Isobel Prestwich Animal Chirotherapist

11/04/2024

Let horses be horses.

They like to get muddy and roll in the dirt.

They like to run around and play with their friends, sometimes resulting in the occasional scratch or abrasion.

They value socialization with other horses far beyond what any human can provide them, whether we want to admit to that or not.

They are well equipped to live outside and wired to cover a lot of ground each day. They get bored being cooped up without enrichment for most of their lives.

They don’t care about aesthetics like people do. They don’t care if they have a fuzzy winter coat or if they aren’t sparkling clean year round.

They don’t care if they’re not wearing a name brand saddle pad with matching brushing boots.

They don’t care how much money you spend on specialized supplements for them if they’re still going without near constant access to forage even with all of that added nutrition.

They don’t care if they have their own personal masseuse if it means they’re deprived of social interaction and space to move.

They care about having their most basic needs met.

It really doesn’t matter how many fancy and expensive add ons you offer to your horse if at their core they’re missing their basic needs.

It doesn’t matter how much money is spent on them if that money isn’t contributing to fulfilment of their basic needs.

Friends.

Freedom.

Forage. (And water, of course)

It is really that simple.

Provide these 3 crucial needs, then add on whatever else your heart desires, but let’s quit pretending care is sufficient when it doesn’t cover these basics, just because there’s a substantial amount of money put into it.

If money guaranteed basic met needs of horses, there wouldn’t be so many high value horses living lives where they’re utterly deprived of core needs.

Let your horse be a horse.

Horses are outdoor herd animals.

No matter how much our industry tries to convince you of otherwise, they absolutely suffer when kept in isolation, small and unenriching spaces and without constant access to forage.

They aren’t dolls for us to dress up and do with as we please.

They’re living beings with species specific needs that it is our duty to meet if we choose to get one.

LET 👏 HORSES 👏 BE 👏 HORSES 👏

“The 3Fs” (Friends, Freedom, Forage) concept originally coined by Canadian Equine Behaviourist Lauren Fraser https://www.equinebehaviorist.ca

10/04/2024

Anyone else noticed how many cars have no taillights when using sidelights? Seeing loads & wondering what the reasoning is🤷🏼‍♀️only thing I can think of it’s any energy saving thing for electric cars 🤔 also are the drivers aware of this fact or has it just been quietly slipped in without a word in the hope no one will notice until it’s too late just as with spare wheels?!

09/04/2024

09/04/2024

STOP THE CLOSURE OF GP SURGERIES

08/04/2024

I’ve signed!

STOP THE CLOSURE OF GP SURGERIES

06/04/2024

Can you see what I can see? Spring and new life are coming!

05/04/2024

31/03/2024

Does your horse look outwards and forwards when you ride, or does he look downwards?

The physical and mental welfare of a horse suffers when he is ridden with his neck too round (hyperflexed), with the nasal plane behind a vertical line to the ground ('behind the vertical' or 'behind the bit') - as in the left photo.

Research shows that horses ridden in hyperflexion have restricted breathing and vision. A horse at liberty would never carry himself in this way for more than a very brief period.

Reasons for horses being ‘behind the vertical’ could include bad training, heavy hands, restrictive gear such as a standing martingale or side reins, the horse avoiding contact or the rider thinking it looks good.

The experts say the horse when working should ideally have his head slightly in front of the vertical, fairly close to a straight line perpendicular to the ground, and the poll should be the highest point, as in the second photo. This horse is looking outwards and forwards.
When you next ride, make sure that your horse is not looking downwards. If he is, allow or encourage him to look outwards and forwards!

Did you know?
- If your horse approaches a jump or mounted games barrel with his head pulled to the outside, or tucked near his chest for example, his vision is greatly restricted.
- Horses have a natural preference to look closely at things on their left side, which has probably helped horsemanship develop mounting, leading, bridling etc from the near (left) side.

When you walk the showjumping or cross country course, how can you plan to assist your horse see the obstacle in front of him?

31/03/2024

After 2 days of playing with other dogs and chasing bunnies and squirrels at beautiful Hopleys whilst I play ponies with Encompass Equine Solutions, Phoebe has spent most of today in this position! 😹

31/03/2024

31/03/2024

Pictures from another trip to this amazing place with wonderful people and beautiful elephants who teach us so much 🐘 It’s not only educational, it’s hugely emotional and I can’t begin to explain the astonishing effect it has on all concerned which is what makes it so addictive 

27/03/2024

More post treatment fun!

27/03/2024

22/03/2024

At last!

Congratulations to Becky Moody Dressage and Jagerbomb who won the grand prix and the grand prix special at Addington CDI.

You can read the full report in this week's Horse & Hound magazine, in shops from Thursday 21 March.

15/03/2024

15/03/2024

Such an amazing place!

12/03/2024

Next elephant osteopathy trip has started well as have whole row to myself! Flying first time with Emirates which are more spacious than most anyway 😃

05/03/2024

I’ve signed

2,032 signatures are needed, let’s get there by the end of the day?

04/03/2024

Lithuanian Justina Vanagaite is understood to be the first rider to compete at top level international dressage without spurs since the FEI rule change came into force this year giving riders the choice. At the Doha CDI5* last weekend Justina and Nabab were seventh in the grand prix on 69.78%, and then the pair put in a superb freestyle performance to score 75.75% and land a place on the podium. Congratulations Justina!

01/03/2024

“Why do people cling so hard to the idea that their horse is being naughty, deceptive and bad on purpose?”

This is a question I’ve asked myself for a while after watching so many people get enraged when the idea that dominance theory holds no scientific merit is suggested.

When people dare say that horses don’t plot against us to plan out ways to be bad during rides on purpose.

Then, it hit me. This mindset is necessary if you’re going to justify using things like physical punishment, working horses to the point of exhaustion and harsh equipment on a repeated basis.

If the horse is your adversary who knows right from wrong and chooses to be naughty on purpose anyways, you don’t feel bad for smacking them in the way you would if you admitted their behaviour stemmed from pain, fear or confusion…

The very fabric of the belief of needing to dominate the horse and show them who is boss is reliant on the idea that horses will deliberately defy humans and try to be difficult on purpose.

If you admit to yourself that you’re just dealing with a frightened flight animal, suddenly it doesn’t seem so cool or nice to be getting more aggressive with them when they display flight behaviours.

If you admit that your lame horse isn’t actually faking their lameness, suddenly it seems cruel to be pushing them to work through intermittent lameness.

This belief enables so many quick fixes in training and a lack of compassion that allows for people to continue pushing on even when their horse is clearly upset.

It allows them to blame their horse for the “bad” behaviour and accept no real accountability for the role they play as the rider, because the assumption is that the horse knows right from wrong and is choosing to be wrong anyways.

So much of the training that is incredibly common in the horse world relies on the belief that horses are naughty on purpose because if it didn’t exist, people wouldn’t feel comfortable doing the things that they do to horses.

If you admit you’re dealing with a flight animal reacting to pain, anxiety, fear, frustration or confusion; suddenly you feel like the villain in the story when you’ve been getting mad at them for this.

17/02/2024

FFS! And on a Friday night & in Essex 😩

15/02/2024

Just as I thought, things couldn’t get any worse! 🤦🏼‍♀️😭

12/02/2024

Can any of my friends advise me on turning my half acre of semi wild garden into a viable living space for my two horses as the farm where they are currently going to be sold 😭

10/02/2024

This is so well put!

03/02/2024

 Soya and why to avoid it especially GM soya.

Soya oil is rich in long chain fatty acids (the unhealthy ones) and contains predominantly polyunsaturated fats (the inflammatory fats), making it prone to rancidity. Worse, the oil is chemically extracted and highly refined using toxic levels of aluminium and manganese, being processed by acid washing in aluminum tanks, which can leach high levels of aluminum into the final soya product.
GM soya has been linked to an increase in allergies. The plants contain genes from a bacteria that produces a protein that has never been part of any food supply. Disturbingly, the only published human-feeding study on GM foods verified that the gene inserted into GM soya transfers into the DNA of our gut biome and continues to function there. This means that years after we stop eating GM soya, we may still have a potentially allergenic protein continuously being produced in our intestines. And if it’s happening to us, it's happening to our horses – if your horse presents with allergenic responses, it might be worth checking your feedbag to see if soya oil or protein is listed.
It's also been linked to infertility. In one specific animal test, cheetahs who were fed soybean developed an infertility syndrome, which was irreversible when the soybeans were removed from their diet, thought to be due to the presence of phyto-oestrogens in soy.
Soya contains a starch known as Stachyose, which can't be digested in the small intestine. Hence it enters the large intestine (hindgut) and is a perfect feed for the resident lactic-acid bacteria, which create lactic-acid as their waste, which makes the hindgut environment acidic, where it should always be at a neutral pH, so leading to the hindgut acidosis/dysbiosis/SIBO/leaky gut domino effect.
Soya contains hemagglutinin, a clot-promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump together. These clumped cells are unable to properly absorb and distribute oxygen to the body’s cells.
Soya contains goitrogens, a chemical that inhibits the uptake of iodine by the thyroid gland, so interfering with iodine metabolism.
Soya contains phytates which bind to metal ions, preventing the absorption of certain minerals including calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc, all of which are essential for our horses biochemistry.
Horses that are fed soya can be low in certain minerals, i.e. iron, manganese, chromium, cobalt and selenium. All vital for the growth of connective tissue in tendons, ligaments, joint cartilage, hoof and hair.

Sorry it's so long

28/01/2024

After North Northamptonshire Council installed traffic calmers in Glapthorn that are impossible for tractors and trailers to negotiate, They’ve now put white gate with ‘Thank you for driving slowly through our village’ signs at the Southwick end meaning that dog walkers and footpath users will have to step into the road to access the footpath on the other side of the road. As if that will stop people speeding through 🤷🏼‍♀️Talk about lack of joined up thinking!