Black Pirate Rehabilitation Case Study

Name	Age	Type	Job
Black Pirate	7	TB	National Hunt

OWNER: Syndicate

TRAINER: James Ewart

HISTORY:

Black Pirate has had an impressive career winning a point to point as a four year old and running in three competitive Bumpers winning at Wetherby and Ayr in 2018.

He then returned to Ayr for the Scottish Champion Bumper where he came second only beaten by 3.5 lengths. Following a setback, Black Pirate stayed at the Equine Therapy Centre for three months at the end of 2018 where he followed a programme designed by Dr Jessica York. Pirate’s hydrotherapy programme consisted of both swimming and Aqua-Treadmill exercise to enable him to increase his cardiovascular fitness and stamina along with improving his core strength and muscle tone. After three months rehabilitative exercise with us, Pirate was looking amazing and returned home to start his work back under saddle. Unfortunately when Pirate returned home in November he had a knock in the field and the decision was made for him to have some time off to fully recover.

TREATMENT:

Pirate Returned to us in June 2019 for another six week stay with the hope that we would be able to get him to a level of strength and fitness for him to be able to return to full work and with the aim for him to start his hurdling career in the coming season.

Swimming is a great fittening tool as it is a cardiovascular workout.  So it is important that horses that have been out of work are introduced to swimming gradually. As Pirate had not been in work for such a long time it was important to create a programme to allow him to slowly build up his fitness and strength. Pirate was first worked on the aqua-treadmill and over the first couple of weeks we gradually increased the length of his sessions and the depth of water, eventually adding tack and allowing a few minutes of trot to make sure that we were working on developing his core strength and targeting specific muscle groups.

Clearly Pirate remembered his previous stay as he seemed very happy to be with us again by being relaxed in his stable, he settled in to his paddock and loaded straight away on to the aqua-treadmill. After a few weeks Pirate was ready to start swimming. 

Again, Pirate had remembered his previous swimming experience with us and dove straight into the pool with no hesitation!  As with the aqua-treadmill exercise, it was important to build him up gradually. When horses swim with us, we closely monitor their heart rates as an indicator of fitness by recording their heart rate at rest and then checking it regularly throughout the swim session. This helps us to observe progression and adjust their training programmes accordingly.

Pirate has an exceptionally relaxed temperament and was incredibly laid back with us in the Therapy Centre, subsequently his resting heart rate was extremely low. We kept him on the same programme for 5 days in order to have a direct comparison of his heart rates week on week, this enabled us to assess how much to increase his programme. Pirate was a fantastic swimmer and maintained a very straight position in the pool indicating that his previous injury had no adverse effects on his way of going, and so he was able to develop his cardiovascular fitness without any detriment to his body.

By the end of Pirate’s stay his fitness had reached a level that he was completing 50 lengths of the pool. This incorporated straight warm up lengths, back to back lengths and sprint lengths. We also utilised the jets within the pool, to intensify the work-out by creating a current that the he had to swim against.

Pirate was also working on the aqua-treadmill with a roller and bungee for 45 minutes. This incorporated trotting for up to 12 minutes in shallower water and deep water walking for 10 minutes.

RESULTS:

Pirate’s recovery rate when swimming was exceptionally quick; quicker than most fit event horses that we train. This indicated that by the end of his stay he was definitely fit enough to go home and start some faster work over ground under saddle His recovery rate was also likely related to his relaxed demeanour and possibly also why he had previously been so successful as a racehorse. Pirate’s work on the aqua-treadmill kept him strong in his core and over his back. Have a look at these before and after pictures, we think he’s looking brilliant.

Pirate on the day of his arrival.

Pirate six weeks later.












Pirate was a lovely horse to have on the Therapy Yard.  He was a real pleasure to work with and to just have around.  We enjoyed taking care of him and are really looking forward to following his Hurdling career and wish him and his team every success.  Hopefully we will see him again one day!