WILTON — Cowboys way out West probably didn’t know what veterinarian Stephanie Heikkinen knows about horses.
The humorous “sway back” mount could have been avoided with basic physical therapy and exercising, Heikkinen said Sunday during the first Equestrian Open Barn Day at Grand View Farm.
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“I don’t know that they understood the biomechanics of the body as well as we do now,” Heikkinen, of North Jay, said. “What we know now is we can start to have less injuries with the horses and keep them flexible.”
Heikkinen said what people do for their own bodies with exercising and cross training also applies to horses. Her favorite is the carrot exercise.
“I use the carrots as motivation,” she said. “It’s horse health, physical therapy for the horses; and I show people how to use carrots to tempt them into moving into positions that helps strengthen their backs, their necks. It’s sort of like sit-ups for horses.”
Nicole Witt of Grand View Farm said the idea for Sunday’s Open Barn Day came from the successes of Maine Maple Sunday, in which sugar house operators open their doors to the public to promote their products and show people what maple sugaring is all about.
“A lot of the barns are promoting their barns for business, or boarding, or breeding; riding lessons, training,” Witt said. “I am not really trying to promote the business. It’s more of an educational thing to come and see what horse people do.”
She said The Horses Maine, an equestrian newspaper, has promoted the event across the entire state, hoping to make in an annual affair.
Events on Sunday in Wilton included demonstrations by farrier Shannon Tomeny, of New Sharon, who specializes in natural “barefoot” trims for sport horses. Tomeny said it is important to keep a horse’s hooves healthy, because the hooves can be the first thing to go on a good horse.
“No feet, no horse,” she said. “Keep those feet healthy, trimmed up well and in good condition and not sick at all, and the rest of the horse can go and continue to do what it does. You can help them out and make it all good and better.”
Members of the Giddy-Up and Go 4-H Horse Club from Temple also were on hand to hold a “mounted meeting” with instructor Casondra Dillon, from Madison.
Witt’s daughters Sarah, 15 and Hannah, 13, said they are avid horse people, too. They enjoy timed events such as barrel racing and pole bending and training their horses. They said they particularly like the seven games of Parelli Natural Horsemanship.
“We try to communicate with the horse like they would communicate with each other out in the herd, in the wild,” Sarah said. “Instead of forcing them to do what we want to do, we try to communicate in the ways they can understand, and in a way we can be a partner and a friend to them. The seven games bring out things in the horse that can help you.”
The Parelli program allows horse lovers at all levels and disciplines to achieve success without force, partnership without dominance, teamwork without fear, willingness without intimidation, and harmony without coercion, according to the Parelli website.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com
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