Sometimes dressage riders think it is enough to teach their horses the movements, but they don’t take into account that a young dressage horse needs more than just movements to excel in competition and move up the training scale. Respect and self-assurance are the indispensable preconditions for building a harmonious partnership.

There is no question that horses are stronger than we are. Because they are flight animals, trouble can happen in the daily handling and work as well as at the more intense atmosphere of a show. All too often we observe bad behavior: Horses pull their riders around, do not stand still while they are mounted and use the rider to scratch their itchy heads. While all this is tiresome, it more importantly shows that the horse has never learnt to respect the rider as the herd leader. This is the position in which the rider needs to be, and so respect needs to be established early on. This includes fairness, which is key to a horse’s contentment and happiness.

The harmonious partnership we aim for begins with groundwork even before we have the young dressage horse under saddle. Securing a form of general obedience from the ground allows us to work in a relaxed way with our equine partner and helps a lot when it comes to riding because the horse has learnt to trust and follow us as he would in nature, following the lead mare in a herd. In this article, we show how we establish respect from the ground and how this leads to strengthening a horse’s self-assurance, which is necessary preparation for his first shows.

Step 1: Establish Respect
There is no magic. Rather, systematic training and consequence are indispensable in gaining a horse’s respect. And it must be done in a way that lacks any force, violence and injustice. Your uppermost aim has to be to become the herd leader, because in doing that you give your horse the security he needs when being worked, thereby increasing his faith in you and in the environment in which you work. The horse learns that you are the one determining the speed and direction in which he moves.

You do this by using specific body language and repeating short voice commands. Horses are usually quick learners. After showing them something new, given the right timing and praise, you only need about three repetitions to secure the behavior you want. One general remark on the use of the voice: In nature, horses communicate soundlessly. Voice aids are still useful, but we are not allowed to completely rely on them because in stressful situations the horse will pay less attention to them than to our body language. So the latter is of greater importance.

The basic needs: Groundwork begins by teaching the horse to halt, go forward and back up. With a young, unbroken horse, we most often use the Dually Training Halter designed by Monty Roberts. It works with pressure on the nose that can be quickly applied or loosened as needed.

Attached to the halter is a heavy lead rope that lies comfortably in the hand. Gloves protect the rider’s palms in case the lead rope slips through them when the horse jumps. We prefer a length of three meters (9 feet, 9 inches) in contrast to the usual two, because we have a better chance of holding on to the horse if he tries to break away.

With some horses it is useful to additionally use a stick/dressage whip to give signals, but you must first teach him to accept the touch of it on his body without fear. If a horse is not well-behaved on the ground when you begin with him, take a whip along with you, as it can be useful whether he pulls and rushes ahead of you or wants to trundle behind.

We start with the first exercises in the security and reduced space of our round pen, but later it should be possible to do the basics in every environment. For us, it is important to establish a “relaxing zone” in the middle of the round pen, where we allow the horse to rest after an exercise. Here, he gets praised and stroked and soon knows that this is a place where he can relax.

Lead forward. Lightly pull at the rope and combine it with a voice command. I use a “kissing” noise. Usually horses understand this very quickly and soon the noise is all you need to ask them to step forward. There are several positions the leader can be in: We prefer, particularly with stallions, to have the horse’s head at shoulder height. We walk relaxed at that position while keeping a certain personal space between us. The horse is not allowed to touch us, let alone push.

If a horse tends to pull, the typical reaction is to pull back. To stop this cycle, put either the Dually halter on or attach a lead chain running from the right cheek down over the nose and into your hands. It is not about using force but about refining the signals you give. Each time the horse tries to pull forward, give a short but firm signal with the lead rope and put the end of the whip in front of his nose. Praise him when he reacts promptly.

If the horse trundles behind you, carry the whip in your left hand and point its end at the hindquarters of the horse. Usually this is already enough, and the horse will catch up with you. If not, you can slightly tap the hindquarters to get the desired effect. Repeat until the horse has learned you will not tolerate him staying too far behind you.

Halt. A much-needed basic the young horse has to learn is to react to pressure applied by the rope running over his nose. The horse should learn to give to the pressure. If we want the horse to halt, we give a short impulse with the rope and combine it with a short but clear voice command. I use “whoa.” As soon as the horse reacts to this combined command, the pressure applied by the halter has to stop and he has to be praised accordingly. Some horses—in particular, sensitive, “electric” ones—understand the signals promptly, and you soon can give very fine impulses. Others will only react to your voice command. But some more phlegmatic types don’t react immediately to the impulse given by the rope over the nose, and you have to give several small but firm impulses in succession. If he continues to ignore me, I increase the impulse by putting the end of a whip in front of his nose.

Go backward. Once the horse learns to halt obediently and reliably, start teaching him to go backward. For that you need a rail on one side of the horse so he cannot evade you. Stand in front of him and take the rope with your left hand about where the snap attaches to the halter. The shorter the rope is held, the more directly the impulses are transferred to the horse’s nose.

With your right hand, hold the rope in a loop. The horse already knows that the pressure on the nose means to yield. It is important that the impulses you give via the rope are short but repetitive. If the horse does not react, use the end of a whip or bamboo stick to apply short taps on the shoulder. Eventually, it should be sufficient to give slight impulses on the nose for the horse to walk backward in a quiet rhythm.

Directly after the last step backward, you must establish the forward impulse in your horse again and ask him to step forward. With some horses, you may need to pause and relax for a moment at the end of the rein-back, but the horse must always be willing to step forward out of the rein-back at any time.

Step 2: Increase Self-Assurance with Long Reins
Once the young horse becomes familiar with the voice commands to go forward and he can halt, we begin longeing him in a round pen. We start with a single longe line, then add a second line so he gets used to them running behind his hindquarters. This is good and necessary preparation for the work in long reins.

Cautionary note: Find someone to help you. Remember that we have a lot of experience longeing and using long reins, and you need to be experienced too if you are going to try it.

Longeing and long-rein work releases the horse from the immediate proximity of his herd leader and asks him to discover his environment almost on his own. Going out in long reins develops and strengthens a young horse’s self-assurance and consolidates his faith in his rider, who now walks behind him. With more advanced horses, this work is a way of keeping them entertained between training sessions in the dressage arena.

What you need: We use a snaffle bridle with an egg-butt or full-cheek snaffle bit in combination with a flash noseband. The cheekpieces and noseband help keep the bit quiet and straight in the horse’s mouth.

We prefer soft, round long lines to flat, webbed ones. We attach them to the bit rings and always wear gloves.

We use the same voice commands we’ve been using. In general, the long reins replace the rider’s calves and together with the voice commands take care that the horse moves in the direction and speed we intend to go.

We don’t use a surcingle when long-reining so the reins can have more freedom of movement. We can touch the horses where we need to and can work them in a more sensitive way than when the reins are fixed on a surcingle.

First exercises. The first time we use long lines on young horses, we stay in our longeing circle or round pen, but you can also use a normal arena or indoor. We use all the commands the horse already knows from his weeks of groundwork.

Day by day, we explore the yard a bit more. For example, we might go to a nearby field or to the edge of the forest. If you observe that the horse is more and more comfortable in his new position ahead of you, show him some new tasks to deal with, such as walking into puddles or over logs, walking, trotting or even jumping over poles on the ground. Never forget to promptly praise him after he has mastered a new task.

The more faith he develops in you and himself, the more you can look for new challenges. We may ask our youngsters to pass by a grazing herd or work in long reins next to others. Or we might ask them to go through the creek running through our property. After extensive rainfall, we sometimes have a kind of lake in our courtyard, and we like to ask the horses to walk and trot in there to get used to water splashing their legs and belly. Be sure to do everything slowly, never asking for a second step before the first one. Then your horse will develop positive self-assurance, helping him to deal with the same things more easily when being ridden.

Step 3: Desensitization—Prepare Your Horse for the Unknown
Sometimes there are dressage riders who think that working their horses in a focused manner is only possible by excluding them as much as possible from any outside influences. A horse might be oversensitive for whatever reason and so needs to be worked in quieter surroundings in the beginning. But, in general, we are strong believers that it is no good hiding horses behind the walls of an indoor arena with the atmosphere of a monastery. Dressage horses are destined to be competed at shows and there they will find a whole lot of stimulation and noises that could easily distract them if they have not already seen and heard as much as possible at home. This is particularly necessary for stallions.

So part of our dressage training at home is to desensitize the horses to a lot of different noises and visual impressions that could come at them when it counts the most—at the showgrounds. Of course, we will never be able to simulate the special atmosphere at a show, in particular the ones held in a big stadium. And we will never know for sure what we will find there. But the more we show the horses, the more we know how they might react, and that gives us, the riders, the chance for prompt reactions. For example, we accustom stallions to working in the presence of mares step by step.

Cautionary note: Get help to do this, and remember that beforehand the horse needs to have learned respect for and faith in his rider.

The easiest form of desensitization is to keep horses outside as much as possible where they can see and hear a lot more than they do just standing in stalls. It helps to include regular trail rides in your training program so that your horse is not panicking if a bird flies out from a bush. Training outside in all types of weather helps horses when they have to compete in rain or worse.

The most decisive factor is that you have a firm impact on your horse if he spooks. “Firm” doesn’t mean to bore spurs into his flanks and holler loudly for him to pass the frightening object. Such a reaction, often seen, only strengthens the horse’s flight instinct and lets the “monsters” appear even more dreadful. Horses think in pictures and next time will associate the monster with the pain of the spurs or whip. Instead, when your horse meets a frightening object, react in the following way:

• Take the reins a bit shorter and halt in front of it. Allow your horse time to look or sniff at it quietly while you talk calmly and pat or stroke him. This also calms you down as the spook of your horse usually also makes your heart beat faster.

• Then pass the object a few times on each lead in walk, preferably in the shoulder-fore position.

• Now divert your horse’s attention from the object that frightened him by starting to trot and going on with focused work. Very effective, for example, is riding lots of different transitions so that the horse soon puts his thoughts in another direction and forgets about the fear.

Often it is typical objects like flags rattling in the wind, umbrellas being opened, running and barkings dogs, loudly clapping crowds or music that frighten young, inexperienced dressage horses at shows. Luckily, these are things that can quite easily include in desensitization training at home. All you need are some helping hands confronting the horse while you sit in the saddle. The advantage is that, in this case, you are aware of the fact that your horse might spook, jump sideways or show a little rear as a first reaction. Go slowly, step by step.

Don’t confront your horse with more than one frightening object in a lesson. Switch to another one the next time. Then, on another day, go back to the first object to confirm the horse’s positive reaction. If he ignores the once-disturbing object, great, but try once more on another day until there’s no significant reaction to it anymore.

There are horses that have to repeat this training several times over a longer period and only a very few never become bombproofed. The decisive factor is that you and your horse have built faith in and respect for each other. Then the horse will not bolt away panic-stricken.

Desensitization is just a way to strengthen this respect and faith and see if it is already strong enough or has to be deepened even more. When your horse is familiar with several different objects and doesn’t panic or spook at them, you can try an obstacle parcours, or obstacle course, including several of the objects following one another. You can ride this parcours or lead the horse, however, the motto has to be “make it more difficult.” This kind of overstimulation will harden your horse and done step by step, it will help enormously at a show.

It is also useful to take the horse to a show just to work in that atmosphere. There, you can see how he reacts to different objects and determine whether he still needs training at home or if you can start him with a quiet conscience.

Knowing that the young horse’s future is destined to be in the dressage arena, we set a good foundation from the ground. This kind of work helps you and your horse master the first starts outside the secure surroundings of your home turf. The horse knows that whatever comes his way does not have to be frightening because you, as his herd leader, are at his side.

Stefan Schneider and Uta Gräf are headquartered at Gut Rothenkircher Hof in Germany. Schneider, a veterinarian specializing in equine dentistry, has competed in jumping, reining and working equitation at the highest levels. Gräf is one of Germany’s most successful competitive and classical dressage riders. Both are well known for combining top sport with natural horsekeeping. At home, Schneider works the horses from the ground while Gräf does the riding. Gräf’s DVD series, “Joy of Dressage,” comes out in English in April 2013. Schneider has co-authored the book Stallions Care and Management. Look for reviews of both in future issues (gutrothenkircherhof.de).

Horses come in many shapes and sizes, and while all can benefit from basic dressage training, not all are physically capable of performing at the higher levels. One of the factors that can limit performance potential is conformation—the geometry of the skeletal framework in terms of the lengths and angulations of the bones and joints.

Ideally, the pelvis of a dressage horse should be long to give a large area for attachment of the propulsive muscles, and it should have a moderate slope to facilitate tilting the pelvis, lowering the haunches and moving the hind legs forward under the horse’s body.

Given the relationship between form (conformation) and function (performance), it is definitely helpful for the dressage rider to develop an eye for conformational features that affect a horse’s potential for dressage. The purpose of this article is to describe key features of the anatomy and conformation of the hindquarters with the goal of helping readers to evaluate important conformational features in this area.

Figure 1: Difference in shape of the sacrum. The bones are positioned so that the head of the horse would be to the right and the tail to the left. The sacral spines are labeled S1 to S5 and the green line shows the croup angle. These specimens illustrate how the size and shape of the bones vary between horses. In the top sacrum, the first sacral spine (S1) is short and poorly developed and the croup angle is 24 degrees. In the bottom sacrum, there is a more marked difference in length between the second (S2) and last (S5) spines and the individual spines have more of a backward slope. The croup angle is 30 degrees. These are examples of the diversity seen among normal horses.

Identifying Conformation
One of the secrets to being a good evaluator of conformation is to develop the skill to see beyond the outer layers of skin, fat and muscle in order to visualize the lengths and angles of the bones that lie beneath. Visualization of the bone structure is easier in some parts of the body than others. For example, below the elbows and stifles it is easy to see the outlines of the bones and to assess their conformation. In the shoulder and hip regions, however, the bones are concealed beneath the large, powerful muscles that attach the limbs to the trunk, making the bone structure more difficult to evaluate.

With that in mind, let us focus on the horse’s hindquarters and the differences between the shape of the croup versus the dimensions of the pelvis. The external contours of the croup are easy to see, but they give little information about the underlying pelvic structure, which is more relevant in our conformational evaluation.

Let’s start by taking a look at the bones that underpin the structure of the hindquarters: the sacrum and the pelvis (see Figure 3). The sacrum is part of the vertebral column located between the lumbar region and the tail. Although there are five sacral vertebrae, they are fused together into a single bone, the sacrum, which means that there cannot be any movement between them. The joint between the front of the sacrum and the last lumbar vertebra—the lumbosacral joint—is quite mobile. Its movements can tilt the sacrum and pelvis forward (flexion or rounding), flatten the croup (extension or hollowing) or turn the haunches to the side (bending).

Figure 1 shows the anatomy of the sacrum from the side view. The underside is formed by the fused bodies of the five sacral vertebrae with their five spinous processes protruding upward. The spines on the sacrum get shorter from front to back. The tips of these spines form the topline in the middle of the horse’s croup.

Figure 2: Horse pelvis articulated with the lumbar vertebrae. The horse’s head would be to the right and the tail to the left. The three bony prominences have been labeled: point of croup, point of hip and point of buttock (see Figure 3, p. 52). The acetabulum is also labeled; it forms the articulation of the hip joint. A lower position of the acetabulum favors the ability to perform highly collected movements.

The orientation (slope) of the sacrum varies with the horse’s posture. Horses with good strength and tone in their core musculature hold the lumbosacral joint in a slightly flexed position and keep the croup slightly tucked. Loss of tone in the core musculature may be reflected in poor posture even to the extent that the pelvis slopes upward toward the tail head.

As you can see in Figure 1, the amount of shortening of the sacral spines varies between horses, and this also affects how much the croup slopes downward toward the tail head. Note that in the live horse, the gluteal muscles may bulge on either side of the sacral spines giving a rounded profile, so it is important to assess the slope of the croup (sacrum) on the midline between the gluteal muscles.

Immediately behind the sacrum are the vertebrae of the tail. The length and angulation of the sacrum affect the position and carriage of the tail. A flat (horizontal) croup is associated with a high tail set and a high tail carriage as shown by the Arabian in the top photo in Figure 5. A sloping croup gives a lower tail set and a lower tail carriage as shown by the Friesian in the top photo in Figure 6.

Figure 3: The position of the sacrum and pelvis relative to the contours of the hindquarters. The three prominences on the pelvis are marked by red circles: 1. point of croup; 2. point of hip; 3. point of buttock. The red line running from the point of hip to point of buttock indicates the slope of the pelvis. The green line indicates the slope of the croup. In this diagram the two slopes are approximately the same. This horse has a rather flat (horizontal) croup and pelvic angles, and the acetabulum is placed relatively high.

Courtesy Hilary Clayton

The pelvis connects the bones of the hind limb to the vertebral column via the hip joint and the sacroiliac joint. When seen from behind, the pelvis is somewhat U-shaped with a narrow separation in front where it curves around and above the sacrum (see Figure 2). The union between pelvis and sacrum at the left and right sacroiliac joints suspends the sacrum beneath the pelvis and anchors it in place with strong ligaments. The sacroiliac joints, which are located on either side between the high points of the croup, do not allow a significant amount of movement; their function is to transmit propulsive forces generated by the hind limbs.

The hip joints are on either side of the lower part of the pelvis, where the acetabulum forms a rounded socket that receives the head of the femur. The hip is a highly mobile joint that allows the entire hind limb to swing back and forth and to move sideways in abduction (swinging outward) and adduction (swinging inward). A low-set hip joint facilitates compression of the hip angle and is advantageous for allowing the horse to perform highly collected movements.

Figure 4: The Warmblood. The warmblood is often considered the standard for ideal dressage conformation. The photo below illustrates how the hindquarters of successful dressage horses often have pelvises that tend toward the longer end of the spectrum and have a moderate slope.

Photo by Arnd Bronkhorst

Pelvic Length & Angulation
The pelvis is surrounded by the large muscles of the hindquarters, making it difficult to distinguish the contours. But, fortunately, there are three bony prominences on each side that are easy to see and feel and that we can use as landmarks to assess pelvic conformation. These are the point of the hip (tuber coxae), the point of the buttock (tuber ischii) and the point of the croup (tuber sacrale). Pelvic length and slope are measured by drawing a line from the upper part of the point of the hip to the point of the buttock, which is a few inches below the tail head (Figures 2 and 3).

Both the length and angulation of the pelvis are key conformational measurements that affect the horse’s strength, power, speed and agility. A larger (longer and broader) pelvis has more room for attachment of the powerful gluteal and hamstring muscles that provide propulsion during locomotion.

Figure 5: The Arabian. These two Arabians are of very different types. The top horse is a successful halter horse and is posed with the hind limbs camped out and the lumbosacral joint extended to make the croup appear as flat as possible. In this horse the croup angle is horizontal and the pelvic angle is 10 degrees. The high tail set and high tail carriage are also exaggerated in this pose. If this horse were not standing camped out, both the croup and pelvic angles would be a little more sloped. Neither the excessively flat croup nor the tendency to stand and move with the lumbosacral joint extended are desirable characteristics in a dressage horse. The lower photo is of a successful Arabian Grand Prix competitor. The angles of the croup and pelvis are parallel and measure 20 degrees. Perhaps unusually for an Arabian, this horse has a good ability to tilt the pelvis forward and engage the hind limb.

Top photo by Arnd Bronkhorst, Bottom photo courtesy Hilary Clayton

Horses that race over short to middle distances, such as racing Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds, have the longest pelvises, measuring up to one third of the total body length. A short pelvis offers less area for attachment of the propulsive muscles, but this is compensated by greater agility. Dressage horses have pelvises that tend toward the longer end of the spectrum, though not as long as racehorses.

The angle of the pelvis is measured relative to the horizontal with the horse standing square. Using these landmarks, an average angle for a dressage horse’s pelvis would be around 20 degrees. In his doctoral research, Swedish equine biomechanics expert Dr. Mikael Holmström found that the average pelvic angle in elite Swedish Warmblood dressage horses was 30 degrees. However, it should be noted that Dr. Holmström measured pelvic angle from the upper part of the point of hip to the hip joint.

These landmarks will always give a steeper pelvic angle than if it had been measured from the point of the hip to the point of the buttock. It’s not a matter of one method being right or wrong; it’s just two slightly different measurement techniques. However, you need to know which landmarks were used in order to evaluate and compare the results.

When the lumbosacral joint is flexed, the rear part of the pelvis tilts forward, bringing the hip joint and hind leg farther forward under the horse’s body. Equine conformation analysis expert Dr. Deb Bennett refers to this as “coiling the loins,” which helps us to visualize the effect. With the pelvis tilted forward, the frame is compressed and the hind limbs act closer to the center of gravity, providing more upward (rather than forward) propulsion. A significant amount of pelvic tilting (and untilting) occurs during each stride of canter when the lumbosacral joint flexes as the hind limbs are pulled forward and extends as they are retracted.

In piaffe and canter pirouettes, the horse can maintain lumbosacral flexion and keep the pelvis tilted forward throughout the stride because in these movements the hind limbs are not retracted. In horses with a flat pelvic conformation, the sublumbar muscles that are responsible for lumbosacral flexion exert less leverage than in horses with a more sloping pelvic conformation. Thus, it requires greater force to flex the lumbosacral joint with a flatter pelvic angle, and lumbosacral flexion compresses the hip downward, rather than tilting it forward. On the other hand, an overly steep pelvis may restrict the rearward swing of the hind limb and interfere with the ability to extend the stride. As with many conformational variables, extreme pelvic angulations in either direction are not ideal; and an intermediate angle is preferred.

Figure 6: The Friesian. Friesians were originally bred for use in warfare and agriculture. The breed is still popular as a light carriage horse, and the top Friesian photo is an example of the Baroque type used for driving. Note the steeply sloped croup and pelvis (both 20 degrees) and the consequent low-set tail. The Friesian sport-horse bloodlines, as illustrated by the horse in the bottom photo, are becoming increasingly popular for dressage. This Friesian sport horse has greater length and less slope in the hindquarters compared with the horse above.

Photos by Arnd Bronkhorst

In recent years, selective breeding for specific performance criteria has produced horses that excel in dressage, though these superstars are out of the reach of most riders. It is possible, however, to find horses of a variety of breeds that have conformation favorable for dressage. The key is to learn how to distinguish between horses that have the physical attributes needed for dressage versus those that are better suited to another occupation.

The breed photographs in this article compare the conformation of the croup and pelvis of an outstanding warmblood dressage competitor (Figure 4) with two representatives each of the Arabian and Friesian breeds to show the diversity of croup conformation within these breeds (Figures 5 and 6). The photos show that there are horses in each of these nonwarmblood breeds that have suitable conformation to become good dressage performers.

As you arm yourself with fly-fighting power, you can stay eco-friendly, thanks to an array of products available. Here, we give you seven green ways to battle flies.

#1 Fly Parasites
What they are: Fly parasites attack the developing stages of flies, so that adult flies never hatch. According to Tom Spalding of Spalding Laboratories, “The idea is to increase the ratio of good bugs to bad flies to eradicate the unwanted.” These tiny insects are completely harmless to humans and animals. In fact, you likely won’t even know they’re there.

What makes them effective: Fly parasites act on the immature fly stages, eliminating them before they become viable, reproducing adults.

How to use them: The insects will arrive on a preplanned and preset schedule, so you can achieve and maintain a consistent level of beneficial pests. You’ll sprinkle them in potential fly-breeding areas.

Insider tip: “Start just before the beginning of fly season, when daytime temperatures reach the high 60s,” says Spalding. This way, flies can be eliminated before a large population of adults gets established. (Keep this approach in mind for next spring.)

Sample products: Arbico Organics Fly Eliminators; Spalding Laboratories Fly Predators; The Source Ecological Fly Control FlyRaptors.

#2 Baits/Odor Treatments
What they are: Baits produce an odor that attracts flies to a lethal pesticide. “The odor can be described as meal or mate, depending on whether the attractant is sugar-based or pheromone-based,” explains Tony Schultz of Starbar Products. Although chemicals are used, you won’t apply them directly to your horse. Odor treatments, which are nontoxic, repel flies from the stall area.

What makes them effective: Adult fly populations are reduced in the area where your horse lives without harming the environment.

How to use them: Scatter bait (or use bait trays) around your horse property, but don’t place them inside your barn or close to horses, as they attract flies. Scatter odor treatments, such as BugBand pellets, in your horse’s clean stall.

Insider tip: “With baits, it’s all about location, location, location,” Schultz says. “Place them in areas to draw flies away from your horses or barn.”

Sample products: BugBand Spreadable Geraniol; Bayer Animal Health’s QuickBayt Fly Bait, available from Valley Vet Supply; Starbar QuikStrike Scatter; Starbar Golden Malrin.

#3 Ultraviolet Devices/Fly Traps
What they are: Ultraviolet devices (commonly known as bug zappers) lure flies with light, then electrocute them with an electrical grid. These are most effective when it’s darker out, so use them from dusk to dawn. Fly traps come in sticky and odor versions. Sticky traps generally attract flies using color (yellow, orange, or red) or shape (curved or flat surfaces with sturdy edges), then trap the flies with a sticky substance. Odor traps lure flies by using a pheromone and/or a food source. Once inside the trap, the flies can’t escape.

What makes them effective: You can eliminate literally thousands of flies with one bug zapper or trap, effectively making a huge dent in the adult fly population. Many of these devices also can be reused, which makes them a great green option. “They’re safe for animals and humans alike, as long as you follow the manufacturers’ instructions,” notes Schultz. However, don’t place these devices in or near your barn, your house, or any food or water sources, as they’ll attract flies to these areas.

Insider tip: Identify the flies you’re fighting, use the right kind of trap for these flies, and place the traps in the most effective locations for these flies.

Sample products: Biconet’s Revenge fly-control products; Starbar’s fly-control traps and products; Sterling International, Inc.’s Rescue Fly Traps.

#4 Stall Barriers and Fans
What they are: Stall barriers create a shady, cool area inside your horse’s stall or shed. They work because flies are attracted to sunny, warm areas. Stall fans direct airflow downward and outward, creating a breeze that flies don’t like. Plus, fans can literally blow small flying pests away from your horse’s environment.

What makes them effective: These methods work because they’re simple. They don’t rely on gimmicks, and they’re totally green. They create inhospitable surroundings for flies. As a bonus, they create a cool, breezy environment that enhances your horse’s comfort.

How to use them: Hang stall barriers at all barn doorways and over any windows that don’t have screens. They need to be long enough to keep low-flying flies out, but they don’t necessarily need to be floor length, depending on what types of flies are most common in your area. The perfect stall barrier is made of mesh, so it doesn’t impede airflow.

Install fans high to blow downward and outward. Use a gentle setting, so you don’t stir up dust and other particles that could harm your horse’s lungs. A simple box fan from a big-box store will work just fine.

Insider tip: Don’t worry that your horse will be intimidated by these methods. While it may take a while for him to get used to the barriers, he’ll quickly figure out that the fly-free zone exists beyond the barriers. He’ll be zooming in and out in no time.

Sample products: Horse Fly Net’s stall barriers; SmartPak Equine’s fan holders.

#5 Eco-Friendly Topicals
What they are: Chemical-free topical fly repellents you’ll apply to your horse’s skin and/or haircoat.

What makes them effective: The active ingredients in most eco-friendly topicals are fly-repelling essential oils or botanicals.

How to use them: Apply fly sprays and wipes to your horse’s body and legs. Roll-ons and wipes are great for areas where application can be tricky, such as around his ears and eyes, on his face, and even inside his ears. One important caution comes from Martha Lefebvre of Farnam Horse: “Think safety first. Always read the labels on fly sprays, and apply them according to recommended practices. If the label recommends a spray pattern or coverage amount, follow those directions for maximum efficacy.”

Insider tip: Because green topicals are made of all-natural ingredients, their repellent properties tend to not last as long as chemical-based products, so be sure to reapply them often for maximum protection.

Sample products: Absorbine’s Ultrashield and Supershield Green fly repellent; Bugband sprays and towelettes; Farnam’s Equisect and Nature’s Defense; Equine America’s Natural Horse Spray; EquiLite’s Ricochet wipes and spray; Zephyr’s Garden Pure & Simple Fly Spray.

#6 Fly Mask
What it is: Flywear made from mesh that covers your horse’s face. (Ear coverings are optional.) All types of flywear are green, as they contain no chemicals. Plus, you can use an old fly mask to scrub buckets, barrels, and troughs.

What makes it effective: A fly mask not only keeps out flies and other pests, but also protects your horse’s eyes, eyelids, and nose from the sun.

How to use it: Flies like the heat, so in hot, sunny weather, apply the mask from sunup to sundown. That’s a long wear time, so make sure your horse can eat, graze, drink, lay down, sleep, roll, and even frolic with friends while wearing the mask.

Insider tips: Watch for rub spots on the head or contact abrasions with the surface of the eye. Also, eliminate anything in your horse’s environment that might catch on the mask.

Sample products: Absorbine UltraShield EX Fly Mask; Cashel’s Crusader Fly Mask; Duravet Equine’s Duramask; Farnam’s Super Mask II; Kensington Product’s Fly Mask and Catch Fly Mask; and Wrangler Fly Masks from Professional’s Choice; SmartPak’s Classic Fly Mask; Weaver Leather’s fly masks.

Fly sheets and leg coverings work because they reduce the overall body surface exposed to the predations of flies.

Photo Courtesy of Wrangler

#7 Fly Sheets/Leg Coverings
What they are: Flywear that protects your horse’s legs and body from flying pests. These are important, as he’s extremely sensitive to touch. He feels every fly that lands on him. So imagine how crazy hordes of flies in the height of the season must make him. And if they’re biting flies, it’s even worse.

What makes them effective: The more of your horse’s skin you can cover, the less likely flies are to bite or bother him. Fly sheets and leg coverings work because they reduce the overall body surface exposed to the predations of flies.

How to use them: Choose the fly-sheet material that suits you and your horse best, whether a soft material that’s usually a cotton blend, or a harder material often made with a PVC coating. Also decide whether you’d like a sheet with a neck covering (either permanent or detachable).

Leg coverings need to be easy to apply, stay up, and be breathable, so they don’t create an unhygienic environment underneath.

Insider tip: Generally, a fly sheet made from harder material is more durable, but it also tends to cause more rub sores and can be more difficult to fit properly, because it’s stiffer.

Sample products: Dover Saddlery fly sheets; Horseware Ireland’s Amigo and Rambo Fly Rugs; Wrangler Fly Sheet and Leg Wraps from Professional’s Choice; Schneider Saddlery’s fly sheets; SmartPak’s Deluxe Fly Sheet with Insect Shield, the Classic Fly Sheet, and Deluxe Fly Boots; Summer Whinnys’ horse socks, Weaver Leather’s fly sheets.

Jenny Sullivan is a long-time horsewoman, freelance writer, and equine journalist who lives in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

APHA gelding Frankly Zippin overcame major leg problems to become a successful Western pleasure mount.

Photo by Sabrina Tarter

Barn name: Frankie.

His people: G. Larry and Judy Murfitt, West Point, Indiana.

What grabs us: After an incredible growth spurt, Frankie suffered from severe tendon problems in both front legs. With some corrective shoeing, homemade casts, and dedication from Larry, the gelding went on to become a successful Western pleasure mount-earning 55 national points, as well as a Register of Merit award in the event.

Find out how Frankie overcame these issues in this Q&A with his owner, Larry Murfitt.

H&R: What did you first do when you found out about Frankie's tendon problems?

Murfitt: We took him to the vet and did all kinds of X-Rays and procedures to try to see what we could do. We were given three options. We could do surgery: We could cut his suspensory tendons, and, hopefully, the big tendon behind his leg would stretch and grow, they said sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t.

The surgery was rather expensive—especially when you had to consider that we had to do it on both legs. So the other two possibilities were corrective shoeing to try and lift his heel and elongate his toe to try and take some pressure off his tendons. They didn’t give much hope that that would do anything.

The third alternative was put him down. We’d just bought him and hadn’t bought insurance on him. I’d spent quite a bit of money getting him. We couldn’t afford the surgery, and I didn’t want to put him down, so the only alternative was shoeing.

I got together with the vet and the farrier, and we came up with a design of a shoe that would raise his heel and extend his toe at the same time-to try and take pressure off the tendon, but still have enough pressure that it would continue to stretch. However, that wasn’t very probable.

H&R: What did you do then?

Murfitt: I brought him home, and I remembered from years ago, I was talking with an old horseman. He'd had a problem with a similar situation, and he made some casts out of PVC pipe. He cast the horse so he could stand without knuckling over and to help stretch that tendon.

So I made some casts and put them on him; he had to stay in his stall all day. He got 20 minutes of hand-walking: I’d take the casts off and walk him 20 minutes a day. Then I'd put him back in his stall, put the casts back on, and he’d stand in his stall the rest of the time.

We got through the winter and come spring, he was walking pretty decently when I was hand-walking him, so I decided to put him on a longe line. He went ahead and walked nicely on the edge of that longe line, so I thought I’d see how he did a trot. So I trotted him a little bit, and he was fine. He didn’t mind at all.

I’d still take him back and put him back in his stall and put his casts back on. Then about the time it was warm enough to ride, one day I was longeing him and thought, ‘Heck, if he can go around and walk that way, he can carry me. So I got on him bareback and we just walked around the arena. He was a 2-year-old, and he hadn’t been broken yet. But I just got on him anyway, and he walked around that arena like he was very pleased to do so.

After a few days of that, I thought, 'Let’s see what he does when we trot.' So we trotted, and no problem. A few more weeks went by, and I thought let’s just see how he does at the lope. I put him up into a lope, and not a problem. So I stopped using the casts and kept exercising him.

We gradually brought back the extended toe on the shoe and lowered the heel and got back to a three-degree wedge shoe, and shoed before the end of that summer and then we started showing him.

Introducing In-Hand Equipment
No matter how advanced your horse is, the following steps will walk you through correct in-hand work. Begin by wrapping your horse’s tail so you will be able to touch his whole hindquarters with the whip during work. Put the saddle or bridle on in the same order you tack up for mounted work.

If you are beginning with the saddle, place a well-fitting surcingle around it after you have placed the pad and saddle on your horse’s back and attached the girth. You will know the surcingle is a good fit when you are able to tighten it enough that it does not slip during work. If you only use a saddle, the side reins you will be using might move during work or be incorrectly placed on the girth. The key to an appropriate surcingle is that there are enough rings for attaching side reins at varying and appropriate heights. The side reins can attach to the bit or the cavesson, depending on your preference and your horse’s reaction to the varying contact.

Use your horse’s snaffle bridle so you have use of the bit. Over that, put on a well-fitting longeing cavesson. Make sure to remove the noseband of the bridle so that it does not get in the way or pinch the horse on the chance that it comes into contact with the cavesson during work.

When I work in-hand, I carry two whips that are an appropriate length for this type of training—one is stiffer and the other is softer. Before you know which in-hand whip you will need, you have to test to see which the horse prefers.

As you progress in your in-hand work, if your horse has an overreaction and seems unsure about coming under with his hind, consider your whip aid. Some horses react better when you touch them with the whip over the croup or on the hock, but you have to figure out where they prefer to be touched. Always look for the point on your horse to touch that makes him think, forward and come under.

Introducing In-Hand Work
With a pocket of sugar, a pair of riding gloves and a longe line, you are ready to work in the arena. Begin by attaching the side reins from the surcingle to the bit rings. Make sure that their placement is parallel to the ground so they do not pull down on your horse. Instead, their height and length should encourage him to be on the bit. Remember that the goal is to build correct neck muscle, and we cannot do this without correct side-rein placement. Make sure the side reins are an even height and length on both sides before beginning so that when you hold your horse’s head with his poll at the highest point and his face on the vertical, your side reins offer a steady, unrestricting connection.

It is also worth pointing out that a more advanced horse will carry more weight behind, which will make him go up in the wither. We want to account for that by choosing a slightly higher surcingle ring to attach the side reins to.

The horse should not get excited when he is doing in-hand work. Our primary goal is that he is relaxed in his work. It is also our job to remember that we get to choose our horse. He does not get to choose his owner/trainer/discipline. As a result, we have the responsibility of checking in and confirming that we are making fair requests of our horses when pushing them to do something new. If, at any point, they get excited, reassure them with a pat or sugar.

Exercise One—Forward and Backward: The first thing I do when introducing in-hand work is to invite the horse to pick his legs up and achieve a square halt and rein-back correctly. As you are doing this exercise, make sure to watch your whole horse. If you stand too close, you are at risk of getting in his line of travel and you can’t see what he is doing with his body language. If you are too far away, you cannot use your aids effectively. Have the horse between your left hand and right whip on the left rein.
1. Touch your horse’s inside hind leg, just above the hock with your in-hand whip to ask that leg to come under. Cluck to reinforce the aid.
2. When he steps under with that leg, stop your whip aid and reward him.
3. Ask your horse to step forward and under with his legs until you have achieved a square halt.
4. With a soft half halt on the longe line, ask your horse to rein-back. Make sure he steps back in diagonal pairs. If your horse does not step back with
diagonal pairs, repeat the rein-back until it is correct.
5. If he needs a stronger aid for the rein-back, touch his shoulder with the whip to show him you want him to step away from the aid (as he did in steps one and two).
6. Touch his inside hind leg with the whip, asking him to step under again.
7. Touch his outside hind leg above the hock to ask that leg to step under.
8. Repeat the square halt and rein-back again.
This rein-back exercise is helpful in teaching your horse to move from his hindquarters, through his body and onto the bit.

Exercise Two—Turn On the Forehand: Now you can practice something a bit more advanced. The turn on the forehand is a great next step because
it teaches your horse to stretch by
asking him to step his hind legs in a semi-circle around his stationary inside fore while the outside fore moves forward only slightly. It encourages your horse to bend opposite his direction
of movement.
1. Off the rail, stand to the side of your horse near his head.
2. With your whip, touch your horse on his haunches to ask him to move away from the aid.

With this movement, you should achieve an easy turn on the forehand. This type of lateral stretching is helpful for warming up your horse as well as relaxing him and building his muscles. Remember that dressage exercises the whole body, so make sure to do the turn on the forehand on the other rein. Everything has to be done as if you are playing, and you must always check that your horse is relaxed and happy in his work, not nervously moving away from your every move.

Advancing the Work
As your horse develops in his training, you are ready to start half-steps.
Exercise Three—Half-Steps: Using the same equipment as you did in the previous exercises, follow these steps to introduce half-steps to your horse:
1. Confirm that you can move him forward with a cluck and whip tap.
2. Ask your horse to move straight and forward with diagonal pairs (the two-beat trot rhythm) as you continue next to him.
3. With your whip, ask your horse to step under with his inside hind as you asked before with a touch on the hind. When you have achieved a few half-steps, stop your whip cue.

Pay attention that he is trying to carry extra weight on his hindquarters. Once you have developed half-steps, you are ready to start thinking about piaffe with your horse. It is the most collected exercise in dressage, so sometimes introducing the work from the ground is easier than under saddle. This is an exciting time in your horse’s training, as he will completely change in balance and strength from this collection—from his withers to his hips to his hind legs.

Exercise Four—Piaffe: To prepare for piaffe, ask your horse to walk into a square halt, with his nose in front of the vertical. Remember that the side reins should not be pulling your horse down. When you first start this exercise, it is important to allow him to move forward when he is learning piaffe.

To begin, start from the halt and follow these steps:
1. Ask for walk on a straight line.
2. Shorten his steps by softly touching his croup with the whip (to cue his whole hindquarters) and adding a cluck.
3. Piaffe starts in diagonal steps and the hind should come up only one hoof in height. He should stay uphill.
4. If he is lazy, ask for more forward.
5. If he does not take weight back, insert your rein-back exercise and then move forward to piaffe again.
6. When he responds correctly, praise your horse for a job well done.

Just play when you are doing these exercises and don’t be afraid to combine your rein-back exercise with your forward and back exercise to take a break from the more collected work. What is important is that you remember to take a break, because a horse cannot concentrate for too long. This variety will keep him motivated in his work. As he develops skill and collection, only then can you work the piaffe without moving forward, so he performs the movement in place.

In-hand work builds the muscles because it is like bodybuilding, so repeat the exercises on the other rein.

The Double Longe
When you and your horse are comfortable with in-hand work, you can have two people work together with the double longe. The first person’s entire job is to watch and control the amount of forward movement with a lead line attached to the cavesson. She stays at the horse’s head during in-hand work.

The second person’s job is to continue with the other elements described in this article’s in-hand exercises, but with two lines connected to the cavesson and running through the surcingle instead of the single line connected only to the horse’s head. This second person is the one who can tap with the whip and cluck to ask for collection while holding the double-longe lines. Again, this second person’s whip and voice aids ask the horse to collect or “come from behind.” The person does this by standing a safe distance from the horse, near his hind, to tap with the long whip on the hindquarters.

When you have the double lines, the surcingle should have rings toward the top so that when he is ready and more uphill, your horse can have a higher topline. You know he is ready (in this stage of bodybuilding) when you can ask for piaffe and the degree of collection needed for Prix St. Georges.

When you are comfortable with the double longe, you can ask your horse to perform all of the exercises you did on the single line: ask for straight, forward, back and collected. Don’t forget to reward your horse with a piece of sugar—it is always important to keep him as your friend.

When you are ready to develop your horse’s piaffe in the double longe, the first person asks for the forward movement. The second person, holding the two reins and the whip, asks for walk and then collects the horse into piaffe. As you develop this, you can continue asking your horse to move closer to piaffe in place.

During the piaffe exercise, the first person must remember to watch that the topline stays correct while this is happening. The key is for the handlers to communicate to each other. Correct the topline by making sure the horse does not hang on the side reins. Gently bring the horse up with an upward aid of the lead line.

Once a horse is comfortable with the double longe, the first person can remove the lead line and step away. At that point, the second person can connect the lines to the snaffle bit to facilitate increased communication. He can then stand as the second person and ask for the same collection and piaffe with his whip and voice aids. Always praise a horse when it is a job well done. Remember to stay quiet, so there is respect but not fear.

The Mounted Translation
Once your horse is under saddle, you can ride shorten and lengthen the walk steps, making sure that the highest point of the poll is right behind your horse’s ears. Play around by riding forward and back. We have to see that our horse learns to carry the weight.

Exercise Five—Collect Under Saddle: Thanks to the in-hand work you have done, you can have a groundperson help you collect under saddle using the whip and voice aids.
1. The groundperson asks for piaffe forward, while the rider sits quietly.
2. The rider has a light rein contact.
3. Walk out of the piaffe.

Always avoid fear in your horse. The work in-hand will allow him to sit behind and go up in front, helping the shoulder to improve. Now you are dancing!

Q: I’ve owned my 6-year-old Fox Trotter gelding for three years, but just last year he started to periodically balk when my husband or I rode him. He stops out of the blue, sometimes rears or bucks a little, and refuses to go forward. I’ve trained horses for many years, and I cannot think of how to get him past this behavior. When I turn him around and try to go the other direction, he still stops and refuses to walk on. I have tried turning him in circles, getting off and walking him forward (which he does willingly), and then getting back on, all to no avail. I’ve tried using spurs and a crop to encourage him, but he will not budge. What could be causing this behavior and how do I fix it?

A: A horse usually resists or refuses a request from his rider for one of four reasons: pain, misunderstanding, fear or disrespect. To correct the problem, you need to identify and address the underlying cause. Without being able to observe you, your husband or your horse, I can only share my thoughts based on what you’ve written.

• Pain can be caused by any number of issues including poor saddle fit or a sore mouth, legs or back. Based on your description, I don’t believe pain is the source of your horse’s problem, but it still might be wise to have a veterinarian rule out this possibility.

• Misunderstanding means your horse didn’t understand you and your husband’s “please go forward” cues. But he understood before, so we can eliminate that possibility.

• Fear---as prey animals horses are afraid of only one thing: being eaten by a predator. But because you’ve owned and ridden your horse for three years, he has had sufficient time to feel safe with both you and his surroundings, so let’s eliminate fear.

• Disrespect, then, may well be at the core of your training issue. Every decision a horse makes is based on his own best interest for survival. If he is alone, he will make these decisions on his own. If he’s in a herd under an alpha leader, he will become a follower and respect the judgments and decisions of the leader. However, a horse will sometimes challenge the authority of the alpha to see if he can rise in the hierarchy.

A “herd” doesn’t have to consist of just horses---people can also be a part of the social hierarchy. For a horse to comply with your requests under saddle, he must fully accept you as his leader. I suspect that, at some point last year, your horse challenged the dominance of your husband and continued to test his leadership skills on the leader of his herd (you) to see if he could bump up his ranking and become the alpha.

Horses establish leadership with each other by playing dominance games, often referred to as horseplay. The horse who controls the movement of the other horse or human is the winner of the game and is accepted as the leader. That’s why, when training or retraining a horse, groundwork is important: It replicates the natural dominance games and establishes the human as the leader. It is both more effective and safer than trying to re-establish respect while mounted.

Sometimes a person can ride a horse for years without experiencing any resistance. But that does not necessarily mean that the horse has completely accepted his rider’s authority. It could be that the horse considers himself the leader but has decided it’s easier and more comfortable to comply with his rider’s requests---but he always has the potential to suddenly announce, “I don’t feel like going forward today.”

At this point, kicking harder, spurring, hitting and becoming frustrated and angry (which are all predatory behaviors) only destroy any trust and respect he may have had for his rider and reaffirm that it is still in his best interest to continue being the leader.

Long before a horse refuses to go forward he may give us clues that he is testing our leadership role. Moving a few steps when we go to mount or attempting to bite while being groomed are common signs of disrespect. If left uncorrected, these subtle behaviors will invariably escalate to more pronounced resistance like bucking, rearing or in your case balking.

Anytime a horse is resistant while riding, I recommend fixing the problem on the ground. In other words, practice groundwork exercises to reestablish your position as herd leader. A number of today’s training programs include simple, effective groundwork exercises. Although every clinician has his favorite methods, each is based on the same principle---to teach the horse to move away from both physical and emotional pressure and reward him when he complies. When you can control and regain your horse’s respect on the ground, he will go forward willingly and with respect when you ride.

Tim Hayes
Natural horsemanship clinician
East Hampton, New York
www.hayisforhorses.com

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue #429.

You may use your round pen only for short, supervised training sessions, but regular wear and tear can still take a toll on it. To make sure your round pen is safe and secure for your horse, inspect its footing and fencing periodically.

Working a horse in a regular track around the perimeter of the pen is going to create ruts over time. Dragging the surface regularly, as you would in a riding ring, will help maintain safe, level footing that protects your horse’s legs from strains and injury. If your horse slips frequently despite dragging, you might need to consider either installing or replenishing a footing material, such as sand or wood chips, to give him better traction.

Even if you intend to keep your horse under your control while working in the pen, the fence needs to be sturdy enough to withstand spooks and crashes. Regularly check for and repair loose posts or panels, and close off gaps that could entrap the leg of a rolling or bucking horse. Also look for and fix splinters or other protrusions that could cause lacerations.

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue #429.

Patton grew up in California and worked with horses her whole life. Her father was an on-the-road rodeo clown who also worked as the rodeo-trail cook using a Dutch oven.

He taught his daughter a few tricks of the trade, and Susie Patton has been perfecting her skills ever since. For the past 10 years, she’s been doing so while on overnight trail rides.

Going Dutch
The cast-iron cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid has been around since the early 1700s and was an important piece of equipment for the early settlers, since they could use it for a variety of forms of cooking from boiling to baking.

The shallow pot has short legs to hold it over hot coals. Hot coals are placed directly on the lid providing uniform heat. The favorite use is for slow cooking, but the Dutch oven can provide casseroles and even cakes with the proper recipes.

Sizzle & Fizzle
Patton’s favorite meal to cook in a Dutch oven is a meatloaf-stuffed onion complete with a homemade barbeque sauce.

Her worst meal?

“One time at a hunting camp, I made a scalloped potato casserole,” says Patton. “But I left it on too long, and it incinerated and almost ruined my Dutch oven!”

At the hunting camps in California, Patton often cooks for 20 to 30 people who are there to hunt on horseback. The participants are astounded at the venison chili and chocolate cake she cooks in the Dutch oven.

Her breakfast casserole of eggs, potatoes, bacon, and onion is also a favorite.

Other overnight-camping supplies Patton packs are bags of charcoal, a lid lifter to remove the hot Dutch oven top, and a metal coffeepot for making “cowboy coffee” in which the grounds are poured directly into the water and boiled.

One time, at a camp with 10 pack animals, a white mule escaped the picket line. He managed to locate Patton’s food supplies and eat all the flour, cereal, and cornmeal.

“That mule’s one-man party put a dent in my recipes for that trip!”

Dutch-oven chef Susie Patton packs the right supplies to whip up a perfect camp meal. Photo by Sharon Miner

Hitting the Trail
Patton has ridden and cooked on trails in Nevada and Arizona, as well as California.

She also holds demonstrations with free samples at equine expos, such as the Pomona Horse Expo in Pomona, California. She’ll answer questions, share tips, and give handouts to interested attendees.

Patton is a member of Back Country Horsemen of California (www.bchcalifornia.org), whose goals include, “To improve and promote the use, care and development of California backcountry trails, campsites, streams and meadows; to advocate good trail manners. To promote the conservation and utilization of our backcountry resources in concert with livestock transportation.”

Here’s a three-ingredient dessert from Susie Patton that will amaze your friends.

Dump-Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
1 can of apple pie filling
1 box of spice-cake mix
1 12-ounce can of root beer

Preparation:
Line a 10-inch Dutch oven with quick-release (nonstick) foil.

Instructions:
~ Dump in one can of apple pie filling.
~ Sprinkle the dry spice-cake mix over the top.
~ Pour one can of root beer over the dry cake mix.
~ Do not mix.
~ Put 8 coals under the Dutch oven and 12 coals on top of the lid.
~ Bake until done. (Test with fork.)
~ Cool slightly, spoon out, and serve with whipped cream.
Also works with chocolate cake mix, cherry pie filling and cherry coke.

While investigating a 5,600-year-old village site in Kazakhstan, archaeologists determined that its Copper Age inhabitants were among the first cultures to tame horses. The evidence? The buried remnants of corral posts. Clearly, fences have been crucial to our shared relationship all along.

Unlike ancient horsemen who were limited to sticks and stones to enclose their horses, we benefit from a vast variety of traditional and modern materials from which to choose. Unfortunately, despite over 5,000 years of development, there’s still no ideal fence for every horsekeeping purpose. Each fence choice involves balancing safety concerns with aesthetics, cost, and upkeep.

Chances are you’ll employ a variety of materials and fence designs on your property for paddocks, arenas, and pasture fences—or even mix fence materials for a single enclosure. Choosing carefully will help maximize the safety, value, appeal, and utility of your fences. Before looking at the broad range of choices, let’s discuss safe fencing construction.

Safety
America’s West was tamed by blazing guns and barbed wire. Both remain murderous when used improperly. While barbed wire is relatively safe for huge pastures holding thick-skinned, placid cattle, the use of barbed wire for horse properties has caused untold tragedies. If you have any on your horse acreage, your first fencing priority is to remove it.

Building codes may ultimately determine fencing requirements for your land, but some general rules of thumb apply nearly everywhere. Field fences should be 54 to 60 inches above ground level. Err on the side of caution and go with a 5-feet minimum height where fences abut highways or anywhere that an escaped horse can flee your premises. Six feet is the safe minimum height for stall runs and paddocks.

At bottom, an opening of 8 to 12 inches will keep feet and legs from getting trapped, and also prevent foals from rolling under the fence. Fence openings should be either large enough that a hoof, leg, or even the head can’t become trapped, or very small (no more than 3 inches by 3 inches) to prevent a hoof from penetrating. To maintain tension, most wire fences, both fabric and high-tensile smooth wire, require triangular-shaped bracing at the corners and at intervals of about 1/8 mile. The acute angles formed by brace wires represent entrapment hazards if the horse can reach them; good design (such as boards used in corners to block access) can prevent injury, even death.

Visibility, especially with wire fencing, is too often overlooked. While a white plank fence of wood or PVC is easily seen by horses, wires can be almost invisible when a horse panics and runs—the time when the worth of a fence is truly tested. Improve visibility to wire fences by adding a top rail of wood; PVC; or durable white vinyl fence ribbon, either standard or electrified. This addition not only makes a wire fence more visible, it also deters horses from reaching over the fence to graze.

Regardless of fence material and design, one of your goals should be to present a smooth side to the horses. Do-it-yourselfers occasionally make the mistake of mounting boards on the outside of fence posts, which makes them easy for horses to knock loose. Further, the exposed posts can injure a horse that runs down the fence line. With cross-pasture fencing, you may not be able to avoid this exposure; in such cases, using an electric fence wire to create a psychological as well as a physical barrier offers a safe solution.

Corners also present problems, especially if you plan to pasture horses that don’t get along well. Any corner can create an entrapment situation where one horse is bullied. The problem is especially bad when the corner angle is acute (90 degrees or less). Some solutions include corners that curve. This requires placing wire fence barriers on the outside of the posts, but this is less of a problem in corners than it is along straight runs. Another solution is to affix planks across corners to block access.

Wood posts, field fence, a highly visible electric tape, and a twisted smooth-wire top line makes this an exceptionally safe fence.

Posts
The strength and integrity of a fence come from good fence posts, properly installed. Wire fences require tension, which means that corner assemblies and gate assemblies need to be braced against the pulling forces. Generally, when using wood posts, it’s best to use concrete to set corner assemblies and gate posts. Metal T-posts benefit from having sturdy wood corner and gate assemblies as well. These are an absolute requirement for high-tensile wire.

Wood is traditional and commonly used for fence posts. Whether you’re making a plank fence or just using wood posts, local availability and custom may determine your choices in woods. For instance, while hardwood fence materials tend to be readily available in the East, Southeast, and parts of the Midwest, softwoods predominate in the West. To deter decomposition, common softwoods that are resistant to rot and insect infestation include cedar, redwood, and cypress. Unfortunately, these woods are very expensive.

For this reason, horsemen often choose pressure-treated lumber (usually pinewood or fir); such lumber costs 1/3 to 1/5 of the above-mentioned varieties. With pressure treated lumber (or “PTL”), the manufacturer impregnates the wood with chemicals that resist rot, fungi, and insects. Look for treated lumber posts that are certified for in-ground use. Paint won’t bond to the material, so PTL fences are invariably natural.

Barn names: Handsome and Sshamey.

What grabs us: This stallion only gets better with age--competing (and winning) against younger horses at 18 and having a Breyer figurine modeled after him at 21.

Owned by: Lisa Shover and Jerry Kackley, Scottsdale, Arizona.

Trained by: Chris Culbreth, Scottsdale.

Watch as Sshameless and Lisa present the flag at the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show.

H&R: What's his personality like?

Lisa: He’s probably the most amazing horse I’ve ever been around, and not just because he’s mine. I met him five years ago, and he’s just got this amazing, expressive dark eye that just pulls people to him.

He’s just got this soulfulness about him. He can be very gentle and quiet, which he is 99 percent of the time. And then he can fire up when you show him in halter and be the epitome of what an Arabian stallion is.

I just showed him last May. Literally people from all over the show grounds heard him going in to the arena. He was digging through the dirt, throwing it over his back. He went in that ring like I’ve never seen him, and he beat the 4-year-olds. He was 20 at the time.

He just came off the Scottsdale show where his Breyer model was introduced, and in five days, he met 700 children one on one. He’s just got this incredible love of people. He has an affinity for those who’ve been troubled. I’ve seen it happen with adults and children. There’s just something about him that draws these folks to him. They walk away with a sense of peace.

I’ve been working with animals my whole life, and I’ve never seen a temperament like this. That’s what drew me to him. We weren’t looking for a stallion, let alone a horse. I just fell in love with him. He was next to one of my mares at the show barn. That’s how we met. I would just share carrots and apples with him. Then I started going in his stall and grooming him. My trainer, Chris, said you’re just going to be broken hearted—his owners are taking him home to sell him. My husband surprised me with him. He’s a magnet.

H&R: Does he do any events other than halter?

Lisa: We are the only team for the Arabians to ever win a performance national title (for Western pleasure) and a halter national title (stallion halter, amateur owner) at the same U.S. National competition.

He went polar opposites. He had to be really quiet and calm for Western and then he had to be bouncing off the walls for halter. He was competing against horses between three and 12 years old, he was then 18.

It’s interesting. The gentleman who was his handler for the U.S. Nationals as a 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old--when he got his first titles--was at the last Scottsdale show when I presented the American flag with him for the opening ceremonies, and he said, “That horse looks better than he ever looked in his life; I’d never believe he’s 21.”

H&R: What do you think makes him special?

Lisa: He had some bad history before us, and he loves having his family. He lives at home with us, which is very unique for a stallion that’s still breeding. When I first took him for his collection, I thought it was our true test: If he’d be able to deal with coming home. He’s just truly a gentleman.

It’s almost like a person who’s been through tough times and appreciates all the good around them. It’s a true appreciation for what he has. He loves being home. There’s an appreciation about him.

When people ask how I treat him, I say it’s with a level of respect. He responds to that. That’s what we do with all of our animals. My kids are four-legged, not two-legged. It’s just a blessing to have him in our lives. He returns that, too. It’s an appreciation about him and an affinity for or understanding about what isn’t so good. I think that’s what he recognizes about people who are troubled, because in some ways, he’s been there.

H&R: What is he like under saddle?

Lisa: Amazing! You can’t tell if you’re on the wrong lead--not that he takes it. He is so smooth. He’s a big horse for an Arabian stallion------he’s 16 hands, but he moves so softly. There’s just such a dignity about what he’s like under saddle.

When we carried the flag a the Scottsdale show, it was probably one of the biggest honors and most memorable moments of our year. He literally takes people’s breath away; you can hear them gasp. When he breaks through the gate, they stand. Someone said, “I don’t know if they’re standing for the flag or if they’re standing for Sshame.” It’s just a vision, and he’s so respectful.