The way that I look at horses is holistically, meaning I look at the whole horse, not just the areas that are injured, painful or dysfunctional.

And something that I have learnt and see regularly is that horses learn to compensate for issues in their body by avoiding/locking one area, so that the weight of the rider and forces of movement have to be absorbed elsewhere in the body.

I’ll give an example to explain what I mean.

A horse that has been ‘jarred up’ because he...

My experience in working with back pain in horses over the last 10 years has provided me with the opportunity to find out what actually works when it comes to training horses!

What I have learnt and developed is a system of core engagement exercises and ‘tools’ for you to use to transform your horses posture and get him working over his back properly.

The fundamentals that I teach in my training are:

Postural correction: if your horse is moving with a tight back and high head...

TIP 1: Low neck position

***Can you lead your horse around with his nose near the ground?

It's not as easy as you might think! Give it a try! If your horse can't or won't do this, he is resisting in his neck/core/back.

This is one of the fundamentals that I teach in my training - your horse needs to be able to 'let go' of his neck and back, it's really important.

TIP 2: Carrot stretches!!!

They really are one of the BEST exercises that you can do with your horses! They are super effective at...

Written originally February 2020.

As the winter weather is upon us and the cold, damp conditions become the daily norm, we need to think quite carefully about how these adverse changes will affect our horses.  Over the last few weeks I have seen a large number of horses with increased stiffness levels, in particular horses diagnosed with arthritis in their joints.

Although arthritis is a long term degenerative condition of the joint, fortunately there is a lot we can be do to help our...

Written October 2019. 

Sometimes I am able to gain valuable knowledge from highly respected professionals in my industry and I just think “Wow! This is absolutely spot on, and I need to share this with my clients”

I recently wrote about variable feeding positions and how this can affect our horses. But following on from what I learnt from the amazing Sharon May-Davis at the recent Centaur Biomechanics seminar, I would like to share some more insight with you, which I am sure...

For all the new Arcequine owners! I thought I would write an article about how I use the Arc and some hints and tips as lots of you have taken up the current special discount offer…

TO ORDER: go directly to the Arcequine website and use my discount code JA8LYE at checkout to receive your £20 discount! 

I have used the Arcequine for years, on my own horse and horses coming in to my yard for rehabilitation. I have seen improvements in soft tissue injuries such as...

Welcome to my post about ‘Kissing Spine’. I hope there will be some useful information in here for you. I have been working with horses with 'Kissing Spine' for a number of years both in residential rehabilitation and at owners yards, so have gained experience and understanding that I have now been able to put into my ebook and online training course, to help owners to fully rehabilitate their horses. 

Onto the article...

10 years ago most of us hadn’t even heard of...

Unfortunately for some, we are now well into the spring/summer months which is the most difficult time of year for horses prone to laminitis. Although we now know through research that laminitis can happen at any time of year, as sugar increases or ‘spikes’ in grass for a number of reasons, and not just in sunny conditions in the spring and summer.

The weather conditions in the UK are great for growing grass, however the grass in this country is generally too ‘good’...

SIGNS OF BACK PAIN IN THE HORSE 

I have been working with horses full time for over 10 years now, both as a Spinal Manipulation Therapist and now also as a Vet Physiotherapist dealing with injured horses going through rehabilitation. During this time I have seen a LOT of horses with back pain, it is the main problem that I deal with on a day to day basis in my work, whether it’s a couple of spinal joints that are sore, or the muscles have gone into spasm, or the other end of...