Wide Bay Equine Therapies

10/07/2023

Lesson services now available. Pop over to Greener Pastures Equine Services for more information.

Lesson services now available! Better late than never! Ridden lessons are only available to those with their own horse, due to increased insurance costs (3 fold increases) I cannot offer ridden lessons with school horses.
There a future plans for a number of workshops so keep an eye out for those details.

30/05/2023

04/04/2023

A quick notice for clients using this page for contact and bookings. I've merged Wide Bay Equine Therapies with my coaching business page Greener Pastures Equestrian, to become Greener Pasture Equine Services.
All future enquiries and booking can be made through the Greener Pastures Equine Services page.

21/02/2023

31/01/2023

Don’t 👏 keep 👏 pushing 👏horses 👏 that 👏 aren’t 👏 posturally 👏 ready 👏

That’s my 2p for today 😁

There are too many horses out there with notable asymmetry’s and inadequate muscle tone and mass for the level of work they are in.

If there is any concern that your horse doesn’t feel confident in their work, is struggling or even if you think your horse may be trying their best despite not being as physically comfortable as they should be (whether this be physically, saddle, mentally…)… stop 🛑 and take everything right back.

13/01/2023

**THURSDAY RESEARCH MEME**

In a new series for 2023 we will be sharing an evidence based nugget of information each week. Our goal is to advance knowledge from an evidence based perspective. We have a wide range of MEME’s covering multiple areas of equine sports science.

Todays MEME is relating to girth length/buckle height - here the girth is too low 🤓

Read more a previous grith blog - https://www.centaurbiomechanics.co.uk/blog/?ID=18&dbId=2152

07/01/2023

22/11/2022

🙌👏

Are you training for dysfunction? 🏋🏼🏇

If i took you to the gym and told you to lift 100kg you'd probably tell me you couldn't. If I stood behind you with a whip, shouting at you or prodding you in the ribs you'd probably try to lift it, even though you know you can't and as a result use the wrong muscles, compensate and probably end up injuring yourself. If you continued to do this before your body was ready you would strengthen the wrong muscles, cause imbalance in your body and damage joints, ligaments and tendons in the process.

If i took you and asked you to just lift the bar, assessed your posture and form and slowly, over the weeks built up your reps and weight and kept assessing your posture, you would eventually lift that 100kg without a problem and without causing injury in the process.

Your horse is no different.

We should not be pushing horses beyond what their bodies are capable of. I think people look at horses and see a big animal and automatically assume they are strong, I often remind people that horses were never designed to be ridden so it is our responsibility as a rider/ owner to strengthen our horses for this. This requires us to strengthen muscles that would not ordinarily strengthen just mooching around a field.

Every horse is different, just like us humans. They will require strengthening in different areas, so a one size fits all doesn't work. Add in to that mix previous injuries and every exercise plan should be carefully tailored to that horse's needs on that day.

For example - pole work is generally considered a good exercise for building core strength, this is only true if your horse is actually using its core to get over the poles. If your horse trots through a line of poles with its head in the air, its shoulders sunk, it's back hollow and its pelvis out behind itself... Hammering it over lines of poles is just going to strengthen those muscles we are trying to switch off and put the joints, ligaments and tendons at risk of being damaged. Add in to this an unbalanced rider and these stressors increase.

Of course, the first time we ask a horse to do anything they may fumble a couple of times before they find the right way. But if they don't improve each time and instead get tighter in their frame we must stop and reassess the exercise.

Instead, we may have to first teach the horse how to use its body correctly, this may be at the standstill and then in walk without any poles, I know! How boring i hear you cry!!

Only then, when the horse can carry itself comfortably, do we start with one pole (just like the single bar at the gym), get the form right and once we can do that correctly we may introduce another pole or go up a gait.

This applies to everything we do with the horse. Ask for one thing, get it right (by right i mean using the right muscles) and then gradually ask for more as they build strength, only then can you advance the exercise.

If the horse has had time off or an injury you may need to start from scratch. Just because they trotted 6 poles 6 weeks ago, doesn't mean they can now.

Work with the horse you have on the day, they may have slipped in the field, worked hard the previous day. If their form fails or they're struggling - either stop the exercise or simplify it- DO NOT push on through if they're not doing it correctly - you will train the wrong muscles, you will train dysfunction. Just because they could do it yesterday does not mean they can today.

So please consider this with everything you do with your horse, watch them, listen to them, assess them and they will work so much better for you as a result.

Written by Kirsty Rawden Veterinary Physiotherapy - please credit if you copy/ share

*Steps off my soapbox* 🙌🏼

16/11/2022

This video clip is a comparison of movement patterns in 2 different postures.
It is easy for a rider sitting on a horse, to misinterpret the greater rising and falling of the movement in the hyperflexion pattern as "elevation" and "collection" but due to the combined locomotive and mechanical factors that are created in hyperflexion, collection cannot ever be obtained in this posture.

The full video clip can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er1PzLtA7rU

22/08/2022

👇🙏

Training of the horse should hold therapeutic and rehabilitation values for the horse and his body. If the training routine doesn’t hold these values, it’s just wear and tear on the body, and abuse to the mind.

04/04/2022

Good food for thought whenever you encounter difficulties in your interactions with horses.

Have you considered that your horse isn’t giving you a hard time? It’s having a hard time!?

This statement holds true not just for handling and riding, but when being shod too!!
A case today reminded me of this!

Horses are on the whole genuine in their behaviour, behaviours can be learnt from previous experiences but on the whole if a behaviour is pain induced they will tend to desist on relief of that pain, and studies have shown this. Cook (2003) for example found an immediate change in behaviour after the removal of a painful bit, and Dyson found a reduction in behaviours with the abolishment of pain in her studies.

If we can learn to recognise the signs and compensations we can firstly recognise something as physiologically wrong and then make steps to address it. Further reading at these links..

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

https://www.theequinedocumentalist.com/post/recognising-pain-in-the-horse

In an upcoming webinar Dr Clifford will outline compensations, recognising them and understanding what we can change.. get your tickets on the hub now..

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

01/04/2022

// Friday Fact - Ruling Out Pain //

Before any analysis of problem horse behaviour, it’s important to investigate other possible causes such as pain. The science of recognising facial signs of pain is still in its infancy, despite the claims of many authors. Much of the problem arises because of the huge variation between horses in the facial characteristics as well as differences in behavioural traits and temperaments.

The image below shows the generalised understanding of how pain might present itself. However, it’s important to recognise that pain and stress have similar characteristics in animals. The characteristics of pain in the image may alternatively suggest stress resulting from conflict behaviour, or any other stress induced by human interactions.

Therefore, when assessing problem behaviour you should also rely on first principles and pattern recognition, including the signs and symptoms of the problematic behaviour.

For example, in the case of a horse that doesn’t stand still when being saddled, as well as facial signs of pain/stress, you should also consider:

▪️ Dysfunctions in in-hand training
▪️ Prior negative associations with saddling
▪️ Sensitivity levels and preferences
▪️ Predictability of the actions being done
▪️ Familiarity of the human
▪️ Confidence to separate from social partners etc.

This is an excerpt of our course 10872NAT Diploma of Equitation Science. To find out more, please follow this link: https://esi-education.com/courses/diploma/

23/12/2021

Ferdie & I would like to wish my clients & everyone following this page a lovely Christmas & New Year!

06/10/2021

Time for a little WBET update. I like having a goal or something I'm actively learning about otherwise I feel stagnated and this is my latest endeavour in expanding my knowledge base and adding tools to the toolbox. 🙂

24/09/2021

Training for long term soundness

🐎The later we can start riding our horses and the more preparation and conditioning we can do beforehand the better.

🐎 When starting a young horse it's important to ensure he constantly works in a good posture.

🐎 Avoid expecting the horse to carry too much weight for too long or too often.

🐎 Avoid working him when he is tired.

🐎 Understanding the maturation of growth plates can help reduce the strain we put on joints. It also enables us to train more sympathetically and make informed decisions about the type of movements we ask of our horses, how often and for how long we train.

To discover more about this subject, there's a whole chapter about skeletal maturity in Gillian's book Posture and Performance.

https://www.horsesinsideout.com/product-page/posture-and-performance-1

30/08/2021

Change of date!
Munduberra! I'm headed your way on the 17th of September. Drop the page a message to book a spot.

30/07/2021

I had finished this course earlier in the year but the WA fires put back the production of the certificate (& probably the current "corona" climate of Australia Post). But it has arrived!

17/06/2021

“The horse just has a little arthritis in his left hock, it doesn’t seem to bother him too much.”

Horses are great compensators, and they will create alternative locomotive patterns to continue movement.

So, say this little bit of osteoarthritis causes a reduced range of motion of the tarsal joint. In an attempt to maintain stride length and hide this dysfunction to potential predators (because you never know when a lion could be waiting around the corner... or a flapping plastic bag!) the tarsal joint is rotated medially (inwards) during the swing phase of the stride. This results in asymmetrical & medial weight bearing through the digit. This places additional stress through medial hamstring muscles, resulting in muscle tension and trigger points. And this is all something that is potentially going on in just the affected hindlimb.

A hip hike/drop can occur at corresponding phases of the stride, placing the sacroiliac joint under stress, resulting in paraspinal and asymmetrical gluteal tone/pain.

Decreased impulsion from the left hindlimb leads to increased weight bearing through the right forelimb diagonal. This can create tension and hypertrophy to the right pectoral muscles and related fascial planes.

The spiral of compensation could continue on further, affecting cervical muscles that become hypertonic as a result of weight shifting, digit shape and size, TMJ pain, head tiling, hyoid dysfunction, asymmetric tail holding...

Often it can be the case where I see a horse that is a chronic stage of compensation and it can be difficult to find the true cause especially when the horse may appear just overall “stiff”.

I liken the rehabilitation of chronic cases to peeling the layers off an onion; one layer at a time and piece by piece to unravel and rewind the compensation spiral. 🐴

** Note after recieving a lot of messages, if you feel you require help with anything I have mentioned in this post, please drop me a message and I will try to get back to you but it may take me a while as I receive multiple a day! I am based in Surrey and cover most of the South East, so if you’d like a treatment & plan for your horse I would be more than happy. ♥️

17/02/2021

Munduberra! Headed your way on the 6th of March, message or phone for appointment availabilities. 🐴 Happy Riding!

28/01/2021

Hey Munduberra & surrounds! I'm looking to set a date for a trip that way in early February. Please PM the page or phone to request a booking.

26/01/2021

01/01/2021

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas & New Years!
I'll be taking a short break next week & be back on deck for bookings from the 11th.
Also, in the oncoming weeks I'll be looking for volunteer case studies to complete my studies in photonic therapy so keep an eye on the page for more details. Happy Riding!

03/12/2020

I'm doing a trip to Mundubbera next Friday the 11th. Appointments available, please msg the page or phone to make a booking 🙂. Happy Riding!

23/11/2020

Contact! This post gives a good description of the structural implications of incorrect contact, in particular horses those which are ridden in exaggerated positions of lateral &/or longitudinal flexion.
This is a problem I commonly saw as a coach. No matter what level your horse is working at the poll should remain the highest point & not the junction between the C1 & C2 vertebrae. Lateral flexion should see the ears remain level.

04/11/2020

Food for thought: Rider balance attributes to horse balance which influences the horse's muscle development, carriage and patterns of movement, or compensation.

27/08/2020

In this bonus footage, Dr. Ridgway discusses "high heel/low heel syndrome" and how it impacts, amongst other things a horse's tendons and ligaments. Dr. Ridg...