The Other Side Equine Fitness & Rehab Center

22/08/2024

Don't forget about the thoracic sling! So important for so many reasons!

13/08/2024

1. Welcome to The Other Side Equine Fitness & Rehab Center! Where horses can heal and get conditioned for return to riding and improved performance. Here's a short tour:
2. Vitafloor whole body vertical vibration stall. To decrease the stress hormone, cortisol, and increase blood flow to healing tissues or organs.
3. Wash stall. Equipped with infrared lights and hot water for cleaning horses before they go into the underwater treadmill.
4. Hydrohorse heated underwater treadmill. Used for cardiovascular conditioning, as well as exercising injured horses in a safe environment with decreased weight bearing on the limbs.
5. Full spectrum solarium. Increases circulation to support healing/recovering tissues while also calming, warming, and drying horses after their underwater workout. This is also one area where manual therapies, stretching, and postural exercises (baited dynamic mobility, belly lifts, pelvic tilt, etc) are performed.
6. The amazing view right outside our door! And one of our little helpers, of course 😊

Think your horse might benefit from our therapies? Contact us today to find out more!
[email protected]
www.tosranch.com

08/07/2024

We have monthly boarding spots (with or without fitness/rehab services) available at our beautiful ranch in Old Snowmass, CO! Large, irrigated pastures with 3-sided shelters and automatic waterers, as well as safe fencing. Outdoor stalls with runs also available. Access to our heated tack room, outdoor round pen and arena, walker, and many miles of trails on private and neighboring BLM lands! Give your horses the best view and the amazing care they deserve! Contact us for details and reasonable pricing! [email protected]

04/05/2023

Boarding, fitness, and rehabilitation facility has availability! Located in Old Snowmass, CO. Large pastures with shelters and automatic waterers. Hay included. Miles and miles of private trails to ride in the beautiful Roaring Fork Valley! Large arena and round pen. All disciplines welcome!

Individualized fitness and rehabilitation programs use our HydroHorse underwater treadmill, Vitafloor vertical whole body vibration stall, and solarium light therapies, as well as therapeutic exercise and manual therapy, as appropriate!

[email protected], www.tosranch.com

01/05/2023

A good resource!

There’s no getting away from it – horses are truly amazing and as owners, riders, trainers, therapists and other equestrian professionals our aim is to ensure the horses in our care are happy and healthy. As their carers we must learn to ride sensitively, manage them effectively, learn to read t...

18/04/2023

More about conditioning & fitness!

Fitness contributes to far more than aesthetics and performance, making it a constant goalpost for domesticated horses. In terms of health and well-being, it serves a protective role, safeguarding from illness and injury. But how long does a horse need to exercise daily to reap these benefits?

While there is no magic rule for daily exercise duration, there are unequivocal needs depending upon the season. During periods of lesser activity due to poor weather or unforgiving schedules, activity needs to be sufficient to maintain bodily systems that rely on it. During the active season of training and showing, activity needs to be sufficient to improve fitness. These figures differ widely.

For our purposes, we will delineate between these as a Maintenance Phase (periods of lesser activity) versus a Building Phase (the height of your riding season). Below I have offered generic guidelines for the amount of time to train your horse daily based on goals and time of season.

Click below to keep reading my latest piece in Canada Horse Journal: https://www.jecballou.com/trainingtips/how-long-should-i-train-my-horse-daily

24/03/2023

Cool!!

16/03/2023

A fun exercise to try! Lead your horse over this pole pattern at a walk in hand, 3-5 times each direction, for 3-5 sessions before riding the pattern. This actually requires a lot of strength, stability, and mobility from the horse, so start slow and progress gradually to prevent compensations and injury!

𝗧𝘂𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝗽 - 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲

Raising the poles on the outside of a curve encourages reach and range of movement in the outside forelimb.

This exercise stretches the latissimus dorsi and forelimb retractor muscles, increases the range of movement in the shoulder and elbow joints.

It is also useful for helping straighten a horse with asymmetrical forelimb movement.

15/03/2023

This time of year, it's always good to remind ourselves of these tips to keep our horses feet (and bodies and minds) happy!

Learn how to combat horse hoof issues such as thrush, white line disease, and abscesses that can develop in or be exacerbated by moist, muddy conditions.

15/03/2023

I'm all signed-up for this webinar! It sounds like it will be super informative and helpful! What awesome webinars or courses have you participated in recently??

𝗧𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝘀 attach skeletal muscle to bone. They are dense fibrous parallel bundles of collagen arranged in long cords that hve high tensile strength but limited elasticity.

🐎 Blood supply to tendons is limited and explains why healing takes time.

🐎 As horses have no muscles below the knee, tendons bear the brunt of the workload.

🐎 When galloping, landing from a large fence or performing advanced dressage movements, the tendons of the lower leg are stretched to the limit as the limb absorbs many times the body weight.

If you'd like to learn more about tendons and ligaments - Anatomy, Management and Rehabilition join our live online seminar on March 24 2023

horsesinsideout.com/tendons

14/03/2023

Reminder - We provide services to horses who just need to get in shape for riding season! Contact us today to reserve a spot for your horse to participate in an end-of-winter fitness program with us! [email protected]

09/03/2023

100%! 👍

Consistent exercise increases density of capillary beds. Why does this matter? And why do weekend warriors suffer without this capillary density?

More capillaries means more blood flow through muscles. This means not only can they generate more power but they can also remove the waste byproducts: hydrogen ions, carbon dioxide, and lactate. Capillary density can mean the difference between healthy muscles vs acidic muscles that "burn" and ache. It ain't always exciting, but CONSISTENCY of exercise if your horse's friend.

01/03/2023

We had a great time at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo last weekend! It was wonderful to meet so many new people who are interested in equine rehabilitation and fitness!

Which booths or clinicians at the expo were your favorite?!

21/02/2023

Some fun ground exercises to try with your horse! I love the explanation and exercise rationale Jec Aristotle Ballou gives us!

Use a simple set-up with two poles to fine tune hoof placement and motor control. This is a useful exercise during inclement weather or periods of lesser act...

19/02/2023

Well said, !

14/02/2023

Guess who will be at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo again this year?! Get your tickets soon for this great event, held at the National Western Complex in Denver! You'll see many wonderful exhibitors and vendors. Stop by our booth at the trade show (look for our navy blue table cloths) to say hello and to learn about what we do at The Other Side Equine Fitness & Rehab! Hope to see you there!

Get tickets at https://www.coloradohorsecouncil.com/rmhe/

08/02/2023

Check out this blog about tendons and tendon injury/rehabilitation from Horses Inside Out! Also, explore the Horses Inside Out website! It has great resources and educational material!

https://www.horsesinsideout.com/post/treating-tendon-injuries-in-horses?utm_source=so&cid=b18bfd73-a599-4e60-a187-576d0d2a1239&utm_content=d9bb0ae9-ac02-407a-9b09-0f5283a1a03b&postId=d108d5e4-96c9-4dd7-a056-493c418b894f&utm_campaign=346b968b-0ddf-44d9-a736-d57901b87ef4&utm_medium=mail

Caring for tendons, or managing a horse with a tendon injury is probably every horse owner’s nightmare. A horse with a tendon injury used to mean months of box rest, which is stressful for all concerned, and with no real guarantee of a full return to fitness at the end of it. Thankfully, vets are ...

07/02/2023

Thanks, Onlinepethealth and Christa Veinotte, International Equine Massage Therapist, for a great webinar! I enjoyed learning more about sprains and strains in dressage horses and how to treat and prevent them!

06/02/2023

We hosted another great event last Friday! Went snowshoeing on the ranch with beautiful views, then watched a horse being exercised in our underwater treadmill and experienced the sensations of the Vitafloor vertical vibration stall! Thanks so much to those who participated and shared awesome photos!
To join our mailing list and receive notifications about future events, email [email protected] or DM us here!

24/01/2023

How do you warm up your horse?

𝗧𝘂𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝗽 - 𝗣𝗿𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗨𝗽 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲

Getting into the habit of doing a few exercises in-hand before your ride is good for you and your horse.

Run through these easy exercises each time before you get on board to help kick start your warm up.

🐎 𝑊𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑎 / 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 - 2 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑛
🐎 𝑊𝑎𝑙𝑘 3 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 (10𝑚) 𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑛
🐎 𝐴𝑠𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘-𝑢𝑝 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 10 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑

Give this a try and you'll soon start to see a difference in your horse. It's also a good warm up for you too.

23/01/2023

On Saturday, TOS EquiFiRe hosted a small group of new friends at the ranch! We went snowshoeing with beautiful views, snacked and chatted in our rentable event space, then ran a demo with a horse in our fitness & rehabilitation center! It was a great afternoon and was wonderful to meet some horse-interested locals! 🙂

We will host another event like this one on Friday, Feb 3 at 1pm! Please find the FB event page "Active Horse Friends Gathering" for more info and to RSVP!

13/01/2023

Let your horses move!! Providing ample turnout is a simple way to PREVENT injury and, just as important, to optimize mental health!

10/01/2023

Learn to interpret your horse's "behaviors." They are always telling us something important. If we don't pay attention and address what our horse is communicating, we're not only asking for more troubles down the road, but we're also missing out on an opportunity to deeply connect with our equine partners and care for them in the ways they can't care for themselves.

Riding through it.

Most riders can think back to a coach or trainer who was heavy handed and believed in riding a horse through it, or using increasing force to get their way with horses. Be it riding a horse harder to a jump after a refusal, or swapping out tack to exert force and control, to belittling the rider and saying they're not strong/tough enough on the horse and they're being "walked all over".

What these supposed coaches and trainers fail to understand is that coercion and force are not part of proper riding, neither is inflicting pain, physical or psychological. That all falls into another category which is miles away from compassionate, correct, proper riding.

When a horse is ridden through what some deem as bad behavior, we're telling the horse that we don't care about their physical and psychological well-being, and that they had just better do what they're told or face the consequences. If I were to swap out the horse for a child, or even a spouse, those same people would now say that it's abusive, but strangely enough it's not when it's inflicted on an animal.

That pinning of the ears, rooting at the bit, running away from the leg, biting at the girth, that is ALL communication. A horse can't exactly sit you down and have a chat about what's bothering them, so they communicate it in the only way they know how, and depend on us to listen.

10/01/2023

Mobility, stability, strength, control, power, straightness, rhythm... These, and more, are the qualities of movement which allow a horse to "dance" with or without a rider. Freedom and ease of movement requires the development of so many elements, especially the brain-body connection. As a physical therapist, I am frequently switching my focus from specific elements to a whole horse perspective (how these elements interact to create movement). We must break things down, then put them back together again. It's a beautiful process.
📸 Janine McCaughey

04/01/2023

Yes yes yes! 🙌

How to train with minimal time:

I’m of the mind that quality, consistent work ten minutes here and there is far better than an hour or two on the weekend. Everybody’s schedules are crazy, everybody has stuff going on, and probably everybody feels guilty all the time for what they’re not doing.

I have a busy life too. It can be hard to prioritize my own horses, but I’ve had several teachers essentially grab me by my shirt collar and emphasize with gusto how important my own horses training is- and so I present to you my secret plan for short sessions with quality

1- have a plan going in. I don’t mean decide exactly what you’re gonna do, because life happens and you have to work with the horse you have in front of you. But have a plan to give this session your all- to be 110% present for ten, fifteen minutes. No distractions. And calm. If you shoot for 110%, you might hit 70%, and that would be a great success. Get your head on straight, then go in to the pasture.

2- focus on quality in everything. How much care can you invest in putting the halter on? How did your horse feel? How nicely did they lead? How much attention can you give to brushing in a way your horse likes? How well did they stand at the mounting block, how much attention to detail did you give picking up their feet with softness? These things matter, and add up.

3- focus on being smooth and rhythmic. The more I can get me and my horse moving in a smooth, rhythmic way, the sooner the distractions fall away, the sooner my horse breathes and calms, the sooner every thing gets awesome. So get that rhythm!

4- if things go wrong, as they can do, backtrack to something easy. Spend your time building successes, so find something you can do well and quit on without eating up your whole evening being frustrated.

5- be happy with less. Don’t expect flying changes in ten minutes- be happy with breathing, be happy with standing still, be happy with moving nicely, be happy with moving at all. If you have minimal time, your expectations should fit the bill: small and simple, and learn to get happy with less. Resist the urge to do it one more time!!

And, don’t forget to get on my email list to sign up for my lunging course! I also have a course for Equitopia on Daily Handling Skills and how they affect posture 🙂 link in the comments

16/12/2022

Does your horse move freely in all the gaits? Areas of tension, stiffness, weakness, pain, etc. can limit a horse's ability to perform expressively and fluidly. Addressing these impairments with specific exercises and treatments can help the horse to have more ease of movement, suppleness, balance, and willingness!

As so many factors contribute to freedom of movement, it is necessary to take a "whole horse" approach, working with your vet, physical therapist, farrier, trainer, and others to optimize your horse's movement and comfort.

📸 "Horse Gaits, Balance and Movement" book by Susan E. Harris

09/12/2022

We can all see the positive effects of fitness training or conditioning on the outside of the horse - improved muscle bulk and tone, improved posture, improved body condition score, etc.

How about all the effects that we can't see so easily? These include:

🍎improved joint and cartilage health
🍎decreased inflammation and pain
🍎increased cardiac output (ability of the heart to pump blood to the muscles)
🍎increased bone remodeling and therefore increased bone strength and density
🍎improved muscle fiber quality (muscles work more efficiently)
🍎improved neural firing for muscle activation and timing
🍎etc...
All so important for your horse to feel wonderful and perform at his/her best!

Need help getting your horse back in shape after an injury or time off? Or better yet, want to prevent injury while your horse is on a training program? Find a Certified Equine Rehabilitation Practitioner or equine physical therapist!

Contact us here or at [email protected]

16/11/2022

How does your horse react to being tacked up? Or even just seeing the saddle and/or bridle? 🧠

Study: Dyson et al. (2022) An investigation into the relationship between equine behaviour when tacked-up and mounted and epaxial muscle hypertonicity or pain, girth region hypersensitivity, saddle-fit, rider position and balance, and lameness.

Concluding statement: “The display of many behaviours during tacking-up or mounting is likely to reflect lameness or tack-associated discomfort. Owners must be better educated to recognise these behaviours.”

Link to study: https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/eve.13440

04/11/2022

Openings available at The Other Side Equine Fitness & Rehab in Snowmass, CO! Let our Certified Equine Rehabilitation Practitioners keep your horse in shape over the winter using our Hydrohorse underwater treadmill! Or, we can help your horse recover from injury (tendon/ligament injury, etc) or manage a chronic condition (arthritis, kissing spine, back pain, etc)!
We work collaboratively with your horse's care team to provide high-quality treatments that enable horses to return to sport/work faster and with decreased risk of repeated injury. Treatments may include underwater treadmill exercise, whole body vibration stall, solarium light therapies, therapeutic exercises, and manual therapy.
Various fitness and rehab plans available to fit individual horse and owner needs.
Contact us today! [email protected]
We also offer pasture board at reasonable rates!

21/10/2022

Great info! Sharing advice from fellow professionals!

GASTRIC ULCER 101

Gastric ulcers are very common in performance horses and also affect leisure horses and ponies.
Glandular ulcers (EGGD) are more difficult to treat than squamous (ESGD), and are generally not related to the diet. Ask your vet about the new types of medication available and take advice from your vet or nutritionist on how to feed to ensure the medication is most effective.

To minimise the risk of gastric ulcers:
☑ Feed ad lib forage where possible, and avoid more than 4 hours without any forage or feed
☑ If pasture grass is scarce, supplement with forage
☑ Make all dietary changes gradually – both forage and bucket feed
☑ Restrict dietary starch ideally to no more than 1g per kg bodyweight per meal e.g. 500g for a 500kg horse, and ideally less than 2g starch per kg bodyweight per day
☑ Use vegetable oil (ideally linseed (flaxseed) or rapeseed) as a useful source of energy for hard-working horses
☑ For horses prone to ulcers, feed 2 litres of alfalfa or grass chaff half an hour prior to exercise (horses with active ulcers should have soaked alfalfa pellets or soft grass chaff)
☑ Give as much turnout to pasture as possible
☑ Avoid solitary confinement
☑ Provide continuous access to water
☑ Avoid stress where possible so stick to a routine and prepare horses for travel and competition as much as possible
☑ Horses with or prone to EGGD should have 2 full days off exercise per week (split rather than consecutive)

(Those of you who are members of the online Equine Nutrition Learning Centre have access to the entire article).

Feel free to share 🐴🍏