Equine Athletes Veterinary Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation

Equine Athletes Veterinary Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Veterinary Physiotherapy for all horses from pony club ponies to high performance horses.

18/08/2026

TUESDAY TIP: this is one of my favourite pole work exercises- it is a simple set up just needing 4 poles and some type of block in the middle.

You can make it more or less challenging depending on how many poles you do in each circuit, how tight you turn and whether you go over the higher end of the pole or the lower end.

This challenges balance, stability and coordination with an extra bonus of joint flexion, back and core activation necessary as they negotiate the exercise!

This is great for improving limb and back function and suppleness. However, I wouldn’t overdo it with any horse and I would not recommend using it for horses with collateral ligament or suspensory branch injuries due to tight turns.

17/08/2026

We often get asked about correct numbers of reps and frequency of each exercise so I wanted to address this.

I can’t tell you how many reps your horse needs to do via social media and anyone who says they can is not being strictly truthful!

Instead I am hoping to give you the information to expand your knowledge and the confidence to try new things with your horse.

In all honesty, there isn’t enough science yet to tell us exactly how many times we need to do something for it to be effective (with exceptions like baited stretches). As a rough guide I tend to start with 3 reps- observe your horse to see how they do with this.

This becomes your starting point - add more reps as they become more confident and coordinated, do less if they are finding it hard.

Work with your horse and you will soon be able to read the signs! Let me know how you get on?

14/08/2026

Quick Carlos update for anyone following his story! In brief, Carlos is my horse and he has a bit of a troubled history, I have been trying to understand why he’s unhappy and see if I can help him feel better.

One of Carlos’ main issues is a distinct lack of enthusiasm for work of any sort! He has never shown any obvious lameness or illness (he has been checked by multiple vets) it has just felt like he isn’t enjoying himself when ridden.

Because there hasn’t been an obvious path to follow, we have tried multiple avenues- from veterinary treatment, acupuncture, strength and conditioning, changes to his lifestyle and, most recently, changing the way I ride him to try and encourage him and reward whatever he feels he can offer, rather than nagging him for more.

This has taken a mindset shift for me, although I have never used force to train my horses, I would try to ride more forwards with a reluctant horse. I am trying not to do this with Carlos, sometimes it feels like we are not going anywhere!

Then, yesterday, we had a jump lesson and Carlos was offering more speed for the first time ever!! He felt like he was enjoying himself, so much so he got a little carried away at one point 😂. I was so proud of him for trying this that I actually ended up going a bit too fast (which is unheard of) but I didn’t want to discourage him now he has found forwards gear!

V excited about the future and hoping that he will continue to embrace his new persona and begin to really love working together.

13/08/2026

This is a top tip for rehabbing horses with back issues- have you thought about the surcingle you are using? Research shows that some rollers can actually create more pressure on the spine than a saddle which may not be helpful when you are trying to encourage a horse to use its back better. So we have found that using a roller with spinal clearance can help the horse feel confident with using their back as well as they are able to.
This roller can be found on Fairfax Racing

11/08/2026

TUESDAY TIP TIME: today’s pearl of wisdom is further advice on using tail pulls to activate the muscles in specific regions of the horse.

This time lateral tail pulls rather than the backwards ones. As before, be careful to make sure the horse is relaxed and aware you are there.

Keep movements slow and gentle and give the horse time to prepare their body to respond.

10/08/2026

HACKING HACKS! Some more tips on how to maximize any natural features you can find while out hacking to add more challenge to your horse’s brain and body.

Have a look around as you are riding out and see if there is a bank, ditch or just a change of surface that you can safely use.

Add transitions to halt for even more core control- halting on a steep bank either up or down - will really challenge their core stabilization (and yours!).

Even a small difference e.g. from the verge onto the road, or the edge of a track will still help the horse to be more aware of their body.

Keep it slow to reduce chance of injury and to allow the horse time to adapt its balance.

If you do this consistently you should start to feel improvements in your horse’s ability to respond to changes in terrain and riding on a level surface will feel really easy!

07/08/2026

Is sending a horse for rehab always the best option? That seems like an odd question for someone who works in equine rehab but watch the video to hear my point!

Rehab in a vacuum is likely to fail but when everyone is on the same page and the aftercare is consistent it stands a much better chance of being successful!

06/08/2026

The results are in from the tape trial…….drumroll please 🥁…………. I was really impressed by it! Our horses live out so I normally struggle to get tape to stay on for even one night and this tape stayed on for 4 nights. With this horse that was long enough to give her consistent feedback about her hock, and the extra stability from the tape gave her confidence to use it more freely. She is now tape free, sound and continuing to build strength and fitness!

04/08/2026

TUESDAY TIP TIME: today’s tip is about how to safely perform backwards tail pulls for both you and your horse.

I often use this method to switch on the spinal stabilising muscles before asking the horse to perform any active mobilizations through the spine.

You will be affecting the muscles around the spine all the way through to the base of the neck and the horse will also be activating their thigh muscles, pelvic stabilisers and probably abdominals to some degree.

Always move slowly and gently when you do this to allow the horse time to prepare themselves to resist the backwards pull easily and without any stress.

You are only pulling until you feel the horse resist you which requires surprisingly little effort.

I find some horses really enjoy this exercise and it can help them relax tension in their back muscles.

Be careful to keep yourself safe when you do this, there are horses that I choose not to do this with and others who just don’t enjoy it!

03/08/2026

We had a question regarding the construction of our equine gym so here is some more information on that.

Our equine gym consists of 6 telegraph poles of differing sizes arranged as shown. You can do this with logs, planks or poles, whatever materials you can find!

My aim with the design was to create a pattern that had some degree of challenge for the horses but was not too complex for those in the early stages of their rehab.

I wanted a design that gave lots of options- I can do each pole separately or link them to create a course.

I can include: stopping, turning, lateral steps , diagonal steps and backing up as appropriate for each horse- not bad for just 6 poles!

Doing this once will have limited benefit but spend 5-10 minutes doing this (on top of the rest of their rehabilitation programme) several times a week and you will start to see improvements in your horse’s coordination, balance and ability to initiate more complex movement sequences with confidence.
🎥HL Equine Media

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