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 effects on different...

In our last blog Dr Sue Dyson highlighted the importance of correct front feet for long term soundness in horses. In this article, we chat to another of our Equine Conference 2024 speakers, Dr Simon Curtis, farrier, author, lecturer and horse hoof-care expert. Simon has been a farrier for over 50 years. He has spent most of his career and is probably best known in the industry for his work with foals, studying their conformation and how farriery can be used to aid them and put them on the...

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 article Allison...

*BA, DVM, CertES(Orth), Dipl ECVS, MRCVS As Jessica is presenting an online seminar for us on Saturday 7th October 2023 we thought it would be great for you to get to know her a little more. Many of you will have heard Jessica present before as she spoke at the Horses Inside Out Conference in February this year but in this article you will get the opportunity to know more about the person behind all her knowledge and experience. We are so pleased that I ntelligent Horsemanship allowed us to...

As I sit here writing this article I am looking out over the North Sea in the lovely Danish town of Hirtshals on the last of my international trips this year. I have been delivering a two day CPD course for professionals equine therapists on Joint Mobilisations and Musculoskeletal Testing for Bettina Hvidemose and her team at the Center for Dyreterapi. This inspired me to write an article on how understanding anatomy of joints and joint movement can help us to improve and maintain our horses...

A strong thoracic sling will improve your horse's performance, health, and well-being as well as enhancing his agility, power and lightness of the forehand. It can also reduce the risk of injury and lameness. A strong thoracic sling will reduce the stress on the back and spine making him better able to cope with the weight of the rider. Essentially, a strong thoracic sling means a happier, healthier horse. What is the Thoracic Sling? The horse has no collarbone and the thoracic sling is a...

Correct training and riding are key to keeping your horse happy, comfortable and sound. Combine this with a thorough understanding equine anatomy and how the horse works and you will be better able to train, ride, reduce the risk of injury allowing your horse to perform at his best. All horses are different in the way they move and think and it’s important to recognise and work with what you have got and train each horse accordingly. There is no such thing as a perfect horse. To get the best...

Whoop whoop after months of preparation July finally arrived and we headed off to North America for a couple of weeks of lecture demonstrations and courses here with our friends at the North American Saddlery School . We flew out on Sunday the 9th arriving in Washington D.C. late in the evening to be met by Amber Markley from the North American Saddlery School. Our first day was spent acclimatising, while the temperature was something we were used to the humidity was definitely something...

In July 2021 we sadly said good-bye to the wonderful Freddie Fox, who most of you will instantly recognise as the face of Horses Inside Out. He was the horse of a lifetime and he gave so much to the world of horses and helped to educate thousands of people across the world through Horses Inside Out. Gillian Higgins winning the 1* class at Gatcombe, receiving the prize for the best young rider under 25 from HRH the Princess Royal. After 24 years, it was such a sad day when we lost him. During...

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 completion of...