Jess Winrow Equine Physio

11/12/2025

Did you know that horses don’t have a collarbone? 🤷‍♀️

Hear me out when I tell you that it’s actually super interesting. Instead of a collarbone, the only thing attaching a horses front legs to its body is a group of muscles, tendons, and ligaments called the ✨thoracic sling✨ .

The thoracic sling provides shock absorption, stabilisation and allows the horse a greater range of motion in the shoulder with no bony restriction. However, the thoracic sling providing all this support means that if not looked after, it can become tight and quite stuck. This provides less support for the forelimbs, can shorten stride length, and cause strain on other areas of the body.

Some great ways to maintain the health of your horses’ thoracic sling at home include pole work, backing up, and stretches. Regular physiotherapy treatment is ideal, and post treatment I am able to provide a tailored exercise plan to target your horses specific needs. 👏

If you think your horse might benefit from physiotherapy treatment and a tailored exercise plan please get in touch to find out more. 👋

📸 Rachel Collins Photography

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02/12/2025

🔦Muscle Spotlight 👉 Hamstrings 🦵

These are the group of muscles that help with forward propulsion and support lateral hindlimb movements. So when these get tight and inflexible, stride length may become shorter, collected and lateral work may become more difficult, and your horse might show reluctance towards jumps.

Therefore to keep your horse feeling and performing their best, it’s a good idea to maintain the flexibility and health of their hamstrings. A proper warmup is the first thing I would recommend to make sure muscles are ready for exercise and less susceptible to injury. This can include things like stretching and massage, alongside aspects before work including enough time in walk and trot before progressing onto any more demanding skills.

Get in touch if you think your horse might need a helping hand staying flexible and at their best👋

📸 Rachel Collins Photography

21/11/2025

What does being RAMP accredited mean? 🤷‍♀️

All RAMP accredited professionals are held to equivalent high standards when compared to human physiotherapy. Meaning that when choosing a vet physio, you can be confident that your animal is receiving the same high level of care that you would expect for yourself. 💆‍♀️

After spending 4 years at Harper Adams University and graduating with a Degree in Veterinary Physiotherapy, I am proud to maintain the high standards of practice required to enter the Register of Animal Musculoskeletal Practitioners (RAMP). 👏

If you've got any questions please feel free to get in touch 👋

📸Rachel Collins Photography

15/11/2025

🏆Toolkit favourites 🥇

🙈🙊🙉Although my senses don't live in my physical toolkit, they are definitely the first things that I use when starting a treatment session. From watching and listening to a horse move, speaking to owners, and feeling what my hands tell me. Without them I wouldn't know where to start, literally!

🙌 Moving onto my hands, which are an irreplaceable part of my toolkit, allowing me to listen and adapt treatment to each horse whilst applying manual therapies.

🔧Next on the list is my fascial edge tool, which since being added has really levelled up my treatment options. It allows me to apply deeper techniques whilst saving my fingers too.

🧳My toolkit is always growing and changing. As a RAMP accredited physiotherapist I am required to complete a certain amount of CPD every year. CPD technically stands for Continuing Professional Development, meaning that I am always learning and adding more treatment options to my kit!

Get in touch to find out more as my toolkit grows. 😊

📸 Rachel Collins Photography

13/11/2025

Why massage is always first out of my toolkit 🙌

Post initial assessment, massage is the perfect way to investigate what I found and begin to fix it.

Massage is extremely versatile from reducing strain in hard working muscles, stimulating those muscles that might not be working so hard, or providing some much needed relief for those who have worked hard in the past. 🫶

Each horse’s treatment needs are different, and massage allows instant feedback to make sure I’m getting the best results. Get in touch if you are wanting to book a treatment for your horse and see the benefits of massage first hand. 🤲

📸 Rachel Collins Photography

13/11/2025

Always great working with Rachel Collins Photography 🙌

07/11/2025

As part of a treatment plan, after a session I might leave you and your horse with some exercises to complete in between sessions.

I tailor home exercise plans to target things like flexibility, joint range of motion, and muscle use 💪.

If you think your horse might benefit from physiotherapy treatment or a home exercise plan, send a message and find out more 🤝

📸 Rachel Collins Photography

05/11/2025

04/11/2025

Building trust with a horse is essential, as we can’t have a conversation before I start treating. Making it super important to pay attention to the horses behaviour so I don’t miss anything they're trying to tell me.

If you think your horse might need a little TLC, or a helping hand to feel their best. Get in touch and find out more.

📸Rachel Collins Photography

27/10/2025

What to do after a session 🤷‍♀️🐎

I will always tell you if there is something specific that needs to be done after a session, such as rest or in some cases work.

A general rule is to turn them out, this allows the horse to keep their muscles moving. This is important, as massage and other therapies increases blood flow to the area we are working on to stimulate repair, so when the waste from the muscles is released during treatment, keeping the blood and lymph flowing afterwards flushes the waste through the relevant organs.

As well as waste removal, on a recent course about interoception, we were introduced to the idea of pandiculations. These include things like the stretch as you get out of bed first thing in the morning that feels so perfect and just takes your body into the position it wants to be. So post treatment, I think its very important to allow horses to fulfil what their body is craving, to process the treatment in a positive way.🤸‍♀️

I will normally let you know what’s best to do for your horse after treatment, but if you have any questions then please ask. 👏

📸 Rachel Collins Photography

25/10/2025

✨Golden Oldies 👩‍🦳

Whether they are enjoying their retirement or just winding down the workload, physio treatment can keep older horses feeling their best. 🫶

From horses that took great care with their passengers or gave it their all to work up the levels, to the ones that were there when we needed a shoulder to cry on. The creaks and cracks that come with age and experience are where physio is able to help. By maintaining mobility and muscle health, regular treatment can allow our oldies to stay comfortable for longer. 👏

To find out more about how physio can help your older horse, get in touch and find out more. 👋

📸 Rachel Collins Photography

23/10/2025

🥱Why your horse might need a snooze after treatment 💤

I’ve spoken before about the importance of a horse being relaxed during a treatment, and as treatment progresses often horses really enjoy that zen feeling. This feeling stems from multiple different things going on within the body, as manual therapy can activate the parasympathetic nervous system and endorphin release.

The parasympathetic nervous system shifts the horses body goals from work, to lowering the heart rate, slowing breathing, reducing blood pressure, which really leans into the horse becoming relaxed and snoozy. Endorphins are “happy hormones” that can have all sorts of effects such as stress reduction and natural pain relief. 🧘‍♂️

Being subdued after treatment also suggests they are having a think about the contents of a session. As sessions can be more mentally demanding for some horses, giving them a little time for their brain to process what has changed and sink into the relief of tension being released. 😴

If you think your horse might need a little more zen, get in touch to find out more. 👋

📸 Rachel Collins Photography