Don't Bury an Injury Underground

Fact: you cannot train an injury out of a horse no matter what. All you do is bury it deeper and deeper and then one day when you least expect it, it will come back to haunt you!

A couple of years ago I was driving through Oregon when I got a call from a farrier in Texas. He was working on a horse that was in acute pain in the hindquarters and wanted some advice. I asked him to palpate the horse at specific points and the result was that the horse fell down, exhibiting acute sciatica. I continued to ask him various questions regarding the horse so that he could perhaps make some recommendations to the owner who turned out to be a 6’2” tall cowboy weighing about 230lbs. The subject, a quarter horse was 15 hands and no more than 26 months old, he had been ‘broken in’ and ridden for the past four months. When I suggested that the horse had a rest, the owner’s answer was simply, “Don’t worry, I’ll ride the pain out of the sucker!”

Horrified? So you should be, but is there any difference between that redneck cowboy and the so called ‘educated’ horse trainer and owner who puts their horse continually through repetitive ground exercises when the horse is in pain or not sound enough to participate in, or to perform these tasks?

© Sue Wingate - The Joy of Horses 2006