Spy Coast Farm, a sporthorse farm that specializes in the breeding and development of performance horses, has also offered rehabilitation services at their Lexington, Ky., facility since 2019. Offering therapies like shockwave, eurocizer, water treadmills, laser therapies and more, farm employees are always on the lookout for how they can assist the horses being sent to them for rehab services.
Dr. Julie Vargas, Spy Coast Farm's sports medicine veterinarian, has been working on ways to better help equine clients with neurologic deficits from conditions like equine protozoal myeloencephalitis and Wobbler syndrome. Often when the horses arrive at Spy Coast, they are experiencing deficits that make them unsuitable to have riders on board at that phase of their rehabilitation, reports The Chronicle of the Horse the Horse.
Vargas had the idea of using a dummy to get the horse acclimated to carrying weight again. Mary-Kate McClure, the rehabilitation office manager, created the tool using a grappling dummy she found online. Sister Hannah McClure helped finalize “Sandy” by adding 60 to 70 pounds of weight with sand and rubber landscape mulch.
Sandy has done a great job bridging the gap between groundwork and riding for horses that have neurologic deficits. These horses often utilize the treadmills at Spy Coast to help develop muscle tone and neural pathways, as well as condition the horse. If staff think the horse may benefit from additional time before putting a rider on board, Sandy will mount up.
Sandy is held in place with a series of straps that allow Spy Coast staff to adjust her amount of movement while astride. The horse is then worked on a longe line. Adding weight to a horse can often show staff some of the weakness and instability that isn't seen without someone (or something) astride.
Read more at The The Chronicle of the Horse.
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