Hydrotherapy -thoughts

R

rlhnlk

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 January 2009
Messages
484
Visit site
My TB mare managed to hack a chunk out of her foot, running from her coronet up and round her heel, the vet has been, its been cleaned and stiched, several antibiotic and bute injections given and it is nicely dressed.

I'm thinkiong of using hydrotherapy as there is a place near us that does it. Does anyone have any experience of using hydrotherapy spas. If you have do you think it helped and how did your horse react?

Any coments welcome
 
It's not the greatest but here are some pics of a wound that we treated using the spa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiioNBGCYTo

When this horse came in the leg had several layers of banadges on yet you could still smell it. The referring vet said that when she scraped the scalpel across it she could not get it to bleed as it was necrotic.

After just the one spa session you could see an improvement in the wound.

We have used the spa on a variety of wounds. In all cases we have found that it has helped to keep any swelling down, has kept the wound clean and has promoted healing. you can see on a day by day basis the epithelial (sp) growth.

With regards how your horse will react - not every horse will take to the spa, however you need to be sure that you are confident in the handlind abilities of the people who run the place.

In our spa we always walk the horses through several times and makes sure that they are happy and relaxed doing that. We would then shut just the back door on them. Once happy with them we would then turn on the water and he bubbles allowing the horse chance to acclimatise to the noise. All the while the front door is open so if they don't like it they can easily get out without causing any problems.

We have a policy of a minimum of 3 times in the spa with the half door before we would go to a bigger door. However with your injury round the foot the spa would not need to go too deep so it would be a relatively simple case to spa.

http://www.tayloredequestrian.co.uk/hydrotherapy.htm This is a link to our spa and shows you a 6 month old foal in the spa with the half door.

Please feel free to PM me if you have further questions.
 
Thanks for that taylored, mines wound has been caught quickly so I'm looking for something to speed heaing. Thats an impressive improvement shown on the youtube video.

The place I would take her are pretty competent from what I have heard plus I can be there. They have said if she doesn't take to the actual spa the can stand her there and hose it which will still help.

The worry is whether he ligaments have bee damaged but the spa would help with this also.

When would you not use the spa with an injury?
 
I tend to not use the spa if the horse has undergone another form of treatment on the same day.

For example shockwave on a tendon injury or laser therapy etc. As I would worry that you could be overstimulating the wound.

After Stem Cell treatment is another time that I would be cautious.

We operate very much on a treatment program set out by the owners vet so we would liase with them as to how many spa sessions etc the horse requires and when the vet would recommend the spa sessions to begin
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top