There are a few things I do after every training session, my routine has evolved over time and I change it based on the horse or current research. I’m always happy to hear of better ways to do things or add in new elements, but at the moment we have our routine down. I don’t really have to think about it and I’m pretty sure, Azid in particular, would start doing it by himself!
Once I’ve untacked I always offer my horses some Baileys aqua aide to drink and they have a haynet where they are tied.
Next I wash off all the sweat, and if it’s been a particularly hot one then I wash down everything, paying attention to the major muscles to help with cooling. If it’s cold I then sweat scrape the water off, if it’s warm I let evaporation do it’s thing and leave the water on. I always have some sort of wash in the water from NAF skin wash, Botanica cleansing wash, Kevin Bacons Lucy Diamonds or the NAF citronella wash. I just find it gets all the grime off that little bit better and helps soothe sensitive skin.
Next I use some sort of arnica and witch-hazel cooling gel, lot’s of companies make them and they usually come in green or blue jelly like form. Now the quantities of ‘active’ ingredients in these might not actually be therapeutic but it makes me feel better and importantly it acts as a great lubricant for massage so I can feel the back , hamstrings and tendons after training and make sure there’s no heat, lumps, bumps or soreness. I tend to either use the NAF Arnica gel or the Gold Label version.
After that I whip on my equilibrium massage pad and if it’s really cold then a cooler on top. I leave that on while they have their post-training feed of British Horse Feeds fibre beet and Baileys Ease & Excel. I feed this in addition to their normal daily quantities as I increase their feed depending on the level of work for that day. So they get a baseline feed daily and then added feed before and after training.
While they munch and have a massage I then pick out their hooves, just in case we’ve got a stone stuck during our ride. Then I brush on some Kevin Bacon hoof dressing (on non-training days they also get the liquid dressing put on in the field).
To finish off I do some stretches using my Baileys Tasty treats as bait. I tend to do two stretches each side, two between the front legs then one stretch for each leg. If they need it I also do some pelvic tilts and tummy lifts but I don’t tend to do that every time.
Beth Endurance 