It Takes a Village – USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge Study Session 4
USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge Study Session 4
As we are now half way through our USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge study sessions, I heard one of the girls last night say “wow, it takes a village.” It’s quite amazing to watch these young equestrians learn and submerge themselves into the everyday life of being a true equestrian. They’re learning the ins and outs and understanding how many different professionals it takes for us all to be successful. Truly, it takes a village.
Shoeing and Tack
These were the two topics covered in week for of our study sessions. For shoeing, our farrier, Matt Keil, did an incredible demonstration on his career. We then went inside where Helen Gould discussed the various pieces of equipment and went through an array of bits. The night ended with Katie Dalsimer of Voltaire Design where she demonstrated all of the parts of a saddle and the importance of proper saddle fit. It sure was an educational evening, to say the least!
No Hoof, No Horse
A farrier should be every equestrian’s best friend. The saying “No Hoof, No Horse” is truer than true. Matt had an incredible hands-on presentation for our girls as he went through the USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge shoeing chapter. He went over the different types of shoes, nails, pads, studs and reasons why horses are shoed the way they are. Matt emphasized how every horse is so vastly different and the important of proper shoeing. Shoe fit on a hoof is most important! Here are some of our takeaways:
- Hoof shape
- Front feet are for support therefore the are round
- Hind feet propel and therefore are diamond shaped
- Boxy feet
- Boxy feet come out of the ground much faster than the support foot. When Matt trims a boxy foot, he rounds the support foot to help keep the feet coming out of the ground evenly
- Rings on a hoof
- You can tell a lot about the horse’s diet and nutrition by the rings on a hoof – much like a tree!
- A horses foot takes 12 months to grow from the coronary band all the way down
- The length of the heal from the coronary band to the shoe should be even on both sides as well as the length of the toe
Nail Types
Matt uses two types of nails: bohrium and copper. The bohrium nails are for icy conditions and the copper nails are the nails he uses on a regular basis. Copper nails keep the nail holes much cleaner and helps prevent thrush as copper is an anti-microbial.
Visuals with Billie Rae
After Matt went through the different types of shoes, nails and need-to-knows of shoeing, we then brought out Billie Rae to show physical examples of what we had gone over. Matt explained the importance of the straight line and how improper angles and lines can effect the horse. An important piece to remember is that the angle of the straight line in the feet should match the angle of the straight line of the shoulder and hind end. Example (Billie Rae): A steep hoof = a steep shoulder.
A bit is only as good as the hands that use it
Need we say more? We brought out our huge bit collection for the girls to physically see the array of bits out there (mainly Kristin’s bit collection… I provided the “playful” bits from Cat’s collection and Helen provided a few different D-rings and loose rings. All but 4 of the above bits are a part of Kristin’s collection!). Helen started from the beginning – what we start a colt with – thick rubber mullen mouth and/or a hackamore – and then worked through explanations of many different bits, their uses and severity and which bits were hunter bits and which were jumper bits. She explain the three main areas of the of the bit and how they work in conjunction with the horses mouth:
- Corners
- Bars
- Pallet or the roof of the mouth
She also explained the three main points of the mouth in which need to be relaxed and accepting of the bit:
- Tongue
- Corners
- Pallet or the roof of the mouth
Everything works together
Do you see the correlation of the two? Everything goes hand-in-hand (no pun intended). Here are some of the many take aways from the bit and tack section:
- Bars of the horses mouth are the most sensitive part of the mouth
- Severity of the bit has to do with the thickness or thinness
- Different metals
- Sweet water – helps with exception of the bit
- Copper – helps with salvation
- Brass – typically, horses don’t like the flavor of a brass bit and therefore they don’t like to grab on and accept the bit
- Mullen mouth bits are straight across and are soften bits. Pressure is distributed evenly across the tongue and bars
- French links are double jointed and take the pressure off of the tongue – great for horses who dislike pressure on their tongue
- Dr. Bristols are for horses that tend to pull down
- Cheater gags are illegal in the hunter ring
- Keys are used to accustom young horses (AKA Cat’s favorite bit) – several keys dangle from the mouth piece so a horse can mouth or play with them
- Pelhams are leverage and pressure bits
Nosebands, Martingales and Girths, oh my!
Next, Helen went on to explain the different types of nosebands, their uses, as well as the different types of girths and their uses.
- Nosebands
- Cavesson – The most basic noseband used to keep the horses mouth shut as well as the attachment point for a standing martingale
- Figure 8 – Used to stop horses from opening their mouth and/or closing their jaw
- Flash – Used to stop the horse from opening their mouth while still being able to use a standing martingale
- Martingales
- Standing – This prevents the horse from throwing their head up. It is attached to the girth and the noseband
- Running – This prevents the horse from throwing their head up but forms two branches with a ring at each end and is looped through the reins
- Girths
- Belly guards – a special kind of girth used in the jumper ring to prevent a horse from abrading himself with his caulks or studs (see the full circle here with notes from the shoeing section? Everything works together!)
Saddle Fitting with Voltaire
Our last speaker of the day for week for of the USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge study session was Katie Dalsimer of Voltaire Design to go over the parts of a saddle as well as the importance of saddle fit. This is a vital piece of our riding as an ill fit saddle can negatively impact the comfort and ability of our four legged best friends’ mobility.
Steps to Fitting a Horse
Step 1
- Look at the whole horse
- Horse needs to be on level ground
- Analyze the horse. Is it built up hill? Down hill? Broad? Narrow? Withers?
Step 2
- Put saddle on horse naked – no saddle pads
- Then put on the girth
- Is the saddle balanced?
- The pommel and cantal need to be level
- Good clearance for the withers
- Three fingers of clearance when girthed up
- Two fingers of clearance when mounted
Step 3
- Put on saddle pads and rider
- The rider will change the way the saddle fits
- What does the rider like? Flap? Seat?
Cool Trick of the Trade
Katie let us in on a little secret to help make sure the saddle is correctly place on the horse:
- Find the first rib
- Count to the seventh rib
- Follow the seventh rib up to the spine – this is the 11th vertebrae
- This is where the saddle and rider balance should be centered
- The 11th vertebrae is the strong part of the back and aligns with the strongest muscles
- Stirrup bars should align with the 11th vertebrae
That’s a wrap for week 4
As you can tell, we had quite the exciting and educational night this week for week 4 of our USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge study sessions! The girls are learning so much and are having a blast. It’s incredible to watch everything begin to come in full circle. Stay tuned for week 5!
