Echo Hill Equestrian Physical Therapy

05/08/2026

Research done by my Alma mater

A recent study from the University of Tennessee provided strong support for something trainers, movement specialists, and bodyworkers have observed for years:

Ground poles significantly increase activation of important postural and core muscles in horses.

What the Study Found

Walking over ground poles increased activity in:

• Longissimus dorsi — a major topline and spinal support muscle
• Abdominal muscles — critical for core stability and support of the spine

Even at the walk, poles require the horse to:

• Lift the limbs higher
• Stabilize the trunk more actively
• Organize posture and balance with greater precision
• Continuously adjust limb placement and timing

At the trot, researchers also found increased activation of the abdominal muscles.

Trotting over poles requires greater dynamic stabilization, and the increased limb elevation demands more coordinated control of the trunk, pelvis, and spine.

What This Means

These findings support the long-standing use of cavaletti and ground poles as a low-impact way to:

• Strengthen the topline
• Improve abdominal engagement
• Support spinal stability
• Enhance proprioception and coordination
• Encourage improved posture and self-carriage
• Develop better movement organization through the whole body

One of the most important aspects of pole work is that it influences both sides of the postural system:

• The dorsal chain — including the longissimus muscles along the back
• The ventral chain — including the abdominal support system

This balance is essential for efficient movement, force transfer, and development of a healthy, functional topline.

But pole work is not only muscular.

It is neurological.

Each pole creates a movement problem the horse must solve in real time.

The horse has to:

• Judge distance
• Adjust stride length
• Control timing
• Stabilize the trunk
• Organize the limbs in space
• Adapt moment-to-moment to changing demands

That process requires attention, coordination, body awareness, and ongoing nervous system regulation.

In many horses, poles appear to improve focus not simply because the horse is “behaving,” but because the nervous system is becoming more engaged and organized around the task.

Pole work may also influence neurological tone — the background level of muscular and nervous system readiness that affects posture, movement quality, stiffness, and coordination.

For some horses, this can help reduce excessive bracing and improve adaptability through the body.
For others, it can help improve postural engagement and overall organization.

Why It Matters

Regular pole work can benefit many types of horses:

• Young horses developing coordination and posture
• Performance horses improving strength, agility, movement quality, and limb awareness
• Horses rebuilding core control and stability after periods of weakness or reduced work
• Older horses maintaining mobility, coordination, and movement confidence

Importantly, many of these benefits occur even at the walk, making poles accessible to horses across a wide range of ages, disciplines, and fitness levels.

Rather than simply “making horses pick up their feet,” poles appear to challenge the nervous system, postural system, sensory system, and muscular system together — encouraging the horse to organize movement with greater control, awareness, and adaptability.

https://koperequine.com/step-by-step-the-benefits-of-walk-poles-for-horses/

04/17/2026

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬? 🦴🐴

Equine osteoarthritis is one of the most common chronic conditions affecting horses (Baccarin et al., 2022). So naturally, we’re always looking for ways to manage it, especially in our equine athletes and aging horses who experience higher joint strain.

One of the most common questions I get during consults is about oral joint supplements. They’re appealing for good reason: non-invasive, easy to feed, and widely available. But they’re also expensive and the science behind them has been mixed.

In fact, one study found 48% of horse owners felt there wasn’t enough research to support joint supplement efficacy, yet 90% were still willing to use them for prevention or treatment (Swirsley et al., 2017). That gap likely comes from the mindset “They might not help, but they won’t hurt.”

And that’s understandable when you’re dealing with a condition as common and impactful as osteoarthritis, doing something feels better than doing nothing.

But here’s the good news 👇
Researchers at Michigan State University have been working to give us clearer answers, and a newly published study is helping move the conversation forward (Harbowy et al., 2026). Article linked in comments!

➡️ Let’s break down what this new research actually tells us…

🔬 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐬 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬!)
Researchers at Michigan State University evaluated 40 horses with chronic lameness (AAEP 2–4) associated with osteoarthritis.

Horses were carefully balanced by age, body condition, weight, and anticipated workload, then assigned to:
• A joint supplement group (Cosequin ASU)
• A control group (placebo; all-purpose flour)

To strengthen the study, each of these groups were further divided into two sub-groups and assigned different colors and scented additives to keep the treatments blinded and also create the perception there were four treatments to rule out any bias.

This is a strong experimental design addressing common issues seen in supplement research such as small sample sizes, lack of controls, and bias. This is important because the quality of the design determines how well we can interpret and ultimately trust the results.

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬
Horses were evaluated every other week over 6 weeks and numerous variables were considered at each timepoint:

Lameness Grade: Treatment did not impact lameness grade (P>0.05) but all horses showed improvements between day 0 and 28 (P=0.045).

Forelimb Vector Sum: Horses on the oral joint supplement had greater forelimb asymmetry than those in the control group (P=0.042).

Pelvic Height: Treatment did not impact minimum or maximum pelvic height.

Stride Length: The stride length at the walk and trot did not differ between treatments.

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏?
Overall, the oral joint supplement did not contribute to any positive changes in horses with osteoarthritis. These findings are not surprising and do align with previous research. While in vitro (cell culture) studies showed promise, studies completed in vivo (in the horse) had unclear clinical implications.

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓?
Joint supplements are a huge supplement category and historically have contributed to 34% of supplement sales (Oke et al., 2010). This is likely because equine osteoarthritis is the leading cause of lameness in horses (McIlwraith et al. 2012). This degenerative joint disease has been shown to affect an estimated 50% of horses over the age of 15 and up to 90% of horses 30 years and older (van Weeren et al., 2016).

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬
Overall, the evidence suggests that joint supplements may not be a worthwhile investment. Instead, focus on:

🥗 Balancing the diet to ensure nutrient requirements are met and the horse maintains a healthy weight.

🏡 Ensuring housing emphasizes adequate turnout time instead of prolonged stall confinement

🐎 Building exercise programs that include warm-up and cool down-periods and focus on consistent low impact movement, strengthening exercises, cross training, and proper conditioning

𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞: While feeding a joint supplement may be easy, a well-rounded and holistic management approach is more likely to support your horse’s joint health in the long run.

* I’ll add that, yes, this study evaluated a single supplement. However, many joint supplements on the market contain similar ingredients, often at even lower inclusion rates. While I’ll continue digging into the literature, there currently isn’t strong, consistent evidence identifying a specific ingredient or combination that reliably improves osteoarthritis outcomes in horses. And realistically, if a clearly effective option existed, it would be widely recognized and supported by the research at this point.

But now I am curious - Do you currently feed a joint supplement and will this impact your decision to use one in the future?

Cheers,
Dr. DeBoer

Baccarin, RYA, Seidel SRT, Michelacci YM, Tokawa PKA, Oliveira TM. Osteoarthritis: A common disease that should be avoided in the athletic horse’s life. Anim. Front. 2022;12:25–36.

Swirsley N, Spooner HS, Hoffman RM. Supplement use and perceptions: a study of US horse owners. Journal of equine veterinary science. 2017 Dec 1;59:34-39.

Harbowy RM, Robison CI, Tillman I, Manfredi JM, Nielsen BD. Efficacy of an oral chondroprotective joint supplement on stride length and gait symmetry in aged geldings with chronic lameness. Animals. 2026;6(8):1230.

Oke S, McIlwraith CW. Review of the economic impact of osteoarthritis and oral joint supplement use in horses. AAEP Proc. 2010;56:12-16.

McIlwraith CW, Frisbie DD, Kawcak CE. The horse as a model of naturally occurring osteoarthritis. Bone Joint Res. 2012;1(11):297–309.

van Weeren PR, Back W. Musculoskeletal disease in aged horses and its management. Vet. Clin. N. Am. Equine Pract. 2016;32:229-247.

04/07/2026

There is a lot of comparing horses to human athletes to justify what we put them through for sport.

Comparing equine pain and stress faces to human focus faces.

Saying that they are “athletes who want to win” and that they are “built different” than horses who aren’t bred for sport.

What’s lost in this is the fact that human athletes can consent, horses can’t.

And there are many documentable occurrences caught on camera where horses in sport say a very clear “NO” and try to opt out… only to be made to perform anyways.

The closest comparative to humans would be looking at child athletes.

If we had a group of children athletes who are consistently captured trying to tell their parents “no” and that their bodies hurt and that they don’t want to compete… it would be a lot more likely to be perceived as an issue.

If a portion of those kids then went on to become adults with significant bodily issues because of the level of effort they were required to put in for sport on under developed bodies for years, it would be an even clearer issue.

And this does happen with child athletes.

But, the difference is that they are speaking humans who can identify and outline their experience and advocate for themselves, even if it takes until later in life.

Horses can never do this.

They are utterly reliant on us to advocate for them.

People will conveniently draw from human experience to justify what we ask of horses in the name of competition, but they fail to make relevant comparisons.

All comparisons are made for the purpose of justifying what people want to do with horses, not actually identifying what is right and honestly looking at the situation.

There are ways to do equestrian competition, more ethically, but they cannot exist without the capacity for Equine athletes to say no and actually be listened to.

When we are perpetually ignoring behaviour and calling it “spiciness” or “a love for competition” and covering it up with harsher and harsher equipment, any discussion for ethics is thrown out the window.

The amount of equipment that exists for the sole purpose of obtaining control over a horse when they try to say no speaks for how prevalent of an issue this is.

If the majority of horses were willing athletes, it would not be so common to see such harsh bits and equipment justified.

It would not be so common to see Horse people advocating for hitting horses and being incredibly punitive in training.

Because willing athletes do not need to be hit and coerced into compliance.

Willing athletes willingly engage in sport.

But athletes who are under duress?

They will try to say no, at least initially.

And a convenient way to silence the note of 1000 pound animal is to use excessive force.

Which we see repeatedly time and time again throughout the industry.

The problems are clear, they are in plain sight.

People who have not grown up in the industry having this normalized to them see it for what it is.

But, there is a level of denial in our sport that is detrimental to both horses and humans.

It will be the undoing of the sport if we don’t start to look at it seriously, and have the uncomfortable discussion of how we can alter sport to be more affair to the horses.

The biggest risk to sport are the humans within it.

The people who value tradition and their personal comfort above Horse welfare.

The people who refuse to consider any need for change, even with a growing body of information showing need for it.

And if these people would rather risk losing the sport to keep things the way they are then change for the benefit of the horse, the sport deserves to be lost.

If competition horses truly love their jobs, we can prove that by showing that they are willing to perform them without excessive force.

Put away the harsh bits.

Stop hitting horses.

Reduce the amount of pressure used.

And then see what they do when there is not a threat behind every action of the person on their back.

03/30/2026

03/26/2026

Today marks our first Giving Day. And moving forward March 26 will be our official Giving Day each year. We chose this date to honor our co-founder, Paul, and continue the work he started.

Give in his memory.

Every gift makes this work possible.
$100 covers one session.
$200 helps shoe a horse.
$500 can cover a portion of our monthly facility rent

Visit our website to donate:
https://horsesspiritshealing.networkforgood.com/projects/237886-the-spirit-of-horses-spirits-healing

03/23/2026

Physical Therapists in Montana can refer for imaging!

Learn more in our APTA Montana members-only resource: https://www.aptamt.com/members/member-resources/

03/19/2026

02/23/2026

When people ask me why my sessions are more than their massage session….even though they use the same things….and have modalities too….and are prescribing things.

Practitioners work best when we work together and within our scope of practice. I’ve invested thousands of dollars and hours into my education and credentials.

I’m not a massage therapist

I’m not a personal trainer or health coach

I’m a board certified clinical specialist in orthopedics with a doctorate in physical therapy, with a graduate credential in equine rehabilitation and hike certifications in functional dry needling, blood flow restriction training, Barbell Rehab Method

To my self-employed friends — I see you. I am you.

And for those who are not self-employed, this is educational.

When you see a service fee, understand that roughly 30% becomes take-home income.

The other 70% sustains the infrastructure required to operate legally, ethically, and professionally.

* Secure booking systems
* Website hosting
* Licensing and mandatory continuing education
* Liability and commercial insurance
* Facility costs and maintenance
* Vehicle, travel, and farm expenses
* Technology platforms and software
* Sanitation standards
* Payment processing fees on every transaction

In my case, fixed annual overhead exceeds six figures before I pay myself. That does not include corporate and personal tax, CPP (both portions as self-employed), accounting, legal fees, marketing, or equipment replacement.

It also does not include the educational investment behind the work.

To date, that investment is approximately a quarter of a million dollars:

✅ BSc in Kinesiology (UBC)
✅ Human Kinetics diploma (Langara College)
✅ Regulated healthcare license (RMT from WCCMT)
✅ Human Osteopathy diploma in progress (CSO)
✅ Multiple equine certification(s)

**And over 25 years of clinical experience

Maintaining credentials is ongoing.

Initial education is a capital investment.
Continuing education is a recurring operational cost.

And then there is time......

👉 A one-hour human appointment requires nearly another hour behind the scenes for charting, sanitation, billing, and communication.

👉 An equine session includes travel, vehicle costs, assistant support, video review, report writing, and follow-up.

👉 One educational webinar can take 150 hours from research to delivery.

Fees reflect the entire structure — not just hands-on time or one-one time.

Self-employment means carrying the whole system: compliance, risk management, infrastructure, sustainability.

Revenue only exists when work is performed.
Expenses exist regardless.

Pricing is not about what an hour feels worth. It is about sustaining a system built on depth of training, experience, and responsibility.

That is the cost of doing business.

02/10/2026

🙌🫶🙌

Yesterday my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn’t a story book ending or a fairy tail, it was just life. I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it. Because in Downhill ski racing the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches.

I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash. My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.

Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.

While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets. Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling that I will never forget. Knowing I stood there having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself. I also knew that racing was a risk. It always was and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport.

And similar to ski racing, we take risks in life. We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall. Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don’t achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that is the also the beauty of life; we can try.

I tried. I dreamt. I jumped.

I hope if you take away anything from my journey it’s that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself. Because the only failure in life is not trying.

I believe in you, just as you believed in me.

❤️LV

02/05/2026

Ready for a change?

Your dreams don’t work without daily discipline. With horses or with life 🖤🐴

02/05/2026

If you're experiencing financial hardship and are having trouble buying feed for your horses, BHA can help by providing up to 30 days of quality hay at no cost. For program details and to apply, click here: https://beartoothhumane.org/hay-bank/