Week 3 of the OEEEP Program

We’ve reached the one-third mark of the course! I’m very pleased with the excellent questions and answers being shared in the unit discussion forum. Great job, everyone! If you haven’t participated yet, I encourage you to join the discussions. The more you engage, the more you will learn!

Over the past two weeks, you have been learning about both the inside and outside of the horse. You also explored equine behaviour in section 1.5, which sets you up nicely for Unit 2, focusing on safe horse handling.

Many of us think that injuries around horses primarily result from falls while riding. While this is a significant source of injury, many incidents occur while handling horses on the ground. We often take shortcuts to save time and become distracted by other thoughts, which diverts our attention away from the horse. As you know, horses are prey animals, and their quick reactions, which help them survive in the wild, can pose a danger to us when we handle them. Studies have shown that a horse can kick with a force of roughly 2,000 pounds! Therefore, it’s crucial that we always remain attentive.

Research shows that horse owners and handlers often misinterpret or overlook behaviours that can negatively impact both the horse’s welfare and their own safety. Therefore, it is crucial to learn how to work safely around horses to ensure the safety of both you and the horse, as well as to promote the horse’s overall well-being.

Now for a little entertainment. Since we have looked at the horse’s gaits, I thought you might enjoy taking a break from reading to watch some videos! These were made by a good friend and show the natural gaits – walk, trot, canter, and gallop, but also movements within those gaits. See if you can pick out half passes in trot and canter (when the horse moves forward and diagonally) and flying changes (where the horse changes lead at canter). Also look at the hoof placement on take-offs and landings of jumps. There is a quick clip of a barrel racing horse as well. Do you notice anything about the canter around the barrel?

You will notice how the limbs protract and retract (move forward and backward) as well as abduct and adduct (move away from the midline and toward the midline). The latter occur when horses are changing direction or moving laterally. These videos allow us to really look at each joint’s range of motion. It is interesting to note that the joints in horse’s limbs move almost exclusively in the sagittal (front to back) plane only. This differs from the human equivalent joints (equine hock = human ankle; equine knee = human wrist).

After viewing these, have a quick look for some videos of alternate gaits – pace, tölt, rack, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyQNi0cJXtc