Does your horse stand quietly in the cross ties, does he wait patiently at the mounting block, does he step off only when you ask him, is he on your aids when you ask him to go, whoa, move laterally?  If not, come to a clinic this Spring and learn how to teach your horse to be so obedient, even a monkey  could ride him.  Check the web site for dates and availability.

Diego has no fear of horses because he is growing up around them and loves to sit on the biggest horses in the barn.  Fiona is riding Peadar who is a kind gentle horse and Simon is on Shadow, with Lauren giving him some pointers.

The genome of a domestic horse has been successfully sequenced by an international team of researchers.

The work, published in the journal Science, may shed light on how horses were domesticated.

It also reveals similarities between the horse and other placental mammals, such as bovids – the hoofed group including goats, bison and cattle.

The authors also found horses share much of their DNA with humans, which could have implications for medicine.

Horses suffer from more than 90 hereditary diseases that show similarities to those in humans.

“Horses and humans suffer from similar illnesses, so identifying the genetic culprits in horses promises to deepen our knowledge of disease in both organisms,” said co-author Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, from the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, US.

“The horse genome sequence is a key enabling resource toward this goal.”

To generate a high-quality genome sequence, the researchers analysed DNA from an adult female thoroughbred named Twilight.

The horse’s DNA was sequenced using capillary DNA sequencing technology (known as Sanger sequencing) to reveal a genome that is roughly 2.7 billion “letters”, or nucleotides, in size.

In addition to sequencing the genome of a thoroughbred horse, the researchers also examined DNA from a variety of other horse breeds.

These included the American quarter horse, Andalusian, Arabian, Belgian draft horse, Hanoverian, Hakkaido, Icelandic horse, Norwegian fjord horse, and Standardbred breeds.

The team surveyed the extent of genetic variation both within and across breeds to create a catalogue of more than one million single-letter genetic differences in these breeds.

This is slightly larger than the genome of the domestic dog, and smaller than both the human and cow genomes.

So far, scientists have also sequenced the genomes of the platypus, mouse, rat, chimpanzee, rhesus macaque and, of course, human.

Horses were first domesticated 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. Over time, as machines have become the chief sources of agricultural and industrial muscle, those roles have shifted to sport and recreational activities.

As a result of working in film for nearly 4 decades, Rex Peterson has designed several products to make horse training more efficient and safe. The Neck Rope designed and made by Rex Peterson can be used for many purposes, including ponying kids on their first few trail rides across country. It is important to get out of the arena as soon as possible for the rider as well as the horse. You can see in this video how easy it is to control the pony when he speeds up or wants to turn the wrong direction. This method allows the kid to feel the independence of riding while having a safety line for any errors.

Wash and dry the area and apply. You can bandage over this as well. The main thing is keeping the area soft and dry.

These amounts are approximate ratios-they do not need to be exact.

1 tube Lotramin (athlete’s foot cream) 1 tube hydrocortisone cream 1 tube triple antibiotic ointment aloe vera gel ( equal to 1 tube amount above) contents of 4-5 vitamin A capsules, vitamin D capsules, and Vitamin E capsules

Mix well and store in any type empty jar or plastic container.

Last weekend Joa was third in the open Training Level division at Town Hill Horse Trials, after placing 6th in dressage, Joa went on to jump a flawless show jumping round and a clean cross country round on Kestrel. Although Kestrel looked at a few fences on the cross country course– the log over the ditch and the water, Joa rode him beautifully around the course. All of the training and hard work has paid off with this team finishing the season in top form.

This is Tuff, owned and trained by Rex Peterson.  Tuff is one of Justin’s sons (Justin played Black Beauty), who was featured as Jeremy Irons horse in Ed Harris’ film Appaloosa.   Come meet Tuff at the AQHA Quarterfest in May, where you can help celebrate the American Quarter Horse.

May 1-3, 2009 Tennessee Miller Coliseum Murfreesboro, Tennessee

There is only one way to ride when it is this cold, bareback!  Improve your balance and feel with your horse while staying warm on your hack.  Luckily, the forecast calls for warmer days. 

Check out the January issue of the Yankee Pedlar which features RJ aka Hidalgo on the cover with an interesting profile story about the Horse Wisdom Training DVD\’s now available.

Vanessa is already following in her parents hoofprints.

It is never too early to start to ride.

Winston Churchill said “No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle.”

Last week I had the pleasure to view the new film “The First Saturday in May” about 6 Kentucky Derby hopefuls.  Here is the press release from the American Horse Council:

“With the Triple Crown races fast approaching, we wanted to make sure you know about a unique documentary film that will be shown in more than 20 theaters over the next few weeks.

The award-winning film is called “The First Saturday in May,” and it features a captivating, behind-the-scenes glimpse of six trainers and their horses as they take aim on the 2006 Kentucky Derby. Barbaro is one of those horses.

The film, produced by John and Brad Hennegan, has won numerous awards and rave reviews at film festivals throughout the country. It will open in 20 theaters Friday, April 18.

In a generous gesture to “give something back to the industry,” the Hennegan Brothers have decided to donate 25 percent of box office revenues to Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, the worldwide leader in equine research.

To see a short preview of the film or to get additional information, including an up-to-date list of theaters and starting dates, visit www.thefirstsaturdayinmay.com or http://www.grayson-jockeyclub.org/tfsim.asp .

And you may wonder what happens to all the horses who do not make the grade?  Here is an example of a TB bred for racing, the grandson of the uber race horse Secretariat, Mashantum failed miserably at the track, however he went on to qualify for the Atlanta Olympics in Three Day Eventing and then pursue a career in Dressage.

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Rex Peterson showed off RJ Masterbug’s favorite tricks last week.

Photo by Esther-Grace Simson

Last weekend, Rex returned to Windrock Farm to teach a clinic on how to improve the communication with your horse. Rex worked with several young horses to improve the connection and balance, two horses were backed for the first time and two horses with spooking issues. He also tuned up his best stunt horse, RJ May 15-18 for another clinic, contact cari@cariswanson.com for availability.

Ten lucky kids can sign up for the Kids Clinic at Windrock Farm this summer,

bring your pony or horse or lease one of ours to learn how your horse thinks, how to ride in balance with confidence,

ride on trails, compete in monthly competitions at the farm for ribbons and prizes.

contact cari@cariswanson.com to sign up

Muscle tone refers to the degree of tension in the muscles, even at rest. Each animal has a unique basic muscle tone, which may range from low to high. Very supple horses usually have low muscle tone–thei movement is thus free and loose-whereas horses with high muscle tone usually have short, choppy movement. Muscle tone is increased through excercise, tension and anxiety.

Biomechanics-the mechanical principles by which a living body functions

The importance of stretching

The objects of muscle stretching are to improve performance by maintaining or regaining optimum mobility and suppleness, and to reduce injury by reducing the tension on joints, tendons, muscles and ligaments.

Competition horses are athletes and as such, they need to have their maximum potential developed. When training horses for athletic or gymnastic performance it is essential to keep them free from injury. Maintaining suppleness in a competition horse is an important element in preventing strain injuries. Doing passive, as well as active, stretch exercises will maintain suppleness in the horse. The muscular problems experienced by horses in competition have similarities to those experienced by their human counterparts. These problems are caused by the strain and exertion required in pushing the athlete to ever greater levels of achievement.

Take the time to stretch your horse after a work out and learn his range of motion and normal stiffness.  Awareness will help you prevent injuries in the future while creating a stronger bond between you and your horse.

Did you know that horses have around 56 vertebrae which form a supporting framework for the neck, back and tail? There are 7 cervical (neck), 18 thoracic (withers and saddle region), 6 lumbar (loin region), 5 sacral (croup region) and about 20 caudal (tail region) vertebrae. The degree of movement varies greatly in different regions.

Consider the degree of range of motion in flexion and extension of the following joints;

90 degrees the atlantaoccipital joint which is between the skull and the first cervical vertebrae

15-35 degrees in the remaining cervical vertabrae

10 degrees in the first interthoracic joint, just in front of the withers

1 degee in joint at withers

3-4 degrees in joints under the saddle

30 degrees of motion in lumbosacral joint, between the last lumbar vertebra and the fused sacral vertebrae

This image demonstrates RJ/Hidalgo rounding his back, activating his abdominal muscles as he extends his back extends. Studies prove that the movements between the vertabrae are created by the forces of locomotion and are controlled by the horse’s back muscles. Thus, the back muscles do not cause the spine to round and hollow, the forces of locomotion do. The back muscles control the amount of rounding and flexing.

These findings are fascinating, allowing us to better understand our horses ability to move while training. You can find more information from Hilary Clayton at her web site www.cvm.msu.edu/dressage

The cold weather does not bother RJ, he loves running around in the fresh snow.

However, these cold temperatures can be hard on horses, so take care to make sure they have plenty of fresh water at all times to prevent dehydration.  Horses tolerate cold better than heat, however be sure they are warm under blankets if their natural coats have not grown in to keep them warm.