Equine Hydrotherapy

Here at our Hydrotherapy Centre we offer a large straight pool, the reason we have the long rectangular pool instead of a round one is down to the fact that this type of pool is less prone to giving horses heart attacks and this type of pool is easier to clean and maintain.

 

Swimming is mainly used as a form of rehabilitation for horses suffering from muscular injury, swimming can be used for the following:

• Rehabilitation after an injury or surgery

• Rehabilitation of tendon injuries

• Conditioning post-arthroscopic surgery

• To maintain fitness

• Treat joint stiffness

• Increase muscle development

 

There are many muscles which benefit from swimming these are :

• Triceps

• Deltoids

• Longissiumusdorsi

• Gluteals

• Semitendonosis

• Bronchiosphealis

 

Swimming horses use a trotting or pacing gait under water and are extremely powerful swimmers once they get the idea. Normally, horses breathe very loudly when swimming, probably due to the amount of pressure of the water on their lungs, and they should swim with their ears, eyes and nose above the water's surface (The Horse,2012).

 

During the swim there are a variety of benefits to the horse itself, thes include: building up muscle tone- this will allow the muscles to work correctly encouraging the horse to use its back end. Swimming also increases fitness, this can be an effective training method as a ten minute swim is equivalent to a seven mile canter (The Horse,2012) as you can see this is time effective, so if you do not have time to take your horse out for a long canter, a short swimming session can be just as beneficial if not greater.