Jumping the Senior Horse

Is it safe to continue jumping an older horse?

Q: My daughter has fallen in love with one of the horses at her lesson barn. She does wonderful with him and he is great with her. We are thinking about leasing him with the option to purchase him at the end of one year. He's been successful on the hunter/jumper circuit, which is what my daughter is working towards. However, we're concerned about his age. Initially, the trainer had told us he was 15, but when he was vet checked, the vet looked at his lip tattoo and said he is 20. He's still strong and healthy, but he does get Bute for occasional joint pain. Is it okay to continue jumping a 20-year-old horse? We don’t want to cause him to go lame, and if need be we would just trail ride and enter him in flat classes.
A: It is absolutely fine to jump a 20-year-old horse as long as he remains a sound and willing mount. Older horses are perfect mounts for budding riders and shouldn’t be shunned because of age. The most obvious aspect to consider when dealing with older yet still active horses is degenerative joint disease. Realizing that osteoarthritis is present in all older horses and will worsen with time will help keep you realistic about future goals with this mount but maintaining your horse’s active lifestyle can aid in keeping those joints supple. Consider adding a glucosamine/chondroitin joint supplement to help keep your horse’s joints as lubricated as possible. There is a plethora of choices out there when it comes to choosing joint supplements, as they range from oral additives to injections. Consult your vet on what’s best for your situation. An occasional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) such as phenlybutazone (bute) or Equioxx (firocoxib) for a challenging workout is ok but when your mount starts requiring more days with NSAIDs than without, it’s time to start decreasing his workload.
Another health aspect to keep in mind is your horse’s weight. Annual dental check-ups to file any sharp points or uneven wear will help ensure your horse’s teeth are in the best shape they can be and annual vet visits will allow your vet to assess musculoskeletal conditioning, aches and pains, and overall general health.
Most of all, listen to your horse. His attitude will tell you lots of things. If you notice subtle changes in his behavior during a workout or he becomes sour, he’s telling you things hurt. Keep cognizant of his age and do plenty of warm up exercises to limber him up before asking him to perform at a higher level. With proper care and nutrition, this mount may give many more years of reliable riding for your daughter.
--Anna O'Brien, DVM

Rider Position, Horse Back Movement Evaluated

by: Christa Lesté-Lasserre
December 22 2009, Article # 15517

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A rising trot is less loading to a horse's back than a sitting trot, producing less vertical force as measured through new biomechanical techniques, according to Dutch researchers.
From the kinematic data of 13 riders on two horses, scientists were able to determine that two force peaks are present during each trot stride. Calculations of the rider's center of mass acceleration as it varied during the stride were used to find the reaction force between the rider and the horse's back. Comparisons revealed that for both peaks, the force was significantly lower in the rising, or "posting," trot than in the sitting trot.
Earlier research by the same group compared the horse's back extension at the trot under a rising rider, a sitting rider, and an empty saddle. They observed in the rising trot, when the rider's seat is up, the horse's back is less extended than it is during a sitting trot. However, when the rider's seat is down in the rising trot, the horse's back extension is similar to the extension seen during the sitting trot.

A horse and rider evaluated in the study; the "lights" are the biomechanical markers.

"Biomechanical models have shown that the back of the horse will extend more if extra load is applied to the back," said Patricia de Cocq, MSc, DVM, researcher at the Experimental Zoology Group of the Animal Sciences Group in Wageningen, The Netherlands, and primary author of the studies. "The latest research shows that the two peak forces we are seeing in the rising trot are the up and down positions of the rider. Our measurements show that both peaks are less strenuous for the horse, mechanically speaking.
"However, the fact that the back is less extended in the up position means that this is where the real practical benefit lies," she said.
This would support the conclusions by the Austrian team led by Christian Peham, PhD, published earlier this year, de Cocq said. That study showed that the rising trot is less demanding for the horse's back than the sitting trot, but that the least demanding position is for the rider to maintain a raised position in the stirrups ("two-point seat").
De Cocq's research used the movements of the rider to calculate the force of the rider on the horse's back, as opposed to an electronic saddle measuring device that might cause data variation, she said.
All these conclusions do not mean riders should abandon the sitting trot, however, de Cocq said. Good training and muscle building can allow a mature horse to manage the added force.
"Young horses or those with back problems would be best trained with a rising or two-point seat until they develop the strength to carry a rider," she advised.

• Read more: " Researchers Examine Effects of Rider Stability "

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The American Quarter Horse Faster Than a Speeding Thoroughbred

The Quarter Horse is known as the All-American horse and as the world?s most versatile horse. Not only is it the most popular breed in the United States, but it is possibly the oldest horse breed in the US. Named for its amazing speed during a short one quarter mile sprint, the fastest galloping speed by any horse has been achieved by the American Quarter Horse which has been clocked at speeds near 55 mph (88 km/h) in a quarter mile or less. Their immensely powerful hindquarters can propel the horse into a gallop almost from a standing start, and Quarter Horse racing is becoming more popular. The average Quarter Horse usually lives 20 years, but 35 years is not uncommon when properly cared for. It has been called by many names over the years: American Quarter Horse, Foundation Quarter, Standard Quarter, Racing Quarter, Running Quarter, Quarter Miler, Short Horse and the cowboy''s Cutting Horse.
While the breed originated in the United States and is now distributed worldwide, its ancestry dates back to the Arabian, Barb and Turk horses that were imported to America by early Spanish explorers, conquistadors and traders. These were combined into the Chickaswas breed by Native Americans to form one side of the bloodline, with English horses and Thoroughbreds on the other. Morgan and Standardbred horses have also been used in the breed?s development. But it is difficult to give the exact origins because the blending of bloodlines to produce a short-distance horse started in colonial regions prior to the Revolutionary War. The true beginnings are believed to have been in the Carolinas and Virginia but the principle development was in the southwestern part of the United States, in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, eastern Colorado, and Kansas when in the early 1600s, settlers began importing English horses and breeding them to the native Spanish-based Chickaswas stock to create a tough all-purpose horse.
Of course, naming horses after people was common practice back then and when the horses were sold their names were often changed. This led to confusion when attempting to verify pedigrees. Nowadays a horse?s name must be acceptable to the American Quarter Horse Association and must not exceed 20 characters. Quarter Horse names may be reused only if certain criteria are met as per AQHA rules.
And no particular attention was made to keep them as a distinct breed, either.? Fast horses were raced in any suitable open space with many races being run as ?match races? after a private wager between owners or riders. Any of these fast horses that also made good cow horses were crossed to existing mares.? Many of these mares had Spanish, Arabian, Morgan, or Standardbred backgrounds.?
In 1889, Traveler, a horse of unknown pedigree, was shipped to Texas in a carload of horses but it is believed that he originated in Kentucky.? Traveler was apparently not considered valuable and at least once changed hands in a craps game.? He and his descendants were mated to some excellent mares, and many Quarter Horses today can trace back to him along the paternal side.
Currently there are two basic varieties of the breed. The Foundation Quarter, Standard Quarter or old-fashioned ?Bulldog? type is the smallest, shortest, stockiest, most muscular variety, yet extremely agile and sure-footed. Used for ranch work, trail and pleasure riding, they average 14 to15 hands and weigh 900 to 1,100 lbs. The Racing Quarter, Running Quarter is taller, leaner and looks more like a well-muscled Thoroughbred due to the added Thoroughbred genes. These average between 15 to 16 hands, weigh 1,000 to 1,250 pounds and tend to be in solid colors with limited white markings.
American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), the largest equine breed registry in the world, and founded in 1940, has registered more than?5 million American Quarter Horses with the current population estimated at 3.2 million animals.
The breed is usually recognized by a short muzzle, broad forehead with a straight profile and large jaws. It has small fox-like ears and large, wide-set eyes. The neck has a slight crest. Their backs are short with good withers and a sloping croup.? The barrel is deep with well-sprung ribs and the hooves are well-rounded, with deep open heels. The following 13 colors are accepted by the AQHA: brown, chestnut, gray, dun, red dun, bay, buckskin, black, grullo, red roan, blue roan, and palomino, with sorrel being the most common and limited white markings.
The walk, trot, canter, and gallop are the Quarter Horse?s natural gaits. Some individuals have long, leggy movements with a lot of knee action, while others take shorter steps.
As for disposition and personality, this horse is the most willing, laid-back, quiet and even-tempered of all the breeds, and has a gentle nature. They are quick and agile, level-headed and sensible, sure-footed and steady with good stamina. Their unflappable nature has made them suitable for mounted police units in cities. Intelligence, reliability, adaptability and willingness to please their owners make the Quarter Horse very easy to train in all ways. The breed seems to have an innate ?cow sense? and can anticipate the moves made by cattle which makes them indispensable for herding and cutting.
There is one downside to the breed however, a genetic oddity known as Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (HYPP). This is listed as a genetic defect in AQHA''s rules, along with Parrot Mouth and Cryptorchidism. HYPP is inherited as a dominant trait and is characterized by intermittent episodes of uncontrolled muscle tremors (shaking, trembling or twitching) or profound muscle weakness, and in severe cases, may lead to collapse and/or death. To date, HYPP has been traced only to descendants of a horse named IMPRESSIVE, #0767246.
They are indeed an all-purpose horse with uses ranging from racing, herding, and rodeo, to show jumping, dressage, carriage and pleasure riding.
Crystal Eikanger writes for www.HorseClicks.com, classifieds of Quarter Horse and other breeds, horse property, saddles and horse tack.