No human athlete would dream of competing without the input of a sports physiotherapist.   All professional teams will have at least one physiotherapist and international athletes usually have a personal physiotherapist. Riders, Trainers and Veterinary Surgeons are now beginning to understand the role of the Veterinary Sports Physiotherapist not only for treating sports injuries but to assist in the conditioning and support of the performance horse or dog.

As an example of how the Equine Sports Physiotherapist can aid in the conditioning of the sport horse this picture shows British Junior 3-day Event team member, Sarah Stretton, with her horse "Lazy Acres Skip On", or Bob as he is known at home.

Sarah purchased Bob for a minimal sum as a 4 year old. His previous owner could not cope with him; he kept bolting and bucking for no apparent reason and had thrown her many times, finally breaking her ankle seriously.   When he arrived on the yard Gail, who had been working with Sarah for some time with other horses, was asked to start to help assess Bob for any performance limiting problems and to find out if there was any reason for his unpredictable behaviour. Gail spent several hours palpating and examining musculo-skeletal structures and watching him move in-hand, on the lunge and under saddle. Gail noted that Bob's static and dynamic posture was poor and, amongst other things, he was not straight and on 4 tracks. Although not lame he did not use his hind limbs well, particularly the right hind. Physical examination revealed a number of muscular problems including asymmetric muscle groups, with some muscles hypertrophied and others atrophied. One particular problem was a significant muscle spasm in Gluteus Profundus on the right side. Gail concluded that Bob was suffering from a sciatic nerve irritation on the right side and that this was the most likely cause of his unpredictable behaviour.

Sarah and Gail set about dealing with his physical problems with a combination of sports physiotherapy and remedial exercise. Bob's problems took nearly 12 months to resolve completely but bearing in mind how poor his posture and muscular condition were, this was a reasonable time scale.  

Since then Sarah and Bob have not looked back and not only are they both competing for their Country, they both completed Burghley recently finishing with just one small error on the Cross-Country course and 1 down in the show-jumping. After finishing, an excited Sarah said "Bob was awesome!".

Gail works regularly with Sarah and Bob, doing pre and post-competition checks and general maintenance physiotherapy. Gail has a template in her mind of how every tissue in Bob should feel and how he moves. Gail can therefore spot any minor deviations long before they become a serious problems to keep Bob injury free and performing at his best. For Sarah and Bob is it onwards and upwards. They are definitely a combination to watch for in the future.