Advice on Horse Physio

M

montyracing2

At the Start
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Maybe not the request you expected from the title but one of my GCSE students is 'set' on a career in equine physiotherapy and has downselected 'A' level type courses, there seem to be a number of 'equine' qualifications she might end up achieving.

I'm at a bit of a loss in helping her apply to colleges etc, the type of career path she might follow. Has anyone any experience of 'Horse physiotherapy' i.e. is it physiotherapy or 'horse whispering ' or .....


Thanks in anticipation - MR2
 
Monty, she might like to look over http://www.tcap.co.uk - the College of Animal Physiotherapists's site - to see the FAQs, the courses involved, etc. Trudi on here is a veterinary nurse and might well have some excellent ideas or leads for you - just buy her a half-dozen doughnuts when you meet her.

If you Google 'equine physiotherapy courses' you'll see other stuff come up, answering questions - but the link will provide answers to most she might have, such as whether she needs to do human physio work first. No, is the answer. Suggested A levels would be science-based, such as biology/chemistry/physical education, but the college will advise best on those.

No,equine (or veterinary) physio is working with the muscles of animals, just like a sports physio works with athletes' muscles. Whispering is about finding out why animals are behaving in a certain way and trying to correct their errant ways with a remedial approach based on reward and gentle treatment.

Hope this helps.
 
In my experience, there are some good horse physios (i.e. Melanie Gurdon & Mary Bromiley) and then there are a whole heap who are just appalling. They take one look at the horse, give it a small nudge and say "Thank you that will be £50!" My cousin is one and she falls into the latter category. She has twice been had up for misdiagnosing - on one occasion she said the horse had a back problem whereas it had a fractured knee.

Trudi would definitely be the person to ask, though.
 
Didn't the horse's owner call in a vet first, though, j/j? I'd have thought that one showing some physical distress would warrant a veterinary check-over first, from which the vet would recommend physiotherapy if thought appropriate. It should've been the vet 'had up' if that had been the case.
 
Monty - get her to have a look here http://www.acpat.org/ or have a look round this site http://www.lilyjacksonphysio.co.uk/ - it should give her an idea of what to expect and what sort of things she will be doing.... Lily is a good friend of mine, and Im sure she will happily answer any questions your pupil has got, all i can remember is that she qualified as a human one first, then specialised with the veterinary degree for it after that. It took her a long time, but she adores her job, is very very good at it and it fits in really well with her riding out and her human work too.

Its a funny old profession really - you dont have to be qualified to do it, but the few "back people" (who are the ones who claim to click the spine/pelvis/poll (is the most popular one!) back into place (which is a load of baloney - the structures of the skeleton really cant be "put back" with just a push and a click,no matter what they say!!!!!) really give the whole profession a bad name.As with all of these things,physios or chiropractors legally arent allowed to treat a horse without a vets referral (which can be as simple as the owner ringing up to ask if the physio can go!) if they do, they are breaking the law.

(sorry - went off on a bit of a tangent there, its one of my most hated things at work dealing with people who think that its us vets who are insisting on consults before physios and the like get involved - its part of the welfare law, and its the law for a damn good reason !!! )

Get them to ACPAT or ask Lily (say i suggested it if it helps!) on the ACPAT site theres a list of registered therapists - they might be able to get some form of work experience locally if they are lucky too.....
 
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We used to have a "chiropractor" go over one of our horses back in the day. From memory she was a qualified chiropractor before she switched to equine, but she did have to do a masters or post grad diploma course to move over. It's quite competitive and hard to get into here in Australia as well.

I know its not going to be of much help, as the sites are from here in Australia, but they might give you a guide as to how to get into the industry, and what type of qualifications one must get to be considered an equine therapist of some sort.

http://www.avca.com.au/course_information.php
http://www.myfuture.edu.au/The Fact...rses and Programs/Details.aspx?CourseId=15601
 
Troods - check out that cuuuute daxie on the ACPAT site! I'm glad you've enlightened me about that - I didn't know it was actually illegal for a physio to attend without a referral.
 
Encourage her - that way you'll also get a feel for nice, relaxed muscles if she practises on you first. Nothing like a really good, deep physio massage for de-kinking the knotty spots!
 
Wouldnt that be frowned upon??? ;)


Kri - not many people do, its just easier to portray vets as moneygrabbing uncaring bastards who deliberately set out to get in the way of anyone who might be cheaper !!! There are so many people out there who will go out and treat things that they shouldnt its just not true - and the whole thing came about because so many back issues are actually referred from a lameness somewhere but often gets missed if just a "back person" comes out.... its the same with dentistry - theres been a huge push to be better in the last few years - and while anyone can get some rasps and call themselves a horse dentist, anything intricate (by law) has to be done by a vet. All these "ive qualiified in the USA I dont need to do the BAEDT exams(which are the only ones accredited and insured to do equine dentistry) who go round removing wolf teeth, or removing loose teeth - they are all breaking the law as well - the trouble is,you get what you pay for in these things, and while its on a par with human dentistry (and is almost always covered by a horses insurance) its still perceived by the general public as being pointless and moneygrabbing. Its general ignorance on the part of the owners of the country - the improvements in medical science over the years is huge - and as such, our understanding of horses and how we can treat them now has improved hugely too. You might remember, two years ago Red needed a tooth out as it had an infection in it - treatments and understanding has come so far that these days we would have done a root canal surgery on the tooth first of all to see if we could save it - its all very well getting rid of the problem straight away, but you open things up to a whole host of other possibilities of things to go wrong (but for gods sake nobody tell her that please!!!)

Monty - it might be worth suggesting your pupil has a look at equine dentistry as well actually - its another fast growing area that if they are interested in a specialist direction could be worth a thought. http://www.baedt.com/
 
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Well, they surely must call for volunteers, like hairdressing salons need volunteers for their apprentices? I worked for a tech college where the catering department put on full restaurant service for just the wholesale cost of the food, in order to 'experiment' on the public! Boy, was that ever popular, along with the beauty school - so I assume everything else now requires volunteers to pummel and prod before the newly-accredited are unleashed on the public at large.
 
mind you - i guess monty wouldnt be the teacher any more after...

yes - i never seem to see the wanted ads for the local hairdressing/beauty classes though - no fair !!! :)
 
Yup Troods is spot on re why the "back person" gets called out first!

Kri - my cousin waded in first and offered her counsel - she wasn't referred by a vet (my father (who is actually her father's cousin so shes a second cousin to me, she says distancing herself!) was naturally not amused being a vet himself!) Thats why I posted the 2 names up there - both will ask what the vet has said about the condition BEFORE they treat.

I had a superb equine dentist when I was in Oxfordshire - he qualified in New Zealand and was first rate. Any others I have used have been moderate in comparison and down here they charge £60 a go!!! Mine used to charge £10 for a check up/spit & polish and £25 for any caps removed.
 
When I seen the title, I thought, "bit risky that, they could hurt you with a stray nail in their shoes".
 
Not if they come from Simon Earle, though, Del - you'll hardly feel a thing as they treadle up and down your back. Bit rough on facials, though - I'd recommend Shetland ponies for those.

Thanks, Troods and j/j, for the insights. Great forum, this, full of info!
 
£25 To remove caps??!!! Holy crap - and that was how many years ago - about 6? (am trying to think when you and I first started talking,you were there then I think - wasnt it Oxfordshire when I had my (incredibly rare!) brainwave about your water??)

see people of the world - vets arent always the most expensive - we remove caps for free (unless they are causing a major problem elsewhere) mostly because usually they fall out of their own accord anyway!!

The biggest problem on the dentistry front Kri is that a lot of people just wont accept that the ONLY way to get a proper look in a horses mouth is with a gag, a mirror and sedation. Some horses will tolerate a gag and all the poking about well, but most wont,so the sedation is to make the job much nicer and safer for all concerned.(or for a horse like red its so you can open their bloody mouth more than two centimetres to start with....) you can do a job, but you just cant do a good job without the above - I know people think Im bound to say that with what we do and the level we do it at work - but its true.
We had only just started doing dentistry to such a high standard when I left to go to philips (chris had not long become the first vet to sit (and pass) the then brand new BAEDT exam - so when we had a "dentist" turn up at the yard,throw a rasp round in the horses mouths and rattle (literally!) through all 22 horses in a morning (including two coffee breaks!) saying that he qualified in america 20 years before and he knew everything there was to know and there was no way he was going to do the new exam because he didnt need to... you can imagine my reaction Im sure !!! but this is the trouble - most "old school" people who have always had it done one way, for not much money at all, refuse to accept that that way isnt nececcarily the best way - especially when they are being told that anyone who charges more is a charlatan and only interested in the money. Theres more to dentistry than just knocking a couple of points off, and thankfully owners are starting to become more educated about this and want the best.

I just think its a shame that so many people who profess to care about their horses accept whatever they have been told for years without question. As i said above, things have moved on so much even just in the last two years - yes some costs have gone up in line with that - but so have success rates -recovery times have come down and there are so many more avenues to explore before giving up and going straight to the sledgehammer treatment. Physios, chiropractors, reiki, herballists - all of them have their places IMO - you just have to have an open mind (and sometimes a large wallet if its a long term thing and your animal isnt insured!!! ;) ) doesnt matter if its an olympic dressage horse or a hairy kids pony - they all deserve the best treatment that its possible to have.

sorry - will get off my soapbox now!!
 
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An old mate of mine is an EDT, Dean looked after Karinga Bay when he worked in racing. Not heard from him in ages so googled to see if he's still working....apprently hes that busy he wont let his number be put online!!! Found this its interesting to watch if anyone hasnt seen a horse having its teeth done http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG3sSoUkY-M
 
ahh feck - ive just typed out a mahoosive response and its disappeared :mad:

Basically it was to laugh with Kri - and say dont ever get me started on the internet drug companies, they are another one that i have regular bouts of AAARGH with clients over... :lol:

Thats a nice vid LE - and it shows perfectly what I meant when i said that EDTs do a job, and people are happy with the job they do or they wouldnt get the work, no matter how cheaply they do it. BUT unless hes already done it (which I doubt, cos im sure he'd have had that on the video too) hes not looked in the horses mouth at all - so while hes stuck his fingers in and from the look of it taken all the roughness off the teeth regardless of if they need it or not (too much off and too smooth is worse than not enough and still a bit roughened!!) without looking hes got no idea if there are open pulp cavities,diastomas(unless they are large enough that he could feel them) fractures, fissures or gingival problems.... (and thats just to start...)

But this is the thing. when EDTs first came about they had the same problems that we are seeing these days - people used to just have their farrier run a rasp round the horses mouth, and as long as the horse could eat its feed and not be too uncomfortable, then they were happy with that. EDTs come along and after a period of time where nobody wants to see them becuse they are percieved as not being as good as what has happened before, then they are accepted as being better than the farrier - and now BAEDTs are facing a similar problem. In time people will realise that you really do get what you pay for - in the grand scheme of things its not expensive to get horses looked after properly - and actually, the most true saying of all is that a stitch in time saves nine...

right - got a princess to go bring in, hope what i said makes sense but im desperate for a wee so i cant check it before i go !!
 
Ah but my Oxfordshire dentist was pretty dishy! (hes one of my FB friends if you want to take a look!)
 
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