Turns out I managed to publish the title, but not the blog, whoops! Here it is - 

Well September has been a busy month! I was aiming to update more regularly than this, but time has been short. 

As I posted on Facebook, earlier this month, I attended another course focused on learning more myofascial techniques. Anyone who has had me out to their horse will have heard me talk about how much I love these – they’re so effective, and allow the horse to be an active participant in the sessions, rather than ‘just’ a patient who I am applying treatment to. This means I can focus on what the horse wants – in addition to treating the things I find on the static and dynamic assessments. Often, these findings match, but sometimes reading the horse’s responses can lead you to things that aren’t so obvious. There’s no better feeling than helping a horse release tension that they have been holding on to for a long time – often accompanied by significant amounts of snorting, shaking, yawning and snot. I always walk away from these with a smile on my face! For anyone who would like more information about fascia, here is a great paper from the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4173815/. This is human-focused, but most of the content will still apply. 

Following this, I attended another course, focusing on equine subclinical evaluation. Obviously this is something that is already applied to every client, and a lot of the course was revision material – but an even more thorough assessment means a more targeted treatment, and allows for more ways of determining progress and results. Several methods of assessing can also be applied as treatment techniques, so whilst I got all the refreshing of knowledge that I wanted from the course, I also have new skills to apply. 

Between these and the biomechanics course I attended in July, I’m really excited about working this autumn! 

On the canine side of things – I attended a first aid course earlier this year, before starting work at the hydrotherapy centre. This week, I was back at Hawksmoor for a course about underwater treadmills and how best to use them. Ever since using them while doing my physiotherapy training, I have thought that they are fantastic pieces of equipment. Again, it was a course that included a lot of revision, but as I haven’t been using a treadmill regularly for the past couple of years, that was very welcomed, plus plenty of new specifics to put to good use. As it also counts as credits towards a level 3 diploma, it gives me coursework to do! 

In other news, there have been a few small tweaks to the website, some links added, and another set of business cards ordered!  
Lastly, I’ve been so very pleased to see that my sponsored riders have been having a great few weeks between them showjumping, eventing and at dressage! They’re working very hard, and I love seeing their (and all of my clients!) efforts pay off. 

As some of you may have seen on Facebook, I attended a short course at Centaur Biomechanics, in Warwickshire last weekend. I jumped at the chance to go when IRVAP announced they had organised this as CPD, as I had already had my eye on the Centaur Equine courses. I was expecting to come away with a bit of new knowledge and context for my work, but I was not expecting the sheer volume of very interesting and highly relevant facts that were thrown at us. Nor was I expecting to come away feeling so excited and inspired about our role as therapists in the industry. I have new things to look for during conformation and gait assessments, lots of information to pass on to clients, answers to a few questions I couldn't figure out before, and some new habits to start forming! One of the main points of the weekend, which bears repeating, is how important it is for us all to work as a team (rider, vet, therapist(s), farrier, saddler, instructor, etc.) to get best results for our horses (and a lot of this applies to our dogs too!). I have some more CPD courses lined up for the end of the summer, which I am very excited about too, but in the meantime, I have a lot to take in and keep me busy! 

Welcome to the blog page, and new website! Knowing myself, this isn't likely to be updated on a frequent basis, but I will try to keep a semi-regular schedule. I have a couple of things in mind for future entries, including some information about saddles, and the more subtle signs that your horse or dog may benefit from treatment. Please let me know if there are any specific subjects you would like to be addressed, and I will do my best to pull something together for you.