Think of this after the ride didn't go as planned

Not everyone can afford the personal following up of a whole team of therapists and specialists. 

Keeping horses, upkeeping them, Vet & farrier, deworming, dental care, vaccinations, training & lessons… blablabla. The list is endless. Everything together costs loads of money.

(Especially if you reallyyyyyy can’t help yourself buying that new matchy-matchy set too)
So sometimes the ‘extras’ are just too much to add to the already high costs of everything put together. We get that too! 
 

And depending on the level you are wanting your horse to reach and ’stay’ in a healthy and sound way, you will need more or less of the above mentioned specialists and therapists. Horse management is something to be thought about. 

By everyone. Even those who only have their horse to do a stroll once in a while, of let the granddaughter hobbel around on every other week. Just think of the below.
 

A majorly overlooked physiological occurrence in the equine field can also help prevent small or larger problems, down the line. 
Something rarely being discussed! But I am sure we have all had the feeling before on our horses… and been a little … confused.

All too often I hear “he’s had his back checked, all OK so it’s not that” - especially now spring is on the horizon and at last the competition calendar is back in full swing.
People are riding more and pushing their horse’s ready for competing the rest of the summer. 
Especially since a lot of us have had to use our wheelbarrows as boats to do our horses recently - we are really catching up on lost time! Wanting to be fresh and snappy in our whites, shining down the centre line !

But, following the fact that horse’s can't fake pain, there is something that I am still not seeing being put out there when there are behavioural shifts in a horse’s work mentality.
I hear you thinking ? : "Behavioural shifts in a horse’s work mentality??"
 

First, let me give you a scenario, just as an example so you get what I am saying, as I am sure most of us (if not all) have experienced this in the past at one time or another : 

Day 1- horse is generally happy and does his best and you are very pleased.
Day 2- Horse has cracked it today and you are a very happy rider.
DAY 3- Horse wasn’t too keen on being ridden today, so you had to motivate him more than usual because he was a tad behind the leg.
Day 4- Horse WILL NOT do as he is told and you end up getting off annoyed and a bit confused.
Day 5- Horse is given a 2-3 day break
Day 8 – Horse is ridden and back to being OK again

This happens repeatedly until you end up concerned. So what could it be? 
 

Firstly, we need to know how muscles are made. 

The muscular system is composed of specialized cells called muscle fibres. 
They encompass every muscle in the body, from the tiny ones responsible for ear movement, to the biggest muscle in the body (gluteus maximus), they ALL are made up the same way. 
Their predominant function (for skeletal muscles) is contractibility. 
Muscles, attached to bones or internal organs and blood vessels, are responsible for movement. Nearly all movement in the body is the result of muscle contraction; other than a few focussed exceptions of course. 
The integrated action of joints, bones, and skeletal muscles produce obvious movements such as walking and running. They are live and have nerve endings, they can break, and they are extremely sensitive to exercise- ESPECIALLY in a new athletic regime.

For this reason, delayed onset muscle soreness (D.O.M.S) is so immensely overlooked in the working horse in 2020.
Yes, it even has a name ! Who has even heard of DOMS up till now? And no, I am not referring to Dom from the Fast & Furious movies… 

D.O.M.S is that feeling that most of us have experienced usually 24-48 hours after a hard workout and usually lasts for up to 2-4 days. 
It’s that feeling of acute aching pain, tenderness, and stiffness. 
The severity of the soreness that we experience is a direct result of a number of factors, including familiarity with the exercises used during a workout, the intensity of exercise, loading of the muscles, how much a muscle has been stretched under resistance, preparation/ warming up and the angle of muscle contraction. 
It is caused by a number of small myofibril tears (what muscle fibres are made of!). The micro trauma results in an inflammatory response with intramuscular fluid and electrolyte shifts (also known as lactic acid build up, a by-product of muscular contractions). 

When not acknowledged and treated accordingly, the DOMS can continue to grow and more tears occur creating more pain and stiffness and the muscle becomes susceptible to genuine injury (known as active resting- the best solution). DOMS should be treated initially with active rest and anti-inflammatory measures such as ice.. Gentle massage (this is where the therapist comes in!) and pressure garments have been shown in research studies to provide a reduction in the duration and severity of DOMS. 
However, deep tissue massage should be avoided during the first 24 hours. Excessive muscle stretching in this early phase should also be avoided due to ease of furthering muscle ruptures. 

This is the key to this post :

You should avoid aggressive exercise during the recovery phase. This is due to muscles reduced capacity to cope with shock absorption, coordination, altered muscle recruitment patterns, reduced strength balance and contraction intensity. 
 

In less words, when suffering the DOMS, your horse will struggle to perform basic tasks he was doing the day before because he could well potentially be aching from his nose to his toes! 
Therefore, he is not naughty, he is not confused, he is aching and cannot perform what is being asked.
 

So, just a friendly tip:

1. Take it slow and gradually build up the amount of exercise you do in your program – remember that Rome wasn't built in a day. 
2. Be aware of the amount of high intensity exercises you are including in your rides without breaks between to allow the muscles to relax. 
3. Ensure you do a thorough cool down following your workout – many of us would have seen sportspeople doing gentle running and cool down drills after their games – this is one of the reasons why.

Just a small end-note. When you have a specialist/therapist advising you on working in a different way, this may have a good reason. If in doubt ask them ! You can only learn more by asking questions, and not every situation is the same one. 
This is just a very simple reminder for everyone building up… That they need to take it one step at a time !