Hot2Trot Veterinary Physiotherapy by Yasmin Willerton

21/10/2025

🚨🚨 Biosecurity 🚨🚨

A post every professional never wants to make but is always aware of protocols and for the most part has protective procedures in place regardless.

🩺 However with the news breaking sadly of Strangles on an extremely local yard, it needs to be said. It is my understanding that the yard in our area is doing everything in its power to notify and inform which is great.

📅 If you suspect your horse is showing any signs of respiratory illness - Please let me know before arrival on your yard and take the opportunity to re arrange your appointment.

A lot of people joke I look like I live out of my car - Well to be honest it’s because I always have sets of clothes in their to change into; alcohol disinfectant wipes for my boots etc.

Horse safety and biosecurity should be paramount for every professional and anyone switching between multiple yards. If I can avoid multiple switching I will, but between horses I will be taking all known provisions available.

Here’s some tips about strangles you might find useful:

⚠️ Strangles is a highly contagious bacterial disease caused by Streptococcus equi equi.

🤝 It is spread both Directly (horse to horse) and indirectly (via equipment!!) this is why biosecurity is paramount.

😷 Respiratory discharge, lethargy and a high temperature (over 38C) are key symptoms.

🤒 It is characterized by swelling of the lymph nodes and the formation of abscesses, primarily in the head and neck.

‼️ Disease severity varies and younger horses often exhibit more severe clinical signs than older horses.

🚦The prognosis for uncomplicated cases is good, and some horses develop an immunity to S. equi that can last for at least five years.

🛑 The best strategy to prevent strangles is to minimize exposure risks. Isolate any horse showing symptoms and use equipment for that horse only!!

🕰️ It takes up to 21 days for infected horses to show symptoms. Full recovery takes 3 - 6 weeks!

🐴 Let’s all be smart as an equine community and be a little over the top with our caution to limit the spread 🐴

🗓️ If you’d like to discuss your booking - Where I will be coming from or if you’d like to ask me to change my clothes en route - Just ask! As long as it conforms with GDPR I am happy to share information and I’m very used to getting changed in my parked car 🚙

👩‍⚕️ The next 7 weeks I am on my second NHS placement anyway so I have taken limited bookings from familiar clients with mostly full yard days.

Thank you all! Here’s some Infographics from Strangles awareness week you might find useful.
Feel free to share if any of this information above is helpful!

15/10/2025

⭐️ Exciting times ahead! ⭐️

This Sunday I attended the final day of my sports massage course and sat the practical assessment!

I’m pleased to say that I have now passed both Theory and Practical elements! And now I’m able to move onto the Case Study portion 😁

Thank you so much to everyone who volunteered to be my guinea pigs to get my hours in! I’ll be messaging you all later to get the sessions completed 😎

🗓️ My final submission date for the case studies is the 9th November! 📆

My aim is to be able to answer the big question I get from so many of you - “Do you treat people too” by the start of December 🤩

Sports Massage coming December 2025 😎
Human Physiotherapy coming January 2027 😍

08/10/2025

WOW! You guys are all such broken people!! 5 spaces filled! Thank you so much everyone 🤩

💥 Special Offer 💥

Looking for willing participants 🫣🤞🏻

I need 5️⃣ people for 3️⃣ Sports Massage sessions each.
1️⃣ is an initial consultation, then 2️⃣ follow up sessions (over the course of 3-4 weeks).

🏥 You need to be willing to share medical history so I can rule out any contraindications (reasons we cannot treat)

🧘‍♀️ Don’t necessarily need to have a problem or an injury but an area that you’d like to feel more supple though would be beneficial so we can test for improvements.

💆🏼‍♀️ Agree to a sports massage that might not be 100% the polished version whilst I improve my techniques.

🏡 At the minute I’ll be mobile with my massage bench, so have a suitable space that I could work within your home.

🧭 Be in the Grimsby radius (Grimsby, New Waltham, Waltham, Cleethorpes) or around Louth. Areas that I travel in regularly so it’s not costing me loads of extra fuel money 🚘

💰 Offering this as a FREE opportunity to get my hours and my case studies completed ASAP so my work can be marked and then I can add it to my services whilst I complete my 2nd and final year of the Physiotherapy course! 👩🏼‍🎓

❌ I’ve screenshotted the list of absolute contraindications from the example document if you think “oh I have this, not sure if I could” as well as how the medical history is laid out for the details.

✅ If it sounds like 3 sport massage treatments might be for you, drop me a message with what you’d like working on, whether you have anything you think might be a contraindication or not and we’ll work out a 1st session and a plan ✅

05/10/2025

What am I up to now 🙈🫣

Day 2 of the Level 4 Sports Massage for Physio and Sports Therapy students is about to kick off👏🏻🙌🏻

Be adding in a little something to support riders before you know it 😎

26/09/2025

📚 Saddle Fit Matters More Than You Think!

As a veterinary physiotherapist, one of the most common issues I see isn’t lameness or injury starting in the limbs — it’s discomfort caused by a saddle that is overdue a fitting!

👉 Here’s why it matters:

1️⃣ Muscle Health
A saddle that’s too tight or bridges can create pressure points, leading to muscle atrophy, soreness, and uneven development.

2️⃣ Movement & Performance
Restricted shoulders = shorter stride. Pressure over the thoracic spine = hollow backs. When the saddle isn’t right, the horse can’t move freely or build correct muscle.

3️⃣ Behaviour Under Saddle
Bucking, rushing, refusing to go forward, tail swishing, or ear-pinning aren’t always “naughty” behaviours — often, they’re pain signals.

4️⃣ Rehabilitation Impact
For horses recovering from injury, saddle fit can make or break your rehab plan. The wrong pressure in the wrong place can undo weeks of careful physiotherapy.

✅ Pro tip:
Check your saddle fit every 6–12 months. Horses change shape with training, age, weight gain/loss, and seasonal muscle changes — your saddle should change with them.

For a young horse or a horse in rehabilitation work, go to every 3 months! Some horses I’ve seen have changed shape dramatically in 4-6 weeks ⭐️

When the saddle fits, the horse can:
💪 Build topline correctly
🐎 Move with freedom and power
😊 Stay comfortable, happy, and willing

Because a well-fitting saddle isn’t just tack — it’s therapy in motion.

Gatsby had his done last week - Are you due your saddle check? 😉

25/09/2025

Been a busy couple of weeks lately 🙈

Evening CPD has also started, because studying to include human physiotherapy isn’t enough.

I’ve started studying towards my BHS stages; particularly towards the Coaching side.

Think this will be amazing for my personal development and eventually those horse rider interaction clinics to really harness where you can strengthen and how to bring out the best potential in you all.

15/09/2025

Busy weekend treating horses this weekend 🙌🏻🙌🏻 🐴

Every couple of weekends I like to be able to provide full treatment days because I know how hard it is to fit appointments in around working schedules and of course my ever exciting progress through uni to get ready to treat you lot as well, of which you’re all always like “me please” 😆🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏽

My job is always rewarding - But I always feel super fulfilled when it’s a particular “problem” behaviour, head shy, or horse with a “history”.

Meeting these horses shapes so much about your career and your management in every single case once you’ve done the Continuous Professional Development.

For example over the past 10 years of practise, because of these horses did you know I’ve done courses in:

🔸Myofascial release
🔹Craniosacral therapy
🔸Release of the Muscles of the head, jaw and hyoid apparatus.
🔹Postural release techniques.

But it’s never an exhaustive list and you’re always learning - That’s just a handful of courses I’ve done to understand horses 🙈

On Sunday I added 2 more beautiful horses to my client list that are rescues from Malta. Rescues are particularly rewarding to work with, to unpack issues whilst gaining their trust is amazing.

Always grateful to every client that trusts me on their horses journey 💖

Spaces on my books are available for anyone wanting to book in 🙌🏻

13/09/2025

When your working and you get a little assistance 🙈😂

11/09/2025

One highly suspicious dog! 🐶
Back home from her trip to the vets for lots of cuddles from vet nurses 🫣

The x-rays are taken but the vets would like to send them off to a specialist for a second opinion.
There is some arthritis there but it’s odd that she improves on antibiotics and gets worse again once they stop..

So now we have a long weekend to wait for them to be reviewed, but she’s got pain relief, antibiotics and her teddy bear… And she might eventually eat that chew after a nap 🙊

11/09/2025

Poppets having x-rays today for a worsening limp she’s had.
She’s had the sleepy dog cocktail last night and this morning because she gets so stressed at the vets….

So of course now she’s laid smugly on my knee waiting her turn and eyeballing all of her usual vets 🙄🙈

Nothing but trust in that Clee Vets will do a brilliant job. But so far Poppet has made it so awkward 🤣
3rd time lucky 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

09/09/2025

The difference muscle release, soft tissue mobilisation and stretching can make on a shoulder positioning!

The shoulder is a complex joint in both horses and humans. In humans it is known as a ball and socket joint, featuring your shoulder blade, collar bone and ribs.

Check out the pictures below to see just how many muscles feed into and around your horses shoulder!

It is not quite the same in horses as they have don’t have a collar bone! Although it still fundamentally is a ball and socket joint - It is limited to flexion and extension (forwards and backwards).
The evolution to have no collar bone means they can get a longer stride and take those high impact jumps without problem!

Because of this, it relies heavily on muscles to keep the shoulder blade in its correct location - And when muscle tightness sets in, we see a classical patterning of a “dropped” shoulder.

This little chap will no go forwards into rehab - it’s vital to get the horse as straight as possible through the muscles for the correct muscles to fire when doing your rehab!

If your horse or pony is
🔸 Struggling to canter on a particular lead
🔹 Feels “wooden” and unpleasant on a particular diagonal.
🔸 Is trailing a forelimb over a jump.
🔹 Has started Tripping
🔸Feels unlevel in the hand and contact

Then you too, might have a shoulder asymmetry and the shoulder muscles might be working against you!

08/09/2025