It’s only a few weeks until the TTT Horse Trials 2012 takes place, hosted this year by Bulla ARC

This is brilliant in explaining horses movement and the suspension system, although be warned that they use a real horseleg in one of the demos.

Motivation is defined as the inner will doing something to reach a certain goal. Making the dressage horse a true partner that stays motivated to work over the years is a challenge as complex as training your dressage horse to complete the dressage movements themselves. What makes it so difficult? Unlike us, the dressage horse has no higher goals behind every step we ask him to do. Whereas we are prepared—spending long hours of hard and dedicated work with the aim of improving our skills and progressing—what reason should the dressage horse have to go this way with us? If we don’t want dressage horses simply to become a means to fulfill our competitive ambitions, we have to think about ways of making them happy in their work.

Of course, there’s no recipe that always works with every dressage horse, but over the past decade I, Uta Gräf, have, with the help of my partner, Stefen Schneider, developed my own training system, consisting of several ingredients I consider essential for creating the proverbially “happy athlete” about which so much is discussed. In this article, I will take you through these components, which let you and your horse work together in harmony.

Remember that whatever goals we aim for with our horses—may it be elementary or Olympic level—we absolutely have to treat the horse as a unique individual. What does this mean? It means that we have to take into account the nature, the personality, the character and natural abilities of every horse. If we do so, we respect the horse, and this I would call the moral obligation of a rider, which is the premise of everything. It doesn’t matter if we train a talented or an average horse. Respecting a horse also means respecting his mental and physical limits and working within them. Then we have the possibility that the horse likes to work with us and likes to be ridden, which has to be the common goal.

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Does your horse’s wound need a bandage? It depends. To heal quickly, most cuts and abrasions need nothing more than to remain clean and free of irritation. When bandages promote these conditions, they are the preferred choice. But the quick-growing replacement skin that forms under a horse’s bandage is fragile and may need to be treated with greater care than the slower-growing tissue that fills wounds left exposed to the air. In some circumstances, a bandage’s pressure and friction can actually prolong healing. Add in the expense of the materials and the requisite caretaking efforts, and you’ll see that unnecessary bandaging benefits neither horse nor owner.

In deciding whether to bandage a wound, location and depth are the key considerations:

• Leave high wounds uncovered; put low wounds under wraps. Uncontaminated wounds above the elbow and stifle are likely to scab over and heal well on their own. This rapid response is a function of the relative immobility of the horse’s torso and the superior circulation at or above the heart level. In contrast, lower-leg wounds are often irritated by dirt, motion and abrasion. The high capillary pressure in the legs, resulting from their location below the heart, promotes the formation of proud flesh, an excessive growth of granulation tissue that won’t heal over. Carefully applied bandages are often beneficial for wounds at or below the knees or hocks.
• Leave shallow wounds unbandaged; keep “full-thickness” wounds covered. Once they’re thoroughly cleaned, superficial scrapes and abrasions are left open to the air, as they form strong scabs almost immediately. A full-thickness wound – one that penetrates all skin layers so that the edges separate or can be pulled apart to reveal underlying structures – does not form a strong scab and can invite deep infection if left exposed. For wounds that require stitching, ask the attending veterinarian about bandaging recommendations.

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In general, simple wounds above the knee and hock do just fine without bandages, which most full-thickness wounds heal better with bandages. New skin formed under bandages may require surface ointments or a loose covering until it toughens up enough to face the elements.

After a good dressage test of just over 70% and a clear showjumping with a tight and twisitng course on Saturday we were in 3rd place. On Sunday we managed another clear round in the crosscountry, even though the first half of the course was quite twisting with what Occy found as slippery footing. We ended up in 2nd place and could not have done any better.