Brocklesby-Brown Equine Therapy

09/01/2025

Food for thought for the new year 🐴

18/06/2023

Couldn’t agree more and the time line I adopt my 3 year old is still in the field ❤️

23/12/2022

Wishing all My Clients ,many of you which are now friends a Wonderful Christmas 🎄🎄🎅. Hoping you all get to spend some time with those that mean the most ❤️🎄.

08/09/2022

🌹❤️

09/06/2022

🙌

05/05/2022

Love this🥰

I DON’T KNOW YOUR HORSE…
…But I do know horses. Here are a few things I’ve learned that should help most horses, most of the time, with whatever problem you may be having.

DO LESS:
Whatever it is, just do less. Expect less. React less. Use less strength. Less contact. Less pressure down the rein/rope. Less pressure from the leg. Less driving from the seat. Less noise…

GIVE MORE:
More patience. More time. More benefit of the doubt. More rest breaks. More reward. More still. More quiet. More variety. More length to the neck…

DITCH YOUR EGO & LET STUFF SLIDE:
Your horse isn’t trying to get one over on you, (or if he is, ask yourself why he feels the need to). What you think is naughty behaviour is usually just an attempt to communicate something: Discomfort, distrust, uncertainty, anxiety, fear, none of which require ‘telling off’…

COUNT TO TEN:
Be in control of your own emotions before you try and control your horse’s emotions. Once you let your emotions change, the whole dialogue upon which your training is based, changes…

IT TAKES TWO TO ARGUE:
So rather than asking for something that goes against your horse, start by asking for things you’re already pretty sure the horse is going to give, and go from there. (This one takes a little figuring out but is totally worth it!) N.B.: Common sense required!…

EVERYTHING IS MADE UP OF THE BASICS:
More advanced work is simply an arrangement of the basics taken care of simultaneously…

NEVER DISCOUNT PAIN:
You can never truly ‘rule out pain’ as a cause of unwanted behaviour. No matter how much money you spend, or how good your vet is…

REST DAYS ARE AS IMPORTANT AS TRAINING DAYS: Overtraining can be just as damaging as under preparing. Horses only have so many jumps/steps in them - use them sparingly…

BREAK IT DOWN:
Most issues can be solved by taking a step back, breaking the issue down into smaller chunks, and taking care of those chunks one by one…

TAKE YOUR TIME:
You’ll get there much quicker if you do. Cutting a corner will only come back to bite you in the ass sooner or later…

ONE FINAL THING…
Horse training is subject to the same laws of physics as everything else. You can’t argue with either anatomy or physics, no matter how many medals you’ve won. Train with this in mind, because there isn’t a single instance where an unyielding or strong rein contact will benefit your training, or your horse…

04/03/2022

31/12/2021

New Years bring new beginnings, I wish you all the very best for 2022 .
Hang on to those dreams keep believing and keep building on them day by day .
My dreams began as a child and after persistence , dedication and always getting back up my dreams came true and my horses are at home ❤️
Dream it - Believe it - build it
Good luck 🙏

22/12/2021

Fab last day of horses until 2022 .🎄🐴
Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas keep safe .
Wishing good health and happiness to you all 🦄

25/09/2021

🙌

Back in 1731, de la Guérinière’s Ecole de Cavalerie was published, and we find this crucial awareness of the developmental nature of classical riding. Here is the great master warning against pushing the horse too fast...
According to de la Guérinière:
“One often demands things that the horses are not capable of doing in a desire to push them too fast and teach them too much. These excessive demands make them hate exercise, strains and tires their sinews and tendons, upon whose elasticity suppleness depends, and often these horses end up ruined when it is believed that they have been trained. Thus, no longer having the strength to fight back, they obey, but without grace or any spirit. There is still another reason that contributes to the formation of these faults: the horses are ridden at too early an age, and because the work demanded of them exceeds their strength and they are not developed enough to resist the degree of control they are subjected to before being trained, their loins are strained, their hocks are weakened, and they are permanently damaged. The proper age for training a horse is six, seven or eight, according to his native environment.”

17/07/2021

ARE YOUR HOESES HEATWAVE READY??

With temperatures set to hit 30 degrees Celsius in the next couple of days, how will you ensure your horses don’t suffer in the heat?
Yes, horses cope with much higher temperatures abroad, but for our horses, these are extreme temperatures.

1. STABLING
If you have a reasonably cool stable, then stabling during the day is by far the best option. Wooden stables can get quite hot, but if not facing the sun, and if no clear plastic on the roof, they are still likely to be cooler than your horse standing in direct sunlight for the whole day.
Brick and block stables are ideal, and should definitely be utilised over the next few days.
If your stables get extremely hot, and you can’t improve the ventilation by opening windows, then your horse may be better off out.....

2. SHADE IN FIELDS
All bar one of my nine horses will either be in fields with big field shelters tomorrow, or in their stables after midday. I don’t have any big trees/natural shade in my fields, so this is necessary.
If you have natural shade in your fields for most of the day, then it’s perfectly fine for your horses to stay out, and the best place to be. It may be worth checking that they are actually using the shade/shelter however, and maybe pop some hay and buckets of water in the shade if not. I have seen horses go to sleep in one spot, in direct sunlight, and then by the time they realise it’s too hot to stay there, heat exhaustion has already started to kick in, and they don’t feel like moving.

3. RIDING
Either don’t ride, ride very early, or just go for a light hack. Johnnie will be ridden, but he’s extremely fit.
A couple of days off, or walk hacks, won’t kill them, but galloping around in the heat could.

4. FLY RUGS
I use fly rugs on all of mine. I don’t find that any of my horses are hot under them. I use the white Amigo Aussie Allrounders. They keep the burning sun off their backs, and stop them being eaten by flies. Always ensure a fly rug is mostly white if using in very high temperatures.

5. CLIPPING
If you have a horse with a thick summer coat/one with Cushings, then I always advise clipping them out during the Summer months. Just be careful if they are pink skinned, as they will definitely need a light fly rug on to prevent sunburn if so.

6. ELECTROLYTES
It is a good idea to feed electrolytes throughout the summer months, but if you haven’t been using them, then it’s too late to load up now for tomorrow. I don’t advise putting them in water, as you don’t want to put a horse off drinking, but adding to the feed is a sensible move. This is a huge topic, and I’ve written articles on this before, but the main point right now, is don’t try to load up with electrolytes now if you haven’t been using them.

7. WASHING OFF
If your horse seems very hot in the next few days, then washing off with cold water is a good idea, and the best way of quickly cooling a horse. Ideally, hosing with water at 5-7 deg is the best option, and hose all over the horse. No need to scrape, just keep hosing!

So, to summarise.....in an ideal world, your horses are best in either a shady area of a field, or a cool stable for the next couple of days (or whenever it is hot).
If you are completely stuck, and only have a field with no shelter, then check your horse regularly, and every time you do, offer some water if possible. They may end up feeling too hot to bother walking to the trough. Sloppy feeds and soaked hay will also help prevent dehydration if your only option is a hot field.

Most of this is clearly common sense, but all worth thinking about as the weather is meant to hit the 30s for a couple of days.

If your horse seems very lethargic, and/or isn’t interested in eating, then call your vet straight away.

Photo of the wonderful Harold in his beach years!

09/05/2021

*** TENDON BOOTS DO NOT HELP TO PREVENT TENDON INJURIES (other than strike injuries) ***

I sometimes get asked by clients/page followers to recommend tendon boots, to help their horse currently recovering from a tendon injury. No tendon boot will help prevent tendon injuries. If you choose the wrong tendon boot, it may actually contribute to a future tendon injury!

So if tendon boots don’t prevent strained tendons, then why do we use them?! Tendon boots are used, mainly only in show jumping, to protect the tendons on the back of the front leg (flexor tendons) from being struck into by the hind toes. Blunt trauma can 100% cause a tendon injury, so I’m not saying that tendon boots won’t help prevent a tendon injury caused by the blunt force trauma of a hind toe bashing into it, but tendon boots don’t in any way help prevent a “classic” strain injury, resulting in torn fibres or core lesions.

We use tendon boots in show jumping to offer some protection, whilst also allowing the horse to “feel” a pole with the front of the cannon bones should he be careless with his front legs.

I would not recommend tendon boots for going cross country, as we want to protect our horses’ legs as much as possible from bashing into solid fences. If you have a horse that is so careless XC that he needs to go in tendon boots to help keep him careful, then I’d be questioning as to whether that horse should ever be going XC in the first place! I also don’t recommend tendon boots for hacking, as if the horse goes down on the road, you want as much protection as possible on the legs.

When choosing tendon boots, as with any boot, choose one that won’t heat up the legs. Any boot on any horse will obviously heat the leg to some degree, but choose an air cooled boot, such as these lovely tendon boots that Johnnie wears, from Equilibrium Products. Tendon injuries in horses are often sustained over a long period of time, rather than due to an acute injury, and the prolonged heating of tendons predisposes them to damage.

The “matchy matchy” craze, with the matching fleece bandages, is a disaster. Not only do lots of owners not know how to correctly bandage, but these fleece bandages heat up the legs far more than modern air-cooled sports or tendon boots.

To conclude, tendon boots will only protect tendons from strike injuries; they will not prevent the chronic heat induced, and age related, cell damage to the tendon. If you are going to use tendon boots for show jumping and schooling, then choose modern air-cooled boots. It is more important to concentrate on fitness and the surfaces you ride on, than to wrap up the tendons.

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