Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Even the fancy Lippizans at the SRS are taken out for trail rides! Alois Podjasky knew the value of exercise for the body and the mind of the horse.

 

chirs

Chipnml@xxxxxxx wrote:

Just a quick note about Alydar...in the book "Wild Ride" by Ann Hagedorn Auerbach there is A LOT of suspicion cast on the cause of Alydar's broken leg and subsequent euthanasia.  It's an excellent book about how Calumet Farm was basically destroyed by unscrupulous people.

 

I have worked with many dressage and show hunter people whose horses are turned out for an hour or two at most.  These are animal physiologically designed to be in motion many hours a day, and I see more injuries, colic and thrush (not to mention ulcers and crabby attitudes) than at the barns I take care of where the horses are out all the time.  I believe every dressage horse would benefit from some cross-country conditioning and lots of turnout.  Maybe someday they'll figure it out, just as many of us have discovered how beneficial basic dressage is for our endurance horses. One of my favorite clients was the woman with the grand prix dressage horse she galloped cross country so he could stay out on grass 10 hours and day and not put weight on. 

 

Chip

I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship. Louisa May Alcott

 

Chris Paus

BayRab Acres http://pages.prodigy.net/paus

Lake Region SWA  http://lakeregionswa.fws1.com