Hannah Foley - ACPAT Chartered Physiotherapist

15/11/2025

Voice aids are to be allowed in dressage in what has been welcomed as a 'positive step' for the sport. Read more below

08/11/2025

Time for change …

🚨 BREAKING: Redwings' fireworks petition has hit 100,000 signatures—triggering mandatory Parliamentary debate.

"It's several years since Cinders, Sprite and Percy died in incidents relating to fireworks being let off near Redwings but, having seen for ourselves the awful suffering fireworks can cause, the season will always be an anxious time under current fireworks regulations." – Helen Whitelegg, Redwings

Between 2010-2024, fireworks caused 1,468 horse incidents across the UK. 49 confirmed deaths. 317 injuries.

This Bonfire Night, horses like Foxy are terrified in their stables. Last year, professional-grade fireworks near a riding centre left her so panicked she damaged her hind leg despite sedation.

The call is clear: reduce permitted noise levels from 120dB to 90dB.

Read the full story: everythinghorseuk.co.uk/bonfire-night-2025-horses-fireworks-petition-welfare/

08/11/2025

The UK is NOT following the FEI's lead! 🚫
KEEPING THE BAR AT HIGHER WELFARE

British Showjumping (BS) confirmed they will NOT be changing their national rules. This means at British national shows, the presence of blood will still lead to automatic elimination.

This is a brave, clear commitment to putting horse welfare first and protecting the sport’s Social License to Operate (SLO).

If the UK can stand firm, other nations that voted 'No' (like Germany) can and should do the same.

We stand with the British Equestrian CEO, who said: "removing automatic elimination for visible blood is a step backwards."

The fight is now at the national level. We will continue to demand transparency from the FEI and push all our National Federations to follow the UK's ethical lead!

Fédération Equestre Internationale

06/11/2025

✨ It’s a a super busy week in Dorset and Hampshire! Great to see all regular clients and their horses progress!!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Next visit for exisiting clients will be December and then January 2026. I will send out the appts via Equigate later this month. Unfortunately I have no availability for new clients in the UK but if anything changes I will update via social media!

🇯🇪 Jersey - new clients will be accepted from mid November for human/rider , canine and equine physiotherapy!

🇯🇪 Rider clinic with myself and Holly from at home farm is the 29th and 30th March. There are only a few slots left and you can book via WhatsApp or socials!

📸 Photo - Frenchie 🦄

27/10/2025

Thank you 🦄🙏💫

Feedback like this warms my heart. Enhancing horses comfort, happiness and wellbeing is my soul mission. 🦋

27/10/2025

This is a great paper on balance pads and answers some questions about the movement of the horse on different 'squishiness' levels of them. These pads are used to challenge postural stability with the theory that the effects train proprioception, aiming to reduce the risk of injury.

From their results:
🐴Four pads cause more sway, than pads two under the fronts or the hinds
🐴 Medium-density pads in all four limbs induced the greatest sway of the forse forwards and backwards, and the faster rate of sway.
🐴 Soft-density pads in all four limbs resulted in the greatest mediolateral sway.
🐴 All four limbs placed on medium, soft, and firm-density pads, and forelimbs placed on medium and firm-density pads were statistically different from baseline (no pads).

We know that standing on the pads over a series of sessions, reduces the amount of sway . We also know that their use is associated with changes in the deep stabiliser muscle multifidus (Cathcart et al., 2024; Ellis and King, 2020).

Now what would be amazing would be to link to gait and performance, and injury in horses. Tricky but I suspect a few research groups are on this already!
It is so exciting to see the development of this research area 💪

Colla, S. and King, M., 2025. Evaluation of Postural Sway in Horses Standing on Balance Pads of Varying Densities and Limb Placement. Journal of Equine Rehabilitation, p.100042.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949905425000246

24/10/2025

24/10/2025

🌟 Well done to Sponsored Team hoof hearted achieving 3rd place at the BD quest regional finals at Moreton Equestrian Centre 🌟

🏵️ Laura, Debbie, Jo & Willow rode some brilliant tests.

🏵️ The team are keeping their fingers crossed for a wild card to the nationals as only top 2 teams qualify!

🏵️ Willow And solo came third in the novice my quest and qualified for the national championships as an individual 🎉

🏵️ Leandra rode both Spirit and Casper to finish 8th and 10th.

24/10/2025

🧠💥 Stress and pain are not separate experiences - they are deeply intertwined physiological processes.

When we work with animals in rehabilitation, it’s easy to think of pain as a purely physical problem, something rooted in tissue damage, joint pathology, or nerve irritation, and stress as an emotional or behavioural state. But research continues to show that the two are inseparable.

Here’s why 👇

🔄 The Pain-Stress Loop
Pain activates the body’s stress response. Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline flood the system, preparing the body to protect itself. But when that stress response becomes chronic - because the pain is ongoing, because the environment is overwhelming, or because the animal feels unsafe - it changes how pain is processed.

The nervous system becomes sensitised. The pain threshold drops. Pathways that were once only triggered by actual tissue damage can now be activated by much lower levels of input - or by the anticipation of pain.

💡 In other words: chronic stress makes pain feel worse, and chronic pain increases stress. The two feed into each other, creating a self-perpetuating cycle that can derail healing.

🐶 What This Looks Like in Practice:
You’ve probably seen it 👉 the dog that guards a limb even after the injury has healed. 👉 The horse that braces its back long after the saddle fit has been corrected. 👉 The patient that seems “stuck” despite good clinical interventions.

These are not stubborn patients. They are animals whose nervous systems are still in protection mode. Their bodies haven’t received enough evidence that it’s safe to let go, so they keep holding tension, moving defensively, and interpreting neutral sensations as painful.

🩺 Rehab Implications 👇
If we focus only on the musculoskeletal system, we miss a huge part of the picture. Stress states affect:
👉Muscle tone: chronically elevated, leading to stiffness and reduced range of motion.
👉 Posture: protective patterns become habitual and hard to break.
👉 Healing: stress hormones slow tissue repair and impair immune function.
👉 Movement quality: anticipation of pain alters gait long before tissue tolerance is reached.

This means that even the best-designed exercise program can fail if the nervous system isn’t ready to participate.

🌿 How We Can Intervene:
✔️ Incorporate calming strategies into rehab sessions: slow handling, predictable routines, familiar environments.
✔️ Educate owners about stress-reduction at home: consistency, positive reinforcement, and safe spaces matter.
✔️ Use graded exposure to movement, gradually re-teaching the nervous system that it is safe to move without pain.
✔️ Combine physical treatment with emotional support: because regulation of the autonomic nervous system is part of rehabilitation, too.

💡 The takeaway: If we want to reduce pain, we must also reduce stress. Rehabilitation isn’t just about muscles, joints, or fascia - it’s about the entire system, including the brain’s interpretation of safety and threat.

21/10/2025

20/10/2025