In my work as an Equine Physiotherapist / Rehabilitation Specialist / Spinal Manipulation Therapist, many of the horses that I see need postural improvement, to transform them from a hollow, tight back, to a strengthened body and lifted core and back, which enables the horse to ‘work over the back’ in a long and low posture.

This is all achieved through a combination of treatment and specific exercises and work routines to retrain the horse and develop core strength!

Postural...

As spring in the UK is DEFINITELY around the corner now (!!) this weeks Top Tips are about bringing your horse back into work.

There are various things to consider with our horses if they have had time off, or less exercise over the winter months, to bring them back into work safely, so that we don’t risk injury, poor posture developing, or the start of an overuse syndrome in the body.

Tip 1: Make a plan!

I love a good plan with horses, it’s so effective and so much safer to bring...

This weeks Tips are all about your horses posture, how important their posture is, and what we can do to improve their posture.

This area has become a specialist topic for me, as a Physiotherapist and Spinal Therapist, dealing with back issues in horses. I have a lot of experience in this area, and have found what works to improve your horses posture!

The most simplistic way to describe poor posture in the horse, is that if they have a weak ‘sagging’ back and belly, they are more...

This weeks Top Tips are all about walk exercise, the benefits, and what a transformation you can actually make just with walking!

I use walk work at the beginning of all rehabilitation plans, for correction, strengthening, for warm up, cool down, mobilisation of body, so in lots of different ways!

In most rehabilitation plans I walk horses for 6 weeks, and have totally transformed the horses posture and strength in this time, just with a progressive hand walking plan!

Benefits:

There are so...

As we are approaching Springtime, it’s time to start thinking about what we can/need to start doing with our horses to ‘get them going’ if they have had downtime or less work over the winter months.

Last week I was talking on my page and in my Practical Tips group about Motivation, and how making small manageable changes to your routine can make such a big difference to your horses!

To get ahead for Springtime, especially if you and your horse are ‘coming out of...

 Motivation with your horse in the winter! 

This weeks Tips are all about ways to keep motivated and stay on track with your horse in the final part of winter, by just adding some small activities, so that we get ourselves and our horses ahead for springtime (which is just around the corner!!).

 Planning:
It takes 6-8 weeks to build muscle, so if you were to start exercising your horse now, you would be seeing the results in early April - springtime! So now is the time to start...

This weeks Tips are around Arthritis / Senior horses and how to manage them in the winter months when it’s cold, wet, slippy, icy, snowy etc!

Senior horses and/or horses with stiff joints need some special care in the winter as the cold wet weather really does affect their comfort levels.

The good news is that there is a lot we can do to help our friends to keep them comfortable and able to exercise!

Tip 1: Medication: pain relief and joint supplements

Your senior / arthritic horse...

 WINTER EXERCISE 

The winter months really do throw up some difficulties with keeping our horses in exercise...rain, wind, snow, ice, frozen ground..and maybe all at the same time!

It's important to keep our horses moving as best we can, to stimulate their digestive system (see last weeks posts!), increase blood flow around the body, and maintain muscle tone and core strength. As well as deal with boredom if stabled!

This weeks Tips are to help you with feeding in the winter months, and some of the considerations to keep your horses digestive system functioning well.

Here in the UK winter really feels like it drags on, the ground is either wet or frozen, the grass loses it’s quality and quantity, and a lot of horses are stabled more so their feeding regimes change significantly.

We always need to consider how to maintain a natural management system for our horses, so that we are working with their...