With so many professionals offering equine dental services across the UK, it can be difficult to know who is best qualified and what level of care your horse truly needs. One of the most common and most important questions horse owners ask is: “Who should I trust to look after my horse’s teeth?”

For any animal, or human to perform to their full potential, they must be pain-free. In the horse world we readily accept that back pain or lameness affects a horse’s performance, but dental pain is often overlooked and is something that can have a profound impact, even if it’s less obvious.

Have you ever considered the benefits of an equine water treadmill for your horse? Once reserved for elite racehorses and for rehabilitation, water treadmills are now becoming an increasingly popular tool for horse owners looking to improve equine health and performance. Combining the resistance of water with the support of buoyancy, these treadmills offer a low impact yet highly effective workout that can aid in injury recovery, build strength, and enhance cardiovascular fit

Practitioners often talk about compensations and compensation patterns. However, they often offer very different definitions or explanations based on their individual perspectives and modes of assessment. In this article Kevin Haussler, DVM, DC, PhD aims to add some clarity and delves into the different ways the body reacts to injury or disease, whether those responses are good or bad, and what we can do to help manage them.

As owners, riders, trainers and therapists we are all striving to ensure our horses are symmetrical and sound. But what does that really mean? Soundness and symmetry in the horse refers to the balance and harmony of the musculoskeletal system and its impact on how the horse moves.   While we understand that both symmetry and soundness are essential for the optimal health, welfare and performance of horses, how do we achieve it – is it just a case of correct training, manageme

When we think about the horses we ride, train or care for, soundness and symmetry often go hand in hand and they are something many of us, quite understandably, take for granted.

Making a difference to Horses and contributing to equine science. Are you an equine professional working with horses on a regular basis?

I couldn’t believe it when the weekend of the 2024 Horses Inside Out conference arrived in February. Where has the last year gone? I had...

This year as part of the Horses Inside Out conference at Loughborough University in February, there was the opportunity to visit Gillian...

Wow! What an incredible weekend we had at the Horses Inside Out Conference. Engineered and collated by Gillian Higgins, the talks truely took us on a journey of a lifetime exploring every aspect of growth and development from many different perspectives. Two days dedicated to learning, re-evaluating how we train and manage horses – plus so much more, it’s tricky to sum up just how fabulous the Horses Inside Out Conference 2024 was. In this blog Gillian picks out just a few ti

Using training aids on horses can be a controversial topic among equestrians. Some people believe that they are useful tools to improve...

Training young horses for health and performance is a rewarding process that requires patience, skill and knowledge.

Dr Nicolas De Brauwere MRCVS talks to Horses Inside Out about equine welfare and the question of social licence in horses

Kelly Marks needs very little introduction. Thanks to the work she has done with Monty Roberts and forming Intelligent Horsemanship in 1999, horse owners and lovers now have a much better understanding and appreciation for how horse’s think and behave. Intelligent Horsemanship allows Kelly to combine her three favourite things; horses, writing and supporting others in their equestrian journey. She is incredibly proud of everything Intelligent Horsemanship has achieved and lo

Dr Sebastian McBride will present "Recognising Clinically Depressed Horses” at the Horses Inside Out Conference at Loughborough...

The Horses Inside Out Anatomy Exhibition is a must see for every equestrian and anatomy enthusiast and one to rival aspects of the Natural History Museum! Each skeleton, specimen and anatomical model reveals different fascinating structure, anatomy, asymmetries, anomalies and pathologies. The next anatomy exhibition will take place at the 2024 Conference: Growth and Development . There is a great opportunity to get up, close and personal with each specimen, get hands on with

Equine nutrition is a subject often spoken about and one that can lead to some confusion. When it comes to young horses, their diet sets the foundation for their future and needs to be balanced and as natural a possible. Professor Meriel Moore-Colyer believes feeding doesn’t need to be complicated – it just needs to be balanced. Meriel has always had a keen interest in equine nutrition, loving to make up the feeds at the yard and looking at how feeds can have different effe

In our last blog Dr Sue Dyson highlighted the importance of correct front feet for long term soundness in horses. In this article, we...

When we are looking to buy a new horse, we are encouraged to look at its conformation. Horse conformation is the study of the shape and structure of a horse's body. Conformation is influenced by the length and angles of the bones, the size and shape of the muscles, and the balance and symmetry of the horse. Correct conformation is important for long term performance and soundness because it may determine how well a horse can move, carry weight, and avoid injuries. In this art

PART 2 Understanding the process of skeletal maturity in horses is crucial for appropriate management, training and care. Skeletal maturity refers to the point at which a horse’s bones have fully developed and growth plates have ossified. In this, the second part of our blog about young horses, we explore the age at which horses generally reach skeletal maturity and the timeline of growth plate closure in different anatomical regions. Skeletal maturity in horses signifies the