Echo Hill Equestrian Physical Therapy

12/10/2025

12/10/2025

12/09/2025

The Neck and Blanketing.

Most of the questions submitted about the cervical neck will be answered in our end-of-month discussion video. However, there were a few questions we didn’t want to keep you waiting for, so we’ll answer those over the next week.

First Question:
For those of us living in colder regions, does blanketing the neck of the horses with osteoarthritis help? (Thank you Sarah K for the question)

There aren’t any solid studies that prove whether blanketing a horse’s neck helps with cervical arthritis, but we can make some educated guesses based on what we know from people. Humans with spinal arthritis usually feel better when they’re warm—cold weather thickens joint fluid and makes everything feel stiffer and more uncomfortable. Horses likely experience something similar, so adding a neck cover could make them more comfortable in colder weather.
That said, some horses with nerve compression or a lot of shoulder/chest pain really don’t like anything touching those areas, including a blanket or neck piece. So it may help, but it really depends on the individual horse and what they’re dealing with.

12/08/2025

12/06/2025

12/01/2025

11/28/2025

🐾 Why Every Veterinary Practice Needs a Rehabilitation Therapist

Here’s a question worth sitting with:
If physiotherapy is considered essential in every human hospital - from orthopaedics to neurology, ICU to geriatrics - why is it still considered optional in veterinary practice?

More and more clinics are starting to ask this, and the answer is transforming patient outcomes.

Adding an in-house veterinary rehabilitation therapist doesn’t just mean “more services.” It means better pain control, faster recoveries, happier clients, and a healthier practice - in every sense of the word.

Think about what happens when rehab becomes part of the daily workflow:

⚡️ Pain is managed proactively, not reactively.
🦴 Degenerative conditions are supported long-term, improving both quality and length of life.
🔪 Post-op recoveries are smoother and more complete.
🏋️‍♀️ Sporting and working animals receive ongoing, preventive care.
👀 Clients feel seen, supported, and empowered.

And your team becomes a truly multidisciplinary force 👉 not a collection of individuals working in parallel, but a group solving complex cases together.

When rehabilitation is integrated into a veterinary team, the practice begins to see patients differently 👉 not as “cases,” but as dynamic, adaptable bodies capable of recovery, strength, and longevity when given the right tools and time.

And yes, it’s good business too. Clinics offering in-house rehab report improved client retention, greater continuity of care, and new avenues for growth.

So perhaps the real question isn’t “Can we afford to hire a rehabilitation therapist?”
It’s “Can we afford not to?”

💬 Let’s open this up:
If you’re a vetrehabber working within a veterinary practice, what difference has it made - for your patients, your team, or your clients?
And if you’re not yet part of a practice team, what do you think still stands in the way of integration?

Read more on this topic in this weeks blog. Comment BLOG and we will send you the link 🔗

11/26/2025

❄️🛻 Winter is coming… and your horse trailer deserves better than being abandoned in the back pasture to become a rodent-operated Airbnb.

We rounded up a list of what you actually need to do to winterize your trailer — from evicting mice to checking wiring gremlins to making sure your floor isn’t hiding any… surprises.

Give your trailer some cold-weather TLC now so it’s ready to roll when spring finally returns.

👇 Read the full guide in the comments!

11/18/2025

11/16/2025

11/15/2025

Take care of the horse's stifles! Even though "disengaging the hindquarters" is a popular technique when training young or unschooled horses, it taxes the stifles and often leads to soreness and dysfunction. Stifles are not designed well for sideways movement of the limbs.They must first be made stable and strong with forward, balanced work. Otherwise, not only is the stifle joint compromised, but the supporting musculature which originates from higher up the pelvis and lower back is also strained. The result is often inflamed joints, diminished range of motion, and poor use of the hind limbs. So, at the risk of being controversial, I would encourage all of us to avoid disengaging the hindquarters in an unfit horse.