I am a great believer in the benefits of chiropractic treatment for both horses and people. I think that the horses’ back takes a lot of extra strain when being ridden and particularly when being jumped. You should make sure that your saddle fits well, that it is regularly restuffed and I always use a numnah under the saddle. Horses can also easily injure their backs when rolling and particularly if they become cast. I appreciate that many people may be sceptical about this type of treatment but based on my experience over 25 years I am convinced of its merits. I have some problems with my own back and know first-hand how painful it can be and the immediate relief you can get from this treatment. I used to get the horses backs checked annually at the end of each showjumping season prior to being rested over the winter. I used to regularly check the horses back by running my hand along the horses back from the withers to the tail. The pressure should be reasonably firm along each side of the spine and you will quickly spot when there is any new soreness. Some signs of a sore back can be dipping of the back when mounting, the tail being carried at an unusual angle either to one side or higher/lower than usual. If you think your horse has a sore back, I would suggest a couple of days rest and then recheck for soreness. if there is not a significant improvement, I would then seek prompt attention. When my horse seriously injured his foot, he also damaged his back when pulling his foot free. The horse’s back was in spasm before the chiropracter manipulated it and there was an immediate visible difference after some initial treatment. With hindsight, I should have progressed with further chiropractic and physiotherapy for the back damage as subsequently the horse has had some problems with stiffness in the hindquarter, which I believe resulted from the significant damage done to his back. At the time, our main focus was on the foot injury which looked horrible but the damage to the back was most likely just as significant, although not as apparent.

Even though my horse is now retired, he still get an annual flu and tetanus injection. He’s been having them since he was a foal.

When competing, I thought it was important to have the flu injection to minimise the chance of catching and spreading the viruses across the different areas. Certainly in the spring, there always seemed to be a few horses coughing at the shows. Unfortunately, one was usually mine as he had allergy problems so you weren’t sure which coughing was due to the virus versus allergies. I’d also advise that you get such injections out of the competition season as it can occasionally cause the horse to be under the weather for a few weeks.

Tetanus is important too and for the owners as well as the horses. I’m not a fan of injections so had avoided having a booster for some time. However my vet kept asking if mine was up-to-date and in the end said he would give me an injection if I did not go to the doctors. I believed him and had had booster ever since. Horses carry tetanus in their feet so it is very important that owners keep their tetanus up-to-date.

A regular worming programme for horses is extremely important. There are a wide range of wormers available including paste, powders, pellet, liquids  and these are either general multi-wormers or specific wormers. We usually use different wormers every 2-3 months during the year to ensure a good coverage.

If horses are not regularly wormed there can be problems with poor general condition but it can also be fatal. I was quite young when a friend’s horse died and it was found to be a worm-related problem. So I was convinced at an early age that this was very important.

I usually use the syringe paste varieties which are administered through the corner of the horse’s mouth. This looks quite straightforward but if it’s not done correctly you can find yourself covered in a thick white paste. A couple of mine weren’t impressed by the taste and would spit as much of it out as possible given half a chance.

When doing some research on wormers, I was surprised to find an Easy Wormer device to prevent horses spitting out the paste. So I wasn’t the only one to have this problem. Maybe the manufacturers need to come up with a horse-friendly flavour. Horses are great mint lovers (one pony I had would actually chase you across the field if you had polo mints in your pocket) so I think they should start there.

This will take place next Tuesday through Friday 13th - 16th March and the main races are:
Tuesday - Champion Hurdle
Wednesday - Champion Chase
Thursday - World Cup Hurdle
Friday - Gold Cup.

My favourite race is the Gold Cup which used to be held on Thursday when this was a three day event but is now on the last day of Friday. I expect Kauto Star will be a short favourite.

The going is always a key factor and at the weekend it was soft (heavy in places) so stamina will be important.

I always tried to have some time off work to watch this when I lived in the UK but I wasn’t very successful as it always seemed to be busy work-wise at this time of year. I’m not aware of any TV coverage in the US so I expect the best I will manage will be checking the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival 2007 results on the BBC Sport website. One day I’ll have to try to get a ticket to experience it in person!