Equine-Naturaltherapy

Equine-Naturaltherapy Equine Sports Massage Therapy, Kinesiology Taping and EquiBow. Saddlefit4Life diagnostic 80-point evaluations. Prevention, alleviation of injuries.

Boosting athletic performance and endurance.

01/05/2025
01/05/2025
11/27/2024

Water remains as important for your horse in cold weather as it is in the summer. As a matter of fact, decreased water consumption in the winter is thought to be the primary inducing factor for impaction colic — although there are other predisposing factors such as poor hay quality, lack of exercise, internal parasites and dental problems.

Impaction colic is essentially constipation and most often includes the accumulation of hard, dry f***l material in the colon. The usual signs of impending impaction colic are depression, a decreased appetite, and decreased production and dryness of manure.

Studies demonstrate that you can increase your horse's winter water consumption if you provide access to heated water, but ONLY if that is the only source of water available. As always, if you have any questions about preventing colic in your horse, your equine veterinarian remains your best source of information!

11/20/2024
10/12/2024

There is always an underlying reason for “girthiness” in horses.

Gone are the days where that horse at the riding stables was “just grumpy” when you tightened the girth. The practice of “just do it up quickly and watch their teeth!” is archaic, insensitive.

There are so many potential reasons for girth line sensitivity, so before attributing to bad behaviour or making a joke out of the grumpy faces your horse makes to tack up… please consider these and have all avenues fully investigated:

🤍 Digestive discomfort - ie. ulcers
🤍 Pain memory - ie. previous uncomfortable experience with girthing. The primary cause of this behaviour must be proven to be completely resolved.
🤍 Muscle hypertonicity - ie. tension in pectoral muscles and associated structures which make touch in this area painful. This can even be caused by something like poor foot balance. If your horse is even reacting to touch in this area before you even put a girth on, something is amiss.
🤍 Poor girth fit - ie. girth shape does not suit your horses conformation, often causes discomfort after exercise in acute cases and chronic dysfunction in long term cases.
🤍 Faulty tack - ie. cracking to girth leading to pinching.
🤍 Unsuitable girth position
🤍 Poor saddle fit - can lead to referred pain patterns through ribcage.
🤍 Injury - ie. horses that skid to stop in front of a jump, or do the splits when they’re having a little too much fun in the field can strain the thoracic sling structures.

This list represents a selection of different reasons, and whilst not being completely exhaustive it provides a starting point to investigate your horses girth line tension.

09/26/2024

Horses can’t speak, but actually, if you give them a chance to, they have a lot to say! Horses are just non-verbal communicators, meaning they use their behaviors and body language to speak!

Ways your horse may be saying they need help in their body:
❌acting out (bucking, rearing, hopping, bolting, stopping)
❌not traveling straight
❌refusing to go forward
❌biting or nipping with grooming & tacking
❌difficulty with consistent connection in the bride

Do any of these sound like your horse? Don’t ignore what they are saying for too long or else one of you, if not both, have a higher chance of becoming seriously injured!

09/15/2024

I hear this phrase ALL the time and every time I do my heart breaks for the horse in question.

It is a very big misconception in the industry that pain can be ruled out in the horse.

What leads to this statement can also vary drastically from person to person.

The horse might have had a quick muscle palpation, they might have just been scoped for ulcers, or they might have had a very extensive (and expensive!) veterinary work up over days or months.

Regardless, you cannot rule out pain. You might not be able to find a source, but you cannot rule out pain.

Ask any human who has not received an immediate diagnosis for their pain or not been listened to regarding their own health concerns.

Pain does not have a blood test or a specific color or feel.

Pain can be obvious, it can be concealed, it can be complex, it can be poorly understood.

There are certain things, like gastric ulcers, that can be definitively ruled in or out as a SOURCE of pain with a gastroscopy.

But it is the horse’s behavior that says whether pain is or isn’t present. And unfortunately, very often pain in the horse is not a simple thing to diagnose and cure.

When a trainer, owner, rider, or vet says “we have ruled out pain” it is often an invitation to train the horse with harsher methods to overcome performance or behavioral problems.

If the horse refuses to do something, doesn’t cooperate, struggles with tasks, has a change in behavior, or exhibits behaviors that have been scientifically studied to indicate pain in the horse (such as the equine discomfort ethogram and ridden horse pain ethogram)….ALWAYS keep in mind that just because it can’t be located, DOES NOT mean a horse is not in pain.

08/31/2024

“Put the horse first.

Easy to say. Hard to do.

Putting the horse first requires commitment. It requires integrity. And patience. And energy. And money. And oh, does it require time.

Putting the horse first means earlier mornings and later nights. It means quality feed plans and the best hay that you can buy. And extra brushing so that coats gleam and manes and tails shine.

Putting the horse first means that you buy three extra bags of shavings for your stall at the horse show (yes, I know they're expensive!!), because even though you can "get by" with two, you want to do right by your horse. If you don't want to stand on concrete all weekend, why would she?

Putting the horse first means that you have a good working relationship with a quality equine vet. It means that every horse gets the best quality of care that you can afford to give it. Your performance horse is an athlete. Treat her like one.

And when your vet says, "Rest her for 10-14 days," be generous and give her the 14. Even if it's inconvenient. Even if you've aleady paid your stalls and entries. Even if it's the last thing you want to hear.

Putting the horse first means that if you've been rained out of the arena for two weeks and your horse isn't fit, you don't haul to the horse show. You choose to be fair to the horse and keep her home, instead.

It also means that if you haul three hours to the horse show only to find that the ground is dangerous, you load up and go home. It takes discipline, but you don't jeopardize what you want in the moment for the long-term confidence, health, and soundness of your horse.

Putting the horse first means that no saddle, no halter, no buckle, no trophy, no paycheck comes before the well-being of your equine partner. No matter what.. And it ain't an easy row to hoe.

Many will ride. Many will compete. Many will win. But few will be horse(wo)men.

Don't just be a competitor. Be better”

Written by Jessica Lash.

08/30/2024
08/18/2024

Letting the horse look at the jump, sniff it, stand near it, these are all things that decades ago, when I first started jumping I was told to never allow.

The idea back then was that a horse had to “just deal.” And if the horse quit at the jump, the horse was “being bad,” and needed to get a good smack with a crop.

But most of the time---not all, but in many cases---the reason that a horse quits is because of some sort of insecurity or fear or spookiness, and instead of punishing the horse, a better strategy is to try to get the horse to not be afraid, If a horse refuses out of fear, does whacking the horse, which adds fear to already existing fear, make a lot of sense?

Now, sure, sometimes a horse needs to be told to go, but generally a better first way is to try to let the horse have a “no big deal” attitude about what it’s being asked to do. Going back to that “old” way, I was also told this: “You have to make that horse more afraid of you than the thing he’s scared of.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard some version of that over the decades.

And while a horse does have to be taught to stay in front of the aids, the first step is to create confidence about that, and there are lots of ways to do this that work better than fear of being punished if he doesn’t, one of which is tons of trail riding with a brave and steady horse as a leader, so the younger or greener horse learns that it all that stuff it sees out in the wide world is not something to be afraid of.

So, generally, if a fence looks different, let him have a look first. If he stops, maybe let him look some more, or follow a braver horse. Some horses seem to be brave right from the beginning, and if so, lucky you.

But others are more spooky, and these usually need many more baby steps. Letting them have baby steps is often smart training, not a weakness or a surrender, and that’s something I had to learn as I unlearned what I’d originally been taught.

08/16/2024
08/12/2024

What is the optimal number of improved or correct repetitions for efficient learning?

New neural pathways cannot sustain repeated stimulation due to the massive oxygen and glucose demands of brain tissue and their lack of maturation. Thus, training presents a dilemma: while more repetitions can consolidate learning, excessive repetitions may lead to a decline in learning and welfare.

However, it is known that in naïve animals, learning can begin to manifest after a few repetitions (Skinner, 1938). This suggests that trainers should terminate practice after eliciting three to five consecutive correct, improved, or corrected responses.

Although it is an age-old maxim in horse training to always "end on a good note," it is likely more efficient to conclude with a short series of correct or improved responses.

- A passage from Equitation Science, 2nd Edition. Andrew McLean, Paul McGreevy, Janne Whinther Christensen & Uta König von Borstel.

08/01/2024

Walking backwards - rein back - step back

This has always been an exercise I recommend and a recent article has used 3D motion capture to explore back and pelvis motion during the movement - Jobst, Zsoldos and Licka, 2024

'A significantly larger maximum and a greater ROM was reached between the withers, thoracic region and sacrum (labelled D-angWmT16S2) in Backwards Walking compared to Forwards walking, indicating a lifting of the back, an effect necessary to facilitate strengthening of the horse’s core and therefore often desired in equine physiotherapy and in equestrian sports (Clayton, 2016; Shakeshaft & Tabor, 2020)'

A few steps backwards - Unmount SD Cardnted - as part of groundwork and before mounting are a really good idea to mobilise your horse's back.

Link to article:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090023324001412?via%3Dihub

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