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We recently had Bethanie Clark from Prydes Easifeed come and do a nutritional assessment for Mr P. So far we had just had him on pasture and hay, but as we started to increase his rehab we wanted to see what he was potentially missing in his diet and to get some professional advice as to what would be the best feed for him. We know that nutrition plays a huge role in injury management in human athletes so we wanted to ask the question, is it the same for horses? In our chat we learn a little about Prydes and Bethanie’s background, what are some of the basics in a nutritional assessment and how nutrition plays a role in muscle development and injury management, the link between nutrition and hoof health, answer the question - 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘺? and discuss why knowing what your horse’s pasture type is is actually quite important. Head over to https://www.prydes.com.au/ to learn a bit more about the company and their products.
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End of week 6 and we’ve used the IMUs to objectively measure his gait symmetry and we’ve seen a significant reduction in his right forelimb asymmetry (like almost half!) compared to 2 weeks! 🙌 What were some of the things we did in this stage of rehab? As per what we know works best for tendon rehab from the human literature, we focused on slow heavy resistance. We incorporated things such as: ➡️ the introduction of walking in sand ➡️ using resistance training with the Equiband system and hindlimb weights Week 4
- 20 min hand walk - Introduced raised trot poles - Continued all ground exercises - Introduced some different surfaces – hard, slightly uneven - Introduced Equiband 10 min walk in hand by end of the week Why we did this: - HR monitoring was showing us that Mr P wasn’t getting much of a cardiovascular work out. Using the equiband increased his heart rate without putting excess load on the tendon. The equiband will also help to improve his hindlimb asymmetry and maintain spinal stability and muscle. - Continue to challenge and improve his proprioception and gradually increase tendon load with the introduction of different surfaces Week 5 - Progressed to 20 min walk in hand with the Equiband - Increased regular walk sessions to 25 min - Introduced hindleg weights - Introduced sand surface - Continued all ground exercises Why we did this: - Mr P was tolerating workload well, so we wanted to increase the cardiovascular and strength (spinal and hindquarter) intensity without putting too much increased load on the tendon - We did want to continue to gradually increase tendon load however, so we introduced sand. The use of sand fits with the recommendation of slow heavy resistance. Research has shown that the magnitude of force through the SDFT on sand is actually not as high as on a soft compared to a hard surface, but the duration of tendon loading was longer on the sand. What this means is that overall the load on the tendon is higher on sand, but it’s at a lower magnitude over a greater amount of time. For us, this fits well with wanting to introduce heavy slow resistance to the tendon to aid in recovery and healing. Research link here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259447097_Comparison_of_superficial_digital_flexor_tendon_loading_on_asphalt_and_sand_in_horses_at_the_walk_and_trot Week 6 - Progressed up to 25-30 min walk in hand with the Equiband - Increased regular walk sessions to 30 min - Introduced hindleg weights on a sand surface ( x 2 sessions) - Continued all ground exercises - Increased turnout time up to 3 hours per day Why we did this: - Initially in the Equiband Mr P’s heart rate increased quite dramatically, suggesting he was getting an aerobic effect from the training along with resistance training. However, after only a week his heart rate stabilised back to his previous levels. So, we decided to increase the frequency of his sessions to get him working a little harder again. - Mr P is obsessed with food! He can be turned out on grass and he will just eat, there are no high jinx going on! Obviously, a forage based diet is best, and if we can keep him active by slowly moving around in a very small paddock grazing for longer periods, we figure this can only be a positive for both musculoskeletal and gut health. Another way that we’ve been introducing slow heavy resistance to Mr P’s rehab program is through the addition of the Equiband System. While we need to progress the amount of workload, we still want to afford the faster explosive movements which typically help to improve strength and fitness but can cause some setbacks in our tendon healing at this current time. The Equiband can be a perfect way to increase the intensity while we’re still walking only. Here's the links to the research Emma has referenced:
We’ve completed the first 3 weeks of rehab so it’s time for another physio assessment. This week we found that Mr P is lacking some muscle bulk so it’s time to get in some strength training without overloading his tendon. We’ve done that by introducing some weights into his program. Take a look to learn how and why we did that. This isn't something that we just dreamt up ourselves! It's based on research conducted by Clayton et al in 2011. Here's a link to the full text article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51146260_Swing_phase_kinematic_and_kinetic_response_to_weighting_the_hind_pasterns Music: Outside Musician: @iksonmusic In this video Emma interviews Kristin to discuss all about tendons. We talk about how tendon injury occurs, how do tendons heal and if and what we can do to help this. We touch on how we can safely rehab an injured tendon, whether or not electrotherapy like laser and shockwave can help and if there are any tendon rehab programs that any horse owner can implement for their own horse. Watch our full chat below. Links to the research Kristin mentioned:
Week 1 This was the week Mr P arrived and prior to us having the ultrasound and vet review, so our focus this week was just letting him settle in and monitoring how he was. Mr P was quite foot sore when he arrived and was barefoot. 1. a 10 minute walk each day grass 2. Daily hand picking or turn out for up to 1 hour in yard size paddock with grass. Why we did this: Ideally we would have started a walking program with Mr P earlier than this but he only came to us about 2 months after his injury. It was our understanding that he had been on total box rest in that time. So we wanted to start his program gradually, but also wanted to get some more constant movement happening. Thankfully he was very quiet (and grass focused!), so he could be trusted to be turned out into a small grass space to pick on grass. Week 2 1. 15 minute hand walk grass 2. Introduced ground exercises:
Why we did this: Ultrasound findings were positive so wanted to start progressing amount of load through tendon Physiotherapy assessment found that the was taking less weight through the right forelimb, so the ground exercises of stability pads and DMEs were introduced to help encourage more loading through the right forelimb. Week 3 1. 20 min hand walk grass 2. Continued with ground exercises with addition of:
4. Turn out for up to 2 hours in yard size paddock with grass Why we did this: Mr P was tolerating the workload well so continued to progress load incrementally. Tendons don’t like a lot of rapid change so load increases should be introduced slowly. Physiotherapy assessment this week found that he had restricted lumbar spine mobility (low back), so exercises were introduced to help improve this We noted that Mr P’s proprioception (awareness of where he was putting his feet) wasn’t great, especially in the front. So we introduced trot poles on the ground for him to walk over to get him thinking more about picking up his feet and where he needed to place them in order to avoid hitting the poles. Disclaimer: This program was designed specifically for Mr P and should not be used as a template for your own horse's tendon rehab program. Please seek the advice of your vet and rehab therapist in helping you design the appropriate program for your horse. |
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