Bellscross Veterinary Physiotherapy

10/11/2023

Great video!

02/11/2023

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Most horse people have, at least once, been taught to do things in riding, training or day to day care that can cause horses harm. Be it physically, emotionally or mentally.

The ability to cause harm does not equate to having the innate desire to hurt.

This is where, I think, a lot of horse people get mentally stuck when the topic of horse welfare improvement comes up.

They take any criticism of practices that they may have previously, or currently, participated in as a moral statement on who they are as a person. An attack, a sign that they're an abuser.

But, the industry we are in is one that is wrought with misinformation.

The equestrians that have never used harmful training methods are likely few and far between because it is so reliant on having excellent role models from day one.

Even with the best of intentions, it is pretty easy to be immersed in environments where harmful practices are commonly used and believed to be perfectly fine.

Such was the case with myself. I grew up frequently witnessing care and training practices that I now know are damaging to horse welfare, but back then, it was normal to me because it was the environment I grew up in.

Those teaching me such practices were regarded as experts.

I think it is important for us to separate how we morally value ourselves from new information that criticizes certain training and welfare practices.

Doing something wrong because you were taught it was right and didn't know better is entirely different from trying to cause deliberate harm.

We can't beat ourselves up for what we didn't know prior, but as we learn and grow, we can try to become more open to new information and participate in harm reduction where we can.

Check out my short film on this topic: https://youtu.be/m31hMUIE7W8?si=5Tl5NVsBYfgXf3LN

02/11/2023

No stirrup November- take stirrups off or cross them over?

Riding without stirrups is a great exercise, however, please consider taking your stirrups off rather than crossing them over infront of the saddle. The above diagrams illustrate just a few of the structures underneath where stirrup irons are usually crossed over. Especially in trot & canter, the irons will bounce and repeatedly hit against the horses scapula area. Whilst we can’t see obvious bruising on horses dark skin, this area is very delicate with thin but vital structures 🦴

Help yourself & your horse!

Please feel free to share, crossing irons over is so common but as with all things the horse’s anatomy really needs to be taken into account 🐎

30/07/2023

A bit of gore for everyone’s Sunday evening 🤓

30/07/2023

Wow what a busy month July has been!

Started the month with a trip to Devon for a 3 day Advanced Palpation CPD course, which of course covered a whole lot more than just palpation! I’ve also just returned from a great visit to Newmarket with INDIBA 🐎

Many lovely clients who make my job such a pleasure! Hoping to put some more informative posts up soon to help more owners understand their horses & what they can do for them 🤓

I’ll also be working on rehabbing myself as have been working away with a herniated cervical disc 🤦🏻‍♀️ will be very interesting to see rehab techniques from a human point of view!

29/06/2023

Great visualisation!

13/06/2023

Really interesting day, thank you Centaur Biomechanics & Kate for sharing your knowledge, & Advantage Dressage for having me!

This is a really important study, can’t wait for everything to be published (once the next 200 horse have been done!) 🤓

Back from a great day of data collection on the mammoth “equine back study” with Kate Horan from the RVC. Today was a special day as today we reached the milestone of having collected data for over 100 horses …..only another 200 to go 🤓🤓 Massive thanks to , and and team/owners for all their help - super well behaved horses 🤓🤓

28/05/2023

𝐇𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬
Continuing on with biomechanics 🐎

A little more about which muscles are involved 💪🏼
•Caudal femoral muscles
-biceps femoris
-semitendinosus
-semimembranosus
-gluteofemoralis

•cranial femoral muscles
-tensor fascia latae
-quadriceps femoris

A good understanding of the muscles involved in motion means we can create targeted exercises to improve the tone & strength of these muscles 🏋🏽

16/05/2023

𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬
An overview of how the forelimb moves 🐎

Biomechanics can be quite complicated, especially when muscle recruitment may not be exactly as it should!

Learning how your horse should be moving can help you to identify irregular or compensatory movements which could be indicative of a problem 🕵🏻‍♀️

I am planning to make posts covering what happens when this cycle of movement is disrupted & videos which will make the movements easier to visualise 👀

Also to come, hindlimb biomechanics, neck & trunk biomechanics, and eventually biomechanics of dressage & jumping 🤠

29/04/2023

Do you know how many joints and articulation (moving) points are in the equine back? Hint, it is WAY more than the legs.

Each thorasic vertebra has 2 intervertebral disks, 4 articular facets, 2 costo-transverse, 4 costo-vetebral. Then the ribs go down to become directly or indirectly attached to the (7-8) stenebra.

Each lumbar vertebra has 2 intervertebral disks, 4 articular facets, and 4 inter-transverse joints.

The intersection between L6 and S1 has 5 articulation points alone!

After the lumbar-sacral intersection, the sacrum has 3 further articulation points: the 2 sacroiliac and 1 sacrocaudal

That is well over 220 articulation (moving) points! (NOT including cervical)

ANY of these can be injured, have arthritis or other chronic changes. These injuries are compounded by the fact that the spine works as an interconnected chain. T6 articulates with T5 and T7. The ribs, muscles and ligaments all interconnect as well. This means you cannot solely have a T6 issue. If T6 becomes injured it affects the chain around it and will continue to spiral out.

Properly addressing these problems, prevents long term effects in training, showing, and the every day life of your beloved equine partner! Next up: The biomechanics behind the back.

13/04/2023

Delighted to now be a member of RAMP!

RAMP ensures all practitioners meet the highest standards. Standards apply to all members, including chartered Physiotherpaists (ACPAT), Osteopaths, Chiropractors & Veterinary Physiotherapists 🐴

RAMP-Register of Animal Musculoskeletal Practitioners

04/04/2023

"No one gets sick because of a deficiency in pharmacological supplementation"

And what I mean by this is that no human/horse/animal gets ill in the first instance because they weren't supplementing with medication.

They get ill because of a deficiency - be it nutritional, hormonal or, when looking at the musculoskeletal system, biomechanical.

We can use the medication to get better, but we need to identify why the illness occurred in the first place to work on a top down/bottom up approach to not only fix it, but ensure it doesn't happen again.

When we look at lameness in the horse, the horse's joints don't become inflamed because of the lack of arthramid or corticosteroids.

They become inflamed because of biomechanical disruption which from experience is led by supoptimal biomechanics.

So when the horse's joints are medicated, but the biomechanical stimulus (e.g. the suboptimal biomechanics) doesn't get addressed, the problem comes back...

And so we see a situation where a horse is repetitively medicated but the problem never really goes away.

The gait pattern remains the same but the horse is dealing with it because they've had temporary pain relief (even if temporary is a protracted time frame which buys the owner 6 months)

OR the owner puts the horse through a rehabilitation plan, to then end up riding the horse exactly how they were ridden before... to put them back in the biomechanical deficit which led to the pathology in the first place...

And I'm not saying that medicating is a bad thing - training through pain is utterly miserable (and unethical) - so taking the pain away, to then train the body is a very effective way of helping the horse to become more comfortable more quickly.

But just relying on medicating over and over again, but not changing the biomechanic stimulus can be equally as unethical as training through pain.

So if you are rehabilitating your horse right now, I invite you to look at how your horse moves and the deficit that you're trying to remedy

And identify the things that you can change about how you work or manage them, to safe guard against falling back into that biomechanical hole again.

02/04/2023

What will my horse feel like post-treatment?

I’ve found that this topic isn’t often discussed. Not every horse will feel amazing after treatment …does this mean they shouldn’t have had a treatment or the treatment didn’t have positive effects? No!

Every horse will react differently to treatments, and differently to each treatment! This can depend on a variety of factors, such as issues found, methods of treatment & the horse’s personality🐴 many horses with shoulder restrictions can seem like they have forgotten how to walk the day after treatment, some with many restrictions will feel wobbly under saddle for a while 🫠 this is why a rest day or easy jog is always recommended for the day after treatment & for the following few days/ weeks exercises should be adjusted on a day to day basis 🏃🏻‍♀️

Sometimes optimum results are a week after treatment, sometimes a few treatments are needed to resolve an issue ✋🏼

(Improved posture & decreased body pain are , however, expected after a single treatment)

Of course,
issues such as poorly fitted tack, undiagnosed issues & acute injuries could mean your horse does not progress as expected, this is why it is so important for yourself & your therapist to openly & honestly discuss your horse to improve their welfare & performance 🏅

03/03/2023

A before & after (& after!) to illustrate just how much a horse can change shape.

1st & 3rd photos- post rehab (around 6-8 months) ready to go out competing adv med (training PSG)
2nd & 4th photos- starting rehab after many months off due to an acute hind suspensory injury
Last photo- nearly a year into retirement due to injury

There is a huge difference, not only muscle mass but posture, coat condition & body condition score (too chunky for my liking in the 1st & 3rd!)

It takes a team to successfully rehab a horse post injury, but it is possible. Short term & long term realistic goals are a great way to track progress & keep everyone on track. It also shouldn’t be underestimated just how long rehab takes, it’s so important to go at the horse’s pace, they’ll let you know if you’re going too quickly 🐎

To everyone out there starting rehab or currently rehabbing, keep going & most importantly have patience!

If anyone has any tips they’ve found useful for rehab, whether that be boredom busters for those on box rest, or ways to stay motivated please share them below!

08/02/2023

This is a great visual of these terms in regards to the axial skeleton! Perfectly illustrating why a lifted back is so essential, no matter your discipline, to preserve spinal integrity 💪🏼

You can also imagine how this applies to increased collection, whether before a large jump or in a piaffe. When a horse collects the head will raise (& if correct the croup will lower) as weight is transferred onto the hind legs, if the back is hollow the spaces between the spinous processes decrease even further 😬 where as, if the horse is strong enough to maintain a lifted back, spinal integrity will be maintained 🤩

Did you know that a horse that hasn't been how to properly support and carry the weight of a rider will instinctually hollow their back away from the weight of the rider? Many riding horses spend their entire careers going around with hollow backs, even upper level competition horses.

Carrying weight with a hollow back is, at best, uncomfortable for the horse, and in many cases is actually quite painful. Many horses tolerate this discomfort because they don't know any alternative. Other horses develop behavioral problems and become labeled as bad horses.

For a horse to remain healthy and comfortable in his work he must be taught how to support the weight of a rider with first a neutral back and then later on with a lifted back. This is a process that takes time, as you can't rush muscle development.

I've found that the best way to teach a horse to lift his back is on the ground first, through classical in hand work. Without the extra weight of the rider, it is easier for the horse to learn how to lift his back and it is easier for him to develop the strength that he needs in order to maintain a lifted back for an extended amount of time.

Once the horse has and understanding of this healthier posture and has developed some strength, it will be much easier for him to accomplish the same thing with a rider on his back.

The horse will then feel more comfortable and have an easier time performing his job. He will be less prone to injuries and behavioral problems and he will be able to continue doing his job for much longer than if he never learned to move in a healthy way.

As stewards of our horses, we owe it to them to give them the best lives possible. That includes taking the time to teach them how to move in a way that is healthy and comfortable for them.

Want to learn more about the horse's back and how you can teach him a healthy posture? We invite you to join our Healthy Movement through In Hand Work course, available in our Virtual Classroom. You'll learn how you can help your horse to move in a healthier way through the use of In Hand Work.

This work is beneficial for horses of all ages, breeds, and disciplines and no previous experience is necessary.

Learn more and sign up here- https://tuskeydressage.com/register/virtual-classroom/

02/02/2023

What are the minimum and maximum ages for Veterinary Physiotherapy treatment 🤔

None! Currently my youngest client is under 10 months old and my oldest is rising 23 🐴

Veterinary Physiotherapy treatment can be beneficial for all ages, shapes & sizes 🤩

This photo shows my youngest client having a hamstring release, he had a maintenance session to help ensure his body develops correctly without restriction 💪🏼

February is getting quickly booked up, so if you think your horse may benefit from treatment please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

14/01/2023

Amazing image of the cervical spine (neck), just shows how any changes can impinge the nerves causing not just neurological deficits but also behavioural issues!

Hier sieht man die Fazettengelenke einer Halswirbelsäule des
Man kann darunter die Nerven sehen welche aus dem Rückenmark austreten
Wenn nun diese verändert sind bildet sich Knochen an den Gekenksrändern zu was zusammen mit der Gelenkskapsel zur Kompression dieser Nerven führen kann.
Dies wiederum verursacht neurologische Defizite als auch schmerzen weshalb die Pferde häufig lahm sind.

12/01/2023

10/01/2023

Swipe to see a few key takeaway points from one of The Horse First podcast’s most recent episodes 👉🏼

Expectations of owners & professionals is an important topic, especially when it comes to injured sports horses. If expectations are not realistic someone is going to be disappointed… whether the owner is expecting their horse to return to their previous level of work & this doesn’t happen or if a vet is expecting to put in place a treatment plan that will best help the horse but budget or owner ability means this can’t happen.

Having discussions with the professionals in your horse’s team can allow for the best outcome 💪🏼

This podcast has some really great episodes touching on different aspects of equine medicine & performance. From shoulder girdle/ thoracic sling issues to sleep deprivation, have a listen!

24/12/2022

A very merry Christmas to all clients, colleagues, friends & followers 🎄

I’m so grateful for all the support so far, a big thank you to everyone 🥰

20/12/2022

Find Bellscross Veterinary Physiotherapy online 🐴

Delighted to have been added to the list of INDIBA practitioners & the NAVP (National Association of Veterinary Physiotherapists) member list 😊

From top competition horses to those who need some problem solving, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss 📞

Here are the links to find Bellscross online:
www.bellscrossequine.com

www.navp.co.uk/horses

https://www.indiba.com/map/?country=United+Kingdom&zip=&distance=50&brand=animal-health&coords=

www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BellscrossEquine?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1349198455

20/12/2022

Just YES, a must read 👇🏼

Just because your horse is not LAME does not mean its SOUND.

It's time we separate soundness from lameness. Its part of our daily conversations with owners. They have seen multiple vets, trainers, and are even competing their horses because they are told the horse jogs and flexes fine so it is sound. There are a lot of horses showing that are not totally sound.

Lameness is defined as an impediment to walking due to feet or legs. Soundness is defined as the state of being in good condition. This is an important distinction we need to start addressing in horses. Just because your horse jogs and flexes without concern does not mean your horse is sound. We need to raise the bar in what we consider acceptable to horses soundness and overall well being. Horses are amazing creatures, that tolerate a lot from us. They try to express their discomfort but sadly most go unheard. If their message goes unheard for too long, they often become behavioral or checked out. One of our most common calls is that the horse is increasingly difficult to work with and is becoming dangerous but the owner have been told there is nothing wrong. They are at a loss for answers.

It is NOT okay they pin their ears, constantly swish their tails, get fidgety, are bad for the farrier, bite at or look at themselves, unable to lounge, buck/rear/spook, get cast, sit on the wall, bank shavings, toss their heads, kick out, are not be able to back up, avoid collection, hop into transitions, hate to be brushed, chronically shift their blankets/saddle, or stand abnormally. ALL of these are signs of discomfort.

Its not their temperament. It is their expression of PAIN! We need to stop excusing it as thats just the way they are or they are difficult/fresh/jerks/wimps. That is not normal behavior for horses. They are trying to tell you they are uncomfortable and they deserve for us to listen to them.

We owe it to them to look at their whole presentation not just how they jog/flex on their legs. We owe it to them to not ride them when they are clearly trying to show they are in pain

Its time we are better to these amazing athletes.

DeClue Equine

08/12/2022

An investigation into the Effects of Changing Dorso-Plantar Hoof Balance on Equine Hind Limb Posture 📖
Sharp and Tabor 2022

This study starts with identifying documented relationships between hoof conformation & pathologies, and a great description of conformation vs posture 🙏🏼

Though more a pilot study due to the number of horses used, there were some interesting results & points made. Horses with negative plantar angles (NPLA) were found to have canted-in postures (ie abnormal posture), 7/12 horses hindlimb orientation was significantly effected by farriery intervention to correct their NPLA. This identifies a link between hoof balance & posture…further linking to issues such as SI region pain & other pathologies which relate to posture 🤔

This study is well worth a read 🤓

27/11/2022

Brachial plexus compression 🐴 Something I can't wait to learn more about!

The horse’s brachial plexus is located between the medial face of the scapula & cervical vertebrae 7-thoracic vertebrae 1 & 1st rib (dependent on individual horse’s anatomy..but that’s another topic). Muscles in this thoracic sling region, including the supraspinatus & serratus ventralis, ‘cushion’ the brachial plexus. However, these muscles are often underdeveloped and hypertonic- less muscle= less cushioning= more nerve compression 😬

Other issues such as injury, bony growths, birth trauma and dysfunctional posture can lead to development of thoracic outlet syndrome, where the brachial plexus & subclavian blood vessels are compressed. Though variable, symptoms can include unexplained forelimb lameness, stumbling, underdeveloped musculature in the region, behavioural problems, difficulty in shoeing front feet & poor posture which leads to a whole load of other issues!

Hopefully future research & increased awareness will lead to improved diagnosis & treatment protocol development to help suffering horses 🔬

Did you know that compression of the brachial plexus can create unexplained forelimb lameness!?

Compression between the scapula and the ribs has been considered as the most common cause of injury to the brachial plexus. This can cause unexplained lameness and stumbling.

There becomes a cause and effect cycle that occurs as these horses present with neurogenic atrophy of the thoracic muscles. The lack of muscle development means a loss of cushioning between the scapula, brachial plexus and rib, predisposing to more compression.

Studies have outlined that this diagnosis is rare, however appreciate this could be due to underdiagnosis as neurological issues are difficult to assess with screening modalities, some may have conservative management, go without further investigation, or be euthanized because of a belief of poor prognosis or a suspicion of other severe conditions such as limb fracture.

So, it is possible that many horses with milder compression of the brachial plexus could be dealing with milder discomforts and sub clinical lameness'.

Join myself and Celeste-Leilani Lazaris, a pioneer of the recognition and treatment of this pathology in an upcoming webinar where we also go into the fluid, interconnected relationship with posture and hoof balance.

Tickets..

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/nerve-impingement-hoof-balance

Facebook event..

https://m.facebook.com/events/495304939243117

27/11/2022

Christmas came early on Thursday as my INDIBA VET905 device arrived 🤩

It has already been put to good use, with one small tour dressage horse creating a new record for number of yawns in one session🥱

A big thank you to .animalhealth.uk for lending me a device whilst mine was being manufactured 😊

I’ve had some great results incorporating radiofrequency into treatments, including SI discomfort, iliopsoas contracture & cervical pathologies🐴 looking forwards to helping more horses become more comfortable & maximise their performance 💪🏼

.animalhealth