Howe Brook Equine Fitness & Recovery

🌟 Wow - what a transformation! 🌟
🐴 Rehabilitation Livery – Cindy

📅 7-day stay
📉 18 kg weight loss
🏋🏽‍♂️ Increased hindlimb strength
🏃🏽‍➡️ Improved fitness
🌾 Soaked hay, fed at 1.75% of ideal body weight
🌱 Daily turnout
🌊 Combination of water treadmill and long-lining sessions

Cindy headed home on Saturday after spending 7 days with us on our Rehabilitation Livery programme.

Following diagnosis and medication of stifle DJD (degenerative joint disease) and hindlimb PSD (proximal suspensory desmitis)bilaterally, Cindy joined us for the week with the aim to increase stifle strength and stability - and overall hindlimb strength.

Throughout her programme, we used daily water treadmill session and a total of 3 long-lining session to help gain strength and mobility of her hindlimbs:

💧 Fetlock-height water helped improve limb range of motion while encouraging greater core engagement to support his back.

🚶🏽‍♂️‍➡️Long-lining helps simulate riding conditions, without the added weight of the tack and rider.
Her sessions were 30-minutes long, and varied each time. Using a combination of walk-halt-walk transitions, shallow loops, serpentines, poles, varied terrains and resistance bands. All targeting hindlimb engagement and encouraging stifle strengthening. Without causing excessive strain through the hindlimb suspensory ligaments.

Cindy started with a 10-minute sessions to habituate to the treadmill, but she was such a pro, she progressed to 20-minute sessions by the second session helping improve her strength and fitness 💪🏽

Alongside her water treadmill work, she completed her prescribed physiotherapy exercises twice daily to further develop her hindlimb strength.

As you can see in the comparison pictures, Cindy began the week with us unable to stand square with her hindlimbs, favouring a camped under posture. Through the use of the treadmill, long-lining and physio exercises, Cindy can now comfortably stand square, and even has a greater protraction length of her hindlimbs. Even adopting this posture whilst out grazing and stood in the stable eating her hay - a fantastic result all round 🎉

To finish her stay, Cindy had a good scrub using Equioils (she loves a poo stain!). 🧼🛁

Well done, Cindy! We wish you all the best with your continued rehabilitation and look forward to seeing your progress. 💜

🐴 Holiday & Rehabilitation Livery – William

📅 17-day stay
📉 16 kg weight loss
🤸🏽 Improved core strength and spinal stability
🏋🏽‍♂️ Increased hindlimb muscle mass
🏃🏽‍➡️ Improved fitness
🌊 Worked in varying water heights throughout his programme

William headed home yesterday after spending 17 days with us on our Holiday & Rehabilitation Livery programme.

Following a suspensory ligament injury last November and a diagnosis of kissing spines, the focus of his stay was to improve his fitness while building core strength, spinal stability, and overall mobility.

Throughout his programme, we varied the water height to target different goals:

💧 Fetlock-height water helped improve limb range of motion while encouraging greater core engagement to support his back.

💧 Hock-height water provided a more challenging workout to build fitness and strengthen his hindquarters.

William started with 10-minute sessions and gradually progressed to 25-minute sessions as his strength and fitness improved. 💪

Alongside his water treadmill work, he completed his prescribed physiotherapy exercises twice daily to further develop his core and hindlimb strength.

To finish his stay, William enjoyed a relaxing wash using Equioils. 🧼🛁

Well done, William! We wish you all the best with your continued rehabilitation and look forward to seeing your progress. 💙

Thank you to Chorley YFC for inviting me to host a demonstration and talk on Monday evening.

It was a pleasure to have you all, we’re so glad everyone enjoyed the evening and found it informative. 🤩🏇🏼

Hey everyone 👋

I thought it was about time I introduced myself!
I graduated from university in 2024 with an Integrated Master's degree (IMSc) in Veterinary Physiotherapy 👨🏻‍🎓

I have a real passion for rehabilitation, conditioning, improving posture, and gait analysis 🧬. Helping animals move comfortably, perform at their best, and recover from injury is what I enjoy most.

Since graduating, I've been building my own business, Ben Geldard - Veterinary Physiotherapy, where I've successfully rehabilitated a wide variety of conditions through tailored, dynamic rehabilitation programmes. It's an area I'm incredibly passionate about and one I’m excited to continue developing.

I know that rehabilitation can often feel like a long and challenging journey, which is why I'm thrilled to be joining the team at Howe Brook. It’s a place where you can be confident your horse is receiving the highest standard of care. Whether that's for rehabilitation, fitness work, holiday livery while you're away 🏖️, or simply adding a weekly or fortnightly session to provide variety in their workload.

I'm looking forward to meeting both new and familiar faces and helping your horses feel and perform at their very best!

✨ We’re excited to announce that from 1st June, Ben Geldard - Veterinary Physiotherapy will be taking over at Howe Brooke Equine Fitness & Recovery. ✨

Ben is a veterinary physiotherapist specialising in equine performance, rehabilitation and recovery, bringing a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience to the treadmill. His understanding of equine biomechanics, conditioning and rehabilitation will be a huge asset to both competition horses and those recovering from injury. 🏇🏼

We’re looking forward to this exciting new chapter and know our horses and clients will benefit greatly from Ben’s professional guidance, tailored programmes and passion for equine welfare and performance. 👨🏽‍🎓

Please join us in welcoming Ben to the Howe Brooke team from 1st June! 🎉

✨ We’ve got some really exciting news coming for all of our amazing clients… and we honestly can’t wait to share it with you! 👀

Make sure you keep an eye on our socials this week, because something exciting is on the way! 🎉

We’re so excited to finally let you all in on it — stay tuned! 💜

Winnie Bobs 😍😍😍 Enjoy your free session on us! 🐎💜