Horse riding - The Horse Physio - Sue Palmer

Tag: Horse riding

Bravery in British Horse Riders

By Sue Palmer on August 29, 2024

Have you felt judged for your desire to investigate the physical reasons for your horse's behaviour or performance? Have you felt ridiculed, as though you aren't brave enough to ride your horse through it? Have you been told to 'just kick on', or that you 'just need to be tougher'? Here are some wise words from Dr Rosie Jones-McVey, taken from her contribution to the book 'Harmonious Horsemanship', which I co-authored with Dr Sue Dyson.

Three things that might make your horse…

By Sue Palmer on May 30, 2024

Three things that might make your horse... buck, spook, trip, grumpy to tack up, strong in the hand, unsettled in the contact, lazy, struggle to engage from behind, or refuse a fence...

Would your horse choose to be with you?

By Sue Palmer on January 25, 2024

The lady in the stable opposite did nothing but moan. “I’ve been up half the night. No one told me the taps at the yard were frozen. I’ve got far too much to do; I don’t need this.”

Brain, Pain or Training?’ Practical Exercises: Introduction

By Sue Palmer on May 11, 2023

This may be the most important chapter of this book.Here you’ll find a set of ten practical exercises that you can do with your horse to help assess whether he could be suffering some discomfort that might affect his behaviour or performance. The aim of these exercises is to assess balance, comfort, ease and freedom of movement, muscle tone, reaction to touch, soundness, symmetry of the musculoskeletal system, and symmetry of movement. Unexpected responses could flag up weakness, discomfort, stiffness, restriction in range of movement, muscle spasm, unsoundness, and asymmetry in either the horse’s musculoskeletal system or his movement.

The rider size debate and the welfare of ridden horses

By Sue Palmer on February 16, 2023

All riders must take ownership of their responsibilities for their horse’s welfare. None of us wants to do a horse harm, but through lack of awareness, we sometimes do so. Food for thought.

Award winning film on equine behaviour

By Sue Palmer on January 1, 2023

The 35 minute documentary _[The 24 Behaviors of the Ridden Horse in Pain: Shifting the Paradigm of How We See Lameness]_ captured a Winnie Award

100 Handy Hints on Horsemanship: One

By Sue Palmer on December 30, 2022

Never be afraid to ask questions of the people you’ve chosen to work with you and your horse. There is no such thing as a stupid question,

16.12.2022 Excerpt from ‘Understanding Horse Performance: Brain, Pain or Training?’

By Sue Palmer on December 16, 2022

From Chapter 12: Does your horse score 10/10 for comfort?... Since none of us can possibly know everything (and if someone claims that they do, perhaps they are not the right person to be working with), one priority is to point people in the direction of the right help. The trick is to know when and how to do that, and where to point them. I sincerely hope this book will help, for the sake of ridden horses throughout the world.

What is the role of close spinous processes, so-called ‘kissing spines’ in horses? A guest blog by Dr Sue Dyson

By Sue Palmer on December 13, 2022

There are many misconceptions in the equine world, one of which surrounds horses that behave normally in hand and on the lunge but perform sub-optimally when ridden or behave ‘badly’ – and sometimes get labelled as naughty horses. If thought is given that an underlying cause may be pain, there is often an assumption that because this behaviour is only seen when ridden and since the change is a rider sitting on the horse’s back it must reflect primary back pain.

Understanding and Using the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram

By Sue Palmer on May 9, 2022

The Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (RHpE) is a list of 24 behaviours, the majority of which are ten or more times likely to be seen in a horse with musculoskeletal pain. Studies have shown that a horse who shows 8 or more of the 24 behaviours listed in the ridden horse pain ethogram is likely to have musculoskeletal pain.

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