poor behavior, at other times they were allowed to have their own way without consequences. These horses will try your patience with repeated attempts to test their limits. They benefit from consistent handling during groundwork to teach them that misbehavior is always disciplined but that good behavior is also rewarded.

• Abused horses are the hardest to train. Fortunately, outright abuse, where the horse has been repeatedly beaten or even tortured, is very rare. Some horses fight to save themselves in the face of abuse, and it can be hard to stop fighting. They’re the ones who become dangerous to handle: Their immediate first reaction to anything they don’t like is to kick, strike or bite. If you find yourself with a horse like this on your hands, seek professional help. It takes a lot of consistent and careful handling to help these horses overcome their past, and they can be dangerous until they learn to trust humans again. Occasionally, a horse like this has been so traumatized that he can never recover.

Other horses react to abuse by shutting down emotionally and not responding to anything. They simply stand and take whatever their abuser dishes out. One effective approach is to simply spend time near these horses without handling them, and then to work with them consistently on the ground. The length and degree of the abuse these horses endured will affect how long it takes them to begin trusting you.

Windy: An adorable blank slate
Windy, a pinto pony---probably about 10 years old---was halter broke when she arrived at our rescue, but it was clear that that was about the extent of her training. She was spoiled and pushy, and she had most likely always gotten away with her bad behavior because she was so cute and little.

Our trainer spent several sessions just teaching her ground manners, but once Windy got those down, her training went quickly. Because she had seen more of the world, she was quieter and more settled than a younger horse would have been, and she adapted quickly to work under saddle. It didn’t take many months before Windy was ready to be placed with a family, and today she’s being ridden, doted upon and loved by small children.

Mature horses with little or no prior handling can be a challenge and take quite a while to train. The tougher cases are the mustangs or other feral horses who have never seen people before. They need to be accustomed to human handling before you can begin any real training, and the longer a horse has lived on his own, the harder it will be to gentle him. His sense of self-preservation grows each year, and he is going to be likely to flee anything he deems scary.

That said, feral horses can be gentled at an older age, but I find that they often remain highly reactive for the rest of their lives, even if they’re successfully trained to ride. In the beginning, these horses are more likely to try to jump or run through a fence to get away from you. You need to keep them in an enclosure with a stout fence that’s at least six feet high and made of horse-safe panels attached to wooden posts, woven wire hung on posts, or strong boards.

Horses who have been kept around people, just never handled, can still be a challenge, but they’re far easier to train than truly feral ones. You don’t have to worry about introducing them to the sight of people before you can start working with them. However, it’s still a good idea to keep them confined to a smaller pen with six-foot fencing because they can be prone to trying to flee when you begin to put pressure on them.

Halter breaking is the first step with a horse like this before you proceed to other groundwork, and this can take much longer than it does with a younger horse. But once they’ve accepted a halter, their under-saddle training tends to advance pretty quickly.

One advantage of working with an older green horse is that you don’t have to worry about overcoming someone else’s training mistakes. He’s a blank slate, as it were, for you to make your mark on.

Hermes: Building on a solid foundation
Hermes was a neglect case. When we picked him up, the 13- to 15-year-old stallion was emaciated and needed time to recover his health, but it was obvious he had been well handled at one point in his life. He led, stood tied and knew how to longe. He behaved himself around other horses and respected his handler’s personal space. Once Hermes gained weight and was gelded, I started working with him. Because he had such a good foundation, his retraining went quickly. I taught him to carry a saddle and bridle in no time. He went to a trainer for a few weeks, and everyone who met him was amazed at his progress. But the training he had years before was so good, it only needed to be uncovered for him to excel. Hermes was quickly adopted by a family as a show horse for their daughters.

Older horses who have had positive prior experiences are the easiest ones to train, even if they haven’t been ridden or worked with in years. Since they haven’t been mishandled, there are no bad habits or associations to overcome. They’re used to people and know what to expect from them and are generally trusting. Chances are, they’re already used to the routines of domestic life: farrier visits, veterinary exams, being caught and haltered, etc.

As long as this type of horse is physically capable, you can begin working with them right away. These horses often progress quickly through the groundwork stages: learning (or relearning) to longe, carry a saddle and carry a bridle fairly quickly.
Many older horses who were handled well previously also take to a rider without much fuss. They are a delight to work with.

There is a potential pitfall to these easygoing older guys, however. They can lull you into a sense of complacency. You’ll never want to forget that this is still a green and inexperienced horse. He may still become frightened, confused or spook. It’s only fair to give him the same level of understanding when he makes a mistake that you’d give a 4-year-old. Similarly, it can be easy to push these horses too fast. Remember that’s he’s still learning skills, even if he seems to be picking them up very fast. Don’t cut corners or skip steps in his training or you may end up with a resistant, cranky horse despite his great foundation.

Ask your friends if they’d be interested in a 10-year-old green-broke horse and you’re likely to be met with a few suspiciously raised eyebrows. It’s a natural reaction to assume something must be very wrong with a horse who makes it so far in life without more than just basic training. But the harsh reality is many older horses weren’t lucky enough to have a complete or quality education in their younger years.

This doesn’t mean they can never be useful mounts. In fact, many turn out to be terrific. If you think you have the resources and patience to take on an older green horse, I’d encourage you to, creating your own success story to share.

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue #427.

Given the forces that this joint handles day in and day out, it’s not unusual for horses to develop SI pain. The trick is recognizing the problem: SI injuries are notoriously hard to pin down, with subtle and confusing signs, easily mistaken for other physical or even behavioral problems. Even a “hunter’s bump,” a raised area at the top of the croup that’s often thought to reveal SI trouble, isn’t a reliable sign. (For a closer look inside the joint, see the box below.)

How can you tell if your horse develops SI pain? And, more to the point, what can you do to help him if he does? For this article, we asked Kevin Haussler, DVM, DC, PhD, of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University, for help in answering those questions.

Who’s at Risk?
Any horse can injure his SI joint in a fall or some other accident. The injury may leave the joint less stable than it was originally, so it can become a source of chronic pain. Performance horses may develop SI problems through simple wear and tear—and the more mechanical stress the joint comes under, the greater the risk, Dr. Haussler says. SI problems are fairly common. In one recent survey, these problems accounted for more than half of 124 horses presented for back problems at the University of Minnesota equine clinic.

Show jumping and dressage seem to be especially hard on the joint, according to a study carried out by Sue Dyson, FRCVS, and others at the Center for Equine Studies, Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, United Kingdom. That study analyzed records of 74 horses seen for SI pain at the center. Dressage horses and show jumpers accounted for almost 60 percent of the group. Slightly more than half were warmbloods, suggesting that breed may play a role. And horses with SI pain tended to be taller and heavier than average, another sign that mechanical stress is an important factor.

Under stress, Dr. Haussler says, the joint can be injured in several ways. The SI ligaments can tear, just as ligaments and tendons in a limb can give way under stress. And the joint itself, like the hock or any other joint, can become inflamed. Over time, osteoarthritis develops—cartilage wears away and bone remodels. Thoroughbred racehorses sometimes get pelvic stress fractures directly over the SI joint, and those need to be differentiated from SI joint arthritis.