Sonja van Dijk - Equine Spinal Therapy

22/08/2024

28/11/2023

Piper getting to grips with his new life. Arena eventing - straight in at 90 🖤🖤🖤

17/11/2023

Here's a nice tip for a suspected abscess. This horse had been off for a few days, vet had been out and suspected an abscess but couldn't find anything on that day. I suggested that the owner clean and cover both feet in water, if one dried quicker than the other then there is a high chance of an abscess (or some other inflammation) sometimes only part of the foot will dry faster which can also give a location. I popped out the day after this photo was taken and found an abscess which had burst out of the coronet and it started to drain in the sole also. Just another tip to have in our tool box of figuring out what's the matter with our equine friends 😊

15/04/2023

18/02/2023

Lead your horse’s movement with your own…

25/12/2022

Sequins and wellies… Happy Christmas!

25/11/2022

I see more KS in ex-racehorses than other types. With much debate at the moment regarding rider weight and suitability to the horse, this diagram goes a long way to explain why we see more problems with ex-racehorses or young horses with unsuitable riders.

22/11/2022

All too common unfortunately...

*** RIDER WEIGHT AND HORSE WELFARE; WITH WHOM DOES THE RESPONSIBILITY LIE? ***

A tough topic to broach. But, I’m sorry to say, one that really, really needs broaching. Back in March 2019, the exceptional Dr Sue Dyson, published her pilot study on the influence of rider:horse body weight ratio. The conclusions weren’t really that surprising; large riders can induce temporary lameness and behaviours consistent with musculoskeletal pain. The hugely disappointing outcome of this study, is that I still regularly see riders that are far, FAR too heavy for their horses. No b******t about how heavy riders can “ride light”. Rubbish. The fact remains that if you are 5 stone too heavy for your horse, you are far too heavy for your horse, even if you can ride along with your toe resting on your elbow.

But who is going to be “brave” enough to walk up to a rider, and tell them that their weight on that poor horse’s back, is in fact a welfare issue? And with whom does this responsibility lie?

Does it lie with the dressage or jumping judge, to ring their bell and eliminate a rider for being alarmingly too heavy for their horse? Maybe? But that rider then bursts into tears, and shares a photo of their 20 stone self, perched on their little Connemara cross, and 600 “be kinds” on social media, immediately tell said rider that the judge is a bully and they look great. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ What about being kind to their poor little horse/pony?

I’m sure this is offending at least 25% of you so far, but I actually don’t care. Riding is classified as a “sport”. Therefore, whatever our level, should we not be classing ourselves as “athletes”??

No amount of physio/chiro sessions for Nobby, will compensate for the fact he has to brace his whole back as you land in the saddle. No amount of matchy matchy fleecy leg bandages will support his tiny little limbs as he struggles to maintain canter for more than three seconds.

In Dr Dyson’s trial, ALL SEVEN of the “very heavy” rider tests were abandoned due to the weight of the rider resulting in obvious lameness, in horses that were sound minutes before, and sound again straight after. A very heavy rider was one whose rider:horse body weight percentage was greater than 20%. An average horse is around 500kg, so these riders were over 100kg/15-16 stone. Every single one of these riders induced lameness in the trial horse they were on. Just ponder that thought. These were not subtle lamenesses, either. We are talking 4-5/10 lame in trot, during the first trot with that rider. That is lame. To be fair, these riders may have been 20 stone, as there was no upper limit.

So we look at the “heavy” group, who had a rider: horse body weight percentage of 15-18%. So, on a 550kg horse, that would be a rider weighing 82-100kg, or 13 stone- 15.5 stone. FIVE of the heavy rider tests were abandoned due to lameness, and one due to the horse showing pain in canter.

So, back to the point of the article. Who should be the person responsible for telling these riders that they are far too heavy (I’m not taking a stone too heavy, even)? Have I been tempted? Absolutely. But would I then get a roasting on social media? Most definitely. Have I told clients that they are too heavy? Yes. Not as often as I probably should have, but yes, I have. It’s a very, very tricky subject to broach with riders, who often genuinely love their horses, and don’t realise the damage they are doing, and the pain they may be causing.

I honestly don’t know the answer to my question. If I was judging, I may never be asked to judge again. So why Woy if they risk eliminating someone? As a vet, I’m probably better placed to go and have a quiet word, but then I can guarantee I’d be met with, “well, my vet doesn’t think I’m too heavy”, followed by a “she’s so unprofessional” social media rant. But something needs doing, and saying.

Watch this space!

Please share!

Photo of Johnnie and I going clear at Barbury 4* earlier this year, because you haven’t had a Johnnie photo for a while!

09/11/2022

Great explanation

WHY ARE DRAW REINS A BAD IDEA?

I could write a very long, technical explanation, but it’s really quite simple. Draw reins place the horse’s mouth at the fulcrum of a lever, one end of which is fixed (the girth), the other end is totally reliant on the feel, or lack of, in the rider’s hands. It is very, VERY easy to over-shorten them.

• They shorten and compress the neck
• They force the horse to close the angle in his gullet, crushing the larynx, parotid and restricting the hyoid apparatus. This also creates hyperflexion in the upper neck, damaging joints and ligaments.
• Compression at the base of the neck will cause most horse to drop through their chest and withers to try to fit the vertebrae into the smaller area they have been given. Rather than a regular, smooth curve at the base of the neck, you then have an ’S’ bend. This drives more weight through the horse’s front legs, making them ‘on the forehand’. Ironic, given that one of the supposed benefits of draw reins is to create lightness in the forehand (actually, they just encourage the horse to sit behind the contact).
• Dropping through the base of the neck will create hollowness under the saddle.
• With all that compression going on in front, any energy created by the hind limbs simply cannot be transmitted forward. There will be a ‘log jam’ somewhere in the middle, probably right under the rider.
• Often, because of this, horses will simply trail their hind limbs.
• A study by Bystrom, et al showed that head and neck angles were significantly decreased, and limb kinematics were affected by the use of draw reins. Roepstorff, et al, found that the use of draw reins influenced ground reaction forces at trot.

We are all familiar with the concept that the horse’s hind end is his ‘engine’. Pulling the front end in and forcing an outline effectively stalls that engine, and creates a chain of damaging load patterns, which will ultimately lead to injury.

Some would argue that only skilled riders should use draw reins. I would argue that really skilled riders have no use for them. If the horse is putting his head up, strong or leaning (already on the forehand, fyi), it is the rider’s responsibility to work out why. This could be due to discomfort, lack of training, or a combination of the two. The horse needs to be shown how to better carry himself through improved hindlimb engagement and posture, which will, in turn, lighten the forehand and allow a soft, lengthened neck to a light, elastic contact.

There are no short cuts to helping the horse find balance under the rider.

The picture illustrates how the horse will sit behind the contact, is compressed through the gullet and over flexed in the upper neck. You can clearly see that the horse’s face is behind the vertical and there is tension in the neck muscles. There is not even any contact on either sets of reins – it is common for horses to do this to avoid uncomfortable mouth pressure, and too often gets confused for being ‘light in the contact’.

You might think it would be a physiotherapist's dream, fixing problems caused by improper use of gadgets - but I'd much rather identify why the horse is having difficulty balancing himself, correct any musculoskeletal imbalances, and help the rider help the horse in a sustainable way.

Byström, A., L. Roepstorff, and C. Johnston. "Effects of draw reins on limb kinematics." Equine Veterinary Journal 38.S36 (2006): 452-456.
Roepstorff, L., et al. "Influence of draw reins on ground reaction forces at the trot." Equine Veterinary Journal 34.S34 (2002): 349-352.

31/08/2022

Unlike humans, horses are designed to run on a full stomach. Feeding your horse 2-3L of chaff or a biscuit of hay prior to exercise has two benefits :
1️⃣ The chaff will form a ball of feed in the stomach, which will help prevent acid from splashing up from the lower part of the stomach to cause gastric ulcers.
2️⃣ Blood is normally diverted away from the stomach during exercise, which reduces some of its normal protective mechanisms. Research has shown that feeding your horse before exercise actually reduces the amount of blood that is shunted away from the stomach and also increases the amount of blood delivered to the skeletal muscles and muscles of the chest. So not only are you helping to protect the stomach, you also might be improving your horse’s performance.
For more information : http://ow.ly/CfYy50Dmwnh

13/07/2022

Please think whether your competition is more important than your horse…

Heatstroke or heat exhaustion in horses occurs if a horse’s body temperature becomes too high and in extreme cases can be fatal. It is crucial that during hot weather that horses do not become dehydrated and owners do everything they can to avoid heatstroke occurring. Arguably transporting horses ...