Equine Water Treadmill Online Survey

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LeanneF

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Hi everyone,

As part of a module on my degree course and I am carrying out some research into how much money people would be prepared and expected to pay for the use of an equine water treadmill per session. The results collected are for theoretical purposed only.


Thanks in advance for filling out this short survey.


https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VWNXRTM
 
40 minutes sounds like quite a long time to have a horse on a water treadmill? Presumably the horse would need a reasonably high level of fitness for that to start with

I don't know much about them but am interested, it's something I would certainly look into if there was one close enough to me to travel to easily (ie virtually on doorstep!)
 
Someone local to me has just finished having one installed and one of the things we chatted about was that the absolute maximum a horse should be working on one is 20 minutes and that it is no good just having one session on them as the horse needs time (understandably) to get used to using them. I'm interested to try them.
 
You need to specify what type of water treadmill you are talking about........a shallow one where the water only comes up to the knee or slightly higher, you couldn't pay me to use........a deep one where the water comes up to half way up the body, thus taking some of the weight, is a valuable rehab/fitness tool.
 
quizzie said:
You need to specify what type of water treadmill you are talking about........a shallow one where the water only comes up to the knee or slightly higher, you couldn't pay me to use........a deep one where the water comes up to half way up the body, thus taking some of the weight, is a valuable rehab/fitness tool.
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Can you explain further what you mean.

Only because I have a mare that is due to foal soonish, and once weaned and having done walk work I was considering trying to incorporate some treadmill sessions to help her regain some strength and tone
 
ihatework said:
Can you explain further what you mean.
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It's because of a horses skeletal/muscular distribution. Virtually all of a horses muscular tissue is located above the knee/hock, the lower limb is moved by relatively inelastic tendons and ligaments responding to the muscular contractions. So if there is only a low level of water this creates a significant drag on this "swing" of the lower limb, and the horse will respond by an exaggerated muscular effort that is often not a normal action, thus abnormal stresses/strains can be created, and sometimes abnormal musculature developed. I read a very good article on the subject some time ago, but can't for the life of me remember where. I think the article also touched on the need for light/non water absorbing protective boots for XC for similar reasons.

A deeper water level takes some of the weight off the limbs,decreasing the concussive effects,.... and because the whole limb is in the water, the movement is more natural, indeed probably more natural than when swimming. It also works better on the whole body, including the core/back/sacroiliac.

Hope that makes sense.!
 
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Thank you, yes it does make sense. Mental note to do some research before considering water treadmill.

I took her to the beach for a bit of fun and trotted through the shallows. So I know what you mean about exaggerated action. I naively thought this might be a useful activity but perhaps it could do more harm than good?
 
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