Horse Sense: Learned the Hard Way

My qualifications for writing about horses are ten years as a Riding for the Disabled mum, five as a Pony Club mum, and seven as the reluctant care-taker of one or more obstreperous ponies.

Yet I write Regencies, and in Regency times, gentlemen were as obsessed with their horses as today’s men are with their cars or motorbikes.

In fact, in two of my books, including the latest release, the hero breeds horses for sale.

Which meant I had a lot to learn. I knew the smell of wet pony, and the tricks it can get up to when it doesn’t want the bridle and saddle. That was a start.

Many blog posts, library books, video clips, websites, and questions to friends later, I still think that one end bites and the other kicks.

But I’m slightly more confident about sending my horse-mad heroes out into the wide world.

Horse Sense: from the Middle East to England

In The Bluestocking and the Barbarian, Lord Sutton breeds Turkmen horses he and his family have brought from their home in the Kopet Dag mountains (northeast of Iran). Lord Sutton’s Turkmens, a predecessor of today’s Ahkal Teke, arrived in England well after the heyday of what they then called the orientals, or hot bloods.

Finer boned, thinner skinned, faster, and more spirited than the European horses (known then as cold bloods), the imports from Turkey, Persia, and middle Asia fascinated the English of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

From the two lines came the warm bloods, direct ancestors of today’s thoroughbreds. Indeed, the thoroughbred stud book was founded in the late eighteenth century (for horses intended for racing) and records all English Thoroughbred breeding even today.

A thoroughbred was a horse whose birth and lineage was recorded in the book. Other horses with the same breeding not intended for racing were known simply as ‘bloods’.

If you wanted to sell, or to buy, a horse, you might go to a local horse fair. Or, if you lived in London, you’d drop down to Tattersall’s on Hyde Park Corner.

It had been founded in 1766 by a former groom of the Duke of Kingston, and held auctions every Monday and on Thursdays during the Season. Tattersall’s charged a small commission on each sale, but also charged both buyers and sellers for stabling.

You could buy horses, carriages, hounds, harnesses — whatever a gentleman (or his lady, but ladies did NOT go to Tattersall’s) needed.

And in Regency times, gentlemen visited on other days to place a bet on an upcoming race, or just to meet and chat.

The Jockey Club met there, and moved with it to a later London location and then to Newmarket. Tattersall’s is still a leading bloodstock auctioneer, and still in Newmarket.

Horse Sense: England’s Cavalry

My hero in A Raging Madness had been a cavalry officer. Britain had no formal studs for breeding war horses. Instead, they bought their horses from civilian breeders.

This meant the British cavalry rode horses bred to be hunters, race horses, and carriage horses—usually thoroughbreds or thoroughbred crosses. Each colonel bought the horses for his own regiment.

In 1795, the regulations established a budget of thirty pounds for a light mount and forty for a heavy mount. This budget didn’t change for the rest of the war with France, despite wartime shortages.

Here Alex is telling his brother his plan:

“Father says you are planning to breed horses. For the army, Alex? Racing? What’s your plan?”

“Carriage and riding horses, we thought. I know more about training war horses, of course, but to breed them to be torn apart for the sins of men? I don’t have the heart for it. And there’s always a market for a good horse.”

Alex buys his first stallion from another cavalry office, Gil Rutledge, who is hero of The Realm of Silence (the third novel in The Golden Redepenning series).

Horse Sense for Authors and Seekers

Geri Walton tells us about work horses, especially the heavy breeds. https://www.geriwalton.com/work-horses-in-the-regency-era/

Regency Redingote explains the origins of the term ‘blood horse’, and the pedigree of the General Stud Book. https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2010/11/05/the-english-blood-horse/

Regency Writing has a useful article on housing horses, and the work of a stable. http://regencywriter-hking.blogspot.co.nz/2013/07/eighteenth-and-nineteenth-century-horse.html

Shannon Donnelly’s Fresh Ink explains the many different uses of the horse in Regency England. https://shannondonnelly.com/2011/07/28/the-regency-horse-world/ This article also describes common carriage types, side saddles and riding habits.

A Raging Madness

Extract

Fear pierced the fog, and drove Ella across the carriage way and into the shrubbery beyond. The soft rain of the past few days had left branches laden with moisture, and puddles and mud underfoot. Every part of her not covered by the woollen blanket was soon drenched, but the chill kept her awake, kept her from falling back into the false happiness of the dream.

Every stone and twig bruised her feet. Her soft slippers were not made for outside walking, and would be in shreds before she reached the village. At least it was not still raining.

The carriage way turned onto the village road. She kept to the side, ready to hide in the ditch if anyone came. Alone, in her shift, and still dazed from the drug? Being returned to the Braxtons would be the best she could expect from a casual passer-by, and the worst… She shuddered. She had travelled with the army, worked as her father’s assistant, been Gervase Melville’s wife. She knew the worst that could happen to a woman at the mercy of the merciless.

A soft whicker caught her attention. Falcon’s Storm. He was a lighter shape above the hedgerow, stretching his neck to reach his mistress.

“Storm, my sweet, my champion.” She stopped to fuss over him for a minute that stretched into a timeless pause, crooning nonsense about having no treats in her pocket for she lacked a pocket. He lipped at her shoulder and her hair, but showed no offence at being denied the expected lump of carrot or apple.

“I missed you, too,” she assured him. “If only you were old enough, dearest, you would carry me away, would you not?”

He was solidly built for a two-year old, but so was she, for a woman. She walked away with a deep sigh. He was the one thing in the world that was solidly, legally, beyond a doubt hers; her only legacy from the swine she had married, born of her mare, Hawk of May, and Gervase’s charger.

But if she took him, how would she feed him? And if they were hunting for a woman and a colt… No, she could not take him with her, and opening the gate to set him loose was also out of consideration. He would follow her, for sure.

She continued on her way, praying that the Braxtons would leave him to the care of old Jake, the groom, or sell him to someone who appreciated him for the future champion he was.

Storm followed her to the corner of his field, and called after her until she was out of sight. She was hobbling by then. Even though the cold numbed them, her feet shot pain at her from a thousand bruises and cuts.

Then the rain began again. She pulled an edge of the blanket over her head, which kept off the worst of it, but it still sluiced down her cheeks and brow, gathered on her eyebrows, dripped over her eyes, and streamed down either side of her nose.

Blurb

Their marriage is a fiction. Their enemies are all too real.

Ella survived an abusive and philandering husband, in-laws who hate her, and public scorn. But she’s not sure she will survive love. It is too late to guard her heart from the man forced to pretend he has married such a disreputable widow, but at least she will not burden him with feelings he can never return.

Alex understands his supposed wife never wishes to remarry. And if she had chosen to wed, it would not have been to him. He should have wooed her when he was whole, when he could have had her love, not her pity. But it is too late now. She looks at him and sees a broken man. Perhaps she will learn to bear him.

In their masquerade of a marriage, Ella and Alex soon discover they are more well-matched than they expected. But then the couple’s blossoming trust is ripped apart by a malicious enemy. Two lost souls must together face the demons of their past to save their lives and give their love a future.

Meet Jude Knight

Jude Knight’s writing goal is to transport readers to another time, another place, where they can enjoy adventure and romance, thrill to trials and challenges, uncover secrets and solve mysteries, delight in a happy ending, and return from their virtual holiday refreshed and ready for anything.

She writes historical novels, novellas, and short stories, mostly set in the early 19^th Century. She writes strong determined heroines, heroes who can appreciate a clever capable woman, villains you’ll love to loathe, and all with a leavening of humour.

Website and blog: http://judeknightauthor.com/

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Thank you, Jude and readers!

Thank you for joining us here at horseandvetbooks.com! Find Jude’s books on this page via the Search button in the header!

Please feel free to share this post and this website with anyone you think might be interested!

Until next week, take care and enjoy those horses!

Lizzi Tremayne

Horseandvetbooks.com

First posted 26 August 2017

Integrative: Eastern, Western, Ancient, Modern.

Hi all!

I’m Author Lizzi Tremayne. In case you didn’t know, by other name is Elizabeth Thompson, DVM. Like Dr. Usha Knabe, interviewed by Anne Leueen in the following post, I took most of Sharon Willoughby’s animal chiropractic course as well as becoming certified in veterinary acupuncture in 1992 via the IVAS course.

I spent much the next almost 30 years performing Postural Rehabilitation on sport and pleasure horses plus and acupuncture on horses, down cows and dogs and cats in the USA and New Zealand, so Anne’s post holds a place near and dear to my heart.

So without further ado, let me present Anne Leueen, who has provided us with our first guest post, on Integrative Medicine.

Integrative: Eastern, Western, Ancient, Modern. These are the combinations of medical practices used by an integrative practitioner. I spoke recently with Dr. Usha Knabe, an integrative veterinary practitioner, about her practice and her treatments for horses.

What got you started with integrative medicine?

I was qualified as a veterinarian and had always been interested in acupuncture and Chinese medicine. The turning point for me was my dog Tess.

She had a herniated disk in her back and was paralyzed. She had surgery and came back from that and did well in rehab. But then another disk caused paralysis and she was now 14 years old. I did not think I could put her through another surgery.

A client of mine had a German Shepherd that had responded well to acupuncture so I took Tess to her vet who was qualified in Eastern medicine and acupuncture. He treated Tess.

She fell asleep and when he was finished, she stood up, did a whole body shake and walked off! She had three or four more treatments combined with Chinese herbal treatment and she was fine. I thought “Oh my God! this is incredible! How do I do this?”

What training did you do?

Other vets had recommended the Chi Institute in Florida for training and qualification in Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine.

Chi Institute symbol for continuing education courses.

The Institute offers modules geared to working vets. I did the five modules which are a mix of online and onsite. So I travelled to Florida for the onsite and did the online lectures and labs as well.

At the end of each module I had to write a test. The last module there was a physical exam involving acupuncture for dogs and horses .

There was also a three hour written exam. In order to pass the exams I had to submit case studies and achieve a 75% or better result. This gave me a CVA which is Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist.

Does the Chi Institute course include more than acupuncture?

I also took courses in the study of the Chinese herbs and qualified as a certified veterinary herbalist. There are some animals who will not tolerate acupuncture so the herbs can help as they work on the same channels or meridians as the acupuncture.

I did the Institute’s course in Tui-Na which is the Chinese medicinal massage. This is a very ancient practice and is also good for animals that will not tolerate acupuncture.

When you think about it Western medicine is very young compared to other medical traditions. And it is the herbs and the needles that are working on the animals. Animals cannot react to a placebo effect as humans can.

Have you had success with treating horses with integrative medicine?

Yes! When I had been working as a vet for four years I was introduced to Sharon Willoughby’s work in chiropractic in Chicago. She was frustrated by the fact that traditional veterinary medicine, at that time, had nothing to address problems above the horse’s limbs.

She trained as a human chiropractor and transferred this to horses and had success. So I took the Chiro course, “Options for Animals”, and took all the modules.

Options for Animals

Sharon Willoughby did the lectures and would educate the human chiros and give them exposure to working with horses and the vets on the theories and practices of chiropractics. In the labs the vets and chiros would work together and help each other.

Initially regular vets were very dismissive but the clients would be happy when the animals would get better. Very early in my practice of chiro I had an amazing success.

Work with racehorses

I had a client, who had a Thoroughbred racehorse, that had got his leg caught in the starting gate in a race. He wrenched his pelvis backwards and the vets said they could not fix him. I said to the client: “I’ve just learned chiro for the back end of the horse. Let me try to see if I can help him. If he makes it back then you can pay me.”

After the first treatment he went out and rolled, which meant he was more comfortable in his back. The pelvis started to get more motion and a month later, when I went to treat him, he was not there. He had gone back to the track! Down at the track no one knew about the chiro treatment. He started to workout and got better and stronger. Sooner than I would have liked the owner entered him in a race!

I was so nervous I had to watch the race on a screen in the canteen.

At the start he didn’t gallop out of the gate. The jockey was so nervous that he might get a leg caught again he just had him trot out. Then he canters.

Then he gallops and catches the back of the field. Then he gets to the middle! Then he gallops to the front of the field and he wins! I was leaping up and down. I was crying. And do you know what this horse’s name was? It was We’ll Fool ‘Em All.

Dr. Usha Knabe cheering for Canada at a Nations Cup held at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington , Florida.

He went on to have a successful career. The word got around and I was interviewed for the Discovery Channel. That was the start and chiro became more acceptable.

I also got called in to look at Wando, who was the Canadian Triple Crown winner in 2003, and then I got interviewed by the National Post and Lloyd Robertson for CTV. Then chiro for horses really took off.

I thanked Usha for her time and…..just for the record…..she does chiro work on my horse Biasini and I consider it to be an integral part of his maintenance.

Thank you, Anne, for joining us here today, and thanks to the rest of you for being here!

Please go by and visit Anne on her wonderful equestrian blog here. At Horseaddict.net

I’m sure she’d love to see you!

Until next week, stay safe and enjoy your animals and families!

Lizzi

Tag: #racing

Integrative Vet Med: Eastern, Western, Ancient, Modern.