Chiltern Vale Animal Physiotherapy

07/02/2026

📢⭐️Who fancies a little competition to win a free physio session for their horse? 📢⭐️

As most of you will know if I've ever treated your horse, I will pick up and discuss if your equine is carrying excess condition. Animals being a healthy body condition score is something I'm passionate about, because quite simply they are healthier animals when they are a healthy weight. Just like us, their body works better at a good healthy weight, with less strain on all of body, not least the musculoskeletal system. Those limbs don't want to be carrying an extra 40, 50, 60+ kilos all day long.

So let's see your fat to healthy comparison photos in the comments below, with a little info on how long it's taken to get from one to the other!

Photo comments to be posted by 7pm Sunday 15th Feb 2026

(Applicants to be stabled within 15 miles of Leighton Buzzard, or be willing to transport to an agreed base for wining treatment)

02/11/2025

Not all vets!! We have some fabulous vets around here that definitely prescribe movement, albeit, often controlled exercise, case dependant.

Movement is absolutely key to healing and strengthening, controlled movement helps to prevent overdevelopment of scar tissue.

If your vet has recommended long term box rest with no movement at all - ask why, ask if a small pen can be made in a safe outside area, ask the questions, more often than not, your vet won't mind healthy discussion 😉😀

28/08/2025

Be laminitis aware...

With the weather changing over the next week, we are expecting sudden changes in grass growth. This can easily tip horses and ponies into laminitis.

Here are some things to look out for:
🌿”Footy” on the hard ground
🌿Warm hoof capsules
🌿Increased digital pulses

Please do not hesitate to call the practice if your are seeing these signs and require assistance from the vets.

17/08/2025

Exactly this! Good nutrition AND appropriate exercise develops muscle!

13/07/2025

Very good points here..

‼️Be wary of false economies. Money may be saved in the short term but problems might occur further down the line at the expense of your pocket and your horse’s health.

🔨Regular hoof care is a cornerstone to a horse’s soundness, comfort and performance.

⚫️Reducing the frequency or delaying hoof care appointments can have several negative impacts on hoof health.

✅ better biomechanics
- hoof balance is a major factor in lameness and needs to be monitored as the hooves grow
- overgrown feet can cause extra strain on tendons and ligaments
- imbalances and abnormal loading cause stress on the joints
✅ protects sensitive internal structures
- regular maintenance keeps the protective outer layer of the hoof strong
✅ delayed treatment
- Many hoof related lameness and conditions develop gradually over time
- Early detection prevents problems advancing into more painful, challenging and expensive problems
✅ difficulty finding a farrier
- unpredictable clients are difficult to schedule
- farriers take pride in their work - battling problems caused by poor scheduling each appointment is demoralising.

2024 NEWC Cost of Living Survey found that 30% of respondents had already extended or were considering extending the time between farrier visits.

Some owners are able to remove hind or all shoes or consider removing shoes for certain periods of the year.

Talk to your farrier about any changes you're considering to your hoof care plan. They will be able to advise you what would be appropriate for your horse.

09/07/2025

You know you have the best clients when your 7pm visit arrives with cold drinks AND ice-creams!!
Sooo needed today 🙂

28/06/2025

Nice to see this pelvis levelling up!

❓️How was this pelvic assyemtry created? The horse prefers left flexion and can be slow off of the right leg. He'd been cheekily getting away with left flexion on the right rein with a less experienced rider, hence strengthening the left hind and unloading the right.

❓️ How have we improved this? Well really its all been simple but effective changes! We've increased turnout time, to encourage more movement. And his regular rider is back and is consistently working on straightness and suppleness, ensuring he uses his body correctly.

❓️How many times per week is he worked? 4-5 times per week, a mix of schooling, hacking, poles and jumping.

❓️How long between photos? Just under 4 weeks, there are still improvements to be made here, we'll reassess again in another 4 weeks.

✅️ Super owner making such a difference in such a short amount of time!

22/06/2025

Sadly I have lots of outstanding payments well over due.
Please could you check your payment has been sent!
! PLEASE!

03/06/2025

What a busy month May was!

It's looked like...

4 kissing spine rehabs cleared to return to normal ridden work, all after conservative treatment and extensive retraining to improve posture, super work by the owners on these 😀
(3 new kissing spine rehabs joined the patient list)

A long term rehabilitation from a traumatic hindlimb soft tissue injury looking really promising for a super special PSG dressage horse (this one nearly had the vet in tears, happy tears of course!)

A first jump for a smart show jumper after a complicated recovery from surgery and significant pneumonia.

As well as, rehabilitation post SDFT injury, check ligament injury, hock pain, SI pain, locking stifles, laminitis, TMJ restriction, mandible fracture recovery, and the usual brilliant clients having maintenance treatments to ensure their horses are fit and healthy.

No two days are ever the same! 😀

21/05/2025

** HIND TOE SQUARING **

Hind toe squaring is very often a SYMPTOM rather than a CAUSE and not something that in my opinion should ever be ignored, particularly if its assyemtric squaring, so one foot is rubbed more significantly than the other.

The squaring is caused by the limb flight being too low and so scuffing through the surface, wearing the toe.

The common answer - put hind shoes on 🙈 - if you're happy to hide the problem, go for it! ... Or, even better, find the cause of this SYMPTOM.

So what could be causing this?
Hock pain
Stifle pain
Suspensory pain
Sacroiliac problems
Unbalanced foot trimming/shoeing
Etc, etc.

This is something that your vet needs to be involved with, to ensure the underlying cause is found promptly for the best possible recovery.

Please point this out to your vet, and employ the best performance vet you can find if your primary vet doesn't take toe squaring seriously.

Let's get into the habit of recognising early symptoms for the sake of the horse.

13/05/2025

There are many years when the event horses have only just got started with avoiding wet and deep going, this year we're officially in a drought, and the ground is really hard!

I'm seeing lots that are already getting pretty jarred up. Sorry to sound like the fun police, but please try to stick to walk hacking only until we've had a good amount of rain. Keep your trot, canter and jumping to the arena and if you need some fast work we're spoiled for gallops to hire locally, I will tag a few in below.

Manor Farm Livery Marsworth
Edgcote Gallops
Glebe Gallops
Sharon Hunt Equestrian
Tring Gallops

13/05/2025

It's a busy time of year right now, with lots of treatments, it's always lovely to receive messages like this...