As a child I was told that rising trot was better for a horse’s back than sitting trot. However some recent research in the Netherlands suggests this may not be the case.

Certainly my experience was that rising trot was easier for me, once I’d got used to rising out of the saddle, and therefore I think for the horse too. As I became a more experienced rider I could also do a reasonably good sitting trot, but I think it is generally more difficult and much easier on some horses than others, depending on their confirmation. I’m sure any out of balance movements by the rider affect a horse’s back to some degree.

One of the things I’ve always found difficult with rising trot is the correct diagonal, as I remembered when I rode at the weekend! Most horses have a preference for one and it will be much harder to keep on the correct one on one rein.

Liverpool University have launched a new website for improving  the  understanding of colic and its prevention. The website is called Centre for Colic Prevention

Given that this is the number one cause of death in horses and there are 150 different types of colic, this website should be very helpful to all horse owners.

I was not aware of the high incidence of colic but found some numbers quoted on the internet of 10% of all horses annually will get colic and it is the biggest cause of horse death.

Given these statistics, I think I have been very lucky to not have a known problem with colic among my horses for the 40 years I have looked after them and am only aware of a few cases of my friends horses. However I understand that the symptoms for mild colic can pass with a few hours so they may have had this and I’ve just not realised. I would advise anyone looking after horses to read up on the causes of colic,  to try to prevent this, and its symptoms, as the best chance of recovery is if the colic is treated at an early stage.

I was shocked by the reported cruelty case affecting more than 100 horses and donkeys in Buckinghamshire in the UK. The bodies of 32 horses were found in a field and 3 horses had to be put to sleep because of their poor condition. The remaining 84 animals were moved to a number of animal rescue organisations. Animal rescuers commented that they had rarely seen such advanced cruelty cases and the animals appeared to have been left to die. A 44 year old man has been arrested.

I think there are a number of unusual circumstances about this case. A member of the public reported to the RSPCA seeing a dead horse in the field but I understand that 32 horses were found dead in a field. I had assumed they have been stabled so out of sight of the general public. It usually takes months for horses condition to deteriorate so how did this not get reported sooner? The number of animals involved is also unusual. How did someone have so many animals in their care, only not to take care of them? I’ll be watching the news reports on the case to try to understand how this situation developed to such a large and advanced scale.

There have been a few recent reports of animal cruelty cases in the UK. In one case, a woman was banned from owning horses for 10 years, given community service and fined. I am always shocked that people can either mis-treat or not provide proper care for their animals. Often the owners involved have had animals for years so how can they not be aware of the problem or do something to address it? It takes some time for animals to deteriorate to the level where the owners are reported for cruelty.

The recent cases were bad based on the photos I’ve seen and the animals were considerably under-weight. However, a few months ago on Animal Planet I saw the worst cases I have ever seen. The horses were literally skin and bone. The inspectors thought they had not been fed for months. It was appalling and more amazingly all of the horses recovered well, including two who laid down and could not get up at the animal rescue centre. One needed a number of people to help it stand up and the other had to be kept in a sling for a number of days. I hope I never see any animal as thin as this again.