Lucy Faragher - Equine Services

13/07/2017

Freelance groom available during weekday afternoons/ evenings around South East Kent area. Fully insured and a member of the British Grooms Association.

13/07/2017

13/07/2017

New Website Launched!!

https://lefaragher.wixsite.com/lfaragher

Home

23/06/2017

The terms “leg mover” and “back mover” have begun to be thrown about over the past decade, but what exactly do these terms mean, how can you tell the difference and does is really matter?

30/04/2017

If Horses Could Talk

24/04/2017

JT enjoying the Equilibrium massage pad this evening!

23/04/2017

Solo - Last season Solo was taped for his return to work after a ligament strain sustained whilst going cross country.

23/04/2017

Equine Kinesiology Taping - The Benefits!

- Decompresses the tissue thereby enabling increased blood flow and oxygenation which promotes and facilitates healing
- Tissue decompression helps provide pain relief by decreasing the pressure on the skin's pain receptors and how the receptors respond to messages from the brain
- Helps relax overused muscles
- Decreases edema and swelling
- Provides support to tendons, ligaments and joints in both athletic and injury rehab situations
- Helps to improve muscle and joint range of motion

I am a fully qualified and insured Equine taping therapist and offer this service as part of a massage.

Initial appointments just £30 and follow up appointments £25!

16/01/2017

Something to consider as we come to the time of year that horses are being brought back into work or workload is being increased!

ELECTROLYTES - Sort it out now :)

Every year one of the topics I get asked more questions about or deal with more problem cases than possibly anything else through my consultancy business is related to electrolytes.

Electrolyte deficiency and imbalance can take months to develop and sometimes 1-2 months to correct. Typically I see a peak in problems around March-April and another around July-August.

March-April corresponds to horses being in harder work. July-August corresponds to horses being in harder work and it getting warmer.

So this season as many of you start to work your horses I thought I would circulate this advice now :) I'm also happy to answer any electrolyte related questions anyone might have!

A SIMPLE GUIDE TO WHY AND HOW TO USE ELECTROLYTES FOR HORSES

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43852398/Electrolytes%20explained.pdf

31/12/2016

ROADWORK - Some things to consider!

Many of you will be starting to get your horses fit with long-slow work. A good basis for increasing bone strength, muscular and cardiovascular fitness. Many of you will be using roads. Given the high prevalence of lameness and arthritic type injury/disease in horses here are some points to consider with respect to roadwork...

Roadwork results in forces on the hoof around 20x higher than working on good grass or artificial surfaces. A great deal of this is absorbed by the hoof, fetlock and bones below the knee but may still lead to damage to joints. Firm wet sand is better than roads but still around 8x harder than good grass or good arena surface.

Roadwork DOES NOT "harden" or strengthen tendons

Roadwork DOES increase bone strength - but you only need a few minutes of trot to achieve this

Roadwork DOES contribute to joint/cartilage deterioration

Roadwork - No limit to walking! Trotting should be LIMITED to no more than 5 minutes per day, in my opinion

Working on very SOFT SURFACES increases the risk of soft tissue (muscle, tendon, ligament) injuries

Working on UNEVEN surfaces carries an increased risk of injury.

BAREFOOT horses are at a similar risk from roadwork as shod horse with respect to forces transmitted up the leg (the difference between shod and unshod is in how the force travels through the foot). With our current knowledge, there is no reason to conclude that barefoot horses are at a lower risk of concussive damage from roadwork (*see also below in postscript)

POSTSCRIPT

The original post was aimed at the HEALTHY, MATURE & UN-INJURED horse being brought back into work after a Winter break. Three points have been raised by a number of contributors so I thought some further clarification might be helpful.

(1) EXERCISE IN IMMATURE HORSES
There is evidence that increased controlled exercise can enhance tendon strength in young, musculo-skeletaly immature horses (horses less than approximately 2 years of age).

(2) ROADWORK IN THE REHABILITATION OF TENDON INJURIES
A few people have raised the issue of roadwork in the rehabilitation following tendon injury so it may help to clarify this area. Exercise (of any kind) does not strengthen HEALTHY tendons in MATURE horses (horses >3 years of age). Exercise (of any kind) does result in PARTIAL repair of INJURED tendons. There is nothing special about roads - other than they (normally) provide a consistent, level and straight surface for controlled exercise which is essential for tendon rehabilitation. However, in rehabilitating your horses tendons with excessive amounts of roadwork you may well be damaging your horses joints significantly - which would be a consideration for horses with pre-existing joint disease. Also, although appropriate rehabilitation exercise promotes tendon repair (and in fact is essential for the tendon "fibres" to align properly), the evidence shows that the repaired tendon is:
a) not healthy normal tendon and contains scar tissue and tendon tissue with an abnormal structure;
b) is stiffer than before injury;
c) functions less well;
d) is more likely to be re-injured.

(3) HOOFBOOTS
There is very little in the way of controlled scientific studies on hoofboots. The one study I am aware of compared the forces at walk in horses either unshod or wearing a Soft Ride hoof boot (made in the USA). The peak forces were similar with the boot and when unshod but with the hoof boot there was a small but significant increase in stance phase of 7% (the time when the hoof is on the ground) and the deceleration of the hoof was longer. Both of these would be considered beneficial. However, it does not follow that the same benefits would occur at trot and or canter. In addition, boots that cause the foot to grip more strongly could prevent sliding along the ground and lead to higher deceleration and increased strains within the foot and fetlock. More work needed.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27111020

(4) BAREFOOT HORSES
The presence of shoes does not change the overall/total force on the limb (which is determined by the mass of the horse and the rider) which has to be dissipated by the elastic structures of the limb (tendon, ligament, joint). However metal shoes do cause greater vibration/concussion and detrimentally alter the kinematics of the stride. They also alter how the foot interacts with the ground and how the force is distributed throughout the foot (but not higher). Trotting on a road generates concussion and high peak forces in shod horses. These are lower in barefoot horses. However, a barefoot horse trotting on a road will still experience very high forces compared with say trotting on grass, although these will be less than for a shod horse. Bottom line. Just because a horse is barefoot doesn't mean its ok to do hours of roadwork at trot.

01/09/2016

The life of one of the most promising racehorses of our time was cut short in 2006 after a long struggle to recover from a shattered fetlock. Barbaro’s injury at the Preakness Stakes and the heroic attempts to save him by the New Bolton Center at University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medic...

16/08/2016

I am now offering Equine Kinesiology Taping! Kinesiology taping is beneficial for muscle function, lymphatic flow, pain management and joint function.
For more info or to book in contact me on 07833226101. You can also contact me via my Facebook or email, all details are on my page.

12/08/2016

Not only do I treat horses with sports and rehab massage, but I also provide many equine services. This is Lucy and her owner wanted her to have some TLC before returning to work, starting with her mane!

12/08/2016

Lovely to hear from Lizzie that Stellar is feeling better after her treatment! A very promising young horse that has great movement even after having a fall!

After a nasty fall Lucy came out to treat my four year old German Warmblood, she immediately picked up on where the injury was and treated her in such a lovely and professional manner. Very soon after it was clear to see that my mare was much more comfortable and Lucy had done a really good job of loosening her off and enabling her to walk freely again. Can't recommend Lucy highly enough and I'll definitely be getting her out again to come see my horse who thoroughly enjoyed her treatment!

24/07/2016

I have two appointments available this Friday. If you would like to book in please contact me on Facebook or call/text 07833226101

15/07/2016

From August I will be offering a new service as part of my Sports & Rehabilitation Therapy!
Kinesiology Taping - K tape is an adhesive tape that can be applied to the skin for up to five days.
The benefits of Kinesiology tape include:
• Reduces and manages swelling.
• Increases joint range of movement and muscle function.
• Reduces and manages pain.
• Excellent for rehabilitation after soft tissue injury as K tape offers support to these structures.
• Relieves muscle tightness, tension and stiffness.

For any information or to book in please get in touch on FB or phone. Details all on my page.

15/07/2016

Lovely to hear from clients that their horses are doing well and there is a noticeable difference after a treatment.

06/07/2016

Only 20 minutes and very beneficial for your horse!

The ultimate aim of the three-fence exercise is to teach you the importance of focus when jumping offset fences.

03/07/2016

Took Lady XC for her first time this weekend, a lovely horse who I've been schooling since early 2016 for her owner.

23/06/2016

This is Lucy who used to weave when stabled and as a result has a lot of tension and soreness in the muscles around the base of her neck. The first side I palpate has not been treated yet and you can see her react, the second side I palpate has been treated and as you can see she is no longer reacts after I have released the tight muscles.
Apologies for the awful videoing...

23/06/2016

This is Lucy who I have treated three times over the last few months, she is going to come back to work in the near future after having a front lameness issue. When I first tried to get a belly lift from her, she didn't react... Now look at her!
A belly lift helps suppleness through the back and engagement of the core muscles.

12/05/2016

09/05/2016

Had a great day off on Saturday at Badminton Horse Trials and back to work on Sunday riding and massaging the horses in the sun!
Here's a photo of Lady popping her first oxer!
Also a photo of Ginger, I started working with Ginger over a month ago on the ground as he needed restarting, he is now under saddle in all three paces. As you can see in the photo from my enthusiastic hand gestures I've been explaining schooling exercises to Ginger's owner which will improve his core strength and top line.

06/05/2016

A photo from last week massaging Ruby, the owners other horse Will was keen to get involved!
I went to treat Ruby as she started raising her back when her rider mounted, I spent two hours with this lovely horse paying particular attention to her back, which held a lot of tension. Ruby's owner has reported that Ruby is far more relaxed when the rider is mounting and throughout her ridden work.

04/05/2016

Long reining has all the benefits of lunging and more, but does not put the horse under the physical stress which lunging does.
I have been working on improving Solo's strength through his quarters and back, this is an ideal way of training him as he hasn't got to carry the weight of a rider too!
We incorporated raised trotting poles into today's session and saw him engage his abdominal and oblique muscles to raise his back and work in a rounded frame.

27/04/2016

Been very busy the last couple of weeks working with a variety of horses!
I've treated a lovely four year old who went to her first sponsored ride and her owner felt she deserved a sports massage to relax any tight muscles. The benefits of massage include the release of endorphins, it's really rewarding to see horses enjoying a massage.
I have also been riding several horses ranging from youngsters to school masters that are recovering from injury, in both cases pole work has been incorporated into the ridden work.
Really pleased for Deanna Smith who is riding Ginger again! Ginger was treated by myself and I have been helping Deanna with ground work and long-reining as we've restarted Ginger under saddle.

20/04/2016

Educating riders is vital for correct training of horses, if horses are trained correctly there will be much less musculoskeletal issues e.g. back pain, tension in the poll and sore muscles.

There are some great points in this video!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8cOq7YWXys

Master Horseman/Classical Dressage Trainer Will Faerber demonstrates how to encourage your horse to raise its back, engage its hind end and "get connected." ...

17/04/2016

Great to visit Ginger today and see him doing so well, he was initially treated by myself earlier in the year and I am now helping his owner Deanna Smith with bringing him back into work. We have gone right back to basics with Ginger, long-reining and leaning over him today.

02/04/2016

As its spring time and many horses are being bought back into work, I will be running a discounted price for initial assessments and follow up appointments for the month of April.
April prices will be £30 for the initial assessment, usually £40.
Follow up appointments £25, usually £30.
Massage has many benefits for the horse and now is a great time to ensure your horse is feeling fit and well to start work.

02/04/2016

So on Thursday my cob was used as a volunteer to have his muscles labelled by myself and Megan Saltmer (Megan is studying her third year in Equine Sports Therapy at Writtle College). We worked through each layer of muscles from superficial to deep!