http://www.ellieb-vetphysio.com/

Ellie Brassey Veterinary Physiotherapist, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Hampshire & surroundings, Swindon Village (2025)

Q: What is the address?

Wiltshire, Berkshire, Hampshire & Surroundings

25/10/2025

🤚 🌟 Let’s Talk About Laser Therapy! 🌟 🛑

Did you know that Low Level Laser Therapy (Class 3B) can be an incredible addition to your horse and dog’s treatment plan? 🐴🐶✨

This gentle, non-invasive therapy uses light energy to stimulate cellular repair, reduce inflammation, and speed up healing — helping your animals feel and move their best.

💥 What it can help with:
• Soft tissue injuries (tendons, ligaments & muscles)
• Muscle soreness or tension
• Wound healing & scar tissue
• Joint pain or stiffness
• Chronic conditions such as arthritis
• Post-surgical recovery
• Windgalls in horses – by reducing inflammation, improving circulation, and supporting lymphatic drainage, laser therapy can help minimise swelling and discomfort around the fetlock area

🛑 Laser therapy works by increasing circulation, oxygen delivery, and collagen production, promoting faster recovery and improved comfort — whether it’s your competition horse, your working dog, or your much-loved companion.

It’s completely pain-free and safe, and most animals find it deeply relaxing (many even drift off during treatment! 😴).

If your horse or dog is recovering from an injury, struggling with stiffness, or you simply want to support their ongoing performance and wellbeing, this could be the perfect option.

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24/10/2025

❄️ Winter Wellness Tips for Your Horse ❄️
Cold weather can make our horses a little stiffer, but small daily habits can really help! 🐴💙

✨ Warm up before exercise – 10–15 mins of walking gets joints moving.
🧣 Keep them cosy, a well-fitting rug helps muscles stay warm.
🥕 Add gentle stretches after work to maintain flexibility.
🤕 Stable leg wraps
🚶‍♀️ Go for short in-hand walks on non-riding days.
💧 Encourage hydration, even slightly warmed water helps!
🖐️ DAYLIGHT physiotherapy appointments * Don’t forget the clocks change.

Little things make a big difference in keeping your horse supple, comfortable, and happy all winter long. 💙

*
Ellie Brassey Veterinary Physiotherapy

08/10/2025

🐴 “Animals Can’t Tell Us” “But They Do Speak”

As humans, we can describe our pain to one another we can say “my back aches” or “my shoulder feels tight others the spot and ‘ouch’.”
Our horses and dogs don’t have that luxury. They can’t tell us where it hurts instead, they show us through subtle changes in their behaviour, posture, and movement.

That’s where my role as an Animal physiotherapist comes in. My job is to have a trained eye, mind, and feel to recognise these signs to interpret what the horse or dog is trying to communicate through their body, and to respond in a way that’s gentle, professional, and effective.

🩶 How Horses Communicate Discomfort

Horses are incredibly expressive creatures once you know what to look for. Signs of pain or discomfort can appear as:
• 🐎 Changes in performance — reluctance to go forward, stiffness, or loss of impulsion
• Altered posture — uneven weight-bearing, standing awkwardly, or a dipped back
• 😣 Behavioural changes — becoming grumpy when tacked up, head tossing, tail swishing, or resistance to handling
• Subtle signs — a flick of the ear, tension around the eyes, or a change in facial expression
• 💤 Reduced enthusiasm — a horse that suddenly feels “flat” or less willing

These changes might seem small, but they often tell a much bigger story.

🖐️ My Role as a Physiotherapist

Through careful observation, palpation (feeling the muscles, joints, and soft tissues), and understanding of biomechanics, I aim to identify the source of discomfort, not just the symptoms.

Every treatment session is guided by the animals responses. The key is listening with the hands, the eyes, and empathy. My goal is always to make each animal feel more comfortable, balanced, and free in their movement.

Because while they can’t say, “I’m sore here,” their bodies are always communicating, we just have to know how to listen. 💙

25/09/2025

“Not just a ‘back’ person”

As an Equine & Animal Physiotherapist, the limbs of the horse play a vital role in both assessment and treatment. They are not only responsible for movement and weight-bearing, but they also provide valuable information about the overall health and comfort of the musculoskeletal system. By palpating, mobilising, and stretching the limbs, a physiotherapist can identify areas of restriction, tension, or discomfort that may otherwise go unnoticed.

Working with the limbs allows us to:
• Assess joint mobility and flexibility – detecting stiffness, reduced range of motion, or compensatory patterns.
• Relieve muscular tension – targeted stretches can reduce tightness and improve circulation to the surrounding soft tissues.
• Encourage correct movement – improving symmetry, stride length, and overall biomechanics.
• Support injury prevention and rehabilitation – gentle limb techniques help strengthen weak areas and protect against future strain.
• Enhance performance – supple, well-functioning limbs allow the horse to move more freely, comfortably, and efficiently.

The demonstrations shown here are just a few examples (sped up for clarity) of the stretches and palpations I use in practice. Each technique is selected and adapted depending on the horse’s individual needs, whether that’s for performance enhancement, recovery from injury, or maintaining overall comfort and mobility.

07/09/2025

🐾 September is Animal Pain Awareness Month 🐴

Did you know? What often looks like bad behaviour in horses and dogs can actually be a sign of pain.

⚡ Horses may show pain by:
• Resisting the bridle or saddle
• Refusing jumps or hollowing their back
• Tail swishing, ear pinning, or sudden “grumpiness”

⚡ Dogs may show pain by:
• Reluctance to walk, play, or jump in the car
• Growling or snapping when touched
• Struggling with stairs or getting up
• Licking or chewing certain body areas

👉 These aren’t just quirks or stubbornness — they’re ways our animals communicate discomfort.

As an equine & canine physiotherapist, my role is to help identify these subtle signs, ease pain, and restore comfort so your animals can move and feel their best.

✨ Remember: Pain is not bad behaviour

02/09/2025

Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT), also called cold laser therapy, is often used in equine physiotherapy as a non-invasive treatment to support healing and manage pain.

Here’s what it can be good for in horses:

✅ Main Benefits of LLLT in Horses
• Pain relief – reduces nerve sensitivity and helps modulate pain pathways.
• Reduced inflammation & swelling – helps manage acute injuries or post-exercise inflammation.
• Improved circulation – enhances microcirculation, promoting delivery of oxygen and nutrients to tissues.
• Accelerated tissue healing – stimulates fibroblast activity and collagen production, useful for wounds, tendon/ligament injuries, and muscle tears.
• Muscle relaxation – helps release tension and improve range of motion.
• Joint health – supports horses with arthritis or degenerative joint disease by reducing pain and stiffness.
• Nerve regeneration – can assist in recovery from certain neurological injuries.

🔹 Common Uses in Equine Physiotherapy
• Tendon and ligament injuries (e.g., superficial digital flexor tendon strain).
• Back pain and muscle tightness.
• Arthritis and joint pain (hocks, stifles, fetlocks).
• Wound healing (surgical sites, cuts, abrasions).
• Nerve injuries (facial nerve paralysis, radial nerve damage).
• Laminitis (to improve circulation and reduce pain).
• Mouth sores from the Bit **

07/08/2025

As an Equine Physiotherapist one of the gait assessment tasks I get the owners to do for me is to back their horse up (i.e., walking in reverse) it should be a simple but powerful exercise that offers multiple therapeutic and conditioning benefits:

🐴 1. Engages the Core and Abdominals
• Backing up requires the horse to lift through its back and engage its core muscles, particularly the transverse abdominis and re**us abdominis.
• This helps support a stronger topline and improve postural stability.

🐴2. Activates the Hindlimbs and Gluteals
• The horse must step under with the hindlimbs, which encourages flexion at the stifle and hock joints.
• It activates muscles like the gluteals, hamstrings, and deep pelvic stabilisers.

🐴3. Promotes Pelvic Engagement and Lumbosacral Flexibility
• Backing up encourages pelvic flexion (tucking the pelvis), which is key for developing collection and proper movement mechanics.
• It also helps mobilise the lumbosacral junction, which is often a stiff area.

🐴4. Improves Proprioception and Coordination
• Moving backwards is not a natural movement for most horses, so it challenges their body awareness, balance, and limb coordination.
• Especially helpful for horses recovering from neuromuscular or balance issues.

🐴5. Low-Impact Strengthening
• It’s a low-impact exercise that can be used as part of a rehab or conditioning program.
• Builds strength without the concussive forces associated with trotting or cantering.

🐴6. Assists in Straightness and Symmetry
• With correct handling, backing up can help identify and correct asymmetries or uneven weight distribution.
• It promotes straight movement and equal use of both hindlimbs.

🖐️ Tips for Use:
• Always ask for a few slow, deliberate steps with good posture (no hollowing or rushing).
• Reinforce engagement and softness, rather than dragging or resisting.
• Use in-hand before or after exercise, or incorporate into pole work for variety.

02/08/2025

It is important for an equine physiotherapist to have a good eye for asymmetry in the horse because asymmetry often indicates underlying issues that may affect the horse’s performance, comfort, or long-term soundness.

🌟 Asymmetries like uneven muscle development, differences in stride length, or a tilted pelvis
can be early signs of:
• Musculoskeletal pain
• Joint restrictions
• Neurological dysfunction
• Compensation patterns from old injuries

🌟 Horses will often compensate for discomfort in one area by overusing another part of their body. So don’t be fooled by the wrong limb.

For example:
• A sore hindlimb might cause more loading on the opposite/diagnal forelimb.
• Tightness in the poll might lead to crooked movement in the back.
• Sore or bruised foot can lead to more weight compensation down the opposite leg.

Recognising these patterns is key to treating the root cause, not just the symptoms.

🌟 Even mild asymmetry can:
• Affect balance and rhythm
• Lead to uneven stride or poor transitions
• Impact a horse’s ability to bend or engage properly

Addressing these imbalances can help optimise performance and suppleness.

🌟 An experienced eye can link physical imbalances to other factors like saddle fit, rider asymmetry, dental issues, or hoof balance—ensuring a well-rounded treatment approach.

In Being able to spot and interpret it accurately leads to better assessments, more effective treatments, and healthier horses.

19/07/2025

Pure VITAMIN E is often recommended for horses without selenium for the following key reasons:

1. Regional Selenium Levels Vary Widely

Selenium is an essential trace mineral, but too much can be toxic.

• Toxicity risk: Excess selenium can lead to alkali disease (hoof and hair issues, lameness, or even death).

• Therefore, supplementing selenium without knowing current dietary levels can be dangerous.

2. Vitamin E Needs May Be Higher Than Selenium

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant, important for:
• Muscle function
• Neurological health
• Immune support
• Hoof Health & Canker prevention
& more …

Horses in intense work, recovering from illness, or kept without access to fresh pasture often need extra vitamin E, while their selenium intake may already be sufficient.

• Using pure vitamin E allows you to increase E levels safely without affecting selenium intake.

• Horses on all hay diets become vitamin E deficient within 30 days – hay has little to no Vitamin E – as hay curing reduces vitamin E drastically.

• Grain, commercial feeds, and ration balancers usually provide less than 20% of a horse’s daily Vitamin E needs.

3. Flexibility in Dosing

Separating the two allows you to:
• Customize vitamin E doses based on the horse’s workload or health
• Avoid unnecessary or excessive selenium supplementation.
• Supplement Types – What Works (and What Doesn’t)

• Muscle injections of Vitamin E don’t contain enough to make a difference.

• Liquid oil-based Vitamin E breaks down easily in air, heat, and light – often ineffective.

• Some brands use “water-soluble” Vitamin E (made by altering its natural fat-based form), but it’s fragile and needs to be squirted in the horse’s mouth daily – more expensive and more effort.

🏇 Horses in Work Need More!

• Performance or competition horses need more Vitamin E because it supports muscle development and recovery.

• While a retired horse may only need 1,000–2,000 IU/day, working horses often need 5,000+ IU/day to stay healthy and train well.

Ellie Brassey Veterinary Physiotherapist

25/10/2025

24/10/2025

08/10/2025

25/09/2025

07/09/2025

02/09/2025

07/08/2025

02/08/2025

19/07/2025

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