https://www.facebook.com/100225239604799/

DALY Equine Therapies, Mount Cotton (2024)

14/03/2023

07/03/2023

23/02/2023

Nuchal Ligament Part 2 - Role in locomotion
The nuchal ligament is made of very elastic tissue, which means when it is stretched it stores 'strain energy'. When this strain is released movement occurs due to the energy stored, the beauty of this energy is it requires very little effort. Due to the neck of the horse being very long and heavy the nuchal ligament plays a very important role in lifting the head, especially from a grazing position to upright, which is important for a prey animal to be able to do quickly.

From a riding perspective you can see that the position of the neck will change the strain not only on the nuchal ligament but also the supraspinous ligament, which effects several areas of the body such as the sternum and spine.

In one study ( Effect of Different Head-and-Neck Positions on Nuchal Ligament Dimensions in Fetal Foals, Nestadt et al. 2015) dimensions of the nuchal ligament (the lamellae and funicular cord) were measured in relation to different head and neck position in the cadaver foetal foal. To briefly summarise, it found that different positions change how the nuchal ligament stretched. In a more flexed positions such as behind the vertical and in extreme elevation the nuchal ligament was slack in the caudal portions and had a greater increase in length in the dorsal portion (greater stretching over the poll), this proposed that in these positions there was less support of the cervical spines in the dorsal neck (now relate that back to post 1) and potentially greater strain over the poll. In a correct 'on the bit' position there was little change in the nuchal ligament dimensions compared to neutral, meaning the nuchal ligament could function normally along with muscle recruitment to support the head and neck. In a long and low position (head in front of the vertical) even stretching of all the lamellar bands was shown, this was thought to support the neck structures via the elasticity of the nuchal ligament, therefore allowing the muscles to relax.
(Image from Denoix and Pallioux in Willem & Clayton Equine Locomotion)

*on a side note, when the neck bends laterally it will also rotate, in some horses you may notice a flick of the mane to one side when the neck is bent laterally, this may be due to a lack of attachment of the NL on the spinous processes (top of vertebrae) or a lack of attachment over the bursa (fat pad) which sits over the axis (2nd CV). I do question if there is lack of attachment that there is a greater amount of rotation/instability and therefore a greater need to ensure the surrounding muscular is functioning in a healthy way to support the neck.

10/02/2023

10/02/2023

05/02/2023

Did you know that a horse that hasn't been how to properly support and carry the weight of a rider will instinctually hollow their back away from the weight of the rider? Many riding horses spend their entire careers going around with hollow backs, even upper level competition horses.

Carrying weight with a hollow back is, at best, uncomfortable for the horse, and in many cases is actually quite painful. Many horses tolerate this discomfort because they don't know any alternative. Other horses develop behavioral problems and become labeled as bad horses.

For a horse to remain healthy and comfortable in his work he must be taught how to support the weight of a rider with first a neutral back and then later on with a lifted back. This is a process that takes time, as you can't rush muscle development.

I've found that the best way to teach a horse to lift his back is on the ground first, through classical in hand work. Without the extra weight of the rider, it is easier for the horse to learn how to lift his back and it is easier for him to develop the strength that he needs in order to maintain a lifted back for an extended amount of time.

Once the horse has and understanding of this healthier posture and has developed some strength, it will be much easier for him to accomplish the same thing with a rider on his back.

The horse will then feel more comfortable and have an easier time performing his job. He will be less prone to injuries and behavioral problems and he will be able to continue doing his job for much longer than if he never learned to move in a healthy way.

As stewards of our horses, we owe it to them to give them the best lives possible. That includes taking the time to teach them how to move in a way that is healthy and comfortable for them.

Want to learn more about the horse's back and how you can teach him a healthy posture? We invite you to join our Healthy Movement through In Hand Work course, available in our Virtual Classroom. You'll learn how you can help your horse to move in a healthier way through the use of In Hand Work.

This work is beneficial for horses of all ages, breeds, and disciplines and no previous experience is necessary.

Learn more and sign up here- https://tuskeydressage.com/register/virtual-classroom/

04/02/2023

Did you know that diet affects the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and health of the GI tract is linked to laminitis!?

Laminitis describes the localised inflammation of the vascular components of the equine hoof. Though the pathogenesis it is believed to be systemic, originating in the gut (Elliot & Bailey 2006, Steelman & Chowdhary 2012). The localised inflammation can lead to disintegration of the dermal-epidermal junction, which can cause the third phalanx to detach from the hoof wall.

The horse is a hindgut fermenter, with ~60% of the gastrointestinal tract comprising of the large intestine, with fermentation occurring in the caecum and colon. The microbial population in the hindgut is responsible for fermenting fibrous feed and converting it into energy in the form of Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA’s) (Dicks et al., 2014).

Other roles include antimicrobial compound production, including antimicrobial peptides (bacteriocins) which keep a healthy microbial balance and prevent the growth of pathogens. Stimulation of the immune system may also be initiated by lactic acid bacteria (Dicks et al., 2014).

Thus, disturbances in the hindgut microbial populations may impede correct function of the inflammatory pathways and may imbalance microbial populations and allow pathogen growth.

Disturbances to the entire gastrointestinal tract, not just the hind gut, and the microbial population therein is related to both acute and chronic forms of laminitis, and thus dietary management is crucial to managing laminitis risk, as it can affect the health of this system.

Join myself and Nia A. Cooke this Sunday at 5pm where she will bring more brilliant information on species specific feeding, the rest of the GI tract, and how important it is in horse and hoof health!

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/species-appropriate-feeding

31/01/2023

I had to share this juicy and digestible tidbit for my non reading friends out there 📖 🐴 👀

Categorical Perception:
The natural tendency to organize sights, sound, taste, touch, and smell. The human brain categorizes different physical views into one group automatically (a door will look like a door to us in all angles). We group separate items instantly without thinking.

Equine brains don’t have much categorical perception. This is why they notice and spook at items that we would group in one category (hose they walk by every day, to us it’s just a hose but to them the way the hose hanging IS different each day).

When we say the horse has seen this a million times, he hasn’t. He’s seen a slightly different view of the object many different times. We are the one whose brains assumes those different views all represent the same object.

Their lack of categorical perception is one of the reasons horses don’t need to have precise visual acuity or great hearing, their brains notice tiny differences instead which allows them to survive.
- Janet L Jones, PhD Horse Brain, Human Brain

29/01/2023

Don’t 👏 keep 👏 pushing 👏horses 👏 that 👏 aren’t 👏 posturally 👏 ready 👏

That’s my 2p for today 😁

There are too many horses out there with notable asymmetry’s and inadequate muscle tone and mass for the level of work they are in.

If there is any concern that your horse doesn’t feel confident in their work, is struggling or even if you think your horse may be trying their best despite not being as physically comfortable as they should be (whether this be physically, saddle, mentally…)… stop 🛑 and take everything right back.

20/01/2023

Hier sieht man die Fazettengelenke einer Halswirbelsäule des
Man kann darunter die Nerven sehen welche aus dem Rückenmark austreten
Wenn nun diese verändert sind bildet sich Knochen an den Gekenksrändern zu was zusammen mit der Gelenkskapsel zur Kompression dieser Nerven führen kann.
Dies wiederum verursacht neurologische Defizite als auch schmerzen weshalb die Pferde häufig lahm sind.

20/01/2023

Is our riding breaking our horses?
Is how we keep them compounding the problem?
How is all of this linked to the hoof?

In a recent webinar Jillian Kreinbring discussed the subtle complexities of the horses natural movement patterns. How if we restrict them, we not only affect their performance but predispose them to musculoskeletal problems and affect their posture. Statically and dynamically. Also expressing the importance of understanding that what we do with the head, for example, affects the entire body.

This echoed a recent webinar with Maren Diehl where she discussed biotensegrity and the consequences of asking for an excessively open lumbosacral joint on the horses static and dynamic posture.

The principles of the interconnectivity of the horse along the myofascial lines was brought to us in a webinar with Dr Shultz. Then Tuulia Luomala, who outlined the further connection between horse and rider and how our myofascial systems affect one another. And our postures.

In a webinar with Dr Tabor we discussed how riding style, confinement and feeding protocols affected head, neck and spinal posture. Again, with the same principle running through it, that creating unnatural postures affect major proprioception centres namely the Poll, teeth and feet.

This of course beautifully explored in the webinar with Dr Gellman who outlined the affects of domestication on proprioception and posture. With another webinar comprehensively delving into the link between dentition, the TMJ and posture.

What does this all have to do with the feet!?

As I research further the abstract influences on hoof morphology it’s clear to see that what we impose on our horses affects their physiology. Posture becomes a mirror of that physiology and posture changes the loading on the hoof. Understanding the material science of the hoof explains why it’s a deformable structure between the weight of the horse and the ground.
Therefore it becomes subject to everything, from the amount of tension in your reigns to where you hang your hay net.

Posture becomes the functional link between what we see in the hoof and what is happening through the rest of the body. All of this begins to answer questions like what came first, negative plantar angles or the associated pathologies along the dorsal myofascial line!?

Read more..

https://www.theequinedocumentalist.com/post/physiological-implications-of-domestication-on-the-horse

Here are the links to the webinars listed above which when put together, with others as well, really begin to tell a story…

Jillian Kreinbring

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/functional-anatomy-training

Maren Diehl

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/lumbo

Dr Rikke Shultz

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/myofascialkinetic

Tuulia Luomala

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/horseriderconnection

Dr Tabor

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/quantifying-posture-webinar-2-hours

Dr Gellman

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/proandpos

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/Dentalandperform

18/01/2023

The parotid gland is the hidden indicator of training quality and here is why.

14/01/2023

Did you know that horses can get caught in neurological loops of compensation?

Compensations are usually a response from the nervous system to pain or discomfort to protect itself from physical damage. This can lead to a change in the signal transmission in the body.
The change in signal transmission changes muscles and fascia tension. Muscles and fascia tension will change skeletal alignment.
This changes the neurological loop and the cycle of pain or compensation continues (Clifford 2022).

On top of this the compensations will often have affected hoof morphology due to changes in how its loaded.
The hoof as a neuro-sensory organ itself, can then have negative influence on this neurological loop.

The horse is a neuro-bio-tensegrity, muscle tone is important for “switching on” the tension within the body and pain, discomfort and proprioception can affect posture by changes in this innervation.

https://www.theequinedocumentalist.com/post/neuro-bio-tensegrity-the-push-puppet-effect

Dr Clifford took us through the compensations that occur right from birth, how they can be recognised and what we can change.

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/Conformation

And recently I discussed with Celeste Leilani Lazaris the Neuro-hoof balance- posture relationships.

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/nerve-impingement-hoof-balance

The image below shows how changes in hoof balance directly affect limb position, however limb position directly affects hoof balance, creating either a positive or negative neurological loop.

08/01/2023

Red light after some Neuromuscular Therapy for Mr Monte

08/01/2023

When yr client wants you to hurry with that redlight 😆

02/01/2023

Coming along nicely. Body work ✅️, not rushed ✅️, Scoot booted✅️.

22/12/2022

If your horse is not lame, then it’s sound, right?
What about pain? What about mental state?

It's important that we re-define what constitutes a sound horse. Because the rest
of the world is beginning too!

There is the obvious difference between overt lameness and being a “bit short” and having a symmetrical gait, but then there are deeper notions of soundness.
Dr Dyson has outlined 24 ridden behaviours that indicate pain, Dr Torcivia has added unridden indications, creating an ethogram with a total of 73 pain indicators, including: posture and weight- bearing; limb and body movements;
head, neck, mouth, and lip movements; attention to area; ear and tail movements;
overall demeanor; altered eating or drinking; and vocal- izations/audible sounds.

Along with other existing ethograms, clearly a horse does not need to be lame to
be unsound!

But we are still only considering physical soundness. The definition of soundness
almost always includes mental state. According to Harvey, Ramp and Mellor (2022), the mental state of the horse is subject to 4 other domains, (1) Nutrition; (2) Physical environment; (3) Health; and (4) Behavioural interactions, all of
these things will affect the welfare state of the animal, not just in terms of not being in pain, but their affective (emotional) state. They also express that a detailed understanding of what is usual for a species under optimal conditions is
critical to assess welfare in an unbiased manner.

How are you judging your horses 5 domains? Are your horses’ nutrition, environment and interactions truly species appropriate, if not, then can it’s health and mental state really be sound?
It goes without saying, species appropriate domains, according to the horse, not humans, constitutes healthy feet and body and help us maintain the first of the 5 freedoms. How much of the pain we see, highlighted by the ethograms, is a result of the same insufficient domains that also affect mental state?

If we then look at the 5 freedoms, understood as the gold standard for animal welfare, we have our physical soundness, freedom from discomfort, pain, and injury. But do we really understand the last freedoms? With a detailed
understanding of what is natural for that species?! Freedom to express normal and natural behaviour, and freedom from fear and distress?

If your horse doesn’t have the 5 domains and 5 freedoms, is it really sound?

I know you want the best for your horse, you wouldn’t be reading this if you
didn’t, and if you had even deeper knowledge of things from the horse’s perspective, I know you would do what you could to apply them and create a happier and healthier horse.

So, please join us as we give you the evidence-based words direct from the horse’s mouth, through ethology.

For a 10 talk series follow this link..

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/bundles/how-can-the-equine-industry-maintain-its-social-licence-to-operate

To check out the individual talks …

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/collections?category=courses