Water treadmill

My RI uses it for her event horse and her daughter's pony and has recommended it for Dolly and Toby. She has seen a noticeable inproevment in 4 sessions, done once a week. Horses are straighter, stronger. I want to take them but not sure where to go!
 
Ambers Echo said:
My RI uses it for her event horse and her daughter's pony and has recommended it for Dolly and Toby. She has seen a noticeable inproevment in 4 sessions, done once a week. Horses are straighter, stronger. I want to take them but not sure where to go!
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That’s really interesting AE . there’s a place near me doing it Rookery Equine Spa , looks reasonable prices too at £27 .
I’m sure there’s a place closer to you though .. somewhere near stoke on Trent way
 
Ambers Echo said:
My RI uses it for her event horse and her daughter's pony and has recommended it for Dolly and Toby. She has seen a noticeable inproevment in 4 sessions, done once a week. Horses are straighter, stronger. I want to take them but not sure where to go!
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I take mine were are u based ? I take mine to one in manchester
 
I'm keen to take my mare, I'm warwickshire based and I think there is one at one of the local colleges. When we are ok to travel again I'll be looking into it.
 
Sprat said:
I'm keen to take my mare, I'm warwickshire based and I think there is one at one of the local colleges. When we are ok to travel again I'll be looking into it.
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Yep Moreton Morrell College and one at Claire Dysons place at Cleeve Prior, Worcs which my friend used weekly with hers.
 
Yes, I have used it for two of mine. One for my older horse as part of an endurance fitness program. One with my younger horse when he was about 6/7 to build him up and get him straighter.

I haven't used it for ages as it was about 45 minutes drive away so it became a bit onerous for two of them. But will soon start up again with the older and youngest one as their is one opening at the equestrian place behind our farm so I can hack/walk them there.

I did find it very good.
 
I took my eventer weekly for fitness in the build up to bigger events and then bi-weekly for the rest of the season. I figured it would save having to do so much fast work. I only started when we got to a certain level though
 
racebuddy said:
I take mine were are u based ? I take mine to one in manchester
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My RI said there was one near the Trafford Centre which is about 90 minutes from me, so a bit far every week. And another one further South that might be nearer but she could not remember the name!
 
Asha said:
That’s really interesting AE . there’s a place near me doing it Rookery Equine Spa , looks reasonable prices too at £27 .
I’m sure there’s a place closer to you though .. somewhere near stoke on Trent way
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Stoke on Trent would be much closer so if anyone knows what the place near there is called, please let me know!
 
Asha said:
Do some just not like it ?
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No most are quite happy on it just some work better than others. Natural way of going and movement plays a part in it helps them or not. The ones with a naturally high head carraige find less benefit from it compared to the ones who naturally stretch down and out.

This is our one.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10156176002677432
 
We took Finn at the weekend , and it’s fair to say he actually enjoyed it . So he’s going again next weekend , as is Pip . Lovely set up and just down the road from us too .
time will tell what improvements we see . C3B86AF9-8E8A-411D-B3C6-10D8BB45F414.jpeg
 
The girl who rides Charlie for me takes her horse to one. He qualified for Badminton Grass roots in 2018. She was in the lead after the dressage and was still in the top 10 even after a couple down in the SJ but the XC really did for them. She was right at the end of the day and it was very wet so had terrible going but even so, as a first timer, she massively underestimated how fit he needed to be and ended up with 40+ time faults. She qualified again in 2019 and, amongst other things, started using the treadmill. Despite him being barely 15.2 and not naturally big striding, she stormed round with just 1.2 time faults - which unfortunately was enough to drop her from joint 1st to 3rd (which is still amazing) . Although she did lots more fitness work in general and the conditions were better in 2019, she thinks the treadmill made a huge difference to him.
 
Annagain said:
The girl who rides Charlie for me takes her horse to one. He qualified for Badminton Grass roots in 2018. She was in the lead after the dressage and was still in the top 10 even after a couple down in the SJ but the XC really did for them. She was right at the end of the day and it was very wet so had terrible going but even so, as a first timer, she massively underestimated how fit he needed to be and ended up with 40+ time faults. She qualified again in 2019 and, amongst other things, started using the treadmill. Despite him being barely 15.2 and not naturally big striding, she stormed round with just 1.2 time faults - which unfortunately was enough to drop her from joint 1st to 3rd (which is still amazing) . Although she did lots more fitness work in general and the conditions were better in 2019, she thinks the treadmill made a huge difference to him.
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Brilliant ! I know my daughter wants to go xc on him again this year, they have never been competitive as they always rack up the time faults too. Be great if it helped a little.
 
I was planning to take Alf for some sessions, but my chiro vet said a firm No for him. She said she'd recommend swimming for him, but not water treadmill. Unfortunately, I can't remember why
 
Auslander said:
I was planning to take Alf for some sessions, but my chiro vet said a firm No for him. She said she'd recommend swimming for him, but not water treadmill. Unfortunately, I can't remember why
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Horses with pelvic or back issues including KS shouldn't swim. Water treadmills are good for joint problems for example because it is a controlled rehab exercise like in hand walking and horse walker.
 
Birker2020 said:
Horses with pelvic or back issues including KS shouldn't swim. Water treadmills are good for joint problems for example because it is a controlled rehab exercise like in hand walking and horse walker.
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He has neither KS or pelvic issues, which is presumably why she said swimming would be ok!
 
Luckily for me I stable on a yard with one. Old school ramp down into it, not the box type ones. Both of mine have used it to great success. Currently the highland goes on once a week for fitness and weight management.
 
Just updating in case anyone is interested. Took Toby once because he was a bit crooked when schooling (though improving) and the person there said he'd really benefit from a week. So I took him for a week and he came back much more crooked than he went and with a very sore back which is still very sore over a week later. He is seeing a vet-osteo tomorrow.

I don't believe that the treadmill injured him but I do believe that he was croooked for a reason and they did not in any way assess that reason, they just put him in a machine that forced him to go straighter and then added loads of resistance to make what was obviously already hard for him much, much harder. And they appear to have had no way of telling that each day they were just aggravating the problem further. No body work, no trot ups in between sessions to assess the impact. I could tell immediately that he was not moving properly when he came home. It wasn't subtle! Yet all I got each day were glowing reports about how much straighter and stronger he looked. I guess he just got used to how he had to move to avoid bumping into things and got on with it but it did him no favours.

With such a good natured horse, he went in willingly and did his best and I feel absolutely terrible that I put him through it and have hurt him. :(:(:(
 
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