When a rider uses negative reinforcement, she stops an unpleasant stimulus when the horse responds correctly to a cue. Photo © EQUUS

Q: I am helping a friend train her horse, an 8-year-old Appaloosa gelding she has owned for more than a year. Her horse responds well to my leg cues, but since her stirrup length is at least a foot shorter than mine (I’m much taller than she is), her leg cues touch him at a totally different place. This horse side passes and leg yields for her perfectly, but lately he has been avoiding the canter departure. We’ve already checked for saddling and bit issues, and otherwise he seems very willing to work. How can we teach her horse to respond to her cue for the canter? Any ideas as to why after learning leg yielding so well he would lose his canter depart?

A: I don’t believe this is a problem with leg placement or stirrup length; I think this is a matter of cue confusion: Your friend has accidentally trained her horse to do the wrong thing. He will probably be easy to retrain--he hasn’t forgotten how to do a canter depart; he just thinks the correct answer to her cue is to leg yield.

The cues for a leg yield and canter are easy to confuse because they are quite similar. I’ve seen many horses make this mistake, and the fact that you have been schooling leg yields makes it even more likely. I’m betting that what happened was that your
friend inadvertently rewarded the horse when he gave the wrong response to her cue for the canter.

When training, we often use a technique known as negative reinforcement, which in this case means releasing pressure when the horse gives the correct response. For instance, when asking for a walk, you apply leg pressure to his sides. As soon as he moves forward, you take away the pressure, thus rewarding the horse for the correct response. But, if you were to apply leg pressure to move forward and the horse ignored the signal, even if you stopped the pressure only momentarily, you would have trained the horse to ignore that leg cue.

Always remember this: Whatever the horse is doing at the moment you release pressure (either from the leg or rein) is what you just trained him to do. The next time you apply that cue, he will do the same thing he did the last time to get the release. It’s amazing how often this is the root of a problem: A rider hesitates after the horse incorrectly responds to a cue, and in that brief moment of pause the pressure is released. As a result, the horse thinks he did the right thing.

The key to successful training lies in how your friend responds when her horse does not “read” her cue correctly: She needs to take immediate action to correct the response and immediately reapply the cue, then release pressure only when the horse does the right thing.

If I had asked a horse for a canter departure and he began leg yielding instead, I would stop his sideways motion with leg and rein cues. I would bounce my outside leg (if you are leg-yielding left, the horse is bent to the right, so your outside leg is the left leg) on his ribs to say, “No, you cannot move that way,” close the outside rein (move my hand toward his neck), and reach forward to immediately send him on. Then, I would check his gait and, if the canter wasn’t picked up, instantly give him another strong, even exaggerated, cue. Using my voice aid to help the horse (with the kissing sound), I would repeat this process until I got the canter departure on the first request, then let him rest as a reward.

Without question, anytime two or more riders share a single horse, it is more difficult for him to distinguish cues because, no matter how similar two people are, their riding cannot be exactly identical. Luckily, most horses quickly adapt to each rider and learn to distinguish the variations in their signals. But I must add it seems unusual that you and your friend would ride with a full foot of difference between your stirrup lengths. This makes me wonder if one or both of you need to reevaluate your positions. For example, a rider with short legs would want a longer-than-average stirrup length to get more leg on the horse and lower her center of gravity. Adjusting your stirrups might make riding in general much easier and more comfortable.

That said, horses learn very fast, so keep up the training! Sometimes, good communication means being clear when a horse does not give the correct response: If he gives the wrong answer, he must be told he is wrong and to try again.

Julie Goodnight
Natural horsemanship trainer and clinician
www.juliegoodnight.com
Poncha Springs, Colorado

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue #427.

April 28, 2013--The 2013 Rolex/FEI World Cup Final came to an exciting yet familiar conclusion Sunday in front of a packed house in the Scandinavum Arena. In the first of two rounds Course Designer Uliano Vezzani tested 23 horse and rider combinations over a demanding track composed of 12 obstacles that did not yield a single clear round. The number of competitors was then whittled to 17 for the 11 obstacle second round with two riders producing flawless efforts. But for a second consecutive year, four rounds would not be enough to determine a champion and again an American and Swiss competitor would jump-off.

The United States' Beezie Madden and Steve Guerdat of Switzerland each ended on a four round total of nine-faults. In a replay of the 2012 Final, Guerdat riding his 2012 Olympic Individual Gold medalist Nino Des Buissonnets, would be forced to jump-off against a U.S. partnership that was known for turning in quick and efficient trips. Last year it was Rich Fellers and Flexible but in 2013 Madden (Cazenovia, NY) and Abigail Wexner's impressive a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Simon were looking to keep the title in the United States.

Madden and Simon, the winners of Thursday's Speed Leg, entered Sunday's first round on a single fault in second place and were poised to jump a clear round until just rolling the pole coming out of the double at five. Their four fault round was good enough to move them to the head of the field going into round two. In the second round, the pair again jumped a beautiful round only to be marred by a single rail down (11A) and stand on a total of nine faults.

"It's been a fantastic week. The first leg was one of those rounds where everything came up. Friday, I was happy with the first round and I was kicking myself for the jump-off." said Madden recapping her performances earlier in the week. "I was disappointed (today) I would have liked to have gone clear in the second round but you have to shake that off and concentrate on the jump-off."

Guerdat was one of two to go clear in Sunday's second round to also lay on nine faults. The 2012 Final runners-up again entered as the first pair in the jump-off and set a lightening fast pace from the very beginning but faulted at the final two fences.
With Madden following him into the jump-off, Guerdat knew that he would need to produce a scorching time if he were to claim top honors.

"I know she's a very fast rider, so I had to try."

Once she saw that Guerdat had two rails down, the double Olympic Team Gold medalist knew all she had to do was leave all the rails in place and be careful to not exceed the time allowed. Madden and Simon returned to the arena for a final time and the hard-trying, careful gelding produced a steady clear to earn the 2013 Rolex/FEI World Cup Final title.

"The cards laid out right for me today. Steve made a great jump up on the leaderboard and the door was left open for me in the jump-off," said Madden.

The veteran rider has claimed many of the most prestigious honors in the sport including Team and Individual medals at the Olympic Games, FEI World Equestrian Games and Pan American Games. However, a Rolex/FEI World Cup Final title had eluded her until today.

"It's been a dream of mine to win the World Cup and I can't believe I've done it," said Madden. "It's a title I've always wanted to win and the closest I had been before was fourth so it was a nice jump to make."

Madden was joined by five other Americans in Sunday's final as McLain Ward, Reed Kessler, Karl Cook, Katie Dinan and Charlie Jayne also completed both rounds.

Three-time Olympian, Ward (Brewster, NY) produced a fifth place finish overall with Grant Road Partner LLC's Super Trooper De Ness on a score of 13 faults. In Sunday's first round the scopey 11-year-old Belgain Warmblood stallion jumped a near flawless round just adding four faults at the sixth oxer. The pair returned in round two with a podium finish on their mind but were one of many to get caught out in the triple combination adding four faults at 4C.

Rounding out the U.S. competitors in the top-ten was 18-year-old Reed Kessler and her 2012 Olympic Games partner the 11-year-old Belgain mare Cylana. Kessler (Lexington, KY) was making her Rolex/FEI World Cup debut this week in Gothenburg and produced an eight fault total in Sunday's first round after dislodging rails at fences 5B and 9B. In round two, she again incurred eight faults; rolling poles at 4C and 5.

Kessler finished in 10th place on 25 faults.

Directly behind Kessler in the 11th place was Karl Cook (Woodside, CA) riding Signe Ostby's 11-year-old Zangerscheide stallion Jonkheer Z to four fault totals in both rounds. They completed their first Final appearance on a score of 28 faults.

Completing the U.S. effort were Dinan and Jayne. Riding Grant Road Partners LLC's 12-year-old Selle Francais gelding Nougat De Vallet, Dinan (Wellington, FL) jumped eight and 12 fault rounds respectively to finish on a score of 38 in 16th place. Like Kessler and Cook, the 19-year-old was also riding in her first Final. Jayne (Elgin, IL) and Alex Jayne and Maura Thatcher's 10-year-old Zangerscheide stallion Chill R Z produced an eight fault trip in round one. But 20 faults in the second round left the 2012 Olympic reserve combination in 17th place on 44 faults.

Kent Farrington (Wellington, FL) also qualified to represent the United States in Sunday's final but chose to save R.C.G. Farm's Uceko for another day.

Chef d'Equipe Robert Ridland was pleased with the results of all the U.S. combinations this week.

"We're very excited; we made this a huge goal. This was a priority; not just winning but really doing better with all our riders in the running and we saw that today," said Ridland. "It was just icing on the cake that Beezie won."

For more information about the 2013 Rolex/FEI World Cup Final visit: http://www.gothenburghorseshow.com/

Follow the 2013 U.S. Jumping Team here.

How do you feel and behave when you get out of bed in the morning with tight or painful back muscles? Chances are you move stiffly or tentatively and your range of motion is restricted. Until you get relief, you don’t have your usual enthusiasm for normal tasks.

It’s much the same for your horse when his back muscles are stiff or hurting. He may

• flinch or sink away when you’re saddling him;
• travel with his head elevated and/or his back hollowed;
• canter less freely than usual;
• experience a decrease in coordinated power;
• trail his hind end rather than stepping under himself;
• jump flat rather than with a rounded bascule;
• drift sideways, either on the flat or over jumps;
• resist lateral work.

One thing your horse will not do as a response to back pain or tightness, by the way, is buck. He needs to round or flex his back to buck, whereas his normal reaction to pain and tightness in his back is to move away from the discomfort by hollowing.

What’s Hurting

The longissimus costarum, just below the longissimus dorsi, extends across the horse’s ribs. This muscle assists in extending the spine and in flexing it laterally.

© Jim Leiby

The muscles whose tightness is frequently a cause of these signs are the longissimus dorsi—the longest and largest muscles in your horse’s body and a powerful extensor of his spine—and the longissimus costarum, which lie below the longissimus dorsi across the ribs on each side and are important in lateral flexion of the spine and in breathing (see photos page 66 for the location of these muscles).

As part of understanding how tightness develops in these and other muscles, let’s take a quick look at how muscles work. Every muscle has two ends, each connected to bone by a tendon. One end is the anchor and the bone to which it is connected doesn’t move. The other end is connected to a bone that moves when the muscle is used. The middle part of the muscle, which does the work of moving the bone, is called the belly. It’s composed of hundreds of tiny fibers, each of which has its own blood supply. When a muscle is working normally, it tightens, then immediately relaxes or ­releases. Muscle tightness occurs when the muscle doesn’t release as it should. When a muscle becomes chronically tight, the fibers lie closer together. This constricts the flow of blood through the muscle belly, somewhat like stepping on a garden hose reduces the flow of water. The muscle ­operates less effectively when it’s tight, and it may be painful.

All muscles work in pairs of opposites: As one muscle contracts, its opposite ­releases. When a muscle is tight, the ­release process of the muscle is affected. The back muscles extend the horse’s spine, and tight back muscles can’t release to allow for the spinal flexion your horse needs to, for instance, round himself for a bascule over a fence or a nice collected canter. Tightness in the longissimus ­costarum will also affect your horse’s ability to bend around your inside leg.

What Causes It
Back muscle tightness can result from a number of factors. Some of the most common are

• the strain and exertion of repetitive schooling, such as working much more on one canter lead than the other;
• footing that is very deep or too hard;
• an ill-fitting or out-of-balance saddle;
• a very imbalanced rider (whose horse will attempt to compensate for her ­one-sidedness);
• poor saddle placement (for instance, too far up on the withers, which drives the cantle into the back muscles);
• too many pads under a correctly fitted saddle. Contrary to some riders’ belief, this does not reduce pressure on the horse’s back but is more like cramming two pairs of socks inside your shoes.

Tight back muscles can also signal a deeper problem such as hock or ankle issues, weak stifles or ligament problems. How can you know whether you’re dealing with simple muscle tightness or with something more serious? If your horse’s discomfort is not relieved after you have done the massage and exercise sequence I’ll describe on the next two pages a couple of times, you need to involve your veterinarian. (As a general rule of thumb, in my 20 years of practice as a massage therapist, if I find persistent tightness in the forward area of a horse’s back, it may indicate a deeper problem in his front end; if the muscles remain tight in the area near his haunches even after massage, there may be a bigger problem in his hind end.)

You may think that you control your horse with the bridle and bit, but that assumption is actually only partially true. After all, your horse’s “engine” and turning apparatus are in his hindquarters. Control the hindquarters and you control your horse.

Bit-and-bridle pressure simply cues your horse to go forward, whoa, turn, back, etc. It’s a way of communicating to your horse what you’d like for him to do. However, your seat and legs, when fine-tuned, also provide excellent cues. When your horse understands your seat and leg cues, he doesn’t necessarily need a bridle to be under your control.

Here, world champion trainer Lynn Palm, along with her husband, horseman Cyril Pittion-Rossillon demonstrate how you can begin teaching your horse to respond to your seat and leg cues only, so you can ride bridleless.

You’ll need: An experienced helper (to longe your horse while you ride and to provide feedback); a halter and longe line; a longe whip; a riding helmet; and your usual tack (including your bridle).

Before you begin: Outfit your horse in a saddle and bridle. Then apply a halter over the bridle. Attach the longe line to the halter’s side ring. Lead your horse to an enclosed arena with good footing. Put on your riding helmet, mount up, and ask your helper to move you and your horse out onto a wide circle on the longe line. Warm up for about 20 minutes, then follow the video tutorial.

Ride Without Reins
To learn to ride bridleless, you’ll first learn how to ride without the reins. This will teach you to “ride from the waist down,” says Palm. It’ll also refine your balance in the saddle.

On the longe line, you’ll drop your reins, and learn to use your seat and legs to cue and control your horse. You’ll do this as you perform upper-body balancing exercises at the walk, trot, posting trot, and lope or canter.

You’ll change direction so you’ll develop both sides evenly. (Change of direction also helps your horse develop both sides evenly, which helps to prevent muscle and joint soreness.)

After you’re comfortable dropping your reins on the longe line, your helper will detach the line, and you’ll perform the same steps. You’ll ask your helper to stay in the arena with you to provide feedback

and in case you need assistance.

At this stage, you’ll pick up the reins when needed to cue your horse.

Neck-Rope Cues
Next, you’ll learn how to use a neck rope and leg aids, along with the bridle, to teach your horse to respond to neck-rope cues. (Your horse will need to know how to neck rein with a bridle.) You’ll teach him to turn in both directions, stop, and back.

You’ll work the rein and the neck rope at the same time. You’ll start at the walk, then stop and back. (The stop-and-back cue will help you put on the brakes as you move on to the faster gaits without a bridle.)

You’ll then ask your horse for a turn on the forehand, a turn on the haunches, and a leg yield (a lateral move with some forward motion) in both directions. Finally, you’ll progress to an extended trot and the canter.

When your horse does well executing these maneuvers with both the bridle and neck rope, you’ll remove the bridle and repeat the maneuvers with just the neck rope. You’ll ask a helper to stay in the arena with you in case you need assistance.

For more on riding bridleless, visit www.lynnpalm.com, and order the "Bridleless Training" DVD.

Lynn Palm is the founder of Palm Partnership Training. She’s shown more than 34 Quarter Horse world and reserve world champions, competing in both English and Western disciplines. She’s won a record four American Quarter Horse Association Superhorse titles and was the first rider to win the prestigious Superhorse title twice on the same horse, Rugged Lark.

Buck Brannaman and Noah Cornish.

Photo courtesy Tina Cornish

“There, feel that?” calls her coach  from the top rail where he’s seated, Western boots pressed, heel first, back against the slats. “He wasn’t as soft as I know you want him, but he was softer than the time before, wasn’t he?”

To most, this “coach” is now recognizable in an instant. The iconic hat. The serious eyes. The neat-pressed collared shirt. Buck Brannaman has long been a revered horseman, making his living through clinics where he passes on the knowledge he’s gained and hewn over years spent studying two men who some consider the original “horse whisperers”: Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance.

In 2011, the documentary BUCK was released. Coming out of nowhere from a first-time director, BUCK struck the Americana chord. It swept the film festivals, won the audience award at Sundance, and shared with millions the story of how Buck Brannaman came to wear the boots he wears, each and every day, in many different places, alongside many different types of horses…and people.

Californian Tina Cornish, and her daughter Ali and son Noah, appear in both the hit film BUCK and the new instructional DVD series “7 Clinics with Buck Brannaman,” which was created from the documentary’s unused footage and released last September. Tina has been a Buck clinic sponsor in California since 2007, but it was many years earlier that she first learned of his methods.

“I met Buck when I was in my early twenties and somebody suggested that I take a Thoroughbred filly that I had and start her with him,” recalls Tina. “I had been riding a lot of racehorses, and for the first time I felt like I had some tools to keep me safe—Buck gave me those tools.”

Tina started riding English at the age of seven on a Shetland Pony named Thelwell. Later in life, it seemed only natural to put her daughter Ali on horseback when she was upset or crying. It soothed her. Son Noah, too, was soon drawn in, especially when Tina began hosting Buck Brannaman clinics at the Saddle Creek Ranch in Butte Valley.

“I remember wanting to ride like him,” says 16-year-old Noah. “Through my mom, I’ve known Buck’s philosophy since I was just a little guy, but I remember when I rode with him for the first time, I was on my pony Pablo, and I was thinking how cool it was to just watch him ride.”

This year, the first weekend in February, Noah got to do a whole lot more than just watch Buck ride. He and his sister Ali, who is now 18, along with Madison Wedderspoon who rides with Denise Finch at Huntersedge Farm in Las Vegas, were the riders for the English demonstration taught by gold-medal-winning Olympic equestrian Melanie Smith Taylor at the 2013 Legacy of Legends at the Southpoint Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Melanie Smith Taylor, along with Buck and a number of other well

known names in the equestrian industry, was a featured clinician at Legacy of Legends. The event showcased those who exemplify the spirit and ability to communicate a level of horsemanship introduced and taught by Buck’s mentors: Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance. Clinics held over the weekend were intended to “promote harmony between horse and rider, as well as preserve the dignity and well-being of the horse while encouraging the rider to achieve a higher level of horsemanship.”

“At Legacy of Legends, Ali rode her young jumper Freddy, who was a stopper before she got him,” explains Tina. “Noah started his young horse Gus over fences. Maddy was riding an equitation horse, and all three were using methods they have learned from those who study and work with Buck. We wanted people to see that you can apply these principles of horsemanship to whatever you do with horses, regardless of discipline, and Melanie was wonderful at demonstrating that.

“I would really like more people from the hunter/jumper world to participate in events like Legacy of Legends—there is such a wealth of knowledge available from these clinicians.”

For some, seeing Buck work with English riders in the documentary BUCK, and hearing Tina and Ali tell the story of how Buck’s methods made it possible for them to restart Ali’s champion equitation horse Van Gogh (“Theo”) in the instructional DVD series “7 Clinics with Buck Brannaman,” might be the first time they even consider the possible application of such “cowboy wisdom” to typically English disciplines such as dressage and jumping.

But if it is proof you need, the Cornish family’s success with Theo is certainly convincing.

“When we got Theo he was resistant and cranky,” remembers Tina. “He would rear at the gate as you tried to enter the ring. He would kick out at your leg. I had called Buck when we were looking at the horse, so I felt pretty sure we had made the right choice in buying him, but I still second-guessed myself for the first six months we had him. Ali wanted to restart him herself and she had only just turned 13. He was already a big horse—he grew to be 17.2 hands and weighed about 1,450 pounds—and Ali is 5’3” and 95 pounds!

“When we took Theo home, we turned him out a couple of weeks, then Ali started working with him in a Western saddle, outside of the arena. I remember watching her try to get him to cross a small stream up in the field while I was giving a lesson in the ring—she must have been there an hour with him! So patient. No one had ever given this horse time, so although it took a while, he finally went. It was good for both of them. Ali would wait for him to figure things out instead of getting impatient and trying to solve problems for him. She did a lot of softening laterally and rebalancing, as he had been formerly ridden in a very tight standing martingale. Everything she did was based on something she learned from Buck.”

“The most challenging thing for me was that I was involved in a discipline where there is a time crunch when you are a junior rider,” says Ali. “I was young, and it was hard for me to sometimes understand why it was taking so long with Theo while other kids my age were jumping bigger and having more success in the show ring. It became apparent to me later, though, why we took our time. Ultimately, in Theo I had a mentally and physically sound horse. We knew each other so well; it was a true partnership. It really showed last year at Maclay regionals when I flew in from college, and having not shown him since June, we still were reserve in the class. We don’t longe, ear plug, or medicate him, and Theo performs and behaves consistently wherever we go and is super sound.”

Tina, Ali, and Noah’s goal to use good horsemanship stands out. Ali took Theo to an “A” rated show the day after working with him at a Buck clinic, and the pair won every class they were in because they were so in tune with each other.

“I think the thing about Buck’s techniques that make them a little hard for industry people to embrace is that he invites the problems a horse has to the surface,” says Tina. “He does this so he can work through them; most people do their best to avoid them and hope they never appear.”

When you watch BUCK the film and “7 Clinics with Buck Brannaman,” there is no doubt that Buck Brannaman’s intent is for those who attend his clinics to gain the tools they need to become better horsemen and do a better job with their horses—not just in the “here and now,” but down the road and in the future. His focus is always good, basic horsemanship that, when done well, with the right timing, can yield great things in a partnership with a horse.

“I know trainers who, since discovering Buck and his methods, use the techniques with the horses they have,” says Tina, “but most people just want a horse with a behavior or training problem fixed for them and then returned when it’s been solved. It is a big commitment, a lot of time, to retrain yourself, your grooms, and your clients to handle horses differently. Change is uncomfortable for people and the pressure and expense of this sport can seem overwhelming to some. In my ideal world, people would embrace the idea of learning to train and ride better so their horses wouldn’t have to be robots. I also think trainers are often under and incredible amount of pressure from clients to produce; clients need to take ownership of their expectations so everyone can slow down.

“Today horses are bred so job-specific that it is easy for trainers and riders to push their mounts too fast,” she continues. “Often, the foundation is incomplete and we don’t realize it until there is a problem. We need to slow down and give the horse time to be part of what we are doing with him—he’s not just some vehicle to get over a fence and win a ribbon. We need to be more considerate of his mental state.”

“If you want to be in this business as a rider or trainer, you have to have compassion and understanding for the horse,” agrees Ali. “Someday, I want to ride at an international level representing the United States in show jumping while applying the style of horsemanship I’ve learned from Buck to every horse I ride.”

If Buck has an eye for a true horseman, then Ali surely has a chance. We all bear witness to her lesson with Buck in “7 Clinics with Buck Brannaman” and as Ali reaches down to stroke her horse’s neck, nodding as she listens to her coach’s advice, Buck gives her just the encouragement she needs to continue to honor the path she has, so far, chosen to tread.

“I think you’re right on track,” Buck says. “I know he’ll be a lot softer the next time I see him. No doubt about that.

“It all looks pretty good to me.”

Rebecca M. Didier is coauthor of Dressage with Mind, Body & Soul with Linda Tellington-Jones.

On-again, off-again lameness, low energy levels, a cranky attitude—those signs could point to something as simple as overwork. But Lyme disease could produce all those problems, and it may be a growing problem for horses in parts of the United States. Lyme disease can have long-term complications that include damage to your horse’s joints, skin, nervous system and even vision.

A bacterial disease spread by tick bites, Lyme is a problem for people, dogs and other animals, not just horses. As the ticks that carry this disease slowly expand their range, cases and concern are increasing. Is your horse at risk? If he develops Lyme disease, how will you know, and what should you do? Can you protect him? This article will help you make sense of the threat.

Who’s at Risk?
Lyme disease takes its name from Lyme, Connecticut, where it was first identified in the 1970s. It’s now the most common vector-borne disease in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control, which tracks human cases. The disease has popped up in ­almost every state, but CDC figures show that most cases occur in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic and north-central states, with pockets in Pacific and southern states.

While no one collects national statistics on Lyme disease in horses, cases tend to occur in the same areas as human cases, says Thomas J. Divers, DVM, of the Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine. Those are all places where the disease-carrying blacklegged ticks—mainly deer ticks and Western blacklegged ticks (photo above)—are common. In some areas up to half the blacklegged tick population may harbor the spiral-shaped bacteria, Borrelia ­burgdorferi (Bb), that cause Lyme disease.

The ticks have three life stages (larva, nymph and adult) and need a blood meal ­before they can molt into the next stage. They pick up the bacteria as larvae and nymphs by feeding on the blood of infected mice, and they transmit the infection to their next hosts—human, horse, dog, deer or any passing mammal or bird. They seem most likely to feed on horses as adults. In cold-winter regions, adults typically appear in early fall, spend the winter dormant in brush and leaf litter and come out again in early spring. This makes early spring and fall prime times for infection. But horses can get Lyme disease whenever infected ticks are active.

CDC statistics show a steady increase in reported cases. In some areas, including parts of Maryland and Virginia and northern New England, human case numbers are up sharply. Maine, for example, went from no cases reported in 1988 to 970 in 2009. Maine state veterinarian Don Hoenig, VMD, says that Lyme disease is turning up in new areas as the vectors—deer ticks—increase their geographic distribution. “We have ticks where we had none six or seven years ago,” he says. Several factors likely contribute to the spread:

• Wildlife populations: Deer and other wildlife hosts, including migratory birds, can carry the ticks and move them to new areas.
• Changing landscapes: In many areas abandoned farmland is reverting to forest, and the ticks prefer forest habitat to fields. They’re often found in the brush of the forest understory and forest edge—and suburban yards, which mimic that habitat.
• Warming climate: Warmer winters ­allow ticks to expand their range northward and to spread disease for more of the year, as they are active whenever the temperature is above 40 F.

Reports of Lyme disease have also ­increased as people have ­become more aware of it. “We’re looking for it more,” Dr. Hoenig says. Lyme is now so prevalent in Maine, he adds, that it’s no longer on the state department of agriculture’s list of reportable diseases.

If your horse is in a region where blacklegged ticks live, he’s at risk. But even if he’s bitten, he may not get sick. Even if a tick is packing the bacteria, it generally must attach and feed for more than 24 hours before it transmits the infection to its new host. And even when a horse is infected, he may not develop any signs of the disease. “There must be a distinction between infection and disease,” says Dr. Divers. Infection is common where the disease-carrying ticks are prevalent—nearly half of adult horses in some areas of the Northeast have been infected. “Clinical disease [disease that produces recognizable signs] does not appear to be common in horses, although we do not have data on this,” he says.

A cribbing horse grasps a surface with his incisors, flexes his neck, and swallows air. As the air passes through his throat, it makes a gasping, grunting, or groaning sound.

The behavior can be hazardous to the horse’s health, and there is no “cure” for the condition. Once a horse starts to crib, he might feel the need to latch onto any surface in his reach. Most often, horses will crib on fence boards, stall doors, and feed tubs.

Auburn University professor and extension horse specialist Cindy McCall has even had reports of horses cribbing on crossties in a barn aisle and — one particularly determined cribber — on his own shoulder.

There are ways to manage a horse’s cribbing, and research is underway to better understand and work with cribbers. Here’s a closer look.

What kicks off a horse’s cribbing behavior may be fairly complex. “There are a range of risk factors that come together, so personality, breed, diet, early experience — including weaning method — all have a role to play,” says Dr. Daniel Mills, a well-known equine behaviorist who’s researching stereotypes at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in the United Kingdom.

Here’s a rundown of possible causes.

Breed. A primary factor in determining whether a horse will crib is the breed. Thoroughbreds are the No. 1 breed for cribbing, with 8 percent of them exhibiting the behavior. Quarter Horses are next most likely. Evidence points to a genetic link for cribbing.

Weaning/feed. “Cribbing usually at weaning or when you change the horse’s diet,” says Dr. Katherine Houpt, a professor of behavioral medicine at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. “When you bring him off of pasture, stick him in a stall, and give him sweet feed—that continues to be the main stimulus.” The role that sweet feed plays in triggering cribbing is still unknown. However, feeding straight oats seems to decrease the frequency of cribbing in horses exhibiting the behavior.

Dr. Mills believes half of all cribbing horses start within 20 weeks of age, the typical weaning period. Weaning horses using careful management can reduce their likelihood of becoming cribbers: “Ensuring good turnout, gradual weaning, and minimizing the use of concentrates, especially early in life” can aid in prevention, says Dr. Mills.

Anxiety. Some horses are naturally more anxious and stress-prone, and Dr. Mills says that could be a predisposition for cribbing. In fact, the behavior is least often found in cold-blooded horses, such as ponies and draft breeds, which tend to have less-worrisome personalities.

Stomach upset/ulcer. Dr. Mills has treated cribbing horses with antacids and found this might significantly reduce the behavior. His team’s research is ongoing.

Christine Nichol of the Centre for Behavioral Biology at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom has found an association between gastric ulcers and cribbing.

McCall says that she and her team haven’t reached a conclusion as to whether cribbing causes stomach issues or whether the presence of stomach issues is the impetus for cribbing.

Cribbing Dangers

Colic. Cribbing horses can damage equipment and facilities with their grasping and pulling behavior. The real dangers, however, are

the dangers that the horse poses to himself. “Cribbing does present a big risk factor for colic,” said Dr. Houpt. She hasn’t found a direct correlation between the frequency of cribbing and the risk of colic, although she’s lost one-third of the cribbing horses she’s studied due to colic.

Tooth damage. Cribbers wear down their front teeth. They’ll crib on any solid surface, very often including metal surfaces.

Eating disorders. Many cribbers appear thin. “Our skinny ones are skinny because they’ll crib at the expense of eating,” says McCall.

Cribbing Myths

Cribbing is learned. The belief that horses learn to crib from other cribbers is untrue, says Dr. Houpt. Research shows only 10 percent of cribbers pick up the habit from others, and those horses were probably genetically predisposed.

Cribbing horses are bored. The idea that horses crib because they’re bored may also be untrue. Dr. Houpt has found that enriching their environment and providing regular exercise isn’t a help. Other experts disagree, saying cribbing horses that receive regular exercise and other types of environmental stimulation, such as mirrors and toys, are less likely to crib.

Horses crib to get “high.” Research into endorphin levels — the “feel good” chemicals in the bloodstream — hasn’t yielded consistent results as to whether cribbing horses actually get a “high” from their actions. One possibility, Dr. Houpt suggests, is horses might not crib because of the endorphins; rather, the endorphins that are already present from another source — such as a type of feed — might be a cause for the action.

7 Management Techniques

Horses kept on pasture and those with free-choice access to hay may crib less.

Photo by Heidi Melocco

Some experts think the dangers posed to the cribbing horse require management. Others say cribbing should be reduced using a cribbing collar, but the control should be removed for short periods of time so a horse can occasionally act on his need to crib without incurring too much physical damage.

“I would generally say, unless the horse colics recurrently, that it’s better to allow him to crib than to prevent it through collars or surgery,” says Dr. Mills. “These interventions do nothing for the motivation.”

Here’s a look at seven common cribbing-management techniques.

Forage. Horses kept on pasture and those with free-choice access to hay may crib less.

Antacids. As mentioned, research has shown that some cribbing is related to ulcers. Providing an antacid in your horse’s diet could be beneficial.

Cribbing collars. Dr. Houpt says these popular neck collars do seem to work, but “you have to make it so tight that often the horse develops lesions.” Fitted around the horse’s jowl at the throatlatch, a cribbing collar doesn’t affect a horse’s breathing, eating, or drinking when he isn’t attempting to crib. When the horse does attempt to crib, the collar applies pressure to the throatlatch so he can’t arch his neck and suck in air. Note: Avoid shock collars, which are often viewed as cruel.

Cribbing muzzles. Muzzles do work, although horses will try their hardest to remove them. A metal and nylon muzzle clips to the horse’s halter and allows the horse to graze and drink, but the horse can’t get his mouth around a solid object to crib.

Cribbing rings. “They are copper hog rings that you put around the horse’s teeth so they can’t make contact with the fence,” says Dr. Houpt, who has used these in her research. “It works, but they don’t stay in very long, and it does slow down their grazing.”

Premises paint. Several wood coatings are produced with the intention of preventing cribbing. Some people swear by hot pepper sauce. But such treatments have mixed results.

Modified Forssell’s procedure. A surgery designed to prevent cribbing is the modified Forssell’s procedure. A surgeon cuts muscles and nerves in the horse’s neck, and removes some muscle tissue. This makes it difficult for the horse to arch his neck and suck in air.

Trainers often introduce canter pirouettes by spiraling in from a large circle. It’s a common mistake, in my opinion, because horses started this way don’t really know what you want. Often the rider starts to kick and pull and the horse doesn’t understand. The horse gets a lot of pressure but he doesn’t see the purpose.

I begin thinking about training canter pirouettes when my horse can do a walk–canter transition with ease. At that point, I know he’s ready for a little collection in the canter because he is able to bend his hind legs, lower the quarters and sit. I first ask for collection on a large circle, and the moment that he sits a little, I walk. You can feel when the horse sits because his rhythm slows. This teaches the horse that if he sits, he will get the reward of walking. As a result, he will try to sit quickly in order to be rewarded.

Of course, the situation can happen that we go on a circle and I feel that I can’t get the horse’s hind legs to bend. Sometimes horses just thrust themselves forward with the hind legs. In this situation, it’s impossible for the horse to sit, so I start in walk. In any case, it’s easiest for the horse to learn and understand the fundamentals of pirouette in walk, and then the basics are the same for canter. When I can make a large pirouette in walk, my horse will close his frame and sit. It’s difficult to sit in canter, but in walk, the horse will achieve it from the work you’ve done. At this point, my horse already knows everything he needs to learn about canter pirouette. I teach my horse all these things before we start it in canter.