Exciting equestrian innovations

A year ago a gelding was kicked and sustained a fractured splint bone. He was very sore, the wound was cleaned, explored and bandaged, and antibiotics given.

The end of the bone needed to be removed. He underwent a general anaesthetic at Fairmoor Equine Clinic and the bone was removed, avoiding the large arteries and nerves. The owners were keen to minimise any scarring. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy was used postoperatively to reduce any bony swelling ‘splints’.

Our congratulations on winning The Championship at Glendale Show.

This summer we took delivery of new equipment. The Equinosis Q lameness locator system uses inertia sensors on the head, pelvis and forelimb of the horse. They detect asymmetry in movement, which is the most accurate measurement of lameness.

Data is wirelessly transmitted to a computer, giving the results instantly following trotting up, lunging or ridden work. The system is particularly useful in cases of mild hind limb lameness, poor performance and horses with multiple limb lameness.

It records the data, allowing comparisons to be made following diagnostic nerve blocks or treatments, either soon afterwards or several months later.

Our Annual Winter Client Evening is on Thursday, November 15, at Alnwick Ford Equestrian Centre. Guest speaker will be Christopher Bartle, high performance coach of the British Eventing team.

Christopher has represented Great Britain internationally in dressage and three day eventing, competed at World and Olympic level, and in 1998 won Badminton Horse Trials.

He trained the German Olympic three day event team for 16 years, which won Gold at the Beijing and London Olympics, and several European and World titles. Since 2016 Christopher has trained the British senior eventing team, winning the 2017 European championships.

He teaches all levels at the Yorkshire Riding Centre.

The evening will consist of a ridden masterclass, followed by a talk. Christopher is also bringing Rock on Ruby, which he has designed to teach how to ride different types of cross-country fence. There will be a buffet and Christmas gift stalls.

To book a place, contact Fairmoor Equine Clinic on 01670 897597.