Understanding Horses - The Horse Physio - Sue Palmer

Tag: Understanding Horses

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.

“Please listen to me”

By Sue Palmer on July 18, 2024

I don’t want to buck you off. There’s a sharp pain every time I go into canter when you’re riding me, and I can’t help but react to it. I don’t understand it, it doesn’t happen if I canter in the field. Please listen to me. I know you love me and want the best for me. I don’t know how else to tell you I’m hurting.

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.

14.12.2021 Fit For Welfare

By Sue Palmer on December 14, 2021

Fit For Welfare: An International Conference from The Society Of Master Saddlers On 6th November 2021, I was delighted to be part of the innovative virtual event, ‘Fit For Welfare’, hosted by the Society of Master Saddlers (SMS). Today I’m sharing with you some of my learning from the day. In a twist that I […]

13.12.2021 The Noseband Controversy

By Sue Palmer on December 13, 2021

A Guest Blog by Sue Dyson There is considerable controversy about the use of different types of nosebands, their tightness and potential to cause harm. Several recent studies explored the use of different noseband types and their fitting with the presence or absence of lesions within the mouth, with rather confusing results. Alongside these have […]

12.11.2021 Sharing The Science

By Sue Palmer on December 12, 2021

Towards Machine Recognition of Facial Expressions of Pain in Horses You can access the full article here. Today I was chatting with a client about whether or not her horse might suffer from some level of hind guy dysfunction. The mare is on Succeed (a supplement which helps ease some types of hind gut dysfunction), […]

11.12.2021 Fit For Welfare

By Sue Palmer on December 11, 2021

Fit For Welfare: An International Conference from The Society Of Master Saddlers On 6th November 2021, I was delighted to be part of the innovative virtual event, ‘Fit For Welfare’, hosted by the Society of Master Saddlers (SMS). Today I’m sharing with you some of my learning from the day. In a twist that I […]

10.12.2021 How To Fix Fear Of The Farrier

By Sue Palmer on December 10, 2021

How To… Fix Fear Of The Farrier… In 10 Easy Steps Conclusion Farriery or trimming is essential for the well being of our horses. Therefore, if it is something that our horse struggles with, it is our responsibility to help him overcome the issue. That might be with a behavioural approach, a pain management approach, […]

9.12.2021 Fit For Welfare

By Sue Palmer on December 9, 2021

Fit For Welfare: An International Conference from The Society Of Master Saddlers On 6th November 2021, I was delighted to be part of the innovative virtual event, ‘Fit For Welfare’, hosted by the Society of Master Saddlers (SMS). Today I’m sharing with you some of my learning from the day. In a twist that I […]

6.12.2021 Fit For Welfare

By Sue Palmer on December 6, 2021

Fit For Welfare: An International Conference from The Society Of Master Saddlers On 6th November 2021, I was delighted to be part of the innovative virtual event, ‘Fit For Welfare’, hosted by the Society of Master Saddlers (SMS). Today I’m sharing with you some of my learning from the day. In a twist that I […]

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