Integrated Equine Services

29/08/2024

👉 YOU GET THE TRIM YOU STAND FOR 👈

Period.

- Training/Behaviors: It is NOT the job of the hoof care provider to train your young or green horse to stand for trims WHILE trying to trim them. It is the responsibility of the of the horse owner to work with the horse before calling out the HCP and setting the horse up for a comfortable, calm appointment. Of course we will work with you and your baby brained equine as they grow and mature, but do not expect picture perfect trims if said equine cannot hold still enough for them. And do not expect us to wrestle with them if they are not ready.

- Pain: Pain is a FACTOR, not an EXCUSE. Ooooo. I may ruffle feathers with this one. Pain? Behavior? Both? A horse with an old injury, arthritis, etc will need special considerations during hoof care appointments. Yes, 100%. But also realize, PAIN INFLUENCES BEHAVIOR, and can most certainly make for undesirable and dangerous behaviors at that. *Again, it is not the HCP's job to put themself at risk working with an uncooperative equine for any reason.* If you have a horse in pain, it is YOUR job as the owner or caretaker to properly manage that pain and work with the horse to find ways for them to stand through trims as comfortably as possible. Without this attention, behaviors like ripping legs away, kicking out, biting, avoiding, etc. can develop. Just because they are defensive responses due to pain, DOES NOT MEAN THE HCP HAS TO PUT THEMSELF AT RISK DEALING WITH THEM. (Can I get an Amen?) The pain brings about the behavior. If the horse truly cannot stand for trims in a way that works for them AND the HCP due to pain and dysfunction, then that's another conversation about quality of life.

My shoulder was injured last November due to being ripped around by uncooperative horses. It will never be the same. I can speak for countless HCPs when I say we've been injured (sometimes permanently) in our work. Working with horses comes with a risk. Things happen. One way we can reduce those risks is to be selective with the animals we take on. This is our livelihood. These are the only bodies we get. There is no magic farrier dust that comes out of our rasps that solves behavior challenges, regardless of where those behaviors stem from. With these challenging situations, expect either an incomplete trim, or no trim at all. We have limits.

Some tips:

-Take the time! Pick up. Put down. Repeat. Do it again. Hold it longer. Repeat. Build strength and duration and in doing so it will also build trust and patience. We come out once a month. There is no progress if the only hoof handling the horse gets is during appointments.

-Manage the pain! Daily CBD, Equioxx, strength building through appropriate exercise, massage, etc. Make sure the approach to pain management matches the level of pain the horse is in! CBD is great but they may need something more like Equioxx. Equioxx is great but if the pain is acute, maybe some bute or dorm gel needs to be on board.

-Find what works! If a horse has limited range of motion, train them to prop their hoof on something close to the ground and STAND STILL in that spot. Find where they are comfortable and train them to hold there. Home Run Hoofstand LLC is a neat creation for those horses who need their limbs low!

-Think outside the box- Clicker training, "open bar" feeding with hay pellets, tying up a hay net, etc. can be low stress ways to help keep the horse distracted enough to let us HCPs do the work that needs to be done.

The point is, there are numerous ways to address hoof care hiccups. In order for a horse to remain on the schedule, I have to first be able to trim them without putting my physical wellbeing at risk. Horses with repeated and unaddressed challenging behaviors will not be kept on the rotation for long. Losing my physical ability to work is not worth your horse's hooves.

13/04/2024

10 reasons craniosacral therapy helps sensory integration

1. Cranial bones can compress cranial nerves, contributing to unequal sensory and motor responses

2. Head can be compressed into vagal nerve exit site contributing to modulation and regulation challenges

3. Sphenoid / temporal bones can be compressed into inner ear structure

4. Face bone can impinge nerves where hard and soft palatte meet, contributing to oral motor challenges

5. Residual torticollis can interfere with coordination of eyes/hands/legs

6. Tight and restricted meninges can prevent primitive spinal reflexes from integrating

7. Fascia surrounding organs and blood vessel masses can be tight or twisted which keeps the autonomics in a state of fight / flight or tension

8. Myofascial restrictions through the rib cage and diaphragm can interfere with optimal breathing, hindering the parasympathetic system

9. Traumatic events such as birthing struggles, medical procedures or surgeries, physical or emotional traumas, and even biological traumas can keep ALL the nervous systems in a vasoconstricted state

10. Injured or damaged sensory receptors, like C fibers in the skin, create over reactions to input or even a pain response

Craniosacral therapy has been shown to help all these issues that are common to sensory processing difficulties. Sensory wellness occurs when all sensory systems are free of structural and inflammatory restrictions at receptors sites and along nerve pathways. In addition, fascia and connective tissues that surround and suspend all body structures is now recogized as a sensory organ. Tight, compressed, torqued, and restricted fascia can be a background problem to sensory challenges. Craniosacral therapy is currently the least invasive manual therapy method that does not set sympathetic nervous system alarms, and promotes getting into and staying in a parasympathetic state.

05/08/2023

24/04/2023

Great info! Worth a re share 😊

03/03/2023

Apparently it’s March... already!?
Our wonderful, tidy calendar says it’s autumn now too. And so here is my annual “It’s not actually autumn yet – don’t deworm your horses straight away!” spiel.

Autumn is the No. 1 time of year to worm your horses, because it ties in best with breaking the bot-fly life cycle. A bot fly’s lifecycle is 12 months, so treating just once a year will break that lifecycle (and overtime decrease bot fly populations). By mid-autumn/early winter, the entire population of bot flies will be inside your horse, which means you can target all the bots on your property with a single dosage of a boticide dewormer (ivermectin, abamectin, moxidectin).

If you deworm your horses too early in autumn, you will not be targeting all the bot flies as they are often present well into autumn, laying eggs on your horses coat. If you deworm on the 1st of March, there will be bot flies, and subsequently bot eggs and larvae that come after the treatment and will remain within your horse for the year.

Therefore, hold off on the autumn deworming a little longer, if your horses are in good condition. Wait until the nights cool down and the bot flies disappear before deworming – and make sure that the dewormer you purchase is active against bots, otherwise it will all be in vain. If your horses need to be treated now, do so, but make sure you target bot flies again in early winter.

So that’s my bot-fly spiel. Normally I write about strongyles (my favourite), and so I shall of course make a mention of them here too.

I always recommend a mid-late autumn deworming for ALL HORSES because it a) cleans out any bots and b) all horses really should have a strongyle clean out once a year as well. I may be against deworming for the sake of deworming, however that is only if you are doing it 3 or 4 or more times a year.

Strongyles can have a lifecycle of as little as 6 weeks. In addition, at any one point, about 90% of the strongyle population is living on the pasture, not in the horse. Therefore, the concept of using chemical dewormers inside the horse to break the lifecycle of strongyles would not work. At all. So, we chose our annual deworming-clean-out to line up with as many other parasites as possible.

All boticide dewormers are also effective against strongyles so deworming in autumn is a 2 for 1 type deal. You should also consider using a dewormer that also contains praziquantel to treat for tapeworms to get a complete clean out, just in case tapeworms are present. If your horses are only being treated once a year, it is good to do as complete a treatment as possible.

Lastly… wait, second lastly.. this is a topic to complex to get into here, but: this time of year is key for larval cyathostomins, where encysted larvae have mass emergences from the intestine wall, in response to changes in weather (eg in VIC as it cools and becomes wetter again). Deworming and removing adult populations of worms can act as a trigger for larval re-emergence, which is also why I often baulk at deworming horses now. The larvae may slowly re-emerge coming into the cooler weather and treating in mid-late autumn may be a safer bet to remove adults and emerged larvae. The research on this is sketchy as best, however these are patterns shown in cattle and hypothetically should translate over into horses.
And lastly (pat on the back for reading this far): just because I’m recommending deworming all horses does not mean I am not recommending FECs in autumn. A FEC will tell you important things about your horses health, and pick up anything odd that may be happening (eg tapeworm you didn’t know about). It will also allow you to test drug efficacy. Autumn should be a key time for everyone to do a FECRT (faecal egg count reduction test), where you get FECs done before and after deworming to make sure that it worked. If you only deworm once a year, then you’ve only got one chance for a FECRT, and you cannot, I repeat, you CANNOT do a FECRT without a FEC before to compare to.

If you’d like to organise FECs and FECRTs for your horses this autumn, check out the website (link on the FB page) for postal submission and drop off points/events.

02/06/2022

Let’s talk about head-shy horses.

It’s still usually viewed as a behavioral problem that needs to be trained out.
While sometimes that may be the case, it certainly isn’t always.
At the very least, there are measures that can be taken to make the training process much easier.

Even if, let’s say, a horse endured physical abuse to their head at one point in time.
Maybe they were hit or handled roughly, maybe they were ridden in ill-fitting bridles, maybe they were worked in biomechanically incorrect postures for long periods of time (behind the vertical in particular), maybe they have a history of pulling back when tied, or even just pulled back once.

We may think of the emotional trauma that they likely still carry with them that keeps them from feeling safe in their own head, but what about the residual physical restrictions?
It’s something that’s often overlooked if there aren’t obvious signs of trauma.

Let’s also not forget that the birthing process itself can—and often does—create restrictions in the head and neck, if not the whole body.
This is why this work is so helpful for the youngsters!

Take a look at this simple sketch of the cranial nerves I snagged from google, which doesn’t even entirely show the intricacy of the these nerves.
This doesn’t show the veins and arteries that weave themselves throughout the head.
It doesn’t show the spinal cord having to make its way through the atlanto-occipital joint, aka the poll, without restriction.
It doesn’t show the fascia.
It doesn’t show the vital glands that live in the brain.
It doesn’t show the skull itself and all the bones it’s comprised of, including teeth.
Let’s remember, all of these components must have their own free motility in order to function properly.

Think of how our halters and bridles are hanging right on many of these tissues, across the most highly innervated areas in the body.
The nosebands that are often too tight.
The flash nosebands that have no business being on a horse at all, in my opinion.
The horrible posture that we commonly see horses ridden in, even in supposedly high levels, for extended periods of time.

There are so many reasons for horses to be head-shy that it’s amazing to me there aren’t more of them.

So you’ve got a head-shy horse?

This work is thorough in seeking restrictions, whether they’re physical, emotional or energetic. Usually there are all of these components involved.

There are lots of great modalities out there, though I do lean toward craniosacral therapy and indirect osteopathic techniques, as they address all of these tissues.

The restrictions are in the clear?

Proper education is incredibly important.
My go-to recommendations for this are without a doubt are Patrick King, Warwick Schiller, Amy Skinner and Justin Haefner, all of whom take into consideration the emotional and physical state of the horse as they develop them.

In the meantime, I just encourage you to consider the intricacies of the horse.

04/05/2022

I DON’T KNOW YOUR HORSE…
…But I do know horses. Here are a few things I’ve learned that should help most horses, most of the time, with whatever problem you may be having.

DO LESS:
Whatever it is, just do less. Expect less. React less. Use less strength. Less contact. Less pressure down the rein/rope. Less pressure from the leg. Less driving from the seat. Less noise…

GIVE MORE:
More patience. More time. More benefit of the doubt. More rest breaks. More reward. More still. More quiet. More variety. More length to the neck…

DITCH YOUR EGO & LET STUFF SLIDE:
Your horse isn’t trying to get one over on you, (or if he is, ask yourself why he feels the need to). What you think is naughty behaviour is usually just an attempt to communicate something: Discomfort, distrust, uncertainty, anxiety, fear, none of which require ‘telling off’…

COUNT TO TEN:
Be in control of your own emotions before you try and control your horse’s emotions. Once you let your emotions change, the whole dialogue upon which your training is based, changes…

IT TAKES TWO TO ARGUE:
So rather than asking for something that goes against your horse, start by asking for things you’re already pretty sure the horse is going to give, and go from there. (This one takes a little figuring out but is totally worth it!) N.B.: Common sense required!…

EVERYTHING IS MADE UP OF THE BASICS:
More advanced work is simply an arrangement of the basics taken care of simultaneously…

NEVER DISCOUNT PAIN:
You can never truly ‘rule out pain’ as a cause of unwanted behaviour. No matter how much money you spend, or how good your vet is…

REST DAYS ARE AS IMPORTANT AS TRAINING DAYS: Overtraining can be just as damaging as under preparing. Horses only have so many jumps/steps in them - use them sparingly…

BREAK IT DOWN:
Most issues can be solved by taking a step back, breaking the issue down into smaller chunks, and taking care of those chunks one by one…

TAKE YOUR TIME:
You’ll get there much quicker if you do. Cutting a corner will only come back to bite you in the ass sooner or later…

ONE FINAL THING…
Horse training is subject to the same laws of physics as everything else. You can’t argue with either anatomy or physics, no matter how many medals you’ve won. Train with this in mind, because there isn’t a single instance where an unyielding or strong rein contact will benefit your training, or your horse…

25/04/2022

Magnesium often receives little attention in equine nutrition. For example, you will rarely see it listed in the analysis on a feed bag. Despite this, it could easily be argued that no other minera…

24/04/2022

After seeing multiple videos posted by various breeders bragging about their 2 ½ year olds/recently turned 3 year olds and sharing videos of them cantering around in the arena, I have decided to once again circulate the below article.

First of all, breeders *should* have the knowledge to understand a horse’s fragile and slow maturing musculoskeletal system. Breeders should not condone their own horses let along anyone’s horses being cantered around under saddle at an incredibly young age. Period. This sets a terrible example and is quite honestly animal abuse. Just because a horse does not object does not mean it is right. And quite frankly, most of the videos posted show animals that are already in pain or developing pain…

As breeders, we should strive to produce healthy and sound animals. We should promote horsemanship that produces long term soundness. No, starting a horse later does not guarantee soundness. But it certainly helps.

I am a firm believer in scientifically backed approaches to horsemanship. You can’t argue with science that has been proven time and time again. Let’s dispel some stupid rumors:

1. There is no such thing as a (skeletally) slow maturing horse or one that is fast maturing. No horse is skeletally mature before the age of 6. And that is on the low estimate for age.

2. Growth plates are not just in the knee. Every bone behind the skull has a growth plate. Not every single one needs to be converted to bone before starting. There is a schedule of when bone fuses…this is the information needed to know when to start a horse. Not their outward appearance. It is a known fact that during growth, proprioceptive awareness can regress, greatly increasing the risk of injury.

3. Starting a horse is not the same thing as riding a horse. Starting a horse does not mean cantering it 3-4 days a week in an arena.

4. Injecting a horse that is in pain does not mean you fixed a problem. You masked it.

5. You can build correct muscle and teach a horse how to move their body from the ground. This creates a solid foundation to work from once your horse is ready to actually be backed. Teach a horse to use its body correctly before backing and you’ll save yourself a lot of vet bills down the line.

Hocks are “late” for maturity. The growth plates on the tibial and fibular tarsals do not fuse until a horse is 3-3 ½. Ever wonder why so many horses seem to have hocks issues?? Horses need to learn to carry themselves and their own weight well before adding a rider.

The growth plates that are LAST to close are at the base of the neck. This area is where we ask a horse to raise the base of their neck and come round. If under too much stress, the growth plates can fracture or be permanently damaged.

There are DOZENS of activities you can do with a young horse to build healthy muscular development. None of them involve a saddle or your weight on their back. Teaching a horse to carry themselves correctly BEFORE adding a rider is essential and cannot be done in a week. A 2 ½ year old horse is a baby. Mentally and physically. We see far too many injured performance horses at VERY young ages - broken down and/or sour from work. It’s wrong. Period. They need slow and steady work and need time to recover from even the slightest of injuries.

PLEASE, if you are considering when you should start your horse and what that work load should look like, please read the below. There are some wonderful things you can do with your young developing horse. Please don’t rush a year out of greed.

http://www.equinestudies.org/ranger_2008/ranger_piece_2008_pdf1.pdf

13/04/2022

Boots and bandages - are we harming our horses as we try to protect them?

Bandaging and booting our horses is becoming more and more popular, especially with the popularity of matchy matchy sets. But are we doing more harm than good? Most people will have come across the articles in magazines and comments from vets saying they are, and yet still they become more and more popular. Why is that? Why do riders still cover their horses in thick fleece bandages or fluffy boots despite the dangers? Tradition I suppose. Wanting to fit in. Or just habit, some will feel like they haven’t finished tacking up if they haven’t put the boots on.

I know this isn’t about dentistry (for which I apologise) but I am a vet first and foremost, and as a dressage rider I am asked why I don’t use bandages all the time. I’ve written about this several times now and no one pays attention, so rather than stating facts and quoting research, I’d like to take you through my journey of discovery, please bear with me. Facts and papers are at the end.

Rewind 12 years and I was in my final year at vet school. Prior to and during vet school I had a horse and we did dressage. I had planned to ODE but this horse pulled every tendon and ligament known to vet kind. He spent more time out of work than in. Each time I would up my game with the latest boots/bandages on the market. From fluffy boots to wraps to sports fetlock boots, fleece bandages to gamgee and cotton to the half fleece/half elastic bandages. I learnt new techniques for better support, figure of 8 bandaging to cradle the fetlock etc etc. I’d been there and done it. My collection was extensive.

Right at the end of vet school I had my rotations. I chose Equine lameness as one of my options. During in this I very vividly remember a wet lab with Dr Renate Weller where she had a skinned horses leg (showing all of the tendons and ligaments) in a machine that mimicked the pressures a horse applies to their limbs. She took us through walk, trot, canter and gallop, loading this leg so we could see the inside workings of the horses leg without the skin. It was fascinating I can tell you, and I very clearly remember thinking about my horse and wondering how on earth we are suppose to support this limb when it undergoes these incredible forces! Half a ton of animal pushing down a tiny spindle of a leg held by tendons barely thicker than my thumb. Craziness!

Fast forward just a few short months and I was a fully qualified vet in the big wide world. I attended my first BEVA Congress and during the break I wandered around the stalls looking at the latest inventions and technologies companies bring to these gatherings. Here I came across a company with the Equestride Boot which caught my eye. Now if you haven’t seen this boot, it’s wonderful and I’ve since used it a few times in rehabbing very severe tendon and ligament injuries with great success. The boot is a carbon fibre boot that stops the fetlock dropping, which stops the tendons and ligaments being fully loaded while they heal. This boot is super strong. You couldn’t ride a horse in it as it is limiting the range of motion so much, but they can move about easily enough at the lower settings to rehab etc. The guy on the stand (I’m afraid I can’t remember his name) showed me their research and in the straight talking Irish way explained the stupidity of expecting a thin piece of material to support a horse. And of course it can’t! Literally no bandage or boot (short of this very expensive carbon fibre rehab boot) is capable of reducing the amount the fetlock drops. Thinking back to Dr Weller’s demonstration, I could very clearly see how ridiculous I had been to ever believe a scrap of material could do anything to reduce or support that pressure.

But the boots/bandages don’t actually cause any harm do they? Surely it’s ok to use them on the off chance they might help and if we look good in the meantime, great! Well, not long after this, research started appearing that got me very worried about my bandage collection. Heat. Anyone that uses bandages and boots will not be surprised to see sweat marks under their bandages/boots after they’ve been removed. They trap a lot of heat. The horses body and legs generate a lot of heat when working. The tendons/ligaments in the leg, along with an increased blood flow generate ALOT of heat. Fleece bandages/boots in particular, hold this heat in the horses leg. Very few boots and virtually no bandages (especially if you use a pad under) allow the legs to breath adequately. This heat is easily enough to kill tendon/ligament cells. Each tendon/ligament is made of thousands and thousands of cells all lined up end on end and side by side in long thin spindles. They stretch and return to their original shape and size like an elastic band, absorbing and redistributing the pressures applied from further up the leg and from the ground impact below. All of these cells must work together as one to do this effectively.

Just a little side step here to explain how tendons/ligaments heal. A tendon/ligament cell can not be replaced like for like. They always heal with scar tissue. This is why reinjury is so much more likely if a tendon/ligament is blown. The fibrous scar tissue doesn’t stretch, it isn’t capable of stretching or absorbing the impact of a horses movement. It will always be a weak spot. In a full blown sprain/strain the whole (or most) of the tendon has been damaged. But this heat injury might just kill a few cells at a time. Those few cells are replaced by fibrous scar tissue, then next time a few more etc etc. Like a rubber band degrading over time the tendon/ligament loses its elasticity and eventually goes snap. Then you’ve fully blown a tendon/ligament. The injury didn’t start to happen at that moment, but that was the final straw. The damage adds up over time, each time thermal necrosis (vet word for cell death) occurs.

So if using boots/bandages can not offer any sort of support, and using them generates heat that slowly damages the tendons/ligaments until they give way. Why use them? Protection. This is the only reason to use boots. To stop the horse brushing, injuring themselves catching a pole or over cross country. But for goodness sake make sure your boots are breathable! If the horse is sweaty under the boot but not above or below, the boot is not breathable enough. And don’t use fleece bandages just because you like the colour. These fleece bandages are the worst at holding heat in the leg, way above the threshold for thermal necrosis to the cells of the tendons and ligaments. If your horse doesn’t need protection, don’t use boots. I haven’t for the last 12 years and *touch wood* I haven’t had a single tendon/ligament injury in any of my horses. I will never go back to boots or especially bandages now. I don’t use them for schooling, lunging, jumping, travelling, turnout, stable, in fact I don’t use them at all. Ever. But I don’t hunt or XC.

I hope you have found my story useful and can make informed decisions on boots and bandaging going forward.

For more information on the Equestride boot and their research into support offered by boots and bandages, visit http://www.equestride.com/ and https://www.equinetendon.com/services/equestride/

The horses leg under the compression machine at the Irish Equine rehabilitation and fitness centre https://fb.watch/cmVMt6-iOJ/ (I highly recommend you watch this incredible video. It clearly shows the amount of force the leg goes through and demonstrates the real purpose of boots)

Other relevant papers-
https://equimanagement.com/.amp/articles/horse-skin-temperature-under-boots-after-exercise
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8f15/0ea480edca142260d01f419f80d2e7e7fb29.pdf
http://www.asbweb.org/conferences/1990s/1998/59/index.html

Edit 1 - I am getting asked about stable wraps very frequently. This post is about riding, the tendons and blood flow create heat which is trapped by bandages/boots during exercise. This doesn’t occur in the stable stood still. If the horse has a strain/sprain resulting in inflammation, then there is an increase in blood flow and there is heat being created. In this situation you should not be bandaging. But if it’s cold and an old horse needs stable wraps to keep the joints warm and improve sluggish blood flow (filled legs) you can use the heat trapping to your advantage. But you need to be careful in summer.

Edit 2 - the other thing I’m being asked about is compression. Compression DOES NOT control inflammation. The inflammation still occurs, but the swelling can not escape the bandages and the increase in internal pressure reduces blood flow, causing ischemic damage. Like laminitis within the hoof. The hoof capsule prevents swelling so the inflammation expands inwards and cuts off the blood supply. This is why laminitis is so painful and difficult to treat. Compression is only useful in the case of leaky vessels, for example reduced blood pressure, reduced movement so the blood isn’t being pumped backup the legs, or osmotic imbalances eg low protein with diarrhoea. In these situations, compression of the legs can encourage blood to return to the vessels and continue circulating.

09/04/2022

29/03/2022

Inflammation which leads to low-grade or sub-clinical laminitis is a common cause of foot soreness.

What causes a horse to go foot sore, and to help a foot sore horse toward hoof health and comfort.

31/12/2021

What is myofascia?

Myofascia is a fibrous connective tissue that covers, connects, stabilises and separates every muscle and organ in the body.

The myofascia forms lines of force transmission throughout the body called myofascial lines.

These lines act as an anatomical basis for understanding locomotion, stabilization, and posture in the horse. These lines form the basis of a readily use-able tool that can be applied by
practitioners to track the main cause of locomotory problems in horses afflicted with impaired performance (Elbrond and Shultz)

These lines extend all the way into the hoof creating an inextricable relationship between the hoof and the rest of the body

Further reading at these links..

https://www.theequinedocumentalist.com/post/the-hoof-the-beginning-and-end-of-the-kinetic-chain

https://www.theequinedocumentalist.com/post/bio-tensegrity-and-farriery-the-foreword

Join us for a unique educational opportunity to learn all about the myofascial kinetic lines from the authority who wrote the book on the equine myofascial lines. For everyone involved with horses!

3-4 hour certificated CPD.

Join us at this link….

https://fb.me/e/4l05J6kDq