"Alternative" therapies - my view of this world.

Since I am stuck inside my house due to UK not able to handle even the slightest amount of snow, I thought I add my humble opinion on this sometimes sensitive subject. (Well, I can't really blame the country for the fact that my Volvo is far too heavy to manage to climb up our road without sliding backwards or dangerously close to other cars parked on it)

As you can see I say "alternative" instead of alternative. I anyway much prefer the word Complimentary. Even I do agree, some (maybe most??) of these therapies have got little scientific backing, my firm belief is that if something has been around for as long or longer (for example TCM - Traditional Chinese Medicine) than our western science or what we bracket under it, it has held the test of time. We device these testing situations with our current and possibly limited human knowledge and cannot measure something we don't yet understand. I know it is a bit cheesy and overused pop culture example, but before people knew anything about electricity, it could not be measured with the equipment and knowledge they had at the time.

I believe that even if the effect is what we like to call "placebo" - it does not really matter as long as it helps the individual in question. Our minds have an enormous power to heal us as well as also to make us ill and we should not underestimate it. It is a dangerous territory when we totally separate our mind from our bodies and treat our body as nothing more than a highly sophisticated machine that can be mechanically fixed often only focusing on a very small part of the whole body. This, in my mind, also applies to our animals. What I mean by that is that even it is VERY important to get a proper diagnosis with a vet / doctor, the rehab and also the examination process should go beyond the immediate site of the problem. As we all know a uneven musculature developed over the years in our / horses back can over load one of the legs which then causes a problem with one of the tendons.

On the same token I do think that our "busy lifestyles" (yes more pop culture!!) and the way we live has given a rise to these alternative ways of treating ourselves and our animals. When we lose touch with what is really important, kind of lose touch with the mother earth, and just plough through our day to day life in stress and hurry we tend to eventually feel a bit empty. And there are several options to choose from that promise you an instant fix or at least instant relief (and many of them indeed do).

As a person who has always had a great interest and respect in science and I indeed even have a MSci, I still retain a HEALTHY dose of scepticism to everything new. I say HEALTHY since I think a true scientist may be firm in their beliefs, but very flexible in their approach to them. One's beliefs need to have a degree of fluidity and an innate openness to anything and everything new. After all, discovery is the core of science and the reason I initially joined the ranks too. But people like to take sides and, years ago,I indeed got told by a girl who was a medical student how disappointed she was in me, fresh from my science degree, that I took the "wrong path" and got into massage, Reiki and suchlike. I think there is a time and place for everything and us people (and our animals) are very different and respond to very different kinds of approaches. Otherwise we would have no one wanting to join the SAS!!!

So what do you do when you feel like one of these alternative therapies might be the right thing for you or your horses? Again it depends on what you are looking for, but most people would say ask your vet / doctor or your friends. And it is certainlyy a very good starting point. But as I mentioned above, do retain a healthy dose of scepticism on what people say. I am a self confessed hater of "hear-say". The kind of "blind leading the blind" kind of information you tend to get a lot in the horse world (and no doubt in any other sphere as well). Whilst it is great to go with recommendations, and yes we all get influenced by other peoples opinions, I think the most important thing is that you do your own research thoroughly.

I'm hoping to help you at least a bit in the next post or two and I try to shed a little light on the different therapies available to our horses. (And yes I still expect you to question my views too!!)

Until next time!! Stay safe in the cold!

Conditioning sportshorses for optimum fitness

Few weeks ago I had an interesting "lecture" from Dr Jeremy on conditioning horses to reach their optimum performance. There has been a lot of scientific research on the optimum performance on horses and on excercise physiology in the recent years and there is a great deal more knowledge around than there was even say 20 years ago. Even still fairly uncommon practice in the racing world Jeremy trains his horses using this information combining practicality and science.

I have added a link to his YouTube channel where he explains more on two short videos filmed for 'At The Races' programme

Dr Jeremy's YouTube channel

He also sells heart rate monitoring systems and sets up the very practical software you can see in the videos. Do get in touch with him directly if you are interested, it's use is certainly not limited to the racehorses, but applies to any discipline where your horse needs to be fit! There is also much more to the software than is shown on the videos.

Will be very interesting to see how the muscles of the horses I have massaged for the last months react now when they are pretty much racing fit and ready to go! They have all done so well so far, so I will be placing my bets when they go :) They are such lovely characters too. I had this silly idea in my head about racehorses and how they behave (or don't behave!) and I must say they are no different from any other horses that I regularly see. Maybe even nicer to handle since they dont end up too pampered and are not allowed to walk all over you and barge like many of our "pet horses" these days seem to do. (Yes guys you know who you are ;D ;D)

A properly designed conditioning program prevents this from happening!!!!

I have also come across an interesting course at Harper Adams University in Shropshire. It is a 3 year MSc degree in Veterinary Physiotherapy. Nothing new in itself, but this is the first degree of its kind whereby they take people in without having already qualified in human physiotherapy. You still need a very strong degree with a good grade and preferebly some kind of experience, but everyone is considered on their individual merit. So I have been considering sending my application in! It does though carry the cost of normal thought postgraduate degree - £9000 so that might be a small challenge, but I have quite a long time to think about the moneyside of things, it wouldnt start until mid 2011.

Picture from Harper Adams University

I have also since last post had two new foster doggies in the house. First one was Mitzy, a crossbreed, sort of Boxer/Staffi type. Lazy, sloppy, cuddly and my own dogs were petrified of her due to her tough looks. :D I think they found her a bit hard to read and she could get a bit of a bull-in-the-china-shop boisterous at times. Currently we are fostering a lovely Lakeland terrier Charlie. Such an easy sweetheart!!! If you know anyone who is looking, do get in touch with Rescue Remedies Dog Rescue. On their website he is known as "Crosby" and he has his own thread in the forum.

My lovely Benji collie in the front and Mitzy Staffi cross on the right



Lovely Charlie!!! At the time of writing, still waiting for his forever home at our house!



More research on massage therapy + racehorse massage

Since meeting Dr Jeremy, I have spent extra time researching the science behind massage therapy and trying to find scientific publications on both human and horse massage. There are not that many published papers on horse massage, but there are some human equivalents that are comparable. The theory behind it should really be the same since physiologically we are the same. I have found interesting papers that are very sciency (yes, Im a nerd, I quite like them) and will be talking about them in later posts and trying to break them down to more understandable level.

Research-y work

One paper, actually the one on which we tried to base our research using the ultrasound, can be found here in a PDF format: http://www.sportsmassageinc.com/EffectsOfSportsMassage.pdf

In Short: The research results in that article say that massage increased the transverse diameter (ie width) of all measured muscles (average being 16%) and increased the stride lenght (average 3in) and reduced the stride frequency (average 3%).

We tried to emulate parts of the experiment to compare the increase in the width pre and post massage in a muscle (longissimus dorsi on the back) using the ultrasound, but found it very hard to measure. (And not very wisely used an uncooperative horse who was petrified of the UV machine!). Maybe the machine didnt have the right frequency range to use or maybe one needs to be very experienced to use it and read the results, but we found that even when the horse shifted his weight, there was a 25% change in the width of the muscle, or more accurately on the view of the muscle we saw on the screen. So this plan was scrapped for the time being. Im going to get in touch with the publishers and see if they can shed any light on how they went about measuring the muscles.

New ideas on how to do this are being formulated so (again) watch this space!

Massage Work

On top of my reading I have been working hard the last few weeks and loved getting my hands on all those racehorses at Jeremy's yard. So far I have massaged only three of them 4 weeks in a row with great results. For obvious reasons I cant discuss them in great detail, but it has been interesting how similar their tightness spots are and how clearly their training level shows up in their body. And even more interesting how well they have responded to massage. I suppose we always go through times of self doubts, particularly if what we believe in is challenged, so it has been lovely once again to have a confirmation of the efficacy of massage.

Am having a really busy week ahead again and will be getting my hands on few more racehorses. I wont get paid for all of them, but will be given full medical history, racing and training schedule etc etc by Dr Jeremy as a payment! I see it as a one to one tuition from a Vet specialised in excercise physiology. I'd say it is better than going back to University!!

Work with Dr Jeremy Naylor and a Dressage Competition

I have been using my science brain again and have been planning an experiment with Dr Jeremy Naylor (http://www.jeremynaylor.co.uk/) to quantify some the effects of massage the massage work I do.

Jeremy is a Veterinarian who specialises in horse excercise physiology and uses his methods to train racehorses at his own stables very close to Stonehenge in Wiltshire. The Cleeve stables are the only U.K. training stable run by a veterinary qualified exercise physiologist.

We had a preliminary meeting last week whereby he just wanted to see me and how I work and we have been disucssin this week over the email how best to conduct this mini experiment. I am going over again tomorrow to follow up, so will write more after tomorrow!

We are planning to use an Ultrasound Scanner on a chosen muscle (group) before and after massage to determine the difference in the tissue. (And yes, I really do hope there is some!!!)

I have spent the whole week glued to latest scientific papers finding information on how massage ACTUALLY works. I mean on the real nitty gritty biological level, not on the "it relaxes and lenghtens the muscle" level :D Not that there is anything work with it, but it is rather difficult to convince a Veterinarian with those type of arguments!

So I have been also trying to understand the workings of ultrasound, very detailed molecular biology and cell biochemistry, read a bit about the racing world and plough through the various massage publications on human massage and excercise physiology. 

AND most importantly did my first dressage test for more than 15 years!!! Vatican was great, I was focused (for a change) and I hope the judges liked it. It was done for Dressage Anywhere (http://www.dressageanywhere.com/) so will not find out my placing until the end of September. I am very excited about this all, not the least because I nearly chickened out since he is so unpredictable and I thought I have not schooled him enough. but he proved me wrong, behaved himself beautifully, was really calm and soft and rode like a feather. When he moves the way he did on Friday, all those mad days when he is so tense it feels almost like riding on a live bomb are made worthwile.

Vatican behaving himself @ our Dressage Anywhere
competiton at Cane End Stud

Little bit of trot - and yes I know Im not sitting great :D
I blame the fact that Im sitting in a jumping saddle!

So more details to follow about our work at Cleeve stables with Jeremy and I will most certainly post our result from the dressage test (well... only if we get over 80%!!! hehe)

Hope you are all well and lovong the Autumn weather as much  as me!!

Hello again,

I have been meaning to write about my little 'adventure' with some horse legs seen in pictures below (warning to those of you who do not like graphic details)!

Thanks to a lovely friend Hannah Brooks from the yard who worked at hunt kennels, I had an opportunity to do a mini autopsy on two separate horse legs and see and feel some of the tendons with my own hands.

It was an interesting experience not to say the least because the legs were rather... hmmm.. smelly I think is a too weak work to describe them and I was swamped with flies and over keen terrier right from the start. But regardless it was super interesting.

I must say - I am not an expert in anatomy and this was the first time I did this excercise, so do double check the accuracy on the names of the tendons before quoting me!!

Suspensory

Superficial digital flexor tendon - thick and very tough!

Comparison - see if you can spot the tendons!

Very high tech - in my garden and trying to shoo off the terrier :D
She would've loved a good gnaw of the bones and tendons

Note to self , or anyone else attempting this, do attempt it on a day where youre unlike to have this many flies, or do it in a garage or a shed (smell warning) and try to get the legs as fresh as possible so the smell issues are minimised. Also the horses skin is unbelievably touch, I had an old kitchen knife and it was almost impossible to cut through, so get a serously sharp and touch knife. Also for health and safety - keep keen terriers inside the house !!!! :D :D :D

It is very very interesting and really worth doing!

I have also just recieved some new posters, leaflets and such material and I have a great offer runing for the next 5 weeks whereby you get £10 off my normal price. Check out my website and facebook page!

And as always, please pass this blog on to anyone you think might be interested!!

Happy riding everyone!!

New ideas and material coming soon

I have just placed an order for some lovely postcard sized business card / leaflet things! Got told by the business link they might be a good addition since they do two jobs. And duly I have followed their advice!

It was quite interesting designing them myself, since never done anything similar, so will be interesting to see how they look like when they arrive in a few days time.

Also I am making a video with Wiola from the Aspire Equestrian riding academy http://www.aspire-equestrian.com/. We have an outline of what we want to do and will hopefully get the first part filmed tomorrow. We have been kindly given the lovely horses of Craig Nicolai (NZ international eventer) and her partner Abby (based in Cane End outside Reading http://caneendstud.weebly.com/) to play with. They come in different shapes and sizes, so should be few interesting videos coming out soon!! Looking forward to them already.

Here is my regular ride, Vatican at Cane End, he belongs to Abby. He is a big boy between 17hh and 18hh and has his moments of being... hmm... rather wild I think to put it mildly. :D But regardless of how he is, he is my special boy and I love him to bits. We go on nice hacks (and yes he is scared of everything most days, particularly the bins) and I school him when I get a burst of motivation. He is not keen on schooling or the school, he had an accident few years ago and broke his pelvis and never really got back to his former glory. But when you get his head in gear (this is where you need a patience of a saint) he is amazing to ride, real schoolmaster and super duper sensitive.

Vatican looking pretty - luckily big grass belly well hidden in this photo!!

I will have a busy two weeks ahead since have 3 dogs in the house. A lovely Jack Russell Finn, who we fostered for a charity little while back, has come to stay here while his owners are on holiday. So two terriers and one collie in the house are sure to keep me on my toes!!

Benji with blue eyes, black Lucy with big ears and visitor Finn at the back

Last day with the lovely polo ponies

Lovely polo ponies of Sulham

For the last two months I have spent my early mornings with these lovely creatures. this has also been my first attempt of 2-4-1 riding!! Ie ride one and lead one. Luckily they only made me take two of them, not three or four as they do at big professional polo yards. Two has been plenty to manage! But it is suprising how quickly one gets used to it and the polo ponies are brought up this way, they really understand what is going on and just very calmly jog along the other horse - never try to change direction, barge, kick, bite each other or anything or such. So it really is as straightforward as hacking out one horse that can be a bit of a handful. (And dont we all know a few of those :D)

Toastie waiting to be taken to the field

These four ponies are the gentlest and calmest creatures on the planet. (as you can see from the photo!!). It has made a change from overexcitable professional competition horses - mind you not that these guys arent pro - they just are a bit older 'been there seen that' type. Nothing bothers them - apart from the naughty three young bulls that like to follow us along the fence line whilst doing excitable moo's and little charging attempts. Toastie in particular finds them rather fun!

The wild Toastie - raring to go!! (or about to fall asleep..)

Flo also falling asleep before a ride

The yard is the quietest and calmest place in the world, situated in Sulham, between the villages of Tidmarsh and Pangbourne. I have spent most mornings totally alone, just me, the ponies and my iPod! Very very lovely. I think all horses should have such a calm place to live. (and us people too, to that matter!)

As mentioned in the title of this post, it was my last day with these lovely horses last week. Im onto expanding my business and also working few hours in the morning somewhere else now for a classical dressage rider who also owns a kennel. So busy animal filled mornings ahead! Will miss them lots, but will keep you updated on my progress at the other yard and how my massages go this week :)

Susanna

Welcome and a massive HELLO to all of you!!

Hi to you all


And you are very very welcome to my blog! I am still getting used to using this website, so you will probably see a lot of change on how it looks over the coming months.

Me massaging at Hatch Farm, just outside
M4 in Reading!

I am a professional Equine Body Worker (EBW) which means I have qualified to give horses sports massage. I am based in Reading, Berkshire UK, but will travel for appointments albeit most of my customers are reasonably close by. I only address issues that arise from the soft tissue (exactly as a human sports masseur would) and as much as you would consult your GP for anything more serious, you MUST consult your VET as a first point of call and chat to him/her about you considering having me to massage your horse. I am also fully insured, so if you get the vets referral, you are likely to be able to claim the money back from your insurance company.

I absolutely love what I do, I find it very relaxing and it really takes me to a focused state of being whereby I almost 'listen' to the horse through my hands. The more different horses I see, the more I learn. It is all about feel, I think. And as you as horsey people know, the horses really do let you know where they are tight or sore. I move slowly, keep watching their eyes and the expression on their face, apply a bit more pressure, depending on the horses treshold and to some deeper work on areas that I feel need addressing.

Massaging TeePee and Wokingham
Equestrian Centre
many years ago

Please do have a look at my website www.susannashorsetherapy.com

Hope to see you here again soon - I hope to make this channel educational too, not just full of my blobber :DD Even there is bound to be some of that too. But I beleive things tend to organically mold themselves, so I havent got an agenda in place, I will just let myself to quide me!!

Take care and many happy rides!!

Susanna