Finding the Missed Path. Mark Rashid
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were in very good shape as well as being well balanced, and we had also made sure that all of his tack fit him before and during the trip. I checked his back as well as the rest of his body after our ride and could find no soreness or stiffness anywhere.
I have to admit, this was quite puzzling to me because when a horse acts the way Cooper did during a transition, particularly from trot to lope, it is almost always due to some sort of physical problem, usually in the lower back. These problems are usually easy to find by just palpating the area around the loin. Lower-back issues can also show themselves in how the horse travels downhill. Oftentimes, when a horse has trouble supporting himself properly going downhill with a rider on his back, and sometimes even without, it can also point to a lower-back issue. These kinds of problems usually show up by the horse feeling as if he has to travel very slowly and sort of disjointed downhill, or he might want to traverse the hill, rush down it, or crowhop going up or down the hill.
Almost any time a horse has one or more of these kinds of problems on hills, he almost always has trouble with transitions from trot to lope. But a lower-back problem can also show up in a horse that normally backs up well but suddenly doesn’t want to back at all. He may also have a short stride in one hind leg or the other, short stride with both, not be able stop without pushing into the bit, carry his head higher than normal when being ridden, not be able to turn one way or the other very well, or he might not want to be caught, groomed, saddled, or mounted.
Cooper showed absolutely none of these signs, so again, we were fairly certain we weren’t dealing with a physical issue. But in Cooper’s case, like a good many of the ranch horses we see, we suspected that while he had a fairly good working foundation as far as his training went, he had some holes in his understanding as far as being able to do things with a true willingness.
When a horse feels he is being forced to respond to a certain task or cue over and over, instead of having a true understanding of how he should respond, it creates internal tension that can, and often does, translate into a sort of low-level pattern of constant worry. Depending on the horse, this tension can show up in any number of ways or behaviors, from an overwhelming need to fidget or not being able to stand quietly when under saddle, to rushing through tasks, sluggish or over-reactive transitions, and hypersensitivity to normally mundane things, such as ordinary noises, people moving about, or vehicles driving by.
In severe cases, this kind of stress caused by a lack of understanding can sometimes even decrease the amount of bloodflow to the horse’s stomach, which, in turn, makes the lining of the stomach more vulnerable to injury from an overproduction of stomach acid, thus causing stomach ulcers. Ulcers in horses are actually more common than a lot of people think or are aware of. In fact, some recent studies have shown that up to one-third of horses confined to stalls on a regular basis often have mild ulcers and up to 60 percent of show horses and 90 percent of racehorses have developed moderate to severe ulcers, primarily due to stress.
There are, of course, other factors besides stress that can cause ulcers in horses, such as various medications, types of feed, amount of exercise, and even the horse not getting fed in a timely manner.
So, instead of trying to fix the issue through training, we put Cooper on a product called U-Guard™, a calcium-magnesium supplement that helps soothe and coat the horse’s stomach lining. We also put him on an herbal supplement called Calm and Collected that was developed by our friends over at Hilton Herbs®. This particular supplement is designed to help support the horse’s nervous system so that he can naturally achieve a calmer state of mind.
Cooper started showing subtle signs of improvement within a week or so. While he had already been pretty easy to work with and ride, his demeanor during both began to calm even more. His head position, whether under saddle or when he was by himself, began to lower and the expression on his face became much more calm and relaxed.
About a month after we first put him on the supplements, I asked him for a transition from trot to lope, and the difference, while not uncommon, was pretty amazing. We had been trotting in our little arena at home on a warm sunny morning, just as we had at the venue in Wisconsin, and I began to set him up for the transition out of a turn. This time, however, instead of his back getting tight and him thinking about rushing into the transition, his movement stayed calm and steady. As we came out of the turn he eased into a really nice, almost rocking-horse-type lope with his head low and his breathing rhythmical.
Each transition that followed that day was just as nice, if not better than the first, and from that point forward we never did have another issue with it. I probably should point out here that during that month between when he had trouble with the transition in Wisconsin and when he didn’t after we had been home, I had not once asked him for a trot-lope transition. I had, however, spent time helping to clear up some of the misunderstandings he had in regard to the ease with which he could respond to requests (if he wanted) instead of the tightness with which he had been responding.
Ultimately, between the supplements we had given him, along with taking the time to fill gaps in his understanding of some of the simple things he was already doing, Cooper was able to relax enough to fix the transition issue more or less on his own. This is a far cry from the days when I was younger when I would have looked at a situation like this as strictly a training issue and handled it as such. Back then I would work and work on a transition a horse was having trouble with until he just gave up having trouble. Of course, at the time I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to consider that there may have been internal or physical issues going on that I was working against, and that probably made the horse feel worse emotionally, even though the transition seemed to be better.
Today, many years later, I understand that behind every behavioral or training issue, there is always a root cause. As horse people, I believe it is our responsibility to try to understand what that cause might be and then start there, rather than always relying solely on training to solve the problem. It’s like being a skilled martial artist. Just because someone is skilled in the martial arts doesn’t mean that he or she must end every disagreement by punching the other person in the face. You see, when it comes to martial arts, or horse training, along with the development of skill should come the responsibility of educated discretion.
It could be argued that in both Cooper and Rusty’s cases, what originally appeared to be training issues actually had much less to do with training and more to do with emotional issues that were brought on by physical issues. With Rusty, the primary cause of his problems seemed to be his teeth, whereas with Cooper, his troubles seemed to stem from his stomach. In either case, very little training was ultimately done to help them both feel better. And that is really the point I am trying to make.
It’s like the old story about a man who was having trouble with his car. He could get it started, but it wouldn’t keep running. He looked in the phone book for a mechanic and called the first one he found. He explained to the mechanic over the phone what was going on with his car and asked if the mechanic could fix it. The mechanic said he might be able to but the man would have to bring the car in so he could look at it. When the man asked how much it might cost, the mechanic said, “$500.”
“That seems like a lot,” the man said. “But are you sure you can fix it?”
“Not until I see it,” the mechanic replied. “I’ll have to hook it up to my new computer, run diagnostics on the motor, exhaust system, electrical system, then make sure I have the correct tools and parts, and then see if we have time to do it.”
The man thanked him and after hanging up the phone, moved on to the next mechanic in the book. Again, he explained what was going on with his car and asked if he could fix it. Again, the mechanic said he might be able to fix the car but the man would have to bring it in. When the man asked how much it might cost to fix, the mechanic said, “$575.”
“Ok,” the man said. “But are you sure you can fix it?”
“Not until I see it,” the mechanic replied. “I’ll have to hook it up to our computer, run diagnostics on the motor, exhaust system, electrical system, then make sure I have the correct tools and parts, and then see if we have time to do it.”
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