Question
What do you think of morning rations, taking into account that the horse is an athlete? Wouldn’ t it be more advisable that it eat grass rather than oats before going out?
E. T. All alternatives are valid. I wouldn’ t close my mind to my idea which is to start off with oats; exercising and then grass. But there are those who do it differently: some exercise without feeding, or start with grass. All options are good, it depends on each horse and the level of organization you have.
P. M. In my case, my groom doesn’ t allow them to finish their ration before they go out to exercise. He gives them their feed, and after about 15 to 20 minutes, when they have not yet finished, he takes them out to exercise, and they finish their ration when they return. I think the horse’ s stomach generates stomach acids constantly, which is the reason why in modern horse-keep one should alternate rations, and there are those who choose to feed them four times a day … before exercising; after; at four in the afternoon and eight in the evening … One would have to try this out to get one’ s own opinion.
E. T. I remember how Andre Favre kept his racehorses in France: he’ d give them grain in the morning and would go out to exercise, and then grass permanently …
P. M. It is now the fashion that vets be present at the exercising track, and I always think that in teamwork trust is essential, and I divide opinions into three parties: 33 % my vet; 33 % my groom and 33 % my own. I’ ve always liked my vet to be a training advisor and to be in agreement with the other members.
PRACTICES
E. T. We are now nearing the time for playing matches and want to arrive in the best possible form for the season. We know that mounting before a practice match is key, and Open-players like to play their strong practice matches on Wednesdays. This leaves Friday open in case some horse may be a bit heavy, so that they can mount it in a practice match or ride it in readiness for the week-end. And there are different types of players: those who do it themselves, as is the case of Marcos Heguy, or others who prefer their grooms to do it … We must take into account that after a match a horse becomes a bit overexcited mentally, and riding it a little after the game is what loosens it up and relaxes it on the field … That muscle fatigue recovers, and horse care is so different nowadays and there is so much technology to help as regards recuperation, that we will now deal with this subject more in depth.
P. M. It is a fact that there is something that has an impact on us all which is rain. And today we have a chronic error which is to see who will be playing first after it rains … and with rain everything changes: temperature, ground, everything … and the risk one takes as regards each horse that goes out to play after it rains is something that I don’ t think is good for the horse. In my case, I always prefer to wait for 24 hours and be cautious, because there are many atmospheric changes that the horse feels. Generally in Sotogrande, for example, which is very tough because of the high demand on the horses, where they play about 18 matches in 27 days, we never had any injured horses, because the climate conditions are always the same: always the same heat; always the same irrigation; it is always cool at night and the facilities are always the same. I think horses become injured when conditions are abnormal or changing. I think there are many injured ponies at the start of the season in Argentina and England after the rain. I think rain is an important issue we must consider when training, because injuries could be due to negligence or lack of information.
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