Equine Osteopathy

Osteopathy is a manual therapy that can be used to evaluate your animal’s health either in a preventative measure or to improve performance and wellbeing without the use of medication or sedatives.

Equine osteopathy can help for variety of symptoms but not limited to:

• Muscle spasms or imbalances

• Gait related issues: transition problems, lack of collection, tracking up, short stride

• General reduction in performance

• Stiffness in senior horses

• Stiffness when jumping

• Differences with head carriage

• Changes in behaviour: bolting, bucking, biting

• Rejecting/biting whilst being saddled or girthed, unable to stand still or relax, hypersensitivity whilst brushing

• Regaining mobility after ligament/tendon/joint/articulatory injuries

What happens during an osteopathic session?

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons issued the following guidance for veterinarians in the UK. Maintenance of the musculoskeletal system for a healthy animal does not need a veterinary delegation. “An animal declared healthy by the owner, in cases where care is given to maintain good health and optimise competition performance, can be seen without specific Veterinary referral with the caveats stated. This covers the areas of Maintenance care and Competition care” As a consequence of this statement, permission to treat animals will only be sought where there is a known injury or disease that is related to the reason, I have been asked to treat the animal. If your animal is under any current veterinary care whatever the reason may be or is currently taking medication, I will send you the Veterinary Consent Form to send to your vet so they may complete the form and send it back to me before our appointment. It is a legal requirement for me to have veterinary consent before osteopathically assessing and treating an animal that has a suspected pathologically related issue. It has never been an issue as most vets agree unless they have a valid medical reasoning they would refuse.

https://www.rampregister.org/node/255

After booking your appointment with me, you will be sent the New Appointment Form for you to complete and sign before our appointment. So please aim to send it back to me 24 hours before our appointment. As you will see it is an extensive form, however this will save us a lot of time during the appointment meaning I will have more time to examine and treat your animal.

During the first appointment, I may ask you some follow up questions if I require more information. I will proceed to assess your horse’s vital signs and then observe it’s posture and gait in walk and trot without any tack. This will already give me an indication of what I will further test during the examination part of the appointment. I will assess your horse’s muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints. On rare occasions it may not be suitable for me to treat if I believe that your horse may have an underlying injury or illness that could be linked to the reason you have asked me to treat it. In that case I will refer you back to your registered veterinarian.

I use a variety of techniques which will always be tailored to your animal's need. These include soft tissue techniques, joint articulation and manipulation along with more gentle techniques in order to restore balance. The entire process is medication and sedation free.

At the end of the appointment, we will discuss management strategies and any exercises if required. I also tend to advise a couple of days rest with no ridden work for 1-2 days after our session. Then gradual introduction back to work over the following 5 to 7 days.

The first consultation lasts 60-90 minutes and follow up appointments usually are 30-45 minutes.

Let's not forget the rider!

Maintaining your own flexibility and balance is just as important as taking care of horse, in order to achieve peak performance. Using osteopathy, I assess and treat any restricted ranges of movement which could be impacting your riding.

As a result you will be able to maximize your potential in any discipline by enabling the horse and rider to combine your strength, endurance and stability.