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…
Sunny having a sleep leaning on fence
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, I’ve been treating since December 2016
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.
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 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.
Wes uses EMRT successfully during endurance rides.
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!
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.
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.
