Handedness in horses

In a freezing February  I went to the Horses Inside Out Conference in Grantham.

Not having been to one of Gillian Higgins conferences before, in fact I have never been to an equine conference, I was unsure of what to expect. I needn't have worried.

The first day was held in the Ramada Hotel in the warmth and started out with Dr Meike van Heel who gave a talk some research that she has been undertaking "Development and Influence of Uneven Feet on Limb Loading and Performance of Warmblood Horses." Dutch warmblood horses are rejected if they have uneven feet, because of a belief that this conformational issue is hereditary. Her research was aiming to establish that uneven feet are developmental rather than hereditary.

One of the most interesting point that she discovered was that horses have a propensity to be handed, left, right, ambidextrous. This could be seen when the foals graze. Foals have long legs inproportion to their bodies in order that they can keep up with their mothers as they graze. This means that they need to stretch their legs in order for them to lower their heads to graze.

Image from http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/

image from http://stonehollowfarm.com/stallions-pages/shf_coleo.htm

She tested this by putting feed on the floor and getting foals to walk towards it and monitored which leg was protracted so the head could be lowered to reach the food.

The research found that uneveness in feet was more likely to be developmental than hereditary.

Read the full report from the conference here

Watch for my next blog post about horse and rider aysymetry and the second day of the conference and how I will use this to offer a new service at KB Equine Therapy

Well where to start

Well I have been trying to start this blog for quite some time now, so for a start I thought I would share my day with you.

I set off for the Haigh's yard where I had 3 horses to treat. Well down the A1 I set all fine my way but the other direction was grid locked, the Leeds festival is on this weekend, damn will have to find another way home, good job I have Sally Satnav to help.

Horse number 1 was Titch, I have been seeing titch since I was training, she has a intermittent problem with her shoulder, Myofascial release soon sorts it out and her owner Lin usually gives me a bell and asks me for a "top up" every now and then.

Horse number 2 was a new client, Ossie owned by Tina. Ossie was having a new saddle made for him by my friend Kim from Kruger Saddlery in Yorkshire, she makes the most amazing saddles and her after sales service is second to none, find her on the list of master saddlers
Ossie really enjoyed his massage as you can see from the photo he was tight in his neck between C1,C2 and C3. He really helped releas his neck, what we didn't manage to get on camera was when I got to do the other side of his neck, he was more itchy from flies than tense and as I worked on him he lifted his hind leg and scratched me on my rear, I know horses often groom their owners in gratitude whilst I am treating them but well....

Horse number 3 was Cassie owned by Chris, I owed Cassie a free treatment as Chris introduced a new client to me. Cassie was also having her saddle re adjusted by Kim. Her saddle had been slipping and Chris quite rightly wanted it sorting. Kim discovered that Cassie has one shoulder a little higher than the other and is going to build up one side of the saddle to account for this. When I check Cassies back there was a temperature difference under the saddle area, Cassie was a little cooler here. Although the first reaction is to feel for heat as a sign of injury or infection, coller areas can mean that the circulation is impeded. Cassie really enjoyed her Myofascial release treatment, she was yawning. I am sure that all will be well when she has her adjusted saddle.

Anyway, thats all for the first posting more later (now I seem to have got into the swing of things) Lol

If you have any equine related questions check into my forum here

See you soon Kathy x