CROOKEDNESS IN HORSES

Horses are naturally crooked. What do I mean by this?! They are one sided by default. Like we are - one hand is dominant, it’s the same in the horse.

Does your horse bend on one rein better than the other? Are his lateral movements better on one rein than the other? These are examples of the horse being crooked. 

There is a theory behind natural crookedness, that it comes from the grazing pattern as a foal, where they can’t reach the ground as their legs...

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...

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...

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...

We are right in the middle of winter here in the UK, and the weather really does throw up some difficulties for managing our horses and trying to keep them in work.

This weeks tips, the first of 2021, are all about ways to manage your horse when the weather and conditions are against you, to keep their systems functioning well.

Tip 1: Snow days…how best to deal with your horse?

There are SO many factors to consider when it’s been snowing - safety, enough food and water, and...

Happy New Year to you, and I hope that 2021 will be a better year than 2020 and all of the difficulties we face with the Covid pandemic. 

I wanted to write a quick article as a New Years post, just to pause for a moment with our horses, and consider what we might like to aim for in 2021 with them, and therefore to consider what changes we need to make to enable this to happen, or at least to be able to get closer to our goal.

The biggest piece of advice that I can give in achieving your...

Lunging can be a great way to exercise our horses, and especially in the winter months when the weather here in the UK is ‘tricky’ to say the least, lunging can be quick and effective for fitness, core strength, flexibility and maintaining muscle tone.

There are some instances where we can’t lunge our horses, but for those who can and would like more information, read on!

Tip 1: Keep your circle as large as possible

You can do this by walking a circle yourself, so that you...

This weeks Tips are all about the things you need to consider when training your horse to genuinely work over his back.

It’s a term we hear a LOT, you may have received ‘not working over the back’ as a comment from a dressage judge, or you just struggle to have your horse working in good posture / long and low, and are not sure why...

Tip 1: Posture

Let’s start with posture…good posture is so important for our horses - we sit on the lowest, weakest part of the...

Winter (in the UK anyway) is a difficult time with horses, but especially horses that have been diagnosed/treated for ‘Kissing Spine’. It’s crucial to continue your rehabilitation / strengthening work, but there are lots of factors in the way.

Tip 1: Work routine

One of the most crucial pieces of the jigsaw for a horse with ‘Kissing Spine’ is for them to be kept in regular exercise. And in particular during your initial rehabilitation.

You will undoubtedly have...