Diet and Conditioning for the Halter or Sales Horse

There are two groups of horses that are assessed and therefore valued to a large extent on their looks, conformation, and the way they are turned out: the halter or “in hand” horse and the sales horse. Vast sums of money can be made or lost depending on the job that the feeder and fitter does. We have all heard the adage “fat is a pretty color,” and therefore some sales and halter horses are simply fed all they want to eat and gotten too fat. In modern sales and show arenas, simply getting a horse fat is far from being enough. To be really successful in fitting sales horses and halter horses, the fitter must be able to differentiate between fit and fat.

It may come as a surprise that one would consider the stock-type halter horse and the Thoroughbred sales weanling and yearling in the same context. However, the horse sale is basically a horse show, and many times horses are worth more on sale day than they will be the rest of their lives. Fitting these horses is a combination of superior nutrition, meticulous health management, specific exercise, and top-drawer genetics, tempered with more hard work and attention to detail than most people are willing to do (that is why sales agents and halter horse trainers have a job).

The following are techniques that have been used successfully in the preparation of halter babies for futurities, halter horses for the major stock breed shows, and sales weanlings, yearlings, and broodmares for the major Thoroughbred sales.

Emphasis should always be placed on the individual in terms of feed intake levels and exercise programs. The goal should be individual fitness that includes a tailored feeding and fitting program. It is critical to understand that fit and fat are not the same and that lots of feed without a concomitant increase in the exercise program results in a horse that is patchy in its fat cover and more prone to disorders of the gastrointestinal tract such as colic, hindgut acidosis, and laminitis.

The essentials of fitting halter and sale horses start with the feed bucket, but there are other important areas of management. Hair quality and athletic appearance are crucial if a professional appearance is to be achieved. The exercise program that one uses to get horses fit may be very different from farm to farm and indeed even from horse to horse.

One of the most useful tools of a sales prep or training operation is a covered roundpen, preferably a pen that is round and a minimum of 50 feet in diameter. The ground surface needs to be very forgiving and absorb concussion effectively. For this application, trainers can opt for sand, tanbark, or shredded rubber over a gravel base. Class I sand works well for a base. The surface should be a minimum of six inches deep. If this kind of forgiving surface is used, the occurrence of splints and other exercise-related blemishes can be minimized. Open-topped pens can be very effective in some parts of the country, especially with a little thought about drainage prior to construction of the pen.

In any roundpen work such as a free-longeing or loose-line exercise program, it is critical that the person doing the longeing understand the importance of controlling the session. If a longe line is used, it should remain loose and one should avoid putting pressure on the horse’s head. When the head is pulled to the center of the circle, undue pressure is put on the inside leg and there is a much greater chance of “popping” splints. Horses should always wear leg protection (e.g., splint boots) while being longed. Trainers can start horses on the longeing program at the walk. The initial session will be five minutes duration in both directions. It is crucial that horses be worked the same amount of time in both directions every time that they work. Over a period of a week, weanlings can work up to seven minutes both directions, and yearlings up to 10 minutes both directions. Work can start in each direction with a minute of walking and then move to a long trot. A square, two-beat trot is safer and easier on the legs than is the canter. Older horses may be worked longer as fitness levels increase and body condition dictates.

Other exercise techniques include hand-walking, ponying, swimming, as well as use of a mechanical horse walker or treadmill. The traditional method of choice for fitting Thoroughbred yearlings is hand-walking. Horses are walked from twenty minutes to an hour each at a brisk walk and where possible, up and down hills. One positive aspect of hand-walking is that the horses are really taught to lead! Lead ponies are very effective for fitting sales horses and halter horses if one has an appropriate place to pony the horses. Horses may be ponied at the walk and the trot, and if the pasture or paddock is big enough the yearling can be ponied in a straight line avoiding the lateral torque on the legs that may occur when some other methods are used. Swimming is beyond the reach of most people but is effective for sales or show horses that may have borderline soundness. Mechanical horse walkers are used effectively in many parts of the country in a manner much the same as the covered round pen. The main difference is that horses are usually only walked and not trotted on the walker. One disadvantage of the walker is the tendency for horses that have been conditioned on a walker to drag along when being led.

Treadmills are great tools if used judiciously. Horses can gain fitness effectively on the treadmill at the walk and trot, and the newer high-speed treadmills are fairly easy on a horse’s legs. When a treadmill is used for fitting yearlings or show horses, trainers can use sessions of five minutes to begin with and, if the treadmill is adjustable, a 6% incline. One observation concerning the use of the treadmill is the tendency for horses to roll their shoulders rather than really breaking cleanly over and bending their knees.

With any exercise method, one should be alert to changes in the feet and legs that may indicate an impending soundness problem or blemish. Common problems that necessitate reducing workload or backing completely off the exercise program include splints, windpuffs, thoroughpins, joint effusion (swelling) in any joint but particularly the ankles, hocks and stifles, active physitis, foot soreness, tendinitis, or any signs of lameness. It is essential that horses that are receiving a great deal of feed be exercised every day. People seem to think that exertional rhabdomyolysis (tying-up) is strictly a problem affecting performance horses, but there are a significant number of halter horses that are affected by tying-up due to the large starch intakes that are characteristic for these horses and due to the tendency for people to skip exercise days, therefore setting a horse up for a management-induced episode of tying-up.

Another caution for horses being prepared for halter competition and sales is heat stress. Because most of these horses are conditioned in the summer months, heat stress and heat stroke are real possibilities. Careful observation of the horse can prevent this problem. Horses that are not sweating when worked hard should be stopped immediately. This is particularly true in areas where anhidrosis is common.

During and after an exercise bout is an ideal time to work on conformational deficits. Horses with thick, cresty necks should be exercised in a neck sweat and then be tied in the stall after exercise for a cooling-out period. The shape of a horse’s neck and therefore the balance of a horse can be improved significantly using a sweat. Likewise, there are individuals that may benefit from a throatlatch sweat or even a full shoulder sweat. Horses that are particularly coarse in the throat benefit from wearing a throat collar all of the time, though care should be taken that the mane is protected from the collar when these are used. Another quite useful tool for fitting horses is a set of side-reins and a bitting rig. Horses with thin weedy necks, ewe-necked horses, and horses that appear to have their necks put on upside-down (thin on top and thick below) should be exercised in side-reins. This makes the horse arch its neck, and over time can significantly change the appearance of the shoulder and neck. When reins are first used, they should be adjusted loosely and only after the horse has worn them a couple of times should they be tightened and the horse be made to really go to work.

Obviously there are as many tricks of the trade as there are trainers, and techniques that work for some may not work for others. The important thing is to design a program and stick to it. Modifications may be necessary along the way, but the critical aspect of getting this job done is daily attention to detail. One should not get caught in the trap of thinking that there is some magical feed ingredient that is going to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse.