Work Placement at Moulton College Equestrian Centre - Eve Herne

 

My name is Eve Herne and I’m currently completing a six month work placement at Moulton College Equestrian Centre, mostly in the Equine Therapy Centre. This work placement is part of the practical ‘sandwich year’ of my BSc (hons) Veterinary Physiotherapy degree I am doing at Harper Adams University.

I have already completed two years of my degree before coming to Moulton which gives me an amazing opportunity to put my theoretical knowledge into practice.

I was lucky enough to be able to start my placement in July despite COVID-19 which meant I was straight in helping with yard duties looking after the college horses as well as assisting in the Equine Therapy Centre.

I have learnt masses about horse locomotion, rehabilitation and the benefits of hydrotherapy for very different types of horses. Clients in the Equine Therapy Centre range from Shetland ponies to huge event horses and this variety has helped me to understand how equine anatomy and exercise can work hand in hand to create a fitter, healthier and happier horse all round no matter what their level of ridden work.

Another important aspect of the therapy sessions is ensuring both horse and owner have a nice time. Communication is key and the staff at Moulton College are amazing at reassuring the horses and keeping the owners completely up to date on how the horse is looking and working during their session as well as providing recommendations of a tailored exercise plan so the therapy sessions are as beneficial as possible.

The aqua-treadmill is the perfect exercise for almost all horses as they have to maintain a constant rhythm, balance and engage their core. The tactile stimulation of the water on the horse’s coronet band forces them to pick their legs up and over the water creating a rounded shape and building muscle along the top line and in the hind end.

Swimming in the pool is excellent fitness work especially for horses that cannot do canter work over ground due to being unable to handle concussive forces on their legs. The equine cold salt water spa is used mostly for alleviating inflammation in the immediate stages after an injury. I have been lucky enough to watch and assist with horses using all of these different types of therapies and learnt the best way to handle the horses especially if it is their first ‘taster’ session.

As well as the therapy sessions I have been able to help out with daily horse care for the college horses including feeding, poo picking, yard maintenance and I was lucky enough to be able to ride some of the lovely college horses in order to bring them back into work for the students to ride in September.

My aims for this placement are to improve my horse handling skills, improve my interpersonal communication skills and to further my understanding of equine anatomy, locomotion and rehabilitation as well as horse management.

 

Lottie - Case Study

Name	Age	Type	Job
Lottie	14	Irish Sports Horse	Dressage/ Allrounder

OWNER: Ruth Ofield

Ruth bought Lottie five years ago from a local riding school after having regular lessons together. The pair competed in a few unaffiliated dressage competitions where they started to show some promising results. The following year Ruth decided to affiliate to British Dressage, quickly going up through the levels and regularly gaining fantastic scores of over 70%. Lottie is actually a brilliant allrounder as she also a loves to jump, enjoys a hack and has proved bold on the hunting field. Ruth planned on competing Lottie at medium level British Dressage in the 2020 season.

Ruth decided to bring Lottie to Moulton Equine Therapy Centre in March 2020. With the lambing season ahead and a busy work schedule Ruth did not think she would be able to maintain Lottie’s fitness regime for the coming competition season. Lottie had been swimming and used an aqua treadmill before so there was no doubt that she would cope well with the programme that we designed for her.

 

Lottie stayed at the Equine Therapy Centre for two weeks. Her comprehensive programme consisted of working in deep water on the aqua treadmill to increase hind limb engagement and build core strength and condition along with a tailored swimming programme to increase her cardiovascular fitness. At the weekends, Ruth took advantage of our off road hacking so Lottie had a very varied and pretty intense work programme during her stay.

Lottie on the aqua treadmill -          

Lottie swimming -                          

Before

 

          

After

Whilst we appreciate that photographic evidence can be very subjective to lots of factors, we do think these photos of Lottie show an increase in muscle tone particularly over the hind quarters                    

     

This year has been very disappointing for most in the equestrian industry and is particularly frustrating for Ruth as an owner that was so committed to her horse’s development and wellbeing that her extra effort in sending her horse to a centre such as ours to kickstart her season essentially ended with Lottie being turned away while the county was in lockdown

Hopefully with restrictions eased, Ruth will now be able to get back on track with Lottie’s training at home and will manage an outing by the end of the year.  

Moulton Equine Therapy Centre – Behind the scenes Pt. 2 Hoovering the pool

Hoovering is a standard maintenance procedure for any swimming pool.

Our equestrian swimming lane pool needs hoovering at least once a week due to debris accumulating on the bottom from horses defecating in the pool as well as from horses utilising the treadmill, since the treadmill water is drained into the pool and replaced with clean filtered water after each use.

The hoovering process can be quite labour intensive hence one of the reasons we try to ensure horses are as clean as possible before they use the aqua-treadmill and why we try to catch all droppings that the horse does during a session.  Ideally horses would not defecate whilst they are swimming but that is impossible to control!

The pool water is constantly pumped under pressure through the skimmers and sumps to sand filters in the plant room. The three skimmers remove dirt and debris that is floating on the surface of the water such as hair and bedding before circulating the surface water to the filters in the plant room.  Horse excrement, mud and dirt particles from the horses are heavier than the water so ultimately sink to the bottom of the pool.  The sumps are located at the bottom of the pool and draw in any debris that sinks close to them and sends this debris along with a constant supply of pool water to the sand filters in the plant room for cleaning.  Debris that does not sink close enough to the suction of a sump will be deposited on the bottom of the pool.   We add a flocculent to the pool water which aids in sticking these small particles together to make them into larger particles which are then easier for the sand filters to catch and filter out, and also make it easier to see piles of debris that has accumulated on the bottom of the pool.

When horses are being swum regularly they churn up the water and prevent debris from settling on the bottom of the pool.  This can aid in keeping the water clean as the dirty debris laden water is more likely to be forced through the skimmers and sumps to the filters for cleaning rather than being able to settle on the bottom of the pool.  This can however, make the pool water appear dirty as the dirt is constantly floated in the water rather than having time to settle to the bottom. Ideally, when horse have defecated frequently while swimming and the water is dirty, it is best to leave some time for this debris to sink so that it can be hoovered off the bottom effectively. 

To carry out the cleaning process, the hoover hose is connected to one of the skimmer inlets; the remaining two skimmers and the sumps are turned off so that all the suction is coming through just the one skimmer and therefore water is drawn into the hoover.  The hoover head is then manually rolled along the bottom of the pool and up the ramps via a very long pole, so luckily for us there is no need for scuba diving equipment! Hoovering takes approximately an hour and a half but may take longer depending on just how much debris has settled on the bottom.

After hoovering, the strainer basket in the plant room may contain a lot of debris and become full which will then need emptying. No matter how clean the horses are that use the equipment we will often find stones and bedding in this strainer basket. The filters will also gain pressure as the smaller particles become trapped in the filters, therefore a backwash cycle will need to be completed to ensure all debris has been evacuated from the filter and the filters can efficiently continue to clean the water. 

There is nothing more satisfying than a freshly hoovered pool when the ramps and pool floor all look clean and sparkling!

Moulton Equine Therapy Centre – Behind the scenes Pt. 1 Water testing

We take water quality at the equine therapy centre very seriously. The water in the swimming pool is tested and chemically balanced every day, the readings are then recorded in a log book. It is very important that the readings are accurate as small changes in a reading can mean an actual large change in the pool water quality.

Why do we test the water?

It is important to test the water in the pool to ensure the pH and chlorine levels remain balanced. Chlorine is a disinfectant and is added to the water to kill microbial pathogens. A correct disinfectant level is crucial to maintain biosecurity.

What do we test?

We take three separate tests for the chlorine levels; the free, total and combined chlorine.  It is imperative to take the pH reading too as the chlorine is most effective at a specific level of pH. We use a photometer to take these readings. The photometer gives the reading by passing light through a coloured 10ml sample of water.

Any dirt that comes off of the horses when they are using the equipment has a tendency to raise the pH to be more alkaline. Chlorine is more effective between the range of 7.2 – 7.4, therefore if the photometer gave a reading of above 7.4, acid will be added to the pool to reduce the pH level, if the pH was too low, alkaline would need to be added to increase the pH.

Free chlorine is what attacks the pollutants in the water.  When the free chlorine combines with the pollutants it becomes combined chlorine.  High levels of combined chlorine are bad and are what give off noxious gases and can cause skin irritations.

To get the combined chlorine reading we test for the free and total chlorine and use this simple sum: Total Chlorine – Free Chlorine = Combined Chlorine

Free chlorine should outnumber Combined Chlorine at a ratio of 2:1, so that there is always enough free chlorine ready to attack any pollutants that may be introduced into the water.   If the combined chlorine levels read more than the free chlorine levels this means we will need to add more chlorine in the pool to re-balance the levels. As these chemicals can be dangerous in high concentrations, we always wear a gas mask, gloves and an apron when adding them to the pool.

Work placement at Moulton College Equestrian Centre - Larissa Tilley

I started my work placement at Moulton College Equestrian Centre in January this year as part of my undergraduate degree in veterinary physio therapy at Harper Adams University. I am currently in my third year and have really enjoyed my time at university learning a combination of both the theory and practical aspects of veterinary physiotherapy.

As part of my four year degree I am required to undertake a 44 week work placement with both horses and dogs to give me the opportunity to develop new skills working within the industry alongside my academic study. Having already completed my canine placement, I am now at Moulton College Equestrian Centre for 22 weeks of equine experience primarily working in the equine therapy centre.

My first few weeks here has been great and I have already seen so much. I have been able to shadow in the equine therapy centre and have observed lots of different horses on the aqua- treadmill from a miniature Shetland pony to showjumpers and eventers. I have learnt about the different modes of hydrotherapy, how to prepare a horse for exercise on the aqua-treadmill and learnt about all the maintenance required to keep the therapy centre up and running.

I have helped with the care of the therapy inpatients, learning about the daily routine and helping with general yard duties. I have also met the resident college horses and am looking forward to learning more about the college yard.

I am excited for the rest of my time here. I am looking forward to seeing the pool and spa in use and meeting new horses and clients along with getting more hands on experience to help me to develop new skills to help me with my degree.