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A Tail of Two Horses

November 1, 2018 har-admin Leave a comment

Scottsdale 2018 – Tom Quilty – A tail of 2 horses…

In October 2018, I attended the 160km Tom Quilty endurance ride in Scottsdale Tasmania, in the company of my awesome strapers, Phoebe and Gil; my two horses, Sterling Nakeeta and Sterling Soldier; and friend and rider of Sterling Soldier, Wendy Rhia and her partner and straper Rodney. We had made the voyage from the main land with Sterling Nakeeta and I attempting our 7^thbuckle, Wendy her 5^thand Sterling Soldier his first. Both of my horses have a history of being picky eaters during competition and Sterling Soldier can be quite a handful at times with his huge amount of energy and massive movement at a trot.

We arrived at base camp on the Thursday with the Tom Quilty due to start at midnight the following day. I had already been acquainted with bowen therapist Wes Russell from the previous years Quilty at Warina Cove in South Australia. He had worked on Sterling Nakeeta during the ride and I was very happy with the results so when I received a message from him a few days prior, I was more than happy to book him in to treat both horses. The non-invasive treatment method of Bowen which Wes uses suits me and the horses. It is preferably not stir anything up close to a competition but the treatment encourages them to eat and drink and urinate efficiently and soothe any low grade niggles which may arise during the ride.

Wes at the Quilty -2 — Two happy horses with Wes!

Wes was pretty much at our beck and call from the moment we arrived, despite juggling many other clients at the same time! Both the horses received short treatments prior to the ride and throughout the ride as we saw necessary. It was amazing to see Wes work on my horses and then watch them dive into their tucker and drink. Wes even offered to do Soldier’s trot ups in the vet ring as fatigue hit us, as it takes a lot to keep up with his massive stride. Wes did a fantastic Job with Soldier, not only was his metabolic parameters great after treatment but his gait went from a B to an A from the second to 3^rdleg. After the third leg vet check I could tell that Nakeeta was holding on to a wee and I spoke to Wes about it, he did a light treatment and by the time I had her back to her yard she had relaxed enough to pee, it was amazing!

Sterling Nakeeta and I and Sterling Soldier and Wendy completed the Tom Quilty with all A’s in our log books and the horses probably faring better than the riders! I would like to thank Wes for his assistance during the ride, I know my horses were glad to have him there treating them, improving their metabolics, movement and overall wellbeing, I can highly recommend him!

Endurance, muscles, performance, stress

Tom Quilty 2018

November 1, 2018 har-admin Leave a comment

Adventures in Tasmania at the Quilty 2018

One of the things I really love about my job is getting the opportunity to travel to equestrian events to provide treatments to horses and humans. My latest trip was to Scottsdale Tasmania for the iconic Tom Quilty Gold Cup – an endurance event where 160km is travelled in a maximum of 24 hours (one day).

A number of Queenslanders made the long trip down south to compete. With the extensive road travel and a ferry ride on top, getting to the start line with a sound horse was a win in itself. I always feel grateful and honoured to be given the opportunity to work with horses and riders at these events. It can be a tough 24 hours being part of the highs and lows during the event. With the average completion rate for the ride at 57.45% there is always going to be some disappointments. I was lucky to be associated with competitors who came out on both sides.

It is always satisfying to see my efforts acknowledged on social media or through short stories and testimonials from clients. Thank you to Nicky, a rider I first met at the 2017 Quilty in South Australia, for her story on this year’s completion.

Following the Quilty my wife and I travelled around and thoroughly enjoyed the sights of Tasmania for a week before heading to Melbourne and Barwon Heads to complete some additional treatments in Victoria…

Once again, with relatively good weather travelling around the bay with some work in between was very enjoyable. With the luxury of an assistant I was able to get some photos of happy horses. Thank you to all the owners for sharing. I look forward to more adventures at events near and far in the future!

Nora with Marshall the pony. — Nora with Marshall, I’ve been treating since December 2016

Endurance

Autumn Wrap Up

June 2, 2016 har-admin Leave a comment

I have had a very busy time in recent couple of months!

During mid March I had the privilege of attending a great 3 day workshop by two leading experts in the field of bodywork. It was particularly exciting to meet Thomas Myers a world renowned presenter on the complexities of fascia in the body. Indeed, fascia was one of the key components Tom Bowen developed his therapy on all those years ago. The book Anatomy Trains is currently used in a section Bowtech Bowen Therapy diploma course. If you are interested in learning more visit http://anatomytrains.com or check out the other presenter on the keys to fascia mobilisation, Ian O’Dwyer, at his website http://odonmovement.com

After this weekend workshop I travelled to Nanango to attend the Nanango Healthy Life Expo as a stall holder promoting the benefits of Bowtech Bowen Therapy for Humans and Equine Muscle Release Therapy on Horses. It was a great day with some 128 stall holders in attendance. The event was well attended by the population of the South Burnett. I met a number of horse owners and look forward to being able to visit regularly for treatments.

Then later in March the Horse and Rider trailer and camp headed to Imbil to attend the Far-Away Endurance Club Easter carnival with an action packed program over four days. As with most endurance events sleep is an optional extra! It was pleasing to see the weather being kinder than last year when torrential rain threatened to stop the entire program with many tracks being remarked away from flooded roads. This year instead we had the demands of heat. It was very hot on the Saturday and Monday which caused a lot of problems with stress on the horses leading to many heart rate dilemmas. I was very pleased to be able to assist a number of competitors in this predicament. To learn more about how EMRT can help with heart rate balancing, see my article here.

The horse and rider combination of Ruth Dixon and Romero was sponsored with treatments and assistance for the marathon (320 km over four days), it was very disappointing when a fit and well Romero developed a cough late Thursday and was forced to withdraw only a few kilometres into the ride at 4am on Friday morning. He was packed up by 5am and headed home to recover and fight another day.

It was a pleasure and very exciting to see many horses treated by Horse and Rider Therapy compete and complete very successfully. I will not attempt to name them all for fear of missing some (lack of sleep at the time and a fading memory don’t help!). A highlight was getting to treat both Brooke Marshall and her horse throughout the marathon for a completion and a great finish.

My client Shelly Chapman was riding Astronomer (above) and she came equal first with her daughter Renae on Phoenix in the 80 km ride on Saturday. I also helped support Kelsey Irvine (below) and her horse, Donoma, who finished third in the same event.

Kelsey came in 3rd place...Well done! — Kelsey came in 3rd place…Well done!

The Boonara Arabian crew had a very successful weekend across a number of 40 km and 80 km rides. Christina Simpson and Evezra. Gwen Bartolo and Harry. It was, as always, humbling and satisfying to be able to assist clients old and new achieve wonderful results over the weekend.

The only event I attended in April was the Killarney Endurance. This beautiful area was to provide a taste of winter the first for the year, I only arrived for Saturday night but was reliably informed Friday night was much colder.

Once again there was a number of pleasing results for clients of Horse and Rider Therapy. A highlight was having provided full treatments or band-aid treatments to all three horses filling first, equal second and third placings in the juniors. Congratulations to the winner of the junior event, Maeve Paten, and the second place getters Mel and Christina Simpson as well. Chris Nichols also received a trophy for third place in the heavy weight 80 km ride.

Killarney junior winners and Chris Nicholss — Killarney junior winners with Chris Nichols

Hope to see you on the road or at your place some time soon!

Wes

Endurance, heart rate, performance, stress, Uncategorized

Horse Heart Rate

May 13, 2016 har-admin Leave a comment

Horse Heart Rate and the Success of EMRT

The marvel of a horse’s athletic ability depends on adequate preparation and conditioning of one of the more malleable systems in the horse’s body: the cardiovascular system, which encompasses the heart and blood circulation. In contrast to years of lengthy preparation required by the skeletal system and bone, the cardiovascular system quickly responds and adapts to training. With an intelligent conditioning strategy, the cardiovascular system can be brought to peak within four to six months.

cardio horse — Cardiovascular system of the horse

Since the heart is the central organ comprising the cardiovascular system, a horse’s performance depends on his heart being an effective pump to move blood and oxygen to the tissues. This is particularly important for protracted exercise related to sports where a horse is undergoing lengthy aerobic exercise, such as distance riding, eventing, and steeplechase.

A strong heart is also important to propel a horse through intense speed efforts. Features that dictate a horse’s staying power and stamina include:

The efficiency by which oxygen is delivered to the muscles.
The effectiveness of heat dissipation from the core of the body.

The horse’s normal resting heart rate is in the range of 38 ± 10 beats per minute (bpm). Maximum heart rates can reach 150bpm in an aerobic exercise, rates in the area of 180 – 200 bpm fall into the category of anaerobic exercise. In sports such as endurance racing the horse’s heart rate recovery following exercise is used as a parameter in assessing the fitness of the horse.

Exercise, stress, fear, pain, and excitement (of the horses as well as the handler) will elevate the horses’ heart rate. Infection will cause an increased rate as will traumatic cuts, kicks, fractures colic and intestinal pain. [1]

stressed horse — Stressed horses will respond with a sharp rise in heart rate

During my Bowen Diploma training, I conducted research assessing the reduction of heart rate using two particular Bowen moves on 17 horses. All horses participating in the tests shows immediate signs of processing and relaxation that we like to see, such as deep breathing, heads dropped below their withers, licking and chewing and a general quietening in expression.

Of the seventeen horses tested, ten had a reduction in their heart rate, six remained on their pre- treatment heart rate and one increase. The average reduction was three beats per minute.

Many sports such as endurance racing rely very heavily on the ability of the horse to recover and achieve reduced heart rates in a short period of time. Using key EMRT moves can be very helpful to all competitive equine sports where an alert but less stressed horse is an advantage.

Horses in competition with an elevated heart rate from the stresses of exercise, heat and excitement may deliver a different outcome to the moves I examined with the horses at rest. In the past four years however, I have completed EMRT moves on a number of endurance horses and have achieved consistent reductions of between four and ten beat per minute. It is little wonder, as the specific moves address all systems and cells of the body – musculoskeletal, reproductive, digestive, endocrine, urinary, respiratory and circulatory.

It never ceases to amaze me how beneficial EMRT is for horses and of course how great Bowen is for humans!

[1]http://www.livinglegends.org.au/horse-health/horse-management/know-your-horses-vital-signs; page2

Endurance

Kilkivan Endurance 2016

February 14, 2016 har-admin Leave a comment

Kilkivan Endurance Ride 2016

It appeared that nothing had changed between the first endurance ride of the new season and the last one last year. As I drove to Kilkivan through rain, the only thing missing from the last ride in 2015 at Imbil was the thunder and lightning.

But the rain all cleared and the sky turned blue as I arrived at Kilkivan Endurance Ride, and the 20 km and 40 km rides went ahead on Saturday and Sunday with only the odd shower. It was great to catch up with friends and clients and to meet some great new people too.

Thank you to all those who used the services of Horse and Rider Therapy over the weekend. It is my intention that everyone will get to experience the many benefits of Bowen therapy for themselves and their horses. Congratulations to all the competitors who successfully completed the ride and to the organisers for a well run event and a fun weekend.

Looking forward to seeing you at my next outing!

Endurance, muscles, performance, stress

flight or fight horse

February 12, 2016 har-admin Leave a comment

Finding a Happy Balance for Your Horse

Understanding Flight or Fight v Rest and Repair

As we all know if our muscles are tight and sore or our bodies are in pain, we cannot perform anywhere near our best, if at all. It could certainly be argued that our muscles are a major part of the mechanism which we move our skeleton around from A to B. So we need to factor in the health and function of our muscles in understanding problems that are sitting in our joints and skeletal system. Muscles that are tight, sore or out of condition will not only cause us to feel uncomfortable, but they can also play havoc with our skeletal system, restricting movement and potentially putting us out of alignment.

Well as it is for us humans, it is exactly the same for horses. When horses are pushed past the point of their natural restriction and resistance, it can lead to poor performance or even a breakdown in the worst cases. Despite a horse’s reluctance to push through its pain barrier, it may be forced into compliance by the rider and may go against its natural in built protective mechanisms to stop. This creates internal stress and the horse will have to try to adapt to the demands being placed on it. This puts the horse firmly into a state of fight or flight, which can make it more prone to unpredictable behaviour, injury and when adaption mechanisms fail, it will hit exhaustion.

Horses, by their very nature, being a prey animal are already well primed to drop into flight or fight easily. The flight or fight response is only designed as a short term survival tool and when it is experienced for more than 30 minutes, negative side effects on the rest of the system will be experienced. So we need to be aware of the long term impact that the stress of pushing for performance and overworking can have on our horses.

By working with muscles along the spine we can trigger the brain and nervous system into a calm state of wellbeing. This enables us to switch a horse (or human) over from the ‘flight or fight’ response into the opposite state of ‘rest and repair’. I am always amazed at how effective Bowen therapy is at helping a horse make this switch from tension and stress into calm relaxation. In turn, the “rest and repair” mechanism, allows the body to provide a positive and timely response to tissue injury and healing times can be greatly reduced. We often witness in EMRT that the quicker an injury is treated, the shorter the recovery time.

By understanding the nervous system and the impact that different activities and actions can have on our horses we can work with them rather than exerting our will upon them. We need to find a happy medium between work-life balance and look after our horses (and ourselves) so that we can work, rest and play in the most optimal way.

Uncategorized

Happy Horses

February 12, 2016 har-admin Leave a comment

Meet Fancy Spin, a ten year old Bay Roan quarter horse mare.

Fancy Spin was bought by her current owner as a four year old and although seemed quiet in the ring at the sale yards, quickly proved to be a handful once back at home. She is nervous and head shy and was mostly likely mishandled during her early years.

Fancy Spin was bred and is trained in cutting but she has participated in cattle mustering and camp drafts as well. She has suffered a couple of injuries in the line of duty (with a side hit from a bull) and on assessment had notable issues with gait and tracking.

westreats — Fancy Spin blissed out and relaxed after her third EMRT session.

Fancy Spin’s owner was hoping that EMRT would help with the horses physical condition, performance and temperament.

During the first round of EMRT, Fancy Spin had obvious nervous and muscle tension that eased noticeable with different moves. Sighing, gut noises, licking, chewing, eyes closed and yawning are all signs that we look for to gauge the horse’s response to treatment. At the end of the first session, Fancy Spin remained calm and stood relaxed and ate quietly. After 48 hours, the owner reported that she was looking and feeling good.

During the second round of treatment, while Fancy Spin started out nervous and fidgety she was sleepy and calm by the end of it. An interesting response to treatment was a strange exudate appearing on the surface of the skin around the lumbar spine and kidney region. The exudate was a hot, sticky ‘syrup’ like substance that was possibly connected to clearing the trauma and internal damage from the bull. She went on to compete in a cutting show a week or so later and did well. The third round of EMRT had Fancy Spin starting out a lot calmer and happier and with a better gait at the outset. She proceeded to relax more deeply after the treatment with all the signs we like to see of a horse who is relaxed and calm.

At the close of the three sessions, the owner reported that she was much calmer and friendlier, interacting more often with him in the paddock. It is hoped that the EMRT helped to remove the old emotional trauma from the previous injuries and also improve the physical structure and function of the muscles and organs, so she can be a happy horse.

Endurance

Magic Murrumba

August 17, 2014 har-admin Leave a comment

Murrumba Endurance Ride

I certainly felt the magic at the Murrumba Endurance Riding Club event last weekend. There truly are great people involved in the sport and the Murrumba Endurance Ride show cased many of them.

Thank you to the caterers from the Woodford Football Club who provided good food and kindly allowed me to use their change room to treat people. The weather provided a cool start for the riders and horses and warmed up to a pleasant afternoon for the strappers.

For some unexplained reason I felt the urge to get up at 3am and experience some pre-ride strapping preparation and see the start of the 100 km ride. Thanks to Aaron from the Short Stop Café providing plenty of coffee I was able to assist a number of horses with treatments and make it through to the presentations.

Congratulations to all riders who competed in the rides. Thankyou to those riders who entrusted me with the wellbeing of their horses. It was exciting and humbling at the same time to see these horses go on to complete and perform very well.

I am looking forward to meeting up again and doing it all over at Esk on the 23^rd and 24^th August 2014.

murrumbavetting2 — More vetting at Murrumba

Endurance

Widgee

August 4, 2014 har-admin Leave a comment

Wunderful Widgee

Wunderful Widgee certainly lived up to its name for me. It was great to catch up with old friends and clients. To all the people who received treatments on the weekend, thank you for choosing Horse and Rider Therapy. I have had some great feedback during the week, with improvements from horses and riders!

See some pictures from Widgee below.

Excitement is building for the lead up to the State Championships next month in Clifton. Anyone looking for fine tuning of their horse or themselves, please give me a call.

Please note that my next outing will be Murrumba at Woodford. See Murrumba Endurance Club for more info.

Uncategorized

Cooyar

July 14, 2014 har-admin Leave a comment