
Two Bonus Exercises
If you have read the book or watched the DVD ‘Understanding Horse Performance: Brain, Pain or Training?’, you will know that they offer a set of 10 practical exercises that you can use with your horse on a regular basis to flag up potential pain or discomfort that may be affecting his behaviour or performance. If you have not read or watched ‘Brain, Pain or Training?’ and would like to, you can find it here. In the book and DVD, I promise two bonus exercises on my website, and here they are. Happy horsing!
"Check the pecs"
What to do:
Stroke between your horse’s front legs, first softly, then firmly, in the direction of the hair. Do this whilst standing on his left side, then again whilst standing on his right side.
The ideal:
There should be no adverse reaction from your horse, he should continue standing calmly or munching on his hay.
Potential pain indicators:
Any sign of discomfort, especially a threatening expression or threatening behaviour. Moving away from you, lifting a front leg or snapping a front foot up, throwing a front leg out forwards.
What to do:
Stroke between your horse’s front legs, first softly, then firmly, in the direction of the hair. Do this whilst standing on his left side, then again whilst standing on his right side.
The ideal:
There should be no adverse reaction from your horse, he should continue standing calmly or munching on his hay.
Potential pain indicators:
Any sign of discomfort, especially a threatening expression or threatening behaviour. Moving away from you, lifting a front leg or snapping a front foot up, throwing a front leg out forwards.
"Standing square"
What to do:
Ask your horse to stand square, in hand, on level ground.
The ideal:
It may take a while of gently shifting different feet in the right direction, but your horse should be able to stand square within a couple of minutes at the most (quicker once you’ve trained him to do this exercise and he knows what’s expected of him). Once he’s standing square, he should be weight bearing equally between both front feet and between both hind feet, with his head and neck straight in front of him.
Potential pain indicators:
Apparent inability to stand square (usually behind), or constantly resting one hind leg or the other.
What to do:
Ask your horse to stand square, in hand, on level ground.
The ideal:
It may take a while of gently shifting different feet in the right direction, but your horse should be able to stand square within a couple of minutes at the most (quicker once you’ve trained him to do this exercise and he knows what’s expected of him). Once he’s standing square, he should be weight bearing equally between both front feet and between both hind feet, with his head and neck straight in front of him.
Potential pain indicators:
Apparent inability to stand square (usually behind), or constantly resting one hind leg or the other.
27 Guest Contributors
There has been tremendous support for this project, including from four time Olympian Richard Davison, who has written the foreword for the book 'Understanding Horse performance: Brain, Pain or Training?'. 27 eminent equestrians, all at the top of their sport or therapy, have contributed to the book, and nine clients have agreed to share their stories as case studies to demonstrate how the use of 'Brain, Pain or Training?' has improved their relationship with their horse.
50 Questions
Please download this PDF and print it out, so that you can keep it handy in your tack room and share it with your friends. Use these questions to assess whether there is a problem with your horse – then use the top tips in the book and DVD to help you resolve it! (Click on the image below to download your copy)