USDF Youth Convention Scholarship Report

By Ryleigh Koch

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to receive the Youth Convention scholarship so I could attend the 2023 Adequan®/USDF Annual Convention in Omaha, Nebraska. It was my first year attending! My mom and I made the 18-hour road trip west to Omaha from Fogelsville, Pennsylvania, which, while being a very long drive, was very fun and well worth it! While I was there, I attended meetings, and educational sessions, as well as the Salute Gala & Annual Awards Banquet to receive my USDF Bronze Medal. I learned so much about equine biomechanics, fitness, ways for Group Member Organizations (GMO) to get more members involved, and the governance side of USDF, and to make it extra special, the first Board of Governors (BOG) meeting/USDF Convention had been held 50 years ago in Lincoln, Nebraska. 

On a governance level, I learned more about some of the behind-the-scenes operations, ranging from the financials of the organization to awards and programs available. 

Biomechanics of the Horse’s Neck

Some key takeaways from this session with Dr. Hilary Clayton included:

Neck Structure:

• The neck is built around seven rectangular vertebrae
• The cervical vertebrae are arranged in a S-shaped curve
• The poll is the part of the neck that can move the most

Neck Movements:

• Turning, raising, and lowering are all done from the base of the neck

Carrot stretches:

• When used correctly, carrot stretches can be great. The goal is to activate the stabilizing muscles (which connect between 2-3 vertebrates), not to increase the range of motion of each joint, because that would stretch the stabilizing muscles, making it counterproductive. Try not to overstretch the neck, just to keep the poll even, not twisting. 

Neck arthritis: 

• Fulcrum joints (near the base of the neck) are most likely to have arthritic changes
• Our speaker has seen a 6-year-old warmblood with severe arthritis in every cervical vertebra, which raises concern about what is causing this severe level of arthritis in young horses. Is it their breeding/genetics, or is it training (under saddle or on the ground)?

Where horses carry their weight:

• Head: 4%
• Neck: 6%
• Shoulder and front leg: 11%
• Trunk: 67% 
• Hindquarter and hind leg: 12%
• Weight on front leg: 58%
• Weight on hind leg: 42%

Improving Athleticism in the Off-Season

This session, led by Jec Ballou, included discussions on topics including: 

• De-training
  • Loss of condition begins at four weeks
  • Horses have lost all condition by 12 weeks
  • Reconditioning requires a 1:1 build-up – weeks off:weeks back in work
• “WIN”-ter 
  • Avoid repetitive movements
  • Heighten proprioception
  • Beat the pitfalls of efficiency and fitness
    • When something is being drilled/repeated, it no longer requires as much thought OR muscle work for the horse, as it becomes normal. When the horses start doing other things, such as working on different ground, doing new exercises, etc. they are beating the efficiency. 
  • Change movement patterns
• Cardiovascular vs. Musculoskeletal fitness
  • Horses are very good at adapting their cardiovascular health
    • If you put a horse with rather poor cardiovascular fitness levels back into work, you will begin to see improvements after ten days of consistent cardio work. 
  • However, horses are not as good at improving musculoskeletal fitness
    • It will take multiple weeks to see improvement in musculoskeletal fitness when returning to work after an extended break. 
• Minimal dosage:
  • Work at 40% max heart rate max, which is typically between 80-100 bpm
  • 30+ minutes of continuous walking 
  • Frequency is more important than duration or intensity
    • Double sessions are very helpful
  • Terrain novelty
    • Ground poles
    • Hills
    • Different ground
  • Prioritize straight lines
• Surface + Terrain = Athlete
  • Walk on hard ground. This is especially important if the horse is typically ridden on soft footing, and stalled on soft shavings with little to no turnout. 
• Ground pole exercises:
  • Ground poles disrupt habitual patterns
  • Ground poles are great for softening the base of the neck
  • Pole fan with changing strides and poles with blank space
    • Both are fantastic exercises for bringing the scapula up and back
  • Snake over poles
    • Walking parallel to a line of ground poles, walking three steps on each side of the pole, and making the horses take the foreleg away from the body over the pole laterally. 
  • Other exercises:
    • Gentle slopes (100 foot horizontal with a 6-8 foot incline) with patterns, not just up and down the hills, at any gait for 10 minutes (not gallop). 
    • Step-ups, up-and-overs, step-downs
      • Step-downs are great for SI tension (and have also been proven to help rehabbing dogs with SI issues). 
  • Different breeds and their muscle fibers and fitness, and how cold is too cold?
    • How cold is too cold?
      • There isn’t a solid, confirmed answer to this, other than that horses such as Thoroughbreds and Arabians that have a larger lung capacity can likely handle the cold a bit better than horses with less lung capacity. 
    • Quarter Horse-type horses have slow twitch muscles, meaning they need more walk breaks, and their working times need to be higher intensity
    • Warmbloods with fast twitch muscles need low intensity but with longer sessions. 
  • Tight shoulders create suspensory issues. 

Sport Horse Conformation of the Dressage Horse

This session was led by Krysti Wysocki and included a discussion on the following topics:

What do we want?

• Temperament
• Conformation
• Movement
  • Tempo and Rhythm

Does form match function?

• Form = The Shape
• Function = The Job

Pieces of the puzzle to: 

• Improve training approach to complement their conformation
• Guide to buying and breeding

Tools:

• Balance and foundation
  • Does it look like a Grand Prix horse on the ground/on the triangle?
  • Proportional throughout the body with harmonious transitions through the body parts
  • Why is there a lack of fluidity between their lines and how can we adjust their training in a way to help them improve?
  • Good conformation doesn’t equal good movement, and vice versa. 
• Know the equine skeleton

Plumb Lines:

Examine your horse’s conformation by taking a proper conformation picture, and drawing equal lines. These lines should all be the same length – your baseline should be the poll to muzzle line. However, if the other lines are the same and the head is either bigger or smaller, their head is the outlier length.

• Poll → muzzle
• Wither →  point of shoulder
• Elbow → ergot
• Back of the scapula → back of the forelegs
• Chestnut of foreleg → ground
• Elbow → bottom of knee
• Back of scapula → point of the hip
• Top of croup → stifle
• Stifle → back of hock
• Back of hock → ground

Using Video in Your Training

Krysti Wysocki discussed the pros and cons of incorporating video into your training in this education session.

• Both ends need a good wifi signal for video lessons
  • Meet and greet without a horse, in the arena
  • Human videographer (FaceTime or WhatsApp)
  • Pixio/Pivo is 50/50
  • Rider has a phone with a separate call
• I think the youth members had fun helping the adults learn how to use different parts of technology (such as screen recording) for their video lessons

I’m so thankful for the opportunity to attend the Adequan®/USDF Annual Convention. It would not have been possible without this scholarship, nor support from the dressage community (at both the local and national levels) and the people who make these opportunities available for the members of USDF.