Providing feed variety for stabled horses and equine flavour preferences

I’m doing a Postgraduate Diploma at Southampton University at the moment in Companion Animal Behaviour. Although it covers all animals that people might keep as companion animals there are plenty of lectures covering horses specifically. These lectures are run by a well know equine academic, Deborah Goodwin, who has many publications looking at a wide range of issues to do with horses including ethology and welfare.

When we were looking at the problems that arise when confining horses in stables we covered some interesting research that Deborah Goodwin has done to look at how we can make some simple changes to the way in which we give food to our horses. A horse is not naturally evolved to live in a 12 foot square (3.6m sq) space and improving the foraging available to stabled horses can help to reduce the risk of colic, stereotypical behaviour which may arise from boredom, eating of straw bedding and gastric ulcers. In their experiment the researchers compared the behaviour of horses who had one haynet in their stable with the behaviour of horses who had six different types of food to choose from[1]. These six types of feed were haylage, hay and hazel twigs hanging from the stable wall and three feeds were offered in buckets on the ground, swede, carrots and fibre cubes.

Significant differences were noticed in the behaviour of the horses if they were eating in single or multiple forage stables. In the single forage stable (where the horses only had hay) the horses looked over the stable door more often, moved around for longer, ate straw bedding more frequently and showed behaviour that the researches interpreted as looking for alternative resources. Even when the horses’ preferred food (established in an earlier test) was given as the single food the horses still looked over the door more frequently and ate more straw bedding than those who had multiple forages available to them. It should be noted that these food trials and behaviour observations only took place over a 5 minute period but it would seem logical that multiple forages such as hay, haylage, oat straw, alfalfa hay, chaff, ready grass or twigs in the stable are feeds that take the horse quite a long time to eat and offering variety could help the horses over a longer period than 5 minutes.

The longer term benefit of providing multiple forage to stabled horses was tested in a second study[2]. In this experiment horses were tested in a multiple or single forage stable for 25 minutes, twice a day on alternate days and over a 7 day period. As before hay was provided in the single forage stable and in the multiple forage stable the horses were offered 3 long chop and 3 short chop (chaff) foods. The results were consistent with the earlier study. Horses with multiple forages showed more foraging behaviour for longer periods, they ate all the different foods offered but had preferences towards certain ones. Stereotypical behaviours were only seen in the horses just had hay in their stables.

I found this research very interesting because it suggests a very simple and cheap way to improve the lot of horses that have to be stabled due to constraints of weather, livery yard requirements, available grazing or health. Even with a horse that is stabled due to a risk of, or diagnosed, laminitis it would be possible to offer a variety of suitable forages as there are many alternatives on the market now. Fortunately I am able to keep my horses outside 24 hours a day throughout the year but should a health problem cause one to have to be stabled for a period I would certainly experiment with this option.

In another related piece of research flavour preferences of horses were tested[3]. A wide range of flavours which have traditionally be used around the world were selected and the trials showed the following preferences for the 8 horses tested. The most preferred flavours, in order, were; fenugreek, banana, cherry, rosemary, cumin, carrot, peppermint and oregano. Interestingly garlic, which is widely used as a flavour for horse food was not favoured by the horses tested.

I need to go to the health food shop to see if I can find ways to put these flavours into food in order experiment with this myself. If you had a horse that was reluctant to eat a food (especially if it contained a supplement that you want him to eat) adding fenugreek might be worth a try. I am a great fan of Simple System[4] feeds as I have found great benefit in removing added molasses from horses feed and I am swayed by Jane Van Lennep’s argument that we should increase fibre and be careful of cereals in our horses diets due to the way that they are digested in the horses’ gut. Sometimes horses are reluctant to move from the sugary feeds that they are used to when owners change over to Simple Systems and perhaps the owner adding one of these flavourings might help the situation. Alternatively for a stabled horse or, one that is given a large amount of feed, it may be interesting to split this feed into several bowls each with a different flavour. Certainly when I was trying to pursue an underweight TB to eat more this knowledge may have made my life a lot easier.

---

[1] Goodwin, D., Davidson, H. and Harris, P. (2002). Foraging enrichment for stables horses: effect on behaviour and selection. Equine Veterinary Journal, 34 (7). 686 – 691.

[2] Thorne, J., Goodwinn, D., Kennedy, M. Davidson, H. and Harris, P. (2005). Foraging enrichment of individually housed horses: Practicality and effects on behaviour. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 94. 149 – 164.

[3] Goodwin, D., Davidson, H. and Harris, P. (2005) Selection and acceptance of flavours in concentrate diets for stables horses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 95. 223 – 232.

[4] http://www.simplesystemhorsefeeds.co.uk/

Some centering exercises

A series of exercises to help find your center

These exercises come with an apology to all those people who find it difficult to visualize a picture inside their heads as these notes are written with a visual reader in mind. On clinics we can work with kinesthetic people and do these same exercises in a different way but space does not allow me to write the full details for this here in these notes.

Finding your central axis

Before locating the specific point which is your center its useful to get an idea of your central axis. Dancer Andre Bernard said “ideal posture can be found when you allow the parts of the structure to balance as close to the central axis as possible”.

Choose one of the following exercises that works best for you.

1. Visualize a line of light and energy coming down from the sky and going through the dead centre of your crown, brain, neck, chest and abdomen, then exiting between the middle of your legs and continuing down all the way into the centre of the earth. Spend a short while aligning your body around this central line of energy, which you can think of as the core of your body. If you like you can gently rock your body a few millimeters from side to side in order to find the central point of right-left balance around your core, and then rock a few millimeters forward and back so that the front and back of your body can find their point of balance around your core. (Qi Gong exercise)

2. (Alternative to exercise 1) Visualize a miniature searchlight positioned between your feet, coming up through the horse and shining a bright contained beam of light up through your central axis. Imagine the light shining out of the top of your head. The place where the light touches the sky or the ceiling is directly above the place where it originated. (From Eric Franklin)

3. Visualize your central axis as a guitar string extending from a point centered between your feet to a point at the center of the top of your head. Pluck the string and see and feel its vibration in the core of your body. Hear the sound, what is the tone. (From Eric Franklin)

Exercises to help find your center

I was working with Vicki who was riding a rather worried Icelandic horse. This little horse was hell bent on going as fast as he could while his owner was equally determined to go slowly. I’ve got to be fair to the horse here, on balance he generally had the edge in terms of speed control, and his choice was fast. We helped Vicki to breath a little more deeply first of all but right after that we talked specifically about how you can focus your attention on your center. Vicki had a number of different thoughts going on her head and she wasn’t that centered when we started out so this was a big change for her and the difference was almost immediate and profound. The horse started to breath and he slowed down as if someone had flicked a switch and found a new gear. From here we were able to progress to some other areas of horsemanship with this new calmer horse.

Here are some exercises to help you find your center.

1. Follow the core line, light or energy of your body (see exercise 1 or 2 above) to the lower belly area, about 3 or 4 fingers width beneath the naval. This is your center.

2. Find your center. Visualize any image that you like and mentally locate that image in your center to help strengthen the feeling of this place. Examples could be a luminous point of light or energy at this place, an image of the sun or a coloured ball of some kind. Some people like to choose an image from nature that they enjoy. Choose the size of this image that suits you, this could range from something the size of a golf ball to something much larger.

3. If you find it difficult to make a mental picture you can feel the center, it may have a temperature, warm or cold, a feeling of spaciousness or a comfortable sensation. This works just as well as an image for many people. If you really want some fun you could imagine some kind of sound or music associated with your center!

4. Imagine yourself as the core of a tree. Imagine a cross-section of that tree taken horizontally just below your pelvis, the trunk is surrounded by concentric growth rings. The rings become smaller and smaller as they approach your centre, feel the power concentrated around your center (Adapted from Eric Franklin)

Introducing movement in your center

Once the idea of your center as a static image has become familiar to you, and you are comfortable with a few of the exercises above, (its ideal to work with an image on and off your horse for about a week before moving on), you may enjoy adding some kind of movement to your centre. The advantages of this are to strengthen the image and feeling of centering yourself, to incorporate the idea of energy flowing in this area and to start to bring your horse and his movement into the equation. You may well find that, with some practice, you can start to influence your horse’s movement with these images and so reduce the amount of physical cues that you need to use.

1. Imagine the breath traveling all the way down to your center, remember to do a long out breath first. What influence does the breath have on the center? Some people imagine that it grows or changes in some way as you breath out. Our minds are attracted to things that sparkle, is there a way that you can bring some “bling” into your image?

2. Its natural that as your horse moves underneath you, your center of gravity is challenged and may move away from the neutral, center point we have been practicing. Visualize the relationship between the neutral point in your pelvis and your actual center of gravity during movement, during a transition for example. Merge your center of gravity back to your neutral center point once again. The relationship between the neutral point and the centre of gravity is like a yo-yo. The hand holding the yo-yo is the neutral center, the yo-yo moves away but returns again to your hand. (Adapted from Eric Franklin)

3. If you visualize your center as being round then it could potentially roll as your horse moves. Centered riding teaches that the ball at our center rolls backwards as we move forwards. You can experiment with three plastic water bottles of the same size. Place two on a table and rest the third on top. Hold the bottom two bottles as you push them along the table. What is the direction of movement of the third bottle resting on top?

I have had some great results visualizing my center rolling backwards as I prepare to move forwards and then releasing energy forwards, in the direction I want to go as I want to move off. This image/feeling works well in reverse for the back up. You can also use the same idea for lateral work. This image is interesting because it starts to release the energy stored in the center outside the body in the direction of travel.

Some people think about their center moving in the direction of travel, this can work really well for some horse and rider combinations as well. There is no right or wrong with this stuff, it just depends what suits you.

4. Move from your center. It is most beneficial to initiate every movement from your center, often we move with our head leading the movement. This exercise helps to initiate movement from the center and clarifies your intent as to where you want to go. Imagine a winch is attached from your center to the destination you are riding to. Design the details so that they are right for you. What’s your winch line made of? How does it attach to your center and to the place you are riding to? When you are ready, ride your line with the help of your winch. (Adapted from an exercise used by Mark Rashid)

Exercises to develop connection to your horse

The horse’s center of gravity is on a line from the point of the shoulder to the point of the buttock. Its just below the 13^th or 14^th thoracic vertebrae, but thats going to depend on whether and how the horse is moving. If you draw a line down from the COG it falls closer to the front legs than the hinds so the front legs take 58% of the weight and back 42%. As the head and neck move forward so does the COG.

So where is a horse’s center of energy? Well a lot less is written about this than about the human center! Sally Swift writes in her book Centered Riding 2 that the horse’s center of energy is in the same place as a human’s, that is underneath the lumbar spine. However a lot of people find it useful to think about an area underneath where they are sitting (the horse's physcial COG) as they explore these ideas.

1. As you ride imagine the horses COG or center of energy and explore the connection that this allows you to feel with your horse.

2. In his DVD, Understanding Footfall, Mark Rashid describes 3 circles of energy that are useful to think about as you are riding. Two cover the horse and one covers the rider. The front circle of energy of the horse includes the front legs, neck and head and intersects with the rider. The back circle of energy on the horse covers the hind end and legs and also intersects with the rider and the front circle. Then the rider herself has a circle of energy which will intersect with both of the horse’s circles.

As a rider we have a choice as to whether we help the horse to connect the hind and front circles by allowing the movement to come through us or we can inadvertently block this by poor balance, poor breathing, excessive body tension or a poorly fitting saddle.

Getting a feeling for the horse’s circles of energy as you ride can be an extremely useful exercise to connect the horse and rider. Remember, there is no right or wrong here, this is simply a question of what the circles might feel like to you. The idea of our own center helps as we think about our own energy circle and our responsibility to help the horse with the connection from back to front.