Swimming at Moulton College Equine Therapy Centre

Our state of the art BHA approved swimming lane is 30 meters long, 3.5 meters wide and approximately 2.7m deep.  The pool is constantly being filtered along with regular ‘hoovering’ and balancing of chemicals to keep it clean and safe for visiting horses.

Given that the pool is straight it enables horses to work all of their muscles evenly and is an excellent way of maintaining fitness and stamina.

The buoyancy of the water, supports the horse so that the incidence of locomotor injury is reduced.  Competition horses such as eventers and race horses benefit from swimming as it puts very similar stresses on the cardio vascular system as gallop work, without putting stress on the limbs.

The pool here at Moulton also has a jet system which can intensify the work out by creating a current that the horse has to swim against.

When horses train with us, we closely monitor their recovery rate by measuring their heart rate before exercise commences and then checking it regularly throughout the session, allowing the horse to fully recover before they return home. This also helps us to observe each horse’s progression and adjust their training programmes accordingly.

Although swimming is a fantastic medium for improving cardio vascular fitness, in order to swim effectively, the majority of horses will hollow through their back to keep their head out of the water.  For this reason we do not recommend swimming as a suitable exercise for horses suffering with any back issues or as the sole method for retaining fitness.

If you have any questions as to whether swimming might be suitable for you horse, please feel free to contact us.