Join in the making of the 2015 edition of Aspire Equestrian Riding Academy’s Gift Guide :)

Hello!

The time has come to put together the second edition of Aspire Equestrian’s Christmas Gift Guide…

You seem to have loved the 2014 edition and hopefully you will enjoy the 2015 one just as much 🙂 It is coming to you with some interesting new content but it won’t be be any good without your input!

We all know and see big brands that advertise extensively but there are many wonderful products and services that exist out of the limelight and I hope we can find some of them and show case them in the Guide this year 🙂

So please recommend products and/or services – including coaches, livery yards, instructors – you loved this year and that you think might make a fabulous gift for another rider and/or horse owner.

I am specifically looking for products and services that promote thorough training, no short cuts, horse and rider wellness and the kind of equestrian sport that brings the best out of every horse and rider 🙂

I hope to hear about many fabulous ideas from you that we can all share out there!

A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Starting a young horse – an untold story of hoof proprioception?

Proprioception (/ˌproʊpri.ɵˈsɛpʃən/ PRO-pree-o-SEP-shən), from Latin proprius, meaning “one’s own”, “individual,” and capio, capere, to take or grasp, is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement. More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception

Here’s how it might go: 

A horse grows up on a farm, free to roam, eat and play.

At 3 years of age or so he is sat on, bridled, worked with a little and turned away for some months to continue growing and maturing.

At 4 years of age or so, he is entering “the real world” – he is starting his schooling. Only in short sessions at first to condition his bones and muscles and to mentally prepare him for more and more concentration required.

He goes out hacking to see the world and…

Oh – he gets “footy” on the roads, on stones, on rough bridle paths etc so he needs a shiny set of shoes. Yes, now he is “all grown up” and ready to be “a real horse”…

How about…

If you have children you may have come across the above – it’s called a Foot Sense workshop and it is aimed at introducing children’s feet to various surfaces…More about it here: www.natureandnurture.co.uk

It would be rather interesting if there were “hoof proprioception” workshops for young horses/horses starting their ridden training, wouldn’t it? 

How about, if every young horse producer allowed for hoof proprioception to develop slowly in the same way as we allow for musculoskeletal system of a young horse to adjust to rider’s weight and the pressures of training?

How about, if every young horse’s diet was considered a big game changer when it comes to hoof health and “footiness” was not assumed to be caused only by surfaces as such?

How about, if every young horse was not considered fit to have their training increased in intensity until their feet can cope with demands of that training?

How about, we think about hooves in a similar way we think about muscles, bones, nervous system? How about, if a horse feels the stoney ground differently to a soft sand and rubber surface and shortens the steps accordingly, doesn’t by default mean that his feet are ill but rather that they are simply healthy (feel well) and still weak? Like the rest of his untrained body?

Would that possibly mean that the statement that “most horses need shoes when they start their training” didn’t have to be true? 

Just some questions to stir your Sunday afternoon 😉