Sam Smith Equine and Canine Sports Therapy

10/10/2024

I’m sure many of my clients can relate….?!
Remember peeps - Persistence beats resistance 🤣🙈

😀😀

05/09/2024

03/08/2024

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

21/04/2024

It’s been a ‘Back to School’ kind of week with a good few hours of CPD clocked up.

First was the inaugral Animal Chiropractic and Rehabilitation Conference hosted by the McTimoney College of Chiropractic. This was a great opportunity to catch up on some of the most exciting and current research, providing solid evidence to underpin the work we do as practitioners.

Second was a fascinating day course on Equine Hanna Somatics with the brilliant Ilse Kemp. There was lots of crossover with the philosophy and principles of the McTimoney and Myofascial techniques which I currently use so I’m excited to be able to add this latest technique to the toolbox in the hope of providing your animals with the very best tailored treatment 🙌😊

24/03/2024

03/03/2024

An interesting conversation that I frequently have with students and clients around what is conformational and what is postural.
Frequently during the course of a treatment we see significant changes in posture which could previously have been put down to conformation.

10/01/2024

I had the pleasure of treating Mum and Daughter , Piper and Evie today. I didn’t like to break it to them that I had other clients booked in afterwards and they would have to vacate the couch!

07/01/2024

Is posture a fundamental factor in the clinical relevance of kissing spine?

This image is powerful! We can clearly see the effects of spinal posture on the proximity of the spinal processes!

But what we might not be aware of is just how much horses live in a “hollow back” posture!

This spinal posture is created by biomechanics, the functional link between the entire topline from the position of the head and neck to the position of the pelvic region.

But also this posture is perpetuated by horses living in a constant sympathetic state and many other factors of domestication, feeding, confinement, hoof balance and human interference on major proprioception centres!

Join Dr Neidhart and myself as we delve into understanding kissing spines

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/kissing-spines

Thanks to Tuskey Dressage for the image 🙌

07/12/2023

A heartwarming story about a resilient alpaca named Crumble who overcame his physical challenges with the help of his dedicated owner, Anne, and Nikki Routledge McTimoney Animal Therapist.

Crumble's main issue was that his right hindlimb stifle locked, causing him to swing his hindlimb round and outwards from the hip. This was happening most days. Thanks to the help of Anne who tirelessly did polework with him, and his McTimoney treatments, Crumble is now able to walk normally, having learnt himself to unlock the joint with a couple of steps; he now thoroughly enjoys life with his herd friends. Read the full case study here: https://mctimoneyanimal.co.uk/crumble-the-alpaca-with-a-stiff-leg/

02/12/2023

SLOOOOOW DOWN!

SLOW your walking down to 1 step per second with and without your horse next to you.
SLOW your hand movements down as you touch or do things.
SLOW your talking down.
SLOW your breathing down.
SLOW your pulls and pushes down on the leadrope.

SLOW to FLOW!

Humans are WAAAAY to fast for horses and this is one of the leading causes of reactivity and opposition reflex in horses.

Speed = stress.

Let me teach you what speed does...

When the brain perceives a threat, it causes the body to release the stress response hormone cortisol. Cortisol levels and speed go hand in hand.
Cortisol provides the body with the fuel it needs to flee a scary situation or fight against it.

The thing with the mind-body relationship is that the brain feels an emotion such as fear, which create a physical response in the body, but the body can also move at a certain speed or in a particular way and create an emotion in the brain. It can be reverse engineered.

This is how special the intimate relationship is between the brain and body.

The other thing to remember is that, collectively as a social animal, when speed is noticed by another mammal (no matter the species), it alerts the unconscious brain to threat.

Speed is an alarm system in a social system (consciously and unconsciously).

If you walked down a road and everyone started running, you'd find it hard not to run even if you didn't know what the cause was. You are noticing that others are running and in a direction, so you mirror them to increase your chances of survival. You don't need the reasoning part of your brain for this. You just activated your primal (survival) part of the brain.

One other thing to remember: HORSES CAN SMELL CORTISOL. So not only does your speed act as a visual alarm system to your horse, it also acts as an olfactory one!

Would you want to interact with someone who caused you to feel constantly on alert?

These little things are the beginnings of what ripples into chronic stress in both humans and horses.
You spend enough time around someone who is fast in their movement, your nervous system will condition itself to being on high alert.
HELLO 👋 CHRONIC STRESS!!!

Slow your movement down = slow your thoughts down.
Slow your movement down = lower your cortisol.
Slow your movement down = feel connected with yourself, the world and others in it.
Slow your movement down = slow your alarm systems down and eventually they'll turn off.

Slow down so much that it is uncomfortable. It won't be uncomfortable for long, I promise 😉

Happy brain training 🧠
Charlotte 🙂

15/08/2023

08/08/2023

Too good not to share! 🤣

22/05/2023

A good day today teaching on the McTimoney College of Chiropractic Advanced Practitioner Certificate. Lots of lively discussion and happy horses 😊

01/04/2023

IS PATTING REWARDING TO THE HORSE?

We often see riders slapping their horse on the neck enthusiastically at the end of a showjumping round or dressage test. Patting is considered by many to be a way of telling the horse that they have performed well – but is this the reward we think it is, or could it cause them discomfort?

Horses are extremely sensitive to touch and many riders use different pressures ranging from a light pat to a slap. To find out more about how horses feel about this, a team of equine scientists at Nottingham Trent University set out to investigate the effects of patting and wither scratching horses when ridden or being handled.

For the first part of the study, footage of 16 competitors in the dressage Grand Prix at the 2012 London Olympics was analysed to see how and when the riders patted their horses, and how they reacted.

Fifteen riders patted their horses, with 12 continuing to do so for over a minute. A significant percentage of these pats resulted in the horse reacting. Most commonly, the horses accelerated – sometimes they changed gait from walk to trot. This could indicate that the horses found the patting unpleasant, or that they took the opportunity to accelerate because the rider dropped the rein contact and/or leant forward.

In a second part to the study, a group of five well-handled riding school ponies and five relatively un-touched rescue horses were patted or scratched four times, for 30 seconds at a time. The study was filmed and the horses’ behavioural responses were noted.

Patting resulted in little behavioural reaction. However, wither scratching seemed to be much more effective as a reward to the horse. Some lowered their heads, moved their upper lips and tried to mutually groom the handler – all responses similar to those seen in positive horse-to-horse interaction.

The researchers concluded that riders and handlers should be encouraged to scratch rather than pat their horse as a reward.

Previous research has shown that scratching the withers consistently lowers the horse's heart rate and can therefore be a useful aid to calm them in anxious situations. Wither scratching may also improve the horse/human relationship as mutual grooming does between horses.

Research team: Emily Hancock, Sarah Redgate and Carol Hall of Nottingham Trent University. 2014.

Image by lhourahane 2012 Olympics - Team Dressage Final, CC by 2.0.

16/03/2023

Is the source of pain distracting us from the actual cause!?

The horse is very good at making compensations for physiological issues. Initially these are good, relieving the structures in question. However, when these compensations become long term, secondary issues can ensue. Very often the secondary issues are more painful then the compensated for causation!

When investigating the discomforts that respond to palpation or indeed diagnostic analgesia, they become areas for primary treatment. However are they the actual cause!?

In the recent webinar with Dr Shultz she stated that "often pain is a lie" and agreed with my research and opinion, looking at the picture more holistically using and understanding the myofascial system can elucidate the timeline of causation.

Below is a relationship that has become the focus of my personal research, with the concurrent pathologies I found associated with negative plantar angles. Poor hind hoof conformation has been linked to pathology along the dorsal myofascial line, therefore research has questioned either the hoof balance or the pathologies along that line as primary. However, looking at the bigger picture, the posture associated with the links is a product of a contracted ventral line!!

Where do the ventral and dorsal lines connect? At the TMJ/upper cervical and the hind hoof. Two major proprioceptive input centres.
Beautifully linking to a previous webinar with Dr Gellman on proprioception and posture.

As we further apply the laws of biotensegrity, and study the myofascial connections we will start to really uncover the true causations of physiological issues in the horse. Holistic understanding means holistic treatment.

A couple (of many) articles for further reading here..

https://www.theequinedocumentalist.com/post/bio-tensegrity-and-farriery-the-foreword

https://www.theequinedocumentalist.com/post/the-unacceptable-norms-of-equine-management-and-the-inevitable-paradigm-shifts

These webinars can be seen at these links...

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

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

09/03/2023

08/03/2023

Come to our Open Day to hear all about the programme you are interested in and what it will mean for you. You will also have a guided tour of the College and the opportunity to speak to members of staff.