Angela Faust - Veterinary Physiotherapy

04/02/2026

We call this exercise a ‘hogs back’. This exercise is excellent for generating suppleness through the spine (lateral bend) and increasing joint flexion of the limbs, as well as increasing proprioception and coordination.

The horse here is well coordinated enough to do these very shallow bends without knocking the poles, but slightly larger loops may be more appropriate for less advanced horses.

09/11/2025

Core stability provides the strength and co-ordination for control, balance, posture and carrying weight. It can improve self carriage, enhance performance and reduce the risk of injury.

The core muscles include:
- The thoracic sling
- Abdominal muscles
- Pelvic stabilisers
- Deep ventral muscles

Ridden exercises to strengthen your horse's core focus on engagement of the hindlimbs to lighten the forehand. These include frequent transitions and half halts that encourage your horse to collect and push from behind.

Hill work and pole work using raised trot and canter poles are also valuable exercises.

In-hand exercises to strengthen the core include carrot stretches, backing up, walking over raised poles and back lifts.

Comment Pilates if you'd like to know more.

07/11/2025

Lovely new piece of kit from Epiony, their heatpad plus. Heat therapy is fantastic for increasing blood flow, reducing muscle tension, and easing pain and stiffness. It’s great for warming up the back prior to exercise, even in this unseasonally warm weather. I use this to warm up the tissues so I can get in there with my manual therapies!




call 07523112323 to book or email at afaustvetphysio@outlook.com or via facebook messenger

01/06/2025

When physios feel your horse all over to check if they’re sore, they should not be pressing that hard. It’s unnecessary.

As for the reflexes, we sometimes illicit them on purpose as part of a spinal assessment, or for rehab purposes. Though we don’t really want to see big dramatic dropping of the horse’s back at a hundred miles an hour. It’s not beneficial.

09/04/2025

CHOOSE YOUR SURFACES CAREFULLY

With the lovely weather we’ve been having, the slushy mud of winter is a distant memory, and the ground is now quite hard.

Hard ground = increased concussion on the joints.

I would not recommend doing fast work on hard ground if you can avoid it; this is particularly important if your horse has any boney pathologies like osteoarthritis.

But. I realise it’s unrealistic to expect people to wait for the perfect ground conditions to materialise - which may not happen if we have a very hot summer. Telling people to only walk all summer isn’t realistic. Some suggestions:

- Work on a surface where possible if your hacking is too hard
- A decent turf covering can add a bit more spring and reduce concussion so look for grassy bits (watch out for rabbit holes though)
- If you’re out competing and can’t avoid hard ground, be sure to keep work light a few days before and after

06/02/2025

I find people tend to either overestimate OR underestimate the amount of work their horse is capable of doing when returning to work after an injury.

In the initial stages a slow return to exercise is always best. But some rehab plans will enable progression faster than others. There is no one-size-fits all exercise plan. Some of the factors that will decide how quickly or slowly a horse progresses include the type and location of the injury, the amount of time off, and how fit the horse was prior to the injury.

Bringing your horse back into work after a break?

Take it slow! 🐎✨

Bypass the “back to work bootcamp”…
Just like us, horses need time to rebuild strength, flexibility, and fitness to prevent injuries. Start with groundwork, focus on mobility, and gradually reintroduce ridden exercise. Patience now means longevity later 💪🐴 After a light few weeks, and then a week off last week, Meji’s sessions have involved simple, confidence building exercises focusing no on suppleness, relaxation and connection.

15/10/2024

“The horse just has a little arthritis in his left hock, it doesn’t seem to bother him too much, he just gets a bit stiff!”

Horses are great compensators, and they will create alternative locomotive patterns to continue movement.

So, say this little bit of osteoarthritis causes a reduced range of motion of the tarsal (hock) joint. In an attempt to maintain stride length and hide this dysfunction to potential predators (because you never know when a lion could be waiting around the corner... or a flapping plastic bag!), the tarsal joint is rotated medially (inwards) during the swing phase of the stride. This results in asymmetrical & medial weight bearing through the digit. This places additional stress through medial hamstring muscles, resulting in muscle tension and trigger points. And this is all something that is potentially going on in the affected hindlimb.

A hip hike/drop can occur at corresponding phases of the stride, placing the sacroiliac joint under stress, resulting in paraspinal and asymmetrical gluteal tone/pain.

Decreased impulsion from the left hindlimb leads to increased weight bearing through the right forelimb diagonal. This can create tension and hypertrophy to the right pectoral muscles and related fascial planes.

The spiral of compensation could continue on further, affecting cervical muscles that become hypertonic as a result of weight shifting, digit shape and size, TMJ pain, head tiling, hyoid dysfunction, asymmetric tail holding...

Often it can be the case where I see a horse that is a chronic stage of compensation and it can be difficult to find the true cause especially when the horse may appear just overall “stiff”.

I liken the rehabilitation of chronic cases to peeling the layers off an onion; one layer at a time and piece by piece to unravel and rewind the compensation spiral. It is important to identify and manage the root cause, rather than just accepting it🐴

02/10/2024

Offering veterinary physiotherapy services within Essex and surrounding areas.

⭐️PRICES⭐️


🐴Equine Services 🐴 £70


🐶 Canine Services 🐶 £60


❓WHAT DOES A SESSION INVOLVE?❓

- On arrival I will take a case history of your animal. If there is a pre-existing musculoskeletal issue, I will need veterinary consent before I can proceed with treatment.

- I will assess your animal’s posture when standing still, and in movement to observe any lamenesses or gait asymmetries. If there is an undiagnosed lameness, I am legally required to not provide treatment and refer you back to your vet.

- After a thorough assessment I will treat your animal through a combination of massage techniques, passive stretches, rehab exercises and electrotherapies as appropriate. (I am currently able to provide low-level LASER and Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMFT)).

- After the session I will provide a written report and prescribe rehab exercises as appropriate to the case


Please contact to book.
📞0752311232
✉️afaustvetphysio@outlook.com
Or via messenger

11/07/2023

Hello everyone, welcome to my page.

I am a fully qualified (MSc) and insured Veterinary Physiotherapist. I also have a BSc in Equine Behavioural Science from Writtle University College. I am currently working towards joining additional accreditation bodies alongside building my business.

Thank you very much for your support, watch this space ✨