Integrated Veterinary Therapeutics

28/12/2025

The Elbow

The equine elbow is one of the most overlooked joints in performance horses, yet it plays a very important role in weight-bearing, stability, and efficiency.

In this episode, we explore why elbow dysfunction is relevant for all ridden horse's at some point, why it is often missed in diagnostics, and how posture and limb loading influence elbow health.

We unpack:

- Why the elbow is frequently under-recognised as a source of lameness

- The anatomy and biomechanics of the equine elbow, including key muscles, ligaments, nerves, and its role in the stay apparatus

- How posture, hoof balance, thoracic sling function, and shoulder stability influence elbow loading

- Common elbow pathologies, diagnostic challenges, and practical management strategies to support long-term joint health and soundness

If you enjoyed this episode we would love for you to follow and share the episode with your friends. A 5-star rating helps us continue creating education that makes a real difference for horses around the world! Episode 65: The Elbow The equine elbow is one of the most overlooked joints in...

26/12/2025

We must forever remain mindful that the horse has been selectively bred to be extraordinarily tolerant.

In many ways the horse is its own worst enemy in terms of welfare.

As a trainer also of Asian elephants, which as a species has not been selectively bred for any traits, I find the tolerance of horses quite spectacular.

In South and Southeast Asia, elephants are used to track down poachers, a task that has not yet been superseded.

However, I also noticed that elephants have a much ‘shorter fuse’ than horses and are intolerant of inescapable pain.

In such cases when elephants are subject to similar pain and stress as horses frequently endure, the consequences for the humans concerned are not uncommonly fatal.

We can’t ask horses how they feel but what we can do is recognise that there are some very important elements of a horse’s life that matter to the horse.

In a future world, it is extremely important for the sustainability of horse sports to think about the horse’s welfare and to move away from an anthropocentric view to a horse-centred view: welfare from the horse’s own perspective.

Andrew McLean

25/12/2025

24/12/2025

🎄As this year draws to a close, I want to take a moment to say thank you.

Thank you for trusting me with your horses, for your curiosity, your openness to learning, and your commitment to doing better because of the horse.

Thank you for the thoughtful questions, the conversations, the shared wins, and the willingness to look deeper than behaviour alone.

This community continues to inspire me — horse owners, trainers, professionals, and students who care deeply about posture and wellbeing.

It’s a privilege to walk alongside you and your horses on this journey.

🎇I wish you, your family's and your horses a Safe and Happy Christmas, filled with love, laughter, rest, and some special horse time.

With Gratitude,
Raquel 💜

18/12/2025

I am heading to Canada September 2026!!!

17/12/2025

This morning I had a question posted in my Equine Functional Posture Course and I thought it would be good to post here as it is an important question

“My horse has been cleared by the vet to be ridden… but when is the right time to actually start riding?”

This is such an important question!!

Being cleared by the Vet means tissues have healed enough to tolerate load.
But healing and readiness are not the same thing.

Before we climb back into the saddle, it’s worth asking a deeper question:
👉 Is my horse’s body prepared and able to carry me well - physically, posturally, and emotionally?

True readiness is about function, not just timeframes.

I look for signs like:
• Can they maintain balanced posture at rest?
- Limb alignment and positions
- Head and neck position - braced or relaxed?

• Do they have mobility and strength through the thoracic sling to enable lift at the base of the wither and maintain balance and weight off the forehand

• Is the core able to support the spine, or does movement collapse under load?
- Is there mobility of the spine in a belly lift?
- When they trot is the back well supported or is it dropping downwards with a disconnect to the pelvis

• Are they moving with ease, confidence, and symmetry or guarding and compensating?

• How do they respond to light requests - calmly and softly, or with tension and resistance?

🐴Riding too early doesn’t always look dramatic.
Often it shows up quietly:
– Loss of balance
– Subtle resistance
– Changes in behaviour
– Tension, stiffness, or reluctance
– Patterns that become “training problems” later on

💡 The ideal time to start riding is when your horse can carry themselves before they carry you.

This is where groundwork, posture work, controlled loading, and progressive reintroduction to movement become acts of welfare, not delays.

Because of the horse…
we owe them the time to rebuild balance, strength and confidence in their body not just return to work.

If you’re unsure, listen to what the body is telling you.
Posture and behaviour are always communicating - we just need to learn how to hear them.

💜🐴

15/12/2025

FROM THE HORSE’S PERSPECTIVE: FEET FIRST

Jay taught me more about feet than any book ever could.

Because of his navicular issues and sensitive feet, I had to learn. I kept getting different answers about how to keep him comfortable and sound, so I started digging into information on my own. Not because I wanted to become a farrier or a trimmer, but because I needed to understand what his feet were telling him about the world.

That’s when I really began to understand how important feet are to a horse, not just for movement, but for survival.

Here’s what I’ve learned.

⭐ 1. Horses feel the ground through their feet

The hoof is loaded with sensory receptors that detect:

pressure
vibration
firmness
movement

Feet are one of the ways horses gather information about their environment, often before we notice anything at all.

⭐ 2. Horses can feel vibration through the ground

Subtle changes in footing, hollow surfaces, shifting boards, unstable obstacles — horses feel these through their feet.

This is why they may:

pause
test the ground
paw
take a tentative step

They’re reading the surface before committing their weight to it.

⭐ 3. Pawing is information-gathering

When a horse paws at an obstacle, they aren’t being rude or resistant.

They’re asking: Is this solid?

Will this hold me?

Does this surface move?

Is this safe to step on?

Pawing is a safety check.

⭐ 4. Foot placement is a survival decision

From a horse’s perspective, where they put their feet matters more than anything else.

That’s why my mentor Randy always told me that if a horse feels their feet are compromised, they feel insecure... because in the wild, compromised feet mean you’re dead meat.

Their feet are their escape.
Their way out.
Their survival.

⭐ 5. This is why horses hesitate or go around

Choosing to go around an obstacle instead of over it isn’t defiance.

It’s self-preservation.

Why go across something questionable when there’s a safer option?

⭐ 6. Horses need to lower their head to place their feet

Lowering the head allows horses to:

see the ground clearly
judge depth
plan foot placement
feel confident stepping forward

Pulling the head up removes critical information.

⭐ 7. Compromised feet change how a horse feels

When feet feel sore, sensitive, or uncertain, the nervous system shifts.

Confidence drops.
Reactivity increases.
Hesitation shows up.

Because a horse that doesn’t trust their feet doesn’t feel safe.

Understanding how horses experience the world through their feet changes how we interpret their behavior.

Hesitation becomes thought.
Pawing becomes investigation.
Going around becomes a smart decision.

Just another reminder of how much changes when we slow down and look at the world from the horse’s perspective. 🐴💛

11/12/2025

🌿 Horses as Healers - More Than We Give Them Credit For 💛

🐴Horses heal us every single day.
Often quietly.
Always honestly.
And in ways we rarely stop to acknowledge.

Through Jelly’s Learnings I continue to learn to breathe a little deeper.
To soften a little more.
To become more present
We reconnect with parts of ourselves we didn’t even realise we had neglected.

But what makes horses such extraordinary healers isn’t just their gentleness or their generosity…
It’s their body, their nervous system, their ability to mirror us, and their sensitivity to intention.

Jelly is a beautiful soul and our connection continues to grow. At first when I came home I felt Jelly was very bored but then I felt it shift when he realised I had nothing to give. He became more attentive and more cuddly. All of the horses sniffed my neck (Ellie wanted nothing to do with me – healing is not yet in her vocabulary!)

💥I took Jelly to a few days with Mel Fleming when she was recently here (if took every ounce of energy and you could not ask for an easier horse!!).

We did a connected meditation session with our horses - Jelly offered me a message I will never forget.

He came up and neighed right into my ear;

A call to listen, to feel and to finally meet the parts of myself I had tucked away in the name of strength and survival.

- A message that spoke straight into the places I never let anyone see.
- A message that reminded me that healing doesn’t always come from doing… (believe me I have tried!!!) sometimes it comes from listening.

🌱Up until that day it doing daily tasks was a struggle amongst a lot of doing nothing (literally resting on the floor).
My body was absolutely exhausted and there was nothing to give to healing.
At the clinic on the first day with Mel Fleming I literally slept for half of the time and any increase in energy created a headache.

🥰The connection session with Jelly was a big part of my healing journey - From that day I felt like I was finally moving forward.

🦄Jelly is truly a gem, a beautiful soul who has really helped me to start feeling more joy and who has held my hand in more ways than one

That’s the magic of horses.
Not just as partners.
Not just as teachers.
But as healers.

Here’s to the horses who heal us…
…simply by being themselves. 💜✨
Because of the horse, we become better humans.

11/12/2025

In public demonstrations, it is not uncommon to see skilled riders on horses ba****ck and without a bridle, where control is often achieved with nothing more than a piece of string around the horse’s neck and subtle postural cues.

From the horse’s perspective, ba****ck riding makes the rider’s seat and posture much clearer, because there is no saddle or pad to blur those signals.

There is much to be gained from riding ba****ck in terms of truly understanding the dynamics of the horse’s back in all gaits, on both straight and curved lines.

Andrew McLean- Modern Horse Training: Equitation Science Principles & Practice, Volume 2

💡Available for purchase on our website!

10/12/2025

On the weekend at the clinic with Kim - I witnessed 3 beautiful moments (and I am sure there were many more that I was not present for)

- First sits on a 4 year old in a saddle - no anxiety, no stress, not a concern ❤️

- First ride bridleleess ride in a ring - happy pony (less resistance than in the bridle) ❤️

- First ride with no bridle, no ring, no whip just hands and body for control - so calm, absolutely beautiful ❤️

Horses are truly amazing being's and the more we trust and take away all the gear that "controls" them and keeps us "safe" the more we see their true balance and happiness, building trust and comfort in freedom 💖