Teaching a horse to breathe

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Cragrat

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Until I got my current RoR, I'd have thought you were slightly daft for talking about a horse needing to learn to breathe, but now......

It is something I have heard on a podcast recently, though I can't remember which one. It was a male eventer. Apparenlty some event horses have problems if htey don't take a deep breath by a certain point XC. He talked about using gallops with bends, and the horse having to take to take a breath on the turn, which taught him to breathe. TBH, I didn't really understand how that worked.

My ex racer holds his breath/ only breathes very shallowly when he's excited, which for him is anythng faster than a trot. ( probaby explains why he was a rubbish racehorse, despite loving it). By the time we have done one round of jumps, or had a canter up a verge, he is almost panting, but he is actually fit - he just doesn''t breathe properly. A couple of instructors have commented that they can see him holding his breath.

I don't have a place. to take him for a long slow canter. I might try the beach once it's quieter, though I'm sure he'll so excited he'll probaby faint and need a paper bag! All the gallops I know of are on hills, and not sure if any are circular. If I could find somewhere, do you think a long , steady (ish, brain cell permitting) canter might help??? Any other ideas???
 
I will be interested to see responses to this. To me holding your their breath is a stress related issue, so the solution is to teach them how to relax rather than engineering a way to force them to breathe.

To be fair, if mine is stressed enough to to be noticeably holding her breath asking her to do anything high energy is likely to end with me having the breathing problems so 😂
 
Hmm, my Welshie has had an issue with this but complicated by a genuine pollen allergy. As part of a pulmonary rehab/physio she has needed to do much more fast work. Initially this was very difficult as she would not breathe deeply enough: probably partly stress related I think but also because I hadn't previously put her respiratory system under enough pressure in training for her to really have to take deep breaths and learn how to do that. Early on in her training she could get away with it as distances covered in canter/gallop didn't demand really deep breaths and once she'd developed a respiratory issue I didn't want to ask too much of her.

However, under veterinary instruction the lung opening/fast work meant that she had to take deep breaths; it was amazing the first time I really felt her doing that! It has hugely helped her too with both relieving stress and with her respiratory health which,with fitness management is now virtually a non-issue. I often wonder how many non-competition horses struggle with this...
 
Do you know if he had any wind operations when he was in training? I don’t know enough about such things to make any worthwhile comments, but it might be worth finding out if you can and potentially having him looked at in case there is something physically blocking the breathing in certain circumstances?
 
I would go vet as first port of call, wind issues aren’t uncommon and until you rule out a physical issue you won’t know how to help.
 
My tricky mare would need lungeing before riding at a competition venue. It most certainly wasn't to tire her out as she was fit as a lop. It was all about getting her to breathe. She would hold her breath, and if she did that with a rider, it would turn to bucking.

If you could lunge her, and encourage her head low, she would breathe deeply. In canter, she would exhale a lovely nostril flutter every stride. Once that was relaxed and open, she would be fine to get on and ride.

It really was a thing!
 
I have heard about training horses to 'breath', i think an element of it is building up stamina and really good fitness, interval training on a gallops or stubble field is really useful to aid this. Some horses find their 'stride/breath' easily and others take more time spent cantering to learn it and retain it as a skill. I would think that if your horse is an ex racer that he would have already been shown the ropes in this area so maybe a vet check would be a good idea.
 
humblepie said:
Do you know if he had any wind operations when he was in training? I don’t know enough about such things to make any worthwhile comments, but it might be worth finding out if you can and potentially having him looked at in case there is something physically blocking the breathing in certain circumstances?
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No, no wind operations, and he doesn't make any kind of noise, no signs of allergies, no visible EIPH ( though I know that is common and often invisible)
 
My mare held her breath show jumping her whole life - and then I started to hold MY breath too, so we'd both be puffing and panting by the end. Never had that with another hrose and she only did it when very excited and focussing on jumps.

In contrast, my big lovely dumb gelding is a stress breath-holder who then starts gasping as his oxygen depletes. I have had to learn co-regulating breathing via my own breathing exercises (which he loves) and also rewarding his relaxation (you can probably google conscious relaxation techniques for horses). This has worked very well and in anxious situations now, as long as I let out an exagerated loud deep breath, he joins me with the same and then he starts to breath normally. He responds very well to those "horse calmer oxygen shot" type things, but we've now achieved the same result via co-breathing.
 
It may be diaphragm/ribs, not all bodyworkers really look at them that much but a vet is never a bad idea. Plus all the calming, emotional regulation/connection and physical balance work to help him be less stressed and less likely to fall into poor breathing patterns.
 
sbloom said:
It may be diaphragm/ribs, not all bodyworkers really look at them that much but a vet is never a bad idea. Plus all the calming, emotional regulation/connection and physical balance work to help him be less stressed and less likely to fall into poor breathing patterns.
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This is so true. My lovely mare got herself into a negative pattern: physical difficulties as a result of respiratory discomfort/restriction which led to stress/anxiety and then not using herself in the best way making it even harder for her to work and breathe more healthily.

Thankfully I have had some help to unravel these patterns and issues which has made all the difference. She was diagnosed with a 'mild' summer allergy but her whole mind-body response really didn't feel mild! Correct work, physio and athletic exercise, alongside stress management and medication as needed has resulted in an excellent result thankfully and I have learnt a great deal along the way.
 
He regularly sees a physio, and has had a few different osteo's over the years. We have now started going to see Tom Beech ( twice so far) and he has never mentioned it - I'll ask him next time. I'll also talk to my vet.

He raced 10 times, on the flat, and looking at the 2 video's of his races, it's entirely possible he didn't breathe properly then. He had a late start to his racing career, we think due an injury whilst abroad, and was sold back in the UK and started racing as a 4 y/o. Looking at the 2 videos I can find, he raced with his head in the air, despite wearing a sheepskin noseband. He kept up until about 1/2 -3/4 way round, and when the rest quickened away, he just couldn't.

I do think it's excitment/stress related rather than physical, but I will investigate the physical. I like the idea of co-breathing work, alongside some interval training if I can find somewhere to do it. We are constantly working on reducing his stress levels, and generally he is very chilled about most things. He does enjoy going fast though, despite not breathing properly ! It doesn't matter if he's alone or with another, in front or behind - he always wants to go faster.
 
Cragrat said:
He does enjoy going fast though, despite not breathing properly ! It doesn't matter if he's alone or with another, in front or behind - he always wants to go faster.
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Just be careful with framing it this way, just because he wants to, doesn't mean he enjoys it. He's a flight animal, bred to run and has been taught to run. Going faster may just be the only way he knows how to deal with stress. You're already working on his relaxation so this isn't to say change what you're doing, just watch falling into the extremely common trap of thinking because a horse is going fast that they're "keen"!
 
smolmaus said:
Just be careful with framing it this way, just because he wants to, doesn't mean he enjoys it. He's a flight animal, bred to run and has been taught to run. Going faster may just be the only way he knows how to deal with stress. You're already working on his relaxation so this isn't to say change what you're doing, just watch falling into the extremely common trap of thinking because a horse is going fast that they're "keen"!
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I do understand this, but if we are on a nice chilled hack, and he sees an open space, he does give all the vibes of wanting to go before I've even mentioned it :) He is definitely not stressed and I do insist that not every open space needs to be crossed at speed every time!
 
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