Now In our conversation that we had, I was sure curious about them. As the conversation went on I became more excited about them. It always amazes me to listen to someone when they come up with something for horses that in my opinion becomes pivotal. In any case when working with horses, there is no placebo effect. There is no walking up to them and saying "Hey stand on this and you're going to feel amazing." There is also no trying something out and then saying "Hey tell me how you feel? Did that really work?"
So the PT side of my brain was like "Hhhhmmmm, this Is super Interesting." The cowgirl side of my brain said, " Really? How is this going to work?" But like I said one of the best things about rehab with horses is that there is no placebo effect. Not that placebo effect is bad. It isn't. Anything that helps you to get better and move towards your goals, I'm all in. However, I put a lot of stock in horses having no placebo effect. There are a lot of gadgets and shiny things that move through the horse industry quickly. This helps me weed through things. On Wendy's advice, I ordered the firm pads. I've been using them on my colt, calf horse, and a few client horses. Wow! My colt, Charlie, gets drunk on them real quick. Lol. The first time I used them with him, we were in his lot. I just threw the lead rope over his neck while he was standing on them and just backed up. We worked with them for an hour. The super interesting thing was his neighbor in the next lot threw his tail over his back and squealed like a girl and ran around. Charlie did not pay any attention to him at all. That's all well and good but how did it change Charlie? Charlie who Is an appendix Quarter Horse is sleeker and less broad. He doesn't have any injuries or anything specific that I'm working on right now. But the amazing thing was how Charlie rode afterwards. It felt like I went from riding an ice skate to riding a really broad Quarter Horse. His base of support widened so much. I've used the pads on him several times since then. I can tell every few days to a few weeks when he starts feeling narrow again. It is really having an effect on how he travels. Tank, the calf horse, has really started to enjoy them as well. He didn't at first. He stood on them for 5 seconds and then he was out. But as time has gone on, he has started to stand on them longer and get a little drunk with them. I will be interested to see how this helps or changes how we maintain him. I'll keep you posted. I give you this update as a follow up to the conversation I had with Wendy. To learn more about the SURE FOOT pads check out our conversation below. Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with SURE FOOT Pads and merely wanted to share my experience with them.
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AUTHORFarley Schweighart is a Physical Therapist who helps riders and their horses heal from injury, improve performance, and return to winning.
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July 2020
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