‘A racehorse that consistently runs just a second faster than another horse is worth millions of dollars more. Be willing to give that extra effort that separates the winner from the one in second place’ – H Jackson Brown Jr
I grew up in a sleepy country village, back in the good old days a-la Wilbur Smith when men were men and so were women! Grown-ups worked hard, children were seen and not heard, and horses ate what you gave them and did what you told them. There wasn’t much scope for lessons and the people who instructed in those days were of the BHS variety who barked, rather than mentored, so knowledge and expertise was won the old fashioned way –by trial and error (and usually when parents were safely out of sight and earshot!!). Fortunately I must have been blessed with kind horses and a guardian angel as a lot of my childhood antics do not appear in The Manual of Horsemanship!
Apart from our well-meaning local Pony Club, my only resource was the local library (which – fine establishment that it was – did not have much to satisfy the serious budding equestrienne – well, not after I’d finished with it anyway – my exasperated mother was always reimbursing our librarian for books that had mysteriously vanished….). So books became my teachers and I spent many happy days pouring over old line drawings and black & white photos. I became an incorrigible bookworm and favourite books remain my most prized possessions. My stint in the UK allowed me to build up a small library (reflected in Amazon’s healthy annual returns) and it is my deepest regret that I left without clearing my wish list.
However, the more I learn, the more I realize how much else is out there. Nowadays, with modern printing facilities and the wonderful world of the internet, the problem lies not so much in a lack of information, as the difficulty in sifting through it all and sorting the hay from chaff (if you’ll forgive the pun). It can take a while to find a path and the right people to guide you, but after a certain amount of reading and research, you will start to resonate with particular writers and methodologies and before you know it, you are knee deep in books and sitting with a large mail order bill!
During my time abroad, I was fortunate to meet some of my heroes by attending lectures and demonstrations (yes, I am an unashamed groupie!). The great joy of horses is that people who love them usually love talking about them too and it was quite wonderful to learn straight from the horse’s mouth.
Knowledge is power and with racing being more of a business than a sport these days, it is certainly worth investigating every possible angle to give you a competitive edge.
Do you know your horse’s TPR (temperature, pulse and respiration)? Do you know how many teeth an adult horse has or the name of the first cervical vertebra? Well, for those of you who answered no to any of the above, I have good news.
My great hero, Mr Monty Roberts is fond of saying, when the student is ready, the master will appear. The problem is that like buses, one seems to spend ages waiting for them to come along and then several arrive at once. For those of you who love learning about horses as much as I do, November is a great month to be in South Africa as we have the choice of no fewer than 4 fantastic events coming up.
International Conference on Equine Exercise Physiology
The main event is the International Conference on Equine Exercise Physiology (ICEEP) which takes place at Spier just outside Stellenbosch from 7-12 November 2010. The ICEEP brings together the finest minds in equine exercise physiology to present their knowledge and latest research to a South African audience.
South Africa’s Professors Tim Noakes and Alan Guthrie will be giving the opening address and the conference offers information from luminaries from across all spheres of the world of equine research, including David Marlin, Joe Pagan and Hilary Clayton amongst others. For further details, please check out their website www.iceep.org. However, with the focus on areas such as anatomy, biochemistry, nutrition, biomechanics, haematology and endocrinology, the conference promises to be quite a technical one and you will need to know your proximal from your distal in order to benefit fully.
SA Horse 2010
The good news for those of us of a slightly less scientific disposition, is that there is another conference aimed at the layman, featuring a similar line-up, but with lecture notes approximating something slightly closer to English! SA Horse 2010 is running on 4, 5 & 6 November and is being hosted at Turffontein. The first two days comprise the formal part of the conference. Although the Expo caters for all horsey tastes and disciplines, they have a programme specifically tailored to the racing industry covering nutrition, genetics, respiratory issues, surfaces and injuries, large hearts, training techniques, etc. I can also highly recommend Gillian Higgins’ Painted Horse demonstration which will take place on Thursday, 4 November. Saturday, 6 November is dedicated to open lectures and exhibitions. Phumelela’s Saturday race meeting also features the Charity Mile November Handicap as the first race of the day. With the help of the local endurance community, the Charity Mile will be run by Arabian horses and will raise R550, 000 for charity. Well worth supporting.
Anyone booking before 30th September qualifies for the early bird booking fee of R1, 710 for the full 2 days or R969 for 1 day (both of which include refreshments and lunch). You can either book for the full two days, for a single day or contact the organizers to tailor make a programme to suit you. For the full schedule of events, please see www.sahorse2010.co.za or contact Madaleen at [email protected] or 012 346 1590.
Equine Thermographers Technicians Certificate
For anyone interested in the discipline of thermography, Sandie Chambers from Equestrian Edge is running a 5 day course offering an ‘Equine Thermographers Technicians Certificate’. The course starts on 15 November and will be held at the Equine Academy in Cape Town (see www.equitherm.com or email [email protected] for more details).
Equiworks Biomechanics Course
And if that is not quite enough to satisfy, Equiworks SA are offering a 3 day biomechanics course with Dr Hilary Clayton. Dr Clayton’s reputation usually preceeds her, but she is the first incumbent of the McPhail Chair at MSU and has done fascinating work on kinetics and the biomechanics of gait analysis. This course runs from 21-23 November 2010 and is being hosted by the Drakenstein Veterinary Clinic just outside Franschoek. For details and course fees, click here. Having had the rare privilege and pleasure of attending some of Dr Clayton’s lectures in the UK, I cannot recommend her highly enough.
So for anyone who has ever wondered about the intricacies of equine locomotion, respiration, digestion or reproduction or even if you just want to know what all those big words before the big number on your vet bill are, I hope to see you in November.
PS For Phumelela and the Vaal starting staff, I regret that there are no numeracy lectures on offer, although I believe your local primary school should be able to help out in that regard.
