During a consultation
Before a consultation
- Owner and veterinary consent completed
- Allow 1.5 hours for an initial assessment and 1 hour for follow ups
- The owner or responsible person must be present
- Recommendation is a minimum of 1 day of no exercise after treatment
-
Horses are brought in and mucked out with beds up ready for the session
- Horses may be lunged for dynamic assessment, therefore, school hire may be necessary
During a consultation
A thorough history will be taken with updates added at follow up appointments. To create a full picture of your horse I will ask for previous history, if the horse has been vetted prior to purchase, any accidents, injuries or illnesses, most recent saddle check and any previous saddle problems, teeth, worming, reason for referral/ veterinary physiotherapy and more. Thus allowing for an individual bespoke treatment.
For our canine friends, here at Annastasia Cross Veterinary Physiotherapy we work closely with your Vet as well asking for relevant history.
A full dynamic assessment will be carried out on hard, flat, non slip surface. Please have the required restraint for your horse/ dog to enable the dynamic assessment to be carried out thoroughly and safely. Lunging and ridden exercise may also be necessary.
Full range of motion (ROM) will be assessed including back, neck and legs. Please advise if your horse will not behave when picking up feet. Palpation will then allow for the assessment of heat, pain, swelling, trigger points to create a picture for areas of treatment.
Relevant treatment
Treatment is individual to each animal and dependant on findings during the consultation. Therefore, is specific and caters for each animals specific needs. No one treatment will be the same from follow up consultations to other animals thus, creating a bespoke, personal service.
Treatment will include any of the following: Massage, trigger point therapy, fascial release, laser, long wave ultrasound, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, TENs, NEMs, joint mobilisation and kinesiology taping.
An exercise program will be created on initial consultations and tailored alongside your animals progression. Exercises will be varied, with time and facilities taken into consideration.
Follow up sessions will be recommended in a time frame individual to each animal and will last 1 hour. Follow ups include: a static assessment to assess changes in posture, dynamic assessments, palpation, range of motion, treatment and review of exercise prescription.