Horse hydrotherapy treatments are often wont to relieve pain and build fitness. There are four sorts of equine hydrotherapy: swimming, which may help horse rehabilitation after injuries like ligament damage; water treadmills, which may improve a horse’s range of movement.

How does horse hydrotherapy work?

Kerry-Anne Bourne, Assistant Manager at Hartpury Equine Therapy Centre, explains what a session on their water treadmill entails: ‘Horses will have a maximum 20-minute session. Two people hold the horse and another person drives, which allows the horse to remain straight while walking. The horses have their tails wrapped with a tail guard to stay it out of the water. From unloading to loading the entire process takes half an hour.’ Being put during a dry treadmill first, horses are introduced to water treadmills gradually. The water is made up over a period of your time and therefore the depth used depends on the sort of labour required and the horse’s height.

What are you able to expect from hydrotherapy treatment?

Horses can attend a centre like Hartpury for individual sessions, or are often on therapy livery. ‘We’ve had horses here for love or money from every week to 18 months,’ says Kerry-Anne. ‘We’ll formulate a weekly progress plan for every horse and go from there. Horses can have sessions without a vet referral. But if needed, we might contact the vet to know the horse’s condition to make sure treatment was appropriate if concerning an injury. ‘We have horses being treated for tendon injuries, front feet issues and ligament problems,’ adds Kerry-Anne, who also sees tons of healthy sport horses for fitness work.

‘Riders say that their horses feel fitter, go straighter and are more relaxed and suppler after water treadmill therapy. We treat top sports horses and happy hackers, and it can just be a part of the horse’s week – something else for them to try . And it can help keep a horse fit when a rider is injured, too.’ All this on their small hot tubs for sale.