Neil Dimmock needed porta-potties, campers, dozens of volunteers (and enough food to keep them happy), generous landowners and sponsors, a stack of permits, hundreds of gallons of water, tons of hay and oats, the right horses, a lot of determination, and the skill to pull it off.

In all the “Big Hitch” travelled over 50 kilometres between July 2 and 6th before trailering in for the Stampede Parade on July 8.

The venture was a partial realization of a long-held dream: Do what famed horseman Slim Moorehouse had done in 1925 when he drove 36 Percherons and 10 wagons with 1,477 bushels of grain from Gleichen for the Stampede Parade. Dimmock was just 16 years old when he saw a picture of Moorehouse’s hitch in a restaurant in Gleichen.

“It covered the whole wall,” Dimmock remembered. “When I got back I was talking to Grandfather about it, and I said, ‘Someday I’ll redo that.’”

Draft horses are in Dimmock’s blood, and he has worked with them his entire life. Some of his Percherons can be traced back to the 200 mares, geldings, and studs his family started with in the 1860s. He and wife Kim, along with their children, live in Mundare and operate Hitch Masters Percherons. They farm with their horses, have a wagon ride business, and train horses and drivers.

Dimmock’s had hoped to not only recreate Moorehouse’s 1925 accomplishment, but also break the world record for the most Percherons in one hitch. A combination of the passing of a gentleman who was going to loan several of his horses, and difficulties in getting horses across the U.S. border, put that plan on hold this year.

Tricky driving

The entire rig ran about 290 feet long. It takes exceptionally good lead horses for this.

“They’re about 175 feet away from me and I need to be able to steer them with just a light pull on the line,” Dimmock said. “That’s like driving your car standing at the back of the trunk with two strings on the steering wheel.”

Dimmock has only two sets of lines, one to the leaders and one to the wheel horses, which are closest to the wagons. Turning a 90-degree corner isn’t a simple feat.

“We need to keep the wagons going straight while the horses start turning the corner,” Kim Dimmock explained at a demonstration in Strathmore along the way.

To accomplish this, they unhook two horses from midway along the hitch, and have them pull toward the outside of the corner. This keeps the wagons tracking in a straight line while the horses are moving around the corner.

“Once Neil determines that it’s gone far enough, he will have the horses come back in,” she said.

Her husband then demonstrated this turning technique by manoeuvring the horses and wagons into almost a full circle in the arena.

Excellent communication and teamwork are key. On the evening of the first day, a wagon caught a soft spot at the edge of the road and slid down into the ditch, pulling some of the other wagons along with it. Dimmock quickly assessed the situation and worked with his crew of volunteers to get the horses in the right position to pull the wagon up and out of the ditch. Perhaps more than anything else along the way, it showcased just how well this team works together.

“I’m one of probably four or five guys in North America who can do this sort of thing,” Dimmock said. “The knowledge isn’t there anymore. I really had to dig and hunt and look for old books. I visited for hours with old people on the phone, and sat down to buy them dinner, just to glean what information I could find. Most of those guys are gone now.”

And things have changed.

Volunteer Bill Engman logged long hours getting permits, arranging highway crossings, and finding places where the team could rest or camp for the night.

Thousands of people of all ages came out to see this wonderful display make its way across the Prairies. Many shared stories of farming with horses when they were young, their voices animated as they spoke of the bonds with their horses, accomplishments, and even a little fear when they were first handed the reins of a team of big horses to harrow the fields at the age of 12.

Ivy Bogstie, 99 years young, came to the Canada Day celebrations in Gleichen to see the hitch. Her father-in-law sold wagons to Moorehouse through his Massey Ferguson dealership and she has a dim memory of that long-ago event.

“I just remember seeing a long line of horses going down the road,” she recalled.

Moorehouse’s daughter, Joan Riise, came from Williams Lake, B.C. to be an outrider after a friend spotted the event on a website and told her, “Did you know there’s some guy about to do something like your dad did?” Joan was glad to join them in this tribute to her father.

If they can gather enough sponsorships, the Big Hitch group will try again next year and aim for the world record.

They repeatedly expressed appreciation for the many people and organizations who contributed to this year’s effort. Anyone who is interested in helping out next year with anything from horses to hay to money can contact them through myevent.com/thebighitch or dimmock_13@hotmail.com.

The post Neil Dimmock’s big dream — and his really big wagon train appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

However, execution of this exercise can be either very beneficial or very detrimental to the horse, depending on “how” it is done. How a horse carries its body as it travels on the circle is of much greater value to developing the horse than is how many times it is circled, how fast it is going or what equipment used.

The design of the circle itself presents the greatest gymnastic challenge for a horse moving around on a circle. The natural tendency of a horse as it moves in a circle is to lean inward and fall onto its inside shoulder. The amount of lean increases as the circle becomes smaller and the horse’s speed increases. As the horse leans, he is placed in an unstable position, a position it would not willingly maintain for many strides under usual circumstances.

Ideally a gentle curvature of the spinal column, mirroring the circle, while the horse holds an upright body carriage is sought. When the horse’s body is in this position, its back preferentially becomes rounded, and its posture improves. This proper body carriage is a powerful gymnastic exercise for the horse as it develops new core muscles through correct, nourishing movement.

A horse does not automatically bend at the end of a longe line. Although it might bend the neck under restraint or side reins, it does not follow that it will correctly bend the remainder of its spinal column and back.

Without proper, gentle schooling most horses will lean inward. Another common fault is the horses that drop their croup and turn their body outwards/opposite to the circle’s line, resisting their handler.

Either way, the kinematics of the limbs are no longer aligned symmetrically with the ground surface and as the “leaning” hooves impact the ground surface, they turn flat, inducing compressive and torquing forces on the surfaces of the articular cartilage, soft tissues, and ligaments.

Travelling in circles in improper posture for any length of time, especially with speed can cause severe damage to the joints and soft tissue of a horse’s leg. Young horses and larger horses are especially vulnerable to injury from improper techniques. Longeing a horse on a small circle for half an hour or more can place enormous stress and strain on tissues, doing irreparable harm, especially to young horses whose legs are not yet fully developed.

Done properly, longeing is a highly advanced and effective tool for developing and educating a horse. Practising proper alignment, correct form and posture, and rhythmic cadence are key elements critical to capturing the value of this practice. Safety for both the horse and handler are inherent in such a practice. The horse learns to organize its body in relation to the handler’s position and body language. Although voice commands, hand gestures, and whips may provide tools to guide the horse, it will ultimately be the human’s body language to which the horse connects and responds.

Since the longeing horse is acquiring physical prowess, much like a dancer, slow movements and careful practice at the horse’s natural cadence are necessary to set muscle patterns and memory. In the beginning, it is best to move the horse on the straight, and on very gentle curves.

Any system restricting or modifying the normal cycle of head and neck movements is going to modify limbs kinematics and vertebral column mechanism. Horses with restricted head and neck movement contract their backs and heavily weight their forehand. In doing so the horse overuses tissues ill prepared for such weighting and its more likely to become unsound over time.

When longed correctly horses become more physically and mentally engaged in this simple exercise, actively participating in their own well-being.

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Would-be horse trainers are already beating down Ernie Knibb’s door, and he hasn’t even opened the door to the Lethbridge Community Equine College.

The private college, located just outside Lethbridge on Highway 25, will be the first Canadian school to certify horse trainers.

In order to receive government approval, Knibb had to prove that there would be jobs available for program graduates.

“We found 19 different jobs for horse trainers, in one day, in Alberta alone,” he said. “There’s a big demand for horse trainers, especially for good certified ones, who are guaranteed to be trained.”

The electronics engineer and businessman grew up around horses, and following his retirement, was certified in the John Lyons method of horse training. Curious about other methods of training, he then worked with other horse trainers and decided to create a facility offering a range of methods.

“The people who will be graduating from our college will see a whole bunch of different methods, instead of one person’s,” said Knibb. “One method may not work for one person or one horse, but a different method might work better. You have more tools in your tool box than just one method. We’re offering a whole variety of methods so the student can deal with any problem.”

The response from prospective students was immediate — with Knibb receiving more than 200 inquiries following local media reports of the school’s groundbreaking ceremony last month.

It has the largest riding arena in the province and three two-storey barns. The pre-built barns, slated to be moved onto the site this month, will house 30 horses and have dormitories for 15 students on the second floor. A classroom and an office building still need to be constructed. Knibb expects the school to be up and running around the end of March or early April.

Students will take nine courses, and also interact with farriers, saddle fitters, acupuncturists, trick trainers, and problem solvers. Knibb has been in contact with 68 trainers from across Canada and the U.S., who will do short sessions at the school. The curriculum has been approved by equestrian foundations across Canada. About 120 students will be able to take the program each year.

The first part of the course focuses on groundwork, horse maintenance and classroom learning, but the second and third part is all in the saddle. Students can expect to be on their horses about eight hours a day from Monday to Friday.

“You better be prepared to ride a lot,” said Knibb with a laugh. “Eight hours is a long time in a saddle.”

The $7.5-million project is being solely funded by Knibb, even though he has some manpower help, and support from the City of Lethbridge, Lethbridge County, and Alberta Agriculture.

“Hopefully we get a lot of sponsorships and donations. There is money being donated to different colleges for different programs, and that’s what I am hoping. But as of right now, I’m the only person behind it.”

More information can be found at lethbridgeequinecollege.com.

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“Most of the horses I buy, I buy thinking there’s some sort of hole in them that I’m going to have to fix,” said Sturgeon, a former jockey and owner of Flying Cross Ranch near Lacombe, where he keeps close to 40 horses.

For first-time horse buyers who lack his experience, fixing a problem horse isn’t an option.

“People make it an emotional, impulsive buy,” said Sturgeon, who has ridden “over a million horses” in his lifetime.

“They’ve got a 12-year-old daughter who watched “Heartland,” and they’re going to tame the wild stallion. It doesn’t work that way.”

A lot of people buy a young horse because “they’re going to grow together,” but that’s the wrong approach, said Sturgeon.

“Unless you have a trainer on staff — which most people don’t — you are in a lot of trouble,” he said. “You’re basically putting one idiot on top of another.”

First-time buyers often turn their noses up at an older horse, but in many cases, “they know more than the person that’s on them.”

“I don’t care if they have three or four months left in them. For some people, that’s the horse they need.”

Another problem is buying “too much horse” because they like the breed or look of the animal.

“Every person in the world imagines themselves riding something, and that’s fine,” he said.

• More from the Alberta Farmer: In one end and out the other – feeding your horse without hurting your land

“But if you want to barrel race, you don’t have to have a quarter-horse. If you’ve got some fat old crossbred paint and you’re comfortable and safe on it, that’s more important.”

Not asking for a trial period to see how the horse handles in different environments and situations is another common error.

“If you haven’t tried this horse enough, that horse may be really good for the first week, and all of a sudden, these horses don’t work. Then you’ve bought a $500 to $15,000 lawn ornament.”

Horses are always at their best in their own environment, and are generally well exercised and well tended before the buyer comes to visit.

“A horse in a ring, you can do almost anything with it,” said Sturgeon. “But you get him outside… it’s a totally different horse.”

Some sellers even tranquilize a horse with bute (short for phenybutazone) or Atravet before a showing — a practice Sturgeon calls “chemical warfare.”

“Tell them you want to take a blood sample of this horse,” he said, adding that a seller who refuses is a red flag.

“In reality, the blood test is more money than you’re ever going to spend, but you’ll bluff most people.”

Finally, be wary of too low a price, said Sturgeon, who once spent $12,000 training a $600 horse.

He recommends one or two years of regular horseback-riding lessons to “work some things out” before committing to buying a horse.

“A lot of people have this romantic notion of loping majestically across the Prairies, and it takes a lot to get to that point,” he said. “At the end of the day, they’re a 1,200-pound animal that will hurt you if things go wrong.”

The post Whoa — don’t rush in when buying your first horse appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Specialized” movement patterns can become firmly entrenched in the musculoskeletal system, sacrificing flexibility and eventually hindering the very movement or activity that practice was meant to perfect. Further consequences of excessive training are fatigue and boredom, both undermining to peak performance.

When the body is asked to repeat a task over and over, day in and day out, it is susceptible to repetitive strain/stress injuries. Unlike acute injuries, overuse injuries are chronic and insidious. The heavily used tissues, pushed beyond their abilities to rebuild and maintain themselves, undergo degeneration and an “inflammatory-like” process.

Carpal tunnel syndrome, runner’s knee, gymnast’s wrists, golfer’s elbow, tennis elbow, baseball shoulder, and texter’s thumb are familiar human counterparts of repetitive stress injury. Human patients complain of pain, yet when examined by a health-care professional, nothing physical can be found. The pain itself is peculiar, often described as a burning, achy or gnawing tenderness. The sensation can escalate to tingling and/or pins and needles. Eventually a loss of sensation or strength may occur.

Behaviour change

There are no obvious ways to diagnose repetitive strain injuries in humans, as is also the situation with horses. It has been my experience that the most common presentation of these injuries in horses is a subtle yet persistent and consistent change in the horse’s attitude or way of going. Refusal, a “soured” attitude, and/or resistance are behavioural displays that may be indicating something in the body is amiss.

The combination of rigorous training regimes and skeletal and mental immaturity makes younger horses especially vulnerable to overuse injuries. Remember, a horse is not physically mature until five to seven years of age. Problems become further compounded when the horse/s in training are stalled instead of turned out where they are able to move freely and use their bodies in other ways.

From the Manitoba Co-operator website: Probiotics, prebiotics and horses

Horses asked to travel in a “frame” for a prolonged period are prone to repetitive stress/strain injury. The ability to carry its body in a particular “frame” is very demanding work for a horse. It requires conditioning and development of the muscles and connective tissue that support, balance, and stabilize the neck and back. These tissues are easily overwhelmed during the initial stages of training, and so the body becomes more prone to injuries.

Horses who gait or repeat the same “stride” for their sport can strain muscles of the shoulders, hindquarters, and distal limbs and joints. Western pleasure horses asked to travel with short strides and low neck carriage lose their ability to lengthen their stride while endurance horses that travel with long lengthy strides lose lateral flexibility.

Horses used for roping purposes are at risk for “frozen” withers and shoulders as well as arthritis in the lower joints. These tend to be a consequence of the ongoing stresses that occur following “dallying up.” This stress becomes magnified further if the horse is not in the correct position to absorb the concussive forces.

Training techniques that employ draw reins, side reins, and longeing have the potential to create unfavourable stress and strain in a horse’s poll, neck and back when used improperly for prolonged periods.

Engaging the whole body and mind in a variety of age-appropriate activities and training regimes allows the horse to develop in a manner which pays dividends in high performance, soundness and longevity. Scheduling rest is of paramount importance in any sporting program for it allows the body the time needed to recover and develop skills for expertise levels.

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