O.H Equine Therapy

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O.H Equine Therapy

Olivia is a fully qualified and insured equine sports massage therapist. Working in Cheshire and surr Working in Cheshire and surrounding counties.
(1)

17/11/2025

❄️🐎 Winter bodywork for Your Horse 🐎❄️

With increased stable time, cold and wet weather and wet boggy and slippy fields, winter can be a tough time for you and your horse.

As the temperatures drop, horses often experience:

Stiff muscles from the cold.

Thickened synovial fluid = stiffer joints.

Reduced circulation.

Reduced lymphatic flow and reduction of waste products.

Extra tension when warming up.

Increased risk of injury from inadequate warmup.

That’s where Equine Sports Massage comes in! 💆‍♂️🐴

✨ Winter Benefits of Massage:

✅ Improves circulation to keep muscles warm and healthy.
✅ Relieves stiffness and tension caused by cold weather.
✅ Supports recovery after exercise in chilly conditions.
✅ Enhances flexibility and range of motion.
✅ Promotes relaxation and overall wellbeing.
✅ Aid in maintaining joint health especially in older/arthritic horses.

I have some last minute availability for November and I'm now booking into Jan! Where has this year gone!?

25th November - Any Area
29th November - Warrington/Chester area - PM

PM or Whatsapp/Message - 07919 607344

05/11/2025

This poll release is one of my favourites to perform , especially when horses have got a lot of head tension. However not all horses trust me enough to perform it!

I had such a breakthrough with my sponsored horse Mary! After multiple treatments she let me finally perform it! When I first met Mary she didn't even like me being anywhere near her!

Reasons why I love this exercise:

▪️ Encourages your horse to release their topline muscles and other soft tissues of the neck and head. As well as muscles and soft tissue structures on the underside of the head and neck.

▪️ Improves mobility of the atlanto-occipital and antlanto-axial joints.

▪️ Releases general tension around the poll.

▪️ Takes away the weight of the head allowing relaxation and releases any emotional trauma.

▪️ Activates the smaller and deeper stabilising muscles of the neck.

▪️ Encourages the horse to lengthen their neck which is extremely helpful for horses who ride behind the vertical, are ridden with a lot of contact and collection or have tight/hypertonic muscles of the neck.

So happy that Mary trusted me a little to work on her poll with her!

29/10/2025

Im very excited to join the team for camp #5 and camp #8 at Somerford Park! I'm so excited to meet everyone and all the horses! I will have my whole kit bag with me including electrotherapy, balance pads and all the manual techniques I use!

26/10/2025

Training balance ...why is it so important?

Balance is the ability to maintain your centre of gravity within its base of support both statically and dynamically.
We know ourselves that if we can't maintain our balance and stability while standing, it's even harder to do this moving around! So why would it be any different for our horses?

Correct postural stability is crucial to stabilise your horses vertebral column to maintain balance.

However, so many things can influence horse' postural control and proprioceptio, and the main culprit of this is pain!

Pain alters posture - it creates compensatory gait pattern, which then places more load on certain structures, causing fatigue and if not careful injury!

Interestingly, horsess with lameness have increased postural sway, have decreased stability and proprioception as well as core strength.

Balance Pads have been shown to:

🔴 Improve postural stability.
🔴 Increases proprioception.
🔴 Assists in improving joint stability.
🔴 Improve thecross-sectionall area of the multifidus.
🔴 Strengthes muscles (especially the core).
🔴 Helps to prevent injury (prehab).

When can we use balance pads?

Because balance pads are low impac, they can be used during injury , however, an assessment from the vet is recommended.
Balance pad work is great to start while a horse is on box rest.

The pads can also be used as prehabilitation to improve stability and proprioception to prevent injury and can be used for pretty much every horse or pony to improve core strength, strength of multifidus which helps stabilise the vertebral column and to improve balance and proprioception!

You can see how hard Oscar finds it to stay balanced on the pads swaying from left to right. Over time, this swaying should reduce as his balance improves and he becomes more stable!

#

23/10/2025

Finishing up this month with some availability for bodywork and weighing!
I cant believe it's November, the year is flying by!

Book your horse an autumnal treatment to get them ready for the winter ahead.
Help ease the transition to the cooler and wetter weather, where slips and strains are more common.
Keep your horse supple now turnout time is getting shorter.

As well as the many benefits that bodywork and sports massage provide!

Pm or WhatsApp 07919607344

22/10/2025

👠What does a worn toe tell us? 👠

I recently went out to a pony who's gait had changed and had started wearing their toes down on both hind limbs. The pony was seen by the vet who couldn't find anything remarkable about his movement apart from some stiffness and tight hamstrings.

So this got me thinking.. if a horse is toe dragging and wearing down their toes, then surely this means the protraction (forward) phase of the stride is reduced. The reduction of protraction makes the limbs look straighter than usual with a reduction in hock flexion which could be observed in walk and trot on the right side.

A reduction in stride length can then cause compensatory movement and also compensatory stabilisation of the other limbs who then start to overload, which then over time could lead to strain, or injury due to the change in load and stress!

This small change of movement can have knock on effects for the whole body! Causing stress and strain, adhesions, tension and soreness throughout the body! Don't even get me started on fascial restrictions!

Toe dragging may indicate a more serious underlying problem. Some horses do naturally land toe first due to their conformation.

Causes of toe dragging

⚠️ Sacroiliac joint pain/dysfunction.
⚠️ Foot conformation and balance - low heel and long toe, heel or frog pain, bruising to the foot.
⚠️ Stifle pain.
⚠️ Hock arthritis
⚠️ Uneven trimming/improper shoeing- Medial - lateral imbalances.
⚠️ Environment and footing.
⚠️ Exercise routine/high stress training/ uneven terrain.
⚠️ Incorrect saddle fit.

What can we do to help?

✅️ Vet examination - to identify a root cause.
✅️ Physical therapy or bodywork- by correcting compensations, relieving soreness and improving limb movement.
✅️ Correct farriery - Address any foot imbalances to improve limb movement.
✅️ Ensure proper saddle fit.

Team work is so important in this case!

Referring on to the farrier, saddle fit and vet is so important alongside my sessions to try and find a cause. I can keep giving him lovely nice treatments that treat his compensations, make him feel more comfortable and happy and give him exercises to try and help with the limb movement, however unless the root cause is found and addressed the exercises will be of no benefit and no progress will be made 😭

05/10/2025

A stormy weekend calls for some more CPD.
Had a few hours reading and learning with Wolds Equine Sports Massage Approved Courses. I love their bitesize CPD!

I hope everyone has stayed safe this weekend! We had very high winds with lots of trees down! And it was very blustery up the mountain!

04/10/2025

A lovely recommendation from my lovely client Jane!

I have been seeing Lucky for a while now and she is such a sweet but sensitive mare who absolutley loves the attention! She loves the slow gentle approach to treatments and loves the myofascial work!

I went to see her for an SOS call recently as she slipped during an event due to the rainy weather and after that she was uncharacteristically not herself while being ridden!

I managed to work out a lot of her tension and soreness which we think is from the slip just before her next event!

I always feel a bit more pressure when trying to help horses feel better especially before a Championships! But Lucky was back to her usual self with 3 double clears! And a win too! ❤️

Address

Chester
CH37

Telephone

07919607344

Website

http://www.ohequinetherapy.com/

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About O.H. Equine Therapy.

Olivia studied biomedical science at Manchester Metropolitan University graduating with first class honours. She loved her time working and studying within the human healthcare field, however her love of horses made her choose a career in equine physio.

Olivia is a fully qualified and insured equine sports massage therapist. Qualifying with distinction from the collage of animal physiotherapy (TCAP). She is fully insured and registered with the international association of animal therapists (IAAT).

I currently have one cheeky 15 year old gelding called Oscar who is an ex showjumper and has now turned his hoof to showing. Oscar has had a few injuries in the past and is my no.1 massage fan. He gets spoilt with a lot of treatments. Massage treatments were an essential part to his rehabilitation. I also ride the lovely veteran Maxi Cob, Bob, who I hope to get back out showing soon! I use a varied range of massage techniques, fascial release, a rage of stretches and reflexes for maintenance and rehabilitation. I also use SureFoot balance pads and the Epiony heat pad. I am always updating my skills and adding different modalities to my massage, to provide the best possible care and treatments for your horses. I am passionate about providing the best for every horse I treat. Whether they are top competition horses, or retired. I have owned horses myself as well so I understand wanting the best for your horse!

I travel across the North West, covering Cheshire, North Wales, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Manchester, Merseyside, Wirral, and South Yorkshire. I will also travel further for group bookings. I always aim to keep my prices reasonable, with yard discounts, offers and promotions.