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EquiVita - Equine Therapies and Consultancy Equine Vitality is key for the well-being of your horse.

Years of hands-on experience, scientific study and on-going CPD have equipped me with the tools to help you boost your horse's vitality: Manual therapies, assessments & advice

I might be lost in this for a little while!
08/07/2024

I might be lost in this for a little while!

These teen webinars are brilliant. Great way for teens to learn more about their pony/horse
03/05/2022

These teen webinars are brilliant. Great way for teens to learn more about their pony/horse

🍏 TEEN WEBINAR coming up!!!
This webinar is for any teen with an interest in horses or ridden work.
It focuses on how you can:
* develop a calm and confident horse,
* prevent and reduce ridden behaviour challenges
* improve ridden safety
* improve your confidence
By EBA Registered Equine Psychology Specialist Annika O'Kane
Price ÂŁ5
Book your ticket now on:
https://www.trybooking.co.uk/BPXG
Looking forward to seeing you there.

I love Annika’s thought on this. Well worth considering and reflecting on. I am looking forward to progressing towards t...
22/04/2022

I love Annika’s thought on this. Well worth considering and reflecting on.

I am looking forward to progressing towards this very same qualificationđŸ‘©đŸŒâ€đŸŽ“

15 signs that show that your horse likes spending time with you.
Does my horse like my company?

https://wordpress.com/view/reflectionsofanequinebhaviourist.wordpress.com
A common question posed by many horse owners. Well, click on the link and find a few indicators that may show that they do.
Relationship building is an ongoing thing, I feel that the basis for it is trust and calm. If your horse feels safe when around you or even seeks comfort in you, then your doing a great job. If not, then it could be good to investigate why?
xx

A must read article - especially if you ever ask yourself if you should use bandages or brushing boots (neither are not ...
14/04/2022

A must read article - especially if you ever ask yourself if you should use bandages or brushing boots (neither are not breathable).

Boots and bandages - are we harming our horses as we try to protect them?

Bandaging and booting our horses is becoming more and more popular, especially with the popularity of matchy matchy sets. But are we doing more harm than good? Most people will have come across the articles in magazines and comments from vets saying they are, and yet still they become more and more popular. Why is that? Why do riders still cover their horses in thick fleece bandages or fluffy boots despite the dangers? Tradition I suppose. Wanting to fit in. Or just habit, some will feel like they haven’t finished tacking up if they haven’t put the boots on.

I know this isn’t about dentistry (for which I apologise) but I am a vet first and foremost, and as a dressage rider I am asked why I don’t use bandages all the time. I’ve written about this several times now and no one pays attention, so rather than stating facts and quoting research, I’d like to take you through my journey of discovery, please bear with me. Facts and papers are at the end.

Rewind 12 years and I was in my final year at vet school. Prior to and during vet school I had a horse and we did dressage. I had planned to ODE but this horse pulled every tendon and ligament known to vet kind. He spent more time out of work than in. Each time I would up my game with the latest boots/bandages on the market. From fluffy boots to wraps to sports fetlock boots, fleece bandages to gamgee and cotton to the half fleece/half elastic bandages. I learnt new techniques for better support, figure of 8 bandaging to cradle the fetlock etc etc. I’d been there and done it. My collection was extensive.

Right at the end of vet school I had my rotations. I chose Equine lameness as one of my options. During in this I very vividly remember a wet lab with Dr Renate Weller where she had a skinned horses leg (showing all of the tendons and ligaments) in a machine that mimicked the pressures a horse applies to their limbs. She took us through walk, trot, canter and gallop, loading this leg so we could see the inside workings of the horses leg without the skin. It was fascinating I can tell you, and I very clearly remember thinking about my horse and wondering how on earth we are suppose to support this limb when it undergoes these incredible forces! Half a ton of animal pushing down a tiny spindle of a leg held by tendons barely thicker than my thumb. Craziness!

Fast forward just a few short months and I was a fully qualified vet in the big wide world. I attended my first BEVA Congress and during the break I wandered around the stalls looking at the latest inventions and technologies companies bring to these gatherings. Here I came across a company with the Equestride Boot which caught my eye. Now if you haven’t seen this boot, it’s wonderful and I’ve since used it a few times in rehabbing very severe tendon and ligament injuries with great success. The boot is a carbon fibre boot that stops the fetlock dropping, which stops the tendons and ligaments being fully loaded while they heal. This boot is super strong. You couldn’t ride a horse in it as it is limiting the range of motion so much, but they can move about easily enough at the lower settings to rehab etc. The guy on the stand (I’m afraid I can’t remember his name) showed me their research and in the straight talking Irish way explained the stupidity of expecting a thin piece of material to support a horse. And of course it can’t! Literally no bandage or boot (short of this very expensive carbon fibre rehab boot) is capable of reducing the amount the fetlock drops. Thinking back to Dr Weller’s demonstration, I could very clearly see how ridiculous I had been to ever believe a scrap of material could do anything to reduce or support that pressure.

But the boots/bandages don’t actually cause any harm do they? Surely it’s ok to use them on the off chance they might help and if we look good in the meantime, great! Well, not long after this, research started appearing that got me very worried about my bandage collection. Heat. Anyone that uses bandages and boots will not be surprised to see sweat marks under their bandages/boots after they’ve been removed. They trap a lot of heat. The horses body and legs generate a lot of heat when working. The tendons/ligaments in the leg, along with an increased blood flow generate ALOT of heat. Fleece bandages/boots in particular, hold this heat in the horses leg. Very few boots and virtually no bandages (especially if you use a pad under) allow the legs to breath adequately. This heat is easily enough to kill tendon/ligament cells. Each tendon/ligament is made of thousands and thousands of cells all lined up end on end and side by side in long thin spindles. They stretch and return to their original shape and size like an elastic band, absorbing and redistributing the pressures applied from further up the leg and from the ground impact below. All of these cells must work together as one to do this effectively.

Just a little side step here to explain how tendons/ligaments heal. A tendon/ligament cell can not be replaced like for like. They always heal with scar tissue. This is why reinjury is so much more likely if a tendon/ligament is blown. The fibrous scar tissue doesn’t stretch, it isn’t capable of stretching or absorbing the impact of a horses movement. It will always be a weak spot. In a full blown sprain/strain the whole (or most) of the tendon has been damaged. But this heat injury might just kill a few cells at a time. Those few cells are replaced by fibrous scar tissue, then next time a few more etc etc. Like a rubber band degrading over time the tendon/ligament loses its elasticity and eventually goes snap. Then you’ve fully blown a tendon/ligament. The injury didn’t start to happen at that moment, but that was the final straw. The damage adds up over time, each time thermal necrosis (vet word for cell death) occurs.

So if using boots/bandages can not offer any sort of support, and using them generates heat that slowly damages the tendons/ligaments until they give way. Why use them? Protection. This is the only reason to use boots. To stop the horse brushing, injuring themselves catching a pole or over cross country. But for goodness sake make sure your boots are breathable! If the horse is sweaty under the boot but not above or below, the boot is not breathable enough. And don’t use fleece bandages just because you like the colour. These fleece bandages are the worst at holding heat in the leg, way above the threshold for thermal necrosis to the cells of the tendons and ligaments. If your horse doesn’t need protection, don’t use boots. I haven’t for the last 12 years and *touch wood* I haven’t had a single tendon/ligament injury in any of my horses. I will never go back to boots or especially bandages now. I don’t use them for schooling, lunging, jumping, travelling, turnout, stable, in fact I don’t use them at all. Ever. But I don’t hunt or XC.

I hope you have found my story useful and can make informed decisions on boots and bandaging going forward.

For more information on the Equestride boot and their research into support offered by boots and bandages, visit http://www.equestride.com/ and https://www.equinetendon.com/services/equestride/

The horses leg under the compression machine at the Irish Equine rehabilitation and fitness centre https://fb.watch/cmVMt6-iOJ/ (I highly recommend you watch this incredible video. It clearly shows the amount of force the leg goes through and demonstrates the real purpose of boots)

Other relevant papers-
https://equimanagement.com/.amp/articles/horse-skin-temperature-under-boots-after-exercise
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8f15/0ea480edca142260d01f419f80d2e7e7fb29.pdf
http://www.asbweb.org/conferences/1990s/1998/59/index.html

Edit 1 - I am getting asked about stable wraps very frequently. This post is about riding, the tendons and blood flow create heat which is trapped by bandages/boots during exercise. This doesn’t occur in the stable stood still. If the horse has a strain/sprain resulting in inflammation, then there is an increase in blood flow and there is heat being created. In this situation you should not be bandaging. But if it’s cold and an old horse needs stable wraps to keep the joints warm and improve sluggish blood flow (filled legs) you can use the heat trapping to your advantage. But you need to be careful in summer.

Edit 2 - the other thing I’m being asked about is compression. Compression DOES NOT control inflammation. The inflammation still occurs, but the swelling can not escape the bandages and the increase in internal pressure reduces blood flow, causing ischemic damage. Like laminitis within the hoof. The hoof capsule prevents swelling so the inflammation expands inwards and cuts off the blood supply. This is why laminitis is so painful and difficult to treat. Compression is only useful in the case of leaky vessels, for example reduced blood pressure, reduced movement so the blood isn’t being pumped backup the legs, or osmotic imbalances eg low protein with diarrhoea. In these situations, compression of the legs can encourage blood to return to the vessels and continue circulating.

We kinda know this but it’s always great to have studies confirming our beliefs. Horses are ‘designed’ to move, the more...
07/04/2022

We kinda know this but it’s always great to have studies confirming our beliefs. Horses are ‘designed’ to move, the more the better, but best when doing it of own free will and for more than 12 hours
.

Researchers found an inverse relationship between length of paddock turnout and risk of soft tissue injuries in nonelite horses.

Interesting article from The Osteopathic Vet Tom Beech. Are we all going to play catch-up this year? Because of continue...
06/03/2022

Interesting article from The Osteopathic Vet Tom Beech. Are we all going to play catch-up this year? Because of continued grass growth. Time to set up a track? Turn out at night? It’s tricky because our horses need as much movement as possible, not time in a stable. My horses will be out at night - a soon as possible - until the ground settles then on a track with hay.

Many of you will be aware that I have been pursuing a real interest of mine: studying equine behaviour. It has always fa...
05/12/2021

Many of you will be aware that I have been pursuing a real interest of mine: studying equine behaviour. It has always fascinated me to try to understand why horses might do what they do, understand how the equine brain works, what is normal behaviour thus helping us understand abnormal behaviour - thank you Lucy Rees! - and how can we build trust and understanding in our relationship with horses. To formalise and improve I have now completed the initial stage (Applied Behaviour) of the Equine Behaviour Affiliation course. It has expanded my horizons and deepened my understanding. Truly fascinating! Today it was the practical exam after the oral exam last week. Then onwards in the new year to the professional qualification. So watch this space 😊

So important that we understand the full effects of extra weight in our horses and ponies. Jemima is going on a serious ...
21/09/2021

So important that we understand the full effects of extra weight in our horses and ponies. Jemima is going on a serious diet and exercise regimen!

The results clearly show that increased BW and body fat content in horses lower physiological fitness in terms of VLa4, plasma lactate removal, Hct levels, plasma glucose availability and reduce true...

Very interesting! Have to say though that when working with horses (massage and myofascial work) the licking and chewing...
03/07/2020

Very interesting! Have to say though that when working with horses (massage and myofascial work) the licking and chewing is seen as an indicator of relaxation, possibly after an irritant, such as gentle work over a stress point or a tender muscle, but it’s seen as a marker of a transition.

LICKING & CHEWING – SUBMISSION OR STRESS?

For

There is a popular belief amongst some natural horsemanship trainers that if a horse is ‘licking and chewing’ during training they are submitting to the trainer.

Some even believe the horse then sees them as their 'leader'. One example is the practice of driving a horse forward in a round pen until they stop fleeing and start licking their lips and chewing repetitively. This chewing is then interpreted as submissive behaviour.

Many trainers are using this behaviour as a way to measure how well their training is working, but this is only an assumption as there is little scientific research available on this topic. Making assumptions about horse behaviour in this way is very dangerous ground and can often compromise horse welfare.

Last week at the International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) conference a fascinating study was presented that finally addresses this topic. I want to say a huge well done to Margrete Lie and her team for being prepared to tackle this touchy subject. I have written a press release for ISES on the study:

"Horses sometimes lick and chew during training and this has often been interpreted as a sign that the horse is learning or showing ‘submission’ to the trainer. However, a new study suggests that this non-nutritive licking and chewing behaviour is a natural behaviour that is shown after a stressful situation.

To gain insight into the function of licking and non-nutritive chewing behaviour in horses, a team of equine scientists from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences observed the social behaviour of feral horses under natural conditions.

M.Sc. Margrete Lie and Prof. Ruth Newberry spent 80 hours observing feral horse herds in Ecuador and collected data on 202 sequences of behaviour when licking and chewing behaviour occurred. Margrete Lie presented her findings at the 14th International Society of Equitation Science (ISES) conference in Rome last week.

The team wanted to investigate whether non-nutritive chewing was performed to signal submission to another horse and also to study whether horses performed the behaviour between stressed and calm situations.

To find out whether non-nutritive chewing was performed to signal submission the researchers tested the idea that when one horse (the aggressor) approached another horse (the recipient) in a threatening manner, the recipient but not the aggressor would perform the behaviour. The team observed and recorded different behavioural sequences that involved aggressive interactions (for example if one horse herded or threatened another) and recorded whether the chewing behaviour was performed by either horse.

The results were fascinating: the team found that the chewing behaviour was performed by both the approaching and the recipient horses. Non-nutritive chewing was actually performed more often by the aggressor than the recipient, refuting the assumption this behaviour is a submissive signal.

The researchers also investigated whether non-nutritive chewing occurred between tense and relaxed situations. When observing the horses’ behavioural sequences, they found that the majority of the behaviours before chewing were tense and the majority of behaviours after chewing were relaxed. The chewing behaviour occurred when the horses transitioned from a tense to a relaxed state.

The researchers concluded that chewing could be associated with a switch from a dry mouth caused by stress (sympathetic arousal) to salivation associated with relaxation (parasympathetic activity).

The results of this study suggest that non-nutritive chewing was not used as a submissive signal by horses in the contexts observed, but it occurred after a tense situation, likely as a response to a dry mouth.

The research team acknowledge that further research is required to measure the stress responses associated with non-nutritive chewing. However, this study does highlight that licking and chewing likely occurs after a stressful situation and may be used as a behavioural indicator that the previous situation was perceived as stressful by the horse."

To view the ISES position statement on the use/misuse of leadership and dominance concepts in horse training please visit:
https://equitationscience.com/
/position-statement-on-the-u
).

From researcher Margrete Lie:

“We looked at feral horses living with as little human interference as possible to see how they behaved in their natural habitat. It was important to look at completely natural behaviour and therefore we wanted to see horses living without restriction. These horses were living in a 334 km2 national park, and in the area we observed there were a little under 200 horses. No stallions had been removed from the population as is so common in domestic horses.”

“It was interesting to see how often the horses performed the chewing behaviour and also how clear it was that all individuals did chew – not only ‘submissive’ individuals.”

“The study showed that the horses were chewing between calm and relaxed situations, but it does not say if chewing comes as a response to relaxing or if chewing helps them relax. To able to look at this more closely I believe a more controlled study with stress measurements is needed.”

Researchers: M. Lie 1,2* and R.C. Newberry 1

1. Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway

2. Hesteglede, Ås, Norway
Email Margret Lie: *[email protected]

Interesting case. This type of asymmetry causes saddle fitting issues as the asymmetry is replicated and amplified throu...
04/06/2020

Interesting case. This type of asymmetry causes saddle fitting issues as the asymmetry is replicated and amplified through the body

21/05/2020

The last few weeks have bliss on the horse front with Libby relaxing at grass with 3 other horses. Plenty of sleep, too much grass, no stress and I recognise my horse again: inquisitive, curious, relaxed, friendly, playful - and getting fat! Time to get back on board I think!

21/05/2020

The last few weeks have bliss on the horse front with Libby relaxing at grass with 3 other horses. Plenty of sleep, too much grass, no stress and I recognise my horse again: inquisitive, curious, relaxed, friendly, playful - and getting fat! Time to get back on board I think!

Interesting discussion. You can catch it later if you like.
20/04/2020

Interesting discussion. You can catch it later if you like.

📣🎬Don't miss the BarefootLiveTV Show TONIGHT on LAMINITIS in the Barefoot Live group!

What people are saying about the shows so far....

👉"Brilliant Friday night discussion for horsey people, thank you very much. Unbelievable"

👉"Wow this is so so interesting. My horse was lame on his high heeled foot. This explains everything..."

👉"So so interesting. Confirmed a lot of things I thought (hoped) I already knew and also taught me a few new things too. Thankyou!!"

Let’s Talk About Laminitis’ coming up on Monday’s BarefootLiveTV show.

Come along and ask your questions LIVE!

👉Go here to register and join the BAREFOOT LIVE group: bit.ly/BarefootLive

👉Monday 20th April 8PM GMT+1 (3PM EDT)

See you there! đŸ€©đŸż

17/04/2020
17/04/2020

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