Sam Sherrington - Osteopath

27/09/2024

Never forget that behind a vast majority of behavioural signs are physical pains or restrictions. We can simply make our horses do a thing, regardless of their communication, but only if we are happy to accept that we are not actually listening to them, and running a very high risk of making pain worse for them. 🤷‍♀️

We all know horses are supreme communicators within their herds, so really, we can’t know this and then pretend their communication with us means nothing.

Using movement as punishment (and why you shouldn’t do it if you value your relationship with your horse) 🐴

The idea behind most training we’re exposed to with horses is “make it unpleasant for the horse to do the wrong thing”. Very rarely do people use the word punishment to describe what they’re doing, in fact they often use words and phrases like connection, kind, communication, teaching respect, speaking the horse’s language, making it their idea, but nevertheless what they’re doing to the horse is perceived as punishment by the horse.

When you’re encountering a training issue, instead of thinking of the why, it is usually simplified to “here’s how to make the horse do what you want”, with no thought as to why its happening and what the horse might be trying to communicate. Horses are always trying to communicate with us, to ignore that, make a horse move their feet and only let them rest when they do what you want, is going to destroy our relationship with them.

Please bear in mind that most behavioural issues have some level of physical discomfort behind them so forcing a horse to work hard when they don’t comply is going to give them really negative associations with us and the training scenario.

I’m going to talk about a few scenarios that I have seen recently.

1) The horse won’t load into the trailer, so you present the horse at the ramp and if he doesn’t come forward you take him away and work him hard on a circle for a few minutes. You then represent to the ramp, you teach the horse that the only place he gets to rest is facing the trailer. Does this get compliance? Sure. But when you have a horse who is scared of loading, potentially travelling aggravates hidden physical issues and they already clearly have really negative associations with the trailer. How do you think punishing them for their fear response is going to make them feel? Not good. Calling this sort of training “confidence-building” is ridiculous.

2) The horse pulls a face or nips when you go to groom him, you immediately back him up harshly by jerking the rope clip up into his face all the way across the yard. You then lead him back and attempt to groom him again, if he pulls a face you repeat the punishment. Eventually the horse shuts down and stops communicating his discomfort. He is still really uncomfortable with being groomed but he is scared of being punished again and he has learned you won’t listen.

3) The horse will not stand still when you are riding, you cannot get a halt without the horse swinging all over the place, so you ask for halt, as soon as the horse moves you go up into canter and canter a few laps. You then ask for halt again, rinse and repeat until the horse is so tired they give up and stand still. This is probably the stupidest one I’ve heard. If your horse can’t stand still under saddle they’re anxious at best, if not sore/painful and we have a lot of work to do down-regulating their nervous system and teaching them more positive associations with being ridden. Cantering a probably sore, but definitely dysfunctional horse around for laps and laps to teach them to halt is counter-productive.

Behavioural issues are rarely stand-alone problems to be fixed, it is always more nuanced than that. There are always emotions behind these behaviours, usually coupled with physical discomfort. All you’re teaching them is if you don’t comply I will punish you and I don’t care how you feel about it, this shuts down any communication the horse tries to offer. This is how you create a shut down horse, not a good relationship.

If we want to develop good relationships with our horses, have horses who enjoy working with us and can find joy in movement, we have to learn to look at the whole picture and stop trying to “fix” behaviours like they’re not attached to a whole sentient being.🐴

Photo showing lovely Abbie doing some positive reinforcement training to change her negative and anxious associations with the mounting block ❤️

If you’d like to learn more about the way I work I have just started an affordable subscription option here, it is very new but I am adding videos frequently, you are welcome to make requests and ask for training advice: https://www.facebook.com/louisestobbsequine/subscribe

www.lshorsemanship.co.uk

08/09/2024

Fat. Coming into spring and I’m already seeing many horses increasing their body condition just from the start of spring grass coming through. The fat stores you can see on the outside are sure to be even more apparent on the inside, with all the ill effects of visceral fat that we know to be the case in humans.

27/07/2024

When the best of the best are parading around like this it means that it’s very easy for average Joe to take the approach of: ya know, it’s bloody hard to find a good saddle fitter and/or they said it fits fine even though my horse is saying otherwise and/or have you seen how expensive that saddle that might actually fit the horse properly is and/or all the reasons under the sun.
These Olympians have the resources and one would hope, the inclination to have their horses in correctly fitted tack with their bodies as strong and well developed as possible for the epic job ahead, but instead they’re demonstrating how incredibly forgiving most horses are so you can get away without it.

EDIT 1: English version below.
EDIT 2 : Ajout d'une photo avec beau dégagement du garrot ( adding of one picture with nice withers clearance). Yes that's possible at high level :) !!

Voici 2 concurrents des JO 2024, parmi tant d'autres concurrents que l'on pourrait prendre aussi pour ce post. Que dire ?!

Aie j'ai mal à mon coeur de saddle fitter 😪!

Il faut se rendre à l'évidence qu'on peut arriver à performer, à ce niveau, en écrasant le garrot de son cheval et qu'hélas ça marche 😬🤮🤐.

Pourtant avec une selle adaptée, ils pourraient être des duos d'athlètes encore meilleurs qu'ils ne le sont déjà ❤️.

Si seulement les mentalités pouvaient évoluer !

Non ce n'est pas normal de voir des creux autour du garrot des chevaux de complet, et non ce n'est pas parce qu'ils sont "secs ".
Les creux autour du garrot, c'est d'ailleurs anormal chez tous les chevaux, qu'ils soient de complet, de saut, de dressage, de loisir, de club,....A méditer !

‐-----------------------------------------------------

Here are 2 competitors from the 2024 Olympics games, among many other competitors that we could also take for this position. What to say ?!

Ouch, my saddle fitter's heart hurts 😪!

You have to face the facts that you can perform at this level by crushing your horse's withers and that unfortunately it works 😬🤮🤐.

Yet with the right saddle, they could be even better athletic couples than they already are ❤️.

If only mentalities could change!

No it is not normal to see hollows around the withers of eventing horses, and no it is not because they are "dry". The hollows around the withers are also abnormal in all horses, whether they are eventing, jumping, dressage, leisure, club, .....Something to think about!

11/07/2024

🐾 Exciting News! 🐾

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Discover effective acupressure techniques tailored for your pet’s joint conditions with “Healing Touch – Acupressure for Pet Joint Conditions.” This comprehensive eBook prov…

07/04/2024

A trend well worth considering!

RAW-FED DOGS SEE THE VETS A LOT LESS...
This is crazy. Not sure why I didn't lay it out this way the first time!

I’ve mentioned this before but just to recap - two years ago, a study was published that suggested feeding VEGAN kibble to meat eaters like dogs and cats, helps them to live TWO YEARS LONGER!!!

Remember that?!

The Vet Times had it on their front page and mainstream media, haters of meat, small farmers and carbon in general, positively lapped it up. The Guardian in the UK ran multiple pieces on it.

MAJOR study with MAJOR findings so MAJOR news, right?!

And on the surface, where the vast majority of people remains - 2600 participants, conducted by a Professor in a University, peer-reviewed “study” - it was quite convincing.

The you look into the study and see it’s a survey. Nothing too much wrong with that. Surveys can be useful, particularly if conducted properly (you can slant the questions to suit your agenda) and, most important, if the numbers are large (such as the Helsinki University survey of 16,750 households, totally more than 80,000 dogs and equating to many millions of dog meals that found raw feeding was incredibly safe…the Vet Times and Guardian sadly missed that one though…).

Sadly, when you look into the numbers, this was a survey of little more than 100 vegans. They asked the vegans if they thought their dogs were healthy? Sure!! And how much longer do you THINK they are living thanks to this new diet? Oh, about two years!!!

Honestly. This was enough for the Vet Times, the voice of the evidenced-based veterinary sector, to put the “vegan fed dogs live 2 years longer” on their front page and for the ever-vocal, white coat vets on social media to spread it far and wide, like a tractor and trailer spreading slurry on a field.

What was glossed over in this survey were other, FAR MORE INTERESTING results - such as raw-fed dogs seem to use the vets less.

That’s right. Raw fed dogs were nearly twice as likely NOT to see a vet at all in a year than kibble-fed dogs.

(I say kibble-fed but I took some liberties with the data to make it easier to compare to my previous survey - “kibble-fed” here includes all vegan-fed dogs and all dogs fed standard cereal-based meals by their owners, whether they received meat treats or canned food etc was not pulled from the data. As the vast majority of these dogs, statistically speaking, were undoubtedly kibble-fed dogs, I used “kibble-fed” to identify the group as a whole. We could also have used the term “ultra-processed-fed” or simply “non-raw”. In fact, I like the latter name more now so I will use it from here on!).

And, better still, they were nearly twice as likely NOT to go the vet more than once than the non-raw-fed dogs (data table from the study in the comments, you have to add up the 2-4 visits for “meat-based” fed dogs and vegan).

So that was interesting and the fact the veterinary rags decided not to mention it on any of their covering pieces tells you exactly where their allegiances lie, and it ain’t with you guys.

(Now, you can absolutely say that raw-feeders distrust vets more (studies show) so they will use vets less. That's likely a confounding factor. Also raw-fed dog owners are better read and more likely to tackle small issues themselves. Surely a factor too. No doubt. But with now a multitude of studies showing dry is inflammatory, upsets gut flora and increases skin, ear and gut conditions in dogs (the #1, 2, and 3 reasons for visiting the vet today) how much each contributes to the overall effect is right now impossible to determine).

But what’s even more striking is that these results were virtually IDENTICAL to the findings of a poll conducted by moi 6 or 7 years ago. I polled 1600 dog owners, divided them into dry and raw feeders and asked how many times they’ve been at the vet.

Check out the differences in those bars - VERY significantly more likely TO NOT SEE a vet in the first year and more than twice as likely NOT TO SEE a vet more than once.

Of course, these are only surveys. They’re not worth anything (or, to be more exact, the finding that 100 vegans THOUGHT their dogs were living longer is HIGHLY RELEVANT but the statistical difference in veterinary visits is most certainly not worth mentioning…).

Like when the CEO of a major guide dog school in Australia reported 82% savings in vet bills changing 220 dogs from dry to raw. Worthless anecdote.

And the studies showing harm (inflammation, more, skin, ear and gut conditions) are not big enough, need more numbers etc etc etc.

The point is, we need MORE data before we can even humour if kibble is driving illness and vet visits in pets.

Until WE can get that together for you (Mars Inc., who owns most of the US veterinary sector, has access to the health records of many millions of dogs and cats…you don’t think they have this data?!), best you don't even TRY feeding real to your pet (even though enormous safety studies show this is an incredibly safe thing for you and particularly them, considering the death toll from kibble, to be doing).

Get the game? As we learned over the last few years, the bad guys do not use science to discover, they use it as a shield.

18/03/2024

For anyone wanting to dive into the hows and whys of providing the very best fresh food diet for their dogs, this is the group to join. It can seem daunting to begin with but I can’t imagine feeding a dog any other way these days!

Did you know we have a canine fresh food feeders group for you Aussies? Over 100k members wanting to learn about how to improve their dogs diet. Free recipes and resources!

14/03/2024

These examples could potentially exempt non-professionals from self-reflection. In fact it extends all the way to the least competitive of us. If your horse is fussy in the mouth, you’re skipping a step if you don’t ensure they have a bit that is comfortable for their individual mouth. If your horse is young and still doing even a little growing, that’s even more true and, very inconveniently, may mean a handful of bit changes to adapt to their changing anatomy. If you instead decide their fussiness or leaning, or resistance of whatever sort is simply to be fixed by putting on stronger bits or extra paraphernalia, be that gag type bits, curbs, nosebands, martingales or other pulley systems that give you greater leverage… then make sure you’re taking on board the message in this post. It doesn’t need to be twisted mouthpieces or harsh, obviously severe bits, rather consider the intention behind the tack change. Are you seeing the behaviour or resistance as communication that the horse is struggling physically, mentally or emotionally, or are you looking to just control the behaviour and get on with your plans?

23/01/2024

I couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s demoralising to try to better the welfare of horses when pushing against the hoof care status quo. Unfortunately many professionals don’t care to access the hugely affordable and often even free education available around hoof biomechanics… and so it’s up to owners to educate themselves a d be brave enough to disagree when told their horses feet are “fine”.

14/12/2023

Well worth knowing, keep an eye out for Birch Sugar in ingredient lists of anything you share with your dogs 👍🏻

04/12/2023

A Tommy Teatime update, from his weekend outing with his new little girl. I’m of the opinion that it’s not just the beautiful mane styling that makes him look like a totally different pony! Three photos from before treatment, after treatment and 3 days later. What a wonderful change, which will help give him and his little jockey so many happy experiences together ❤️

01/12/2023

This gorgeous little chap has had a busy life doing all the things with kids on his back and at 24 years old has a new little girl to teach everything he knows. As part of his back to work plan he had an Osteo session to help him learn some new skills too, switching on some new postural patterns and helping his aging back to be the best it can be for his little rider ❤️
Older horse’s problems are often put in the “it’s just age and there’s not much we can do about it” category, but the change in his body in just 45 minutes shows how much potential for change there is even when they’ve done some serious mileage. The brick wall behind him is pretty cool as you can see that the top of his croup is around the same height above the line but his wither has apparently come up significantly and his whole front end looks more open and lifted. It’s almost as though his legs have stretched. This treatment we didn’t even treat down his legs 🤷‍♀️
I can’t wait to see him again in another month or so and we’ll see how much more change he’s undergone.

29/11/2023

When you release capsular and periosteal strain and through the fetlock and pastern, you’ll often reveal asymmetry in the hoof. This was the result of just a couple of quick fascial Counterstrain releases as I was finishing up with treating other more pressing postural challenges in this lovely guy.

It always amazes me how much the limb will accommodate imbalances in the hoof, and vice versa, and it’s hard to say which came first. It is easy to see though how important considering limb deviations as potentially changeable really is when considering balance in your horses hoof care.
Being barefoot, this hoof has a strong chance of changing significantly in the coming weeks, however it’s definitely worth teeing up your timing of body work and your farrier more closely if applying shoes which will limit the ability of the hoof to wear differently as the joints above change.

28/11/2023

Best cure for yesterday’s afternoon energy slump ❤️
Helping this little one day old lady to begin unwinding her lanky bendy baby legs with some osteopathic work to relieve compression through her lower neck and ribcage underneath the shoulder blades and shoulders. Fun fact - unlike humans, horses don’t have collar bones to help maintain the integrity of the brachial plexus which originates from the lower cervical and front of the thoracic segments of the spine. This means any restriction through the cervicothoracic region has great potential for impacting the neurological function of the area - both motor and sensory functions. This means postural strength of the musculature of the thoracic sling may be significantly reduced as well as changes in proprioception and other aspects of the sensory system. Healthy function through this region is very important during growth, setting the scene for healthy joint angles and range of motion in the legs as they grow.

26/11/2023

This was such a fun topic to cover, I’m always blown away by how these foundational skills can pinpoint and help resolve so many subtle movement dysfunctions which underlie some pretty significant injuries. Sultan and Pepper were amazing boys, demonstrating the little “cheats” that fast and slow moving dogs use to avoid portions of a full, healthy range of movement.
Pepper was good enough to demonstrate how amazingly quickly we can spot, and then change sticky elbow movement, something which a lot of dogs have trouble with, yet are exceptional at compensating for until they are overtly lame.

Check out my short manual, I promise it’s worth it for the changes you’ll see in your furry friends!

21/11/2023

If you’re not at K9 Swim - Hydrotherapy Centre For Dogs - NSW about to learn about what u consider healthy movement in dogs, you’re missing out 😂

21/11/2023

Welcome to our comprehensive guide to Healthy Movement. This set of complete foundational skills is the basis for optimising your dog's mobility. By exploring changes of position you can help your dog master the fundamental skills for strong, flexible and biomechanically correct movement patterns. Dive in to discover a simple collection of skills that will allow many varied progressions that can be tailored to your individual dog's physical needs, whether they be related to conformation, injuries, rehabilitation or sporting prowess.

Welcome to our comprehensive guide to Healthy Movement. This set of complete foundational skills is the basis for optimising your dog’s mobility. By exploring changes of position you can help…

06/11/2023

It has rained!! After rain is the perfect time to get your hoof pick and wire brush out and check to see how much sole and bar these feet have built up in the long period of dry weather. I’ve been waiting for this moment, it always amazes me how much false sole can sit in a hoof, and look like normal sole, when it is very dry. After rain, if there are chunks like this that flake off readily when gently picking at the edges, know that these are like flat rocks under their foot when they dry back out again. Retained sole will also often negatively influence the wall trim. Folded over bars will often also hide, the clue is if you can’t see the edge of the bar clearly, or it is looking rather tall, creases or bent, or you see a big crack half way along the bar line towards the frog apex, you probably have overgrown bar tissue. I recently learned how badly this can pull a heel forward as the bar is a continuation of the wall, so this is especially important if your horse is having trouble maintaining good heel quality or angle. This particular pony has a tendency towards being more upright in her limb and hoof conformation but I do have to watch for excessive depth and curving of the bars which I have noticed often a sign of impending distortions at the quarters. It’s a constant learning game, and hoof health really does have such an enormous impact on a horses body and soundness, so it’s absolutely worth learning to spot as many signs of current or potential trouble as possible.

If you haven’t had rain, and your horses feet are like rocks, you can also do your horse and your farrier/trimmer a huge favour by standing your horse on a wet carpet or similar to get some moisture into their feet prior to their trim. Not only will the farrier have an easier time, with less wear on their body and tools, your horse will likely have a similarly better experience in terms of the time taken to adequately find what is retained sole/folded over bar and what is healthy live hoof.

27/10/2023

Anyone feeding their dogs the Meals for Mutts brand, please check yours for these batch numbers, and keep a lookout for mould.

Dear Valued Pet Parents,

We are writing to extend our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience or concern caused by a recent issue affecting our food. We want to assure you that we take this matter very seriously and are committed to resolving it.

We have become aware of a concern regarding the presence of mould in some of our dry dog products and we want to ensure the well-being of your beloved pets. While this issue has only affected a small number of bags and products from some of our recent production, we believe in taking precautions for the health and safety of your furry friends.

To address this matter, we recommend that you carefully inspect the products with a best before date listed below. It’s important to note that if these products have been stored in a cool, dry environment, the likelihood of any issue is minimal. Nevertheless, we encourage pet parents to remain vigilant.

If you come across any signs of mould in your product or if you prefer not to continue feeding your current bag of affected food from the specific best before dates listed, we kindly ask you to discontinue use and take the product back to the place of purchase or reach out to us at [email protected].

Our dedicated team is here to assist you with replacing your product. When contacting us, please provide details about the product variant, bag size, and best before date for a smoother resolution.

As a further safety precaution, we are actively collaborating with our retail partners to ensure that any affected bags are removed from sale. This collaborative effort underscores our commitment to providing the highest quality dry dog food in Australia.

We continue to be a small Australian family owned brand and your understanding and trust are greatly appreciated as we work to resolve this situation and continue to serve the needs of you and your pets. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Team MFM

Products affected and their best before details

Grain Free Salmon and Sardine 2.5Kg
3/09/2024
5/09/2024
7/09/2024

Grain Free Salmon and Sardine 20Kg
20/08/2024
1/09/2024
4/09/2024
6/09/2024
17/09/2024
9/10/2024

Grain Free Salmon and Sardine 9Kg
20/08/2024
26/08/2024
27/08/2024
5/09/2024
6/09/2024
7/09/2024
14/09/2024
26/09/2024

Salmon and Sardine 20Kg
16/08/2024
17/08/2024
4/10/2024

Salmon and Sardine 9Kg
5/09/2024

Salmon and Sardine Large Kibble 20Kg
18/07/2024
19/07/2024
12/10/2024

Salmon and Sardine Large kibble 9Kg
12/08/2024
13/08/2024

Grain Free Duck and Turkey 2.5Kg
1/09/2024
3/09/2024
4/09/2024

Grain Free Duck and Turkey 20Kg
4/09/2024
7/09/2024
20/09/2024

Grain Free Duck and Turkey9Kg
3/09/2024
4/09/2024
5/09/2024

High Performance Turkey 20Kg
13/08/2024

High Performance Turkey 9Kg
13/08/2024

21/10/2023

The beautiful boy Obi, with his summer hairdo allowing perfect demonstration of how beneficial teaching a bow can be for spinal range of motion.
He has had a tendency towards getting a bit flexed or roached (like a bridge) through the back of the ribcage and into his lower back. This came a out partly due to his conformation, but also made worse by a momentary poor life choice ending in a mingle with a car 🙈 He has made fantastic progress from where we started with him chronically offloading his right hind leg, and now we are at the point of fine tuning his daily movement patterns so he can go forth and enjoy making further possibly questionable life choices… as is a young dogs right 😂

The bow is magnificent for working on thoracolumbar extension, as well as scapulothoracic range of motion and strength - anyone who has done yoga routines with a lot of downward dog will know how much upper body flexibility and strength can be required.

This can also be turned into a balanced loaded squat by asking for a sphynx position drop from the bow position. The key is to pay the ones where the feet are still and evenly placed. If your dog struggles to keep the feet still or consistently moves a particular foot or slumps into a particular hip, you know they have a weakness. Often getting one good rep and paying handsomely will get them progressing in building the strength, however if the asymmetry persists it’s worth a visit to your trusted biomechanical person of choice to see what’s happening to prevent the development of symmetry.

Give it a go, and let me know in comments how your beasties go!

09/10/2023

This will be an absolutely brilliant opportunity to learn from Yogi himself, a leader in putting together how crucial hoof balance is to the horses entire posture and performance. In true 2023 (the year of the clashing events) style, I'm in Victoria when the NSW one is on, and back in NSW when the Victoria one is on... but having attended many of his webinars, I can guarantee this is going to be a workshop absolutely jam packed with brilliant info!

Update on The Equine Documentalist in Australia clinic

27/09/2023

Just a little nose boop to get you through the 3:30itis!

26/09/2023

Osteopathy. Turning Jack Russells into bipeds, one treatment at a time 😆

Just when I was feeling the 3:30itis vibes, thank goodness for a bit of Buffy energy to jolt me back to life with her ever so subtle parkour skills 😇😜. Rebecca Chin

20/09/2023

When you’re trying to get a video of the doglet who wasn’t walking 3.5 weeks ago due to a suspected Fibrocartlaginous Embolism (spinal stroke) and now is walking so well it’s hard to slow her down 😅
From complete knuckling in both forefeet and only faint deep reflexes, to strutting around the room like she owns the place!

Well done little lady, and your Mum and Dad for the work you’ve done in the past three weeks ❤️ This is the sort of stuff that brings me so much joy in my work!

08/09/2023

For my old Irish pals, Abi is one of the most incredible women I know, and I have zero doubt this will be an incredible service. Please share, and if you know anyone looking for equine assisted therapies do give her a shout!

I've started taking appointments for October! So exciting! Feel free to get in touch with any questions.

30/08/2023

I mean, come on, look at this face! How can one possibly be this cute when one has face planted the ground and lost forelimb function, and so can’t get to the treats nearly as quickly as she’d like??

For neurological cases like this, the recent addition of Fascial Counterstrain approaches to improve spinal cord and disc lymphatics, venous and arterial function has been game changing so far. Hopefully this little lady will be another who makes an astoundingly quick recovery and will be in a much less frustrated state very shortly. Because, just quietly, anyone who knows pugs knows their trademark song of frustration 🎶😅🎶