Hello and Welcome to another issue of Irish Sport Horse Magazine. Now that the Covid Vaccination program is in full swing both here in Ireland and throughout the Globe, society once again begins to open up. So I am sure, you, like all of us here at Irish Sport Horse Magazine are excited to see and experience what Summer 2021 and the Tokyo Olympics holds in Store for the Equestrian Community.
This time, our central theme for this Issue is Building Connection and Rapport with your horse. Perhaps the Pandemic has taught us all that slowing the pace of life can really make us appreciate connection with each other and our animals. So we reached out to Veterinarian and Animal Behaviour Expert Dr Orla Doherty, from the Animal Behaviour Clinic here in Ireland, to discover a little about what prompted her to pursue such an interesting and rewarding career path, while asking her to share some of her best Tips for building a better relationship with your horse.
Staying with Equine Behaviour, we explore the benefits of daily grooming as a positive step toward building a better relationship with your horse. When horses are in a herd, grooming is an important part of their daily social interactions, therefore using it to build a better rapport with your horse can only lead to improved connection both in the stable and under saddle.
In our Fun Fact we take a look at why Horses yawn, and what this means in relation to either a stress response, a release of tension or a major health concern.
We take a look at Muscle Injuries in horses, how they occur, the best treatment plan, and how to best avoid the recurrence of injury.
In the training section this issue we follow on from last month’s article on Loose Jumping. This time we take you through introducing your young horse to jumping under saddle, giving you a basic plan to keep your horse happy and interested throughout the process.
For the Breed Profile this month we take a look at one of the Oldest Horse Breeds in the World, The Arab. This slight, beautiful and intelligent Equine shares lineage with the modern Thoroughbred. This can be hard to believe as the Arab stands at just 14 hands or so.
As always we have our results round up, and it’s fair to say that our Irish Equestrians have been performing very well over that past month, plus Irish Horses are once again reaching the Pinnacles of success. One horse in particular, Ballaghmor Class,(aka Thomas), bred by Noel Hickey from County Limerick; this fantastic horse took victory in the 2021 5* Land Rover Kentucky 3 day International Event with Great Britain’s Oliver Townend; since moving to 4* and 5*,Thomas has never been out of the Top 5, proving Irish Breeding is right on the target at the moment.
We finish with our Positive Story, this time we share the wonderful and inspiring story of Amberley Snyder an
Equestrian that suffered a serious spinal injury, but came back to her sport better than ever. You can read all about Amberley’s amazing journey, and witness just what can be accomplished when passion, heart and belief are engaged.
Well that’s all for this time, as always if you would like us to write on any equestrian or equine topic, just drop us an email and we will do our best to cover your suggestions in our upcoming issues. Until next time
To Your Equestrian Success,
Roma Burke DC AMC MMAA
Editor of Irish Sport Horse Magazine.