Kylie Roberts Health & Wellbeing For Animals

24/07/2025

This article is a overview of recent research into nose band tightness.
3 of the findings were
- Noseband pressures increased by 338% when tightened from 2 fingers to no fingers under the noseband.

- Stride length decreased significantly as pressure increased,
with a mean reduction of 24cm between the loosest (2F) and tightest (0F) settings.

- The study showed a clear negative correlation between sub-noseband pressure and stride length (rs(22) = -0.592, P = 0.004), (i.e. as pressure increases, stride length decreases) suggesting performance is directly impacted.

In this study the ISES Taper gauge was used.
Please note, the FEI approved noseband tightness measuring tool is thinner, allowing tighter nosebands to be "legally" ok to compete with. It may be legal but I am not sure it is right for the horse.

Follow the links in this article for the research paper in Science Direct

https://askanimalweb.com/new-study-links-tight-nosebands-to-reduced-stride-length-and-potential-facial-damage-in-horses-3/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0737080625003120?via%3Dihub

10/04/2025

pet shops one dot com generates their content by data harvesting.
I do not and will not advertise with them or promote the use of their (cough cough) service

Send a message to learn more

31/01/2025

Why do gadgets like this get to market? Because it's easier to use a gadget than look at our riding style or training techniques and fix ourselves
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14ma2StEfJ/

27/01/2025

A quick summary of gadgets for " putting a horse in a frame" or for "headset".
Shelby has more info on her page. There are others who have done more work into why these gadgets do more damage than good, like Becks Nairn
https://www.facebook.com/milestoneequestrian96/videos/2625154957668270/

21/01/2025

I have not been posting or sharing much on this page for a while now.
With the changes to Meta's attitude to fact checking, women, etc and Zuck sucking up to the orange felon, I will be closing this page.
While my business is small, I do not feel farcebook and messenger are appropriate products to be using.

I am trying to find more appropriate platforms. As i do, i will share their links.

13/11/2024

Looking for something for yourself or a present? Horsebooks.com.au have a great range of books and dvds, including many of the Trafalgar Books range.
They are based in Melbourne.

https://www.horsebooks.com.au/

Horse books has a large range of horse training books, horse riding books and all things equestrian in it's online horse book store.

31/10/2024

This is an informative interview with Dr Ben Mason regarding the spring carnival international horses. He explains MRI and CT; how they are done, what information is generated.

Jan Brueghel has been assessed as unsuitable to race after the compulsory CT scan. Jan Brueghel is listed as a 4yo. His birthdate is 7th May 2021. He's nearly 3.5 years old. He is still growing and needs managing to minimise the chance of breaking down. Well done to the stewards and the vet panel for putting Jan Brueghel ahead of money, and Aidan's ego

Leading equine vet explains the Jan Brueghel scanning procedure By RSN Wednesday 30 October 2024, 10:17AM Jan Brueghel at Werribee. Crown Equine vet, Ben Mason, joined Michael Felgate to provide a detailed explanation about the scanning procedure that Jan Brueghel underwent, which ultimately led to....

20/10/2024

The ISES Taper Guage or the new "ubeaut" FEI version for measuring noseband tightness. Check out Equitopia for more info.
BTW the FEI is allowing over tight nosebands. Congrats to the top horse organisation to continue to encourage negative horse welfare

FEI taper gauge giveshorses 24% less space than "two adult fingers" and 23.2% smaller than the ISES gauge at the 2 finger mark.

The research: Two adult fingers (mean) as per McGreevy et al (2012): 3.87 x 1.59 = 6.1533cm2

The ISES taper gauge at “two fingers”: 3.8 x 1.6 = 6.08 cm2

The FEI Device is a trapezoid (2.5 at the top, 3 base) and 1.7 high = 4.67 cm2

FEI taper gauge offers horses:

24% less space than two fingers

23% less space than the ISES taper gauge

"The FEI Measuring Device will be rolled out gradually at FEI events in the first quarter of 2025"

From Cristina Wilkins

💔Wrong Side of History 💔

Err on the side of the HORSE 🐴

20/10/2024

Equitana is coming up soon.
Beware of gadgets being marketed as equine or welfare friendly. This mouth guard is not.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Pu5eUzEZwfJuKcsC/

03/09/2024

I do not advertise on "pet care" business listing pages eg pet shops one dot com.

Send a message to learn more

26/07/2024

As we were coming out of Covid restrictions in 2022, Sue Dyson and her team released a film; 24 Behaviours of the Ridden Horse in Pain.
There was a good amount of coverage for this project at the time.
The message needs re-visiting.
The webpage, https://www.24horsebehaviors.org/ , has the film (free to watch) plus the posters and other resources.

Do yourself and your horse a favour. Watch it, learn it and apply it.

“The question we asked was: can we determine, by looking at facial expressions and other behaviors, whether the horse has musculoskeletal pain?”– Dr. Sue Dyson The 24 Behaviors of the Ridden Horse in Pain: Shifting the Paradigm of How We See Lameness. The 24 Behaviors of the Ridden Horse in Pa...