Here is a practical handbook to provide horse owners with the confidence to take an active role in keeping their animals sound and healthy.

Discover why you have pain and tension, learn how they affect your horse and riding, and master techniques for treating and preventing pain and injury in the future. Pain-Free Horse Riding is the first book to combine exercises for horseback riders to increase strength and flexibility and improve riding and address the pain they suffer from and how to relieve it. Horse rider and Myofascial Release therapist Nikki Robinson offers realistic ways to improve common conditions--back and neck pain, tendonitis, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, joint pain and stiffness, and repetitive strain injury--without giving up the activity you love. The book provides an introduction to fascia, covers how your body reacts to injury, and addresses common symptoms such as pain, tension, and inflammation. A key chapter focuses specifically on riding posture--the position of your head, shoulders, back, buttocks, and legs--including exercises to solve your riding problems with myofascial techniques. Also included are personal stories from riders who have had success with these methods. The format of the book allows readers to start at the beginning and read all the way through or to go straight to the sections that address their particular condition. There are cross-references throughout to direct readers where to find additional information if they are interested.

Concise Guide to Tendon & Ligament Injuries in the Horse is part of a series of books that provides in-depth information about a variety of health-related subjects of interest to owners and riders. This book describes the most common tendon and ligament injuries that affect all sport horses. It explains how to recognize an injured tendon or ligament in a horse, and it evaluates a range of possible treatments and their effectiveness and limitations. With this information, owners can better understand what it will take to make their horses sound again. Also in this Series Concise Guide to: Medications and Supplements for the Horse Colic in the Horse Navicular Syndrome in the Horse The Howell Equestrian Library

This no-nonsense guide shows you how an understanding of anatomy and biomechanics, coupled with the latest strengthening exercises and rehab protocols, can keep you running injury-free for a long time to come. Each time your foot hits the ground while running, an impact force averaging three times your weight travels through your body at more than 200 miles per hour, causing your bones to vibrate and tendons to stretch. When you consider that the average runner strikes the ground more than 10,000 times per hour, this translates into a remarkable amount of force that needs to be absorbed, and explains why nearly 50% of recreational runners are injured each year. The purpose of this book is to show you that impact forces are not necessarily harmful. By modifying your running form and doing specific exercises to improve tendon resiliency, not only can you effectively absorb these forces, but you can also store and return a significant percentage of them in the form of elastic recoil. Besides reducing your risk of injury, efficiently storing and returning energy can allow you to run faster with less effort. With more than 200 illustrations and 300 references, this book reviews how to: Perform an at-home gait analysis to make specific changes in your running form that can reduce impact forces and improve performance. Decrease your risk of injury by identifying problems with strength, flexibility, and/or neuromotor coordination using specific functional tests. Incorporate new exercises to enhance the storage and return of energy in your tendons. Select the running shoe that is right for you. Treat 25 of the most common running-related injuries with the most up-to-date, scientifically justified treatment protocols available.

Over 90 percent of the US population seeks help for back pain at one point or another during the course of their life. If you're a horseperson, back pain is of particular concern as it not only robs you of the joys of riding—it threatens your livelihood, as well. From grooming and tacking up, to performing a flawless reining pattern or jumping a clean round, to stacking hay bales or pushing a wheelbarrow, everything we do on and around horses demands a supple, strong, healthy back. Now, in his unique, easygoing style, Dr. Jim Warson—a neurosurgeon who also happens to be a lifelong horseman—provides all the practical information you need to understand the diagnosis and treatment of back pain—whether caused by equestrian pursuits, outside activities, illness, or heredity. More importantly, he shows readers how to prevent back problems before they have a chance to unseat you. This book includes: • "Normal" back biology and function • Congenital conditions, trauma, arthritis, and infection • Understanding symptoms and pinpointing problem areas • Tack's impact on the physics of riding • How your horse's conformation can affect your body • Traditional and alternative treatments and therapies • Techniques for saddling and mounting without stress • Recommendations for pregnant riders. In addition, Dr. Warson provides a section specifically geared toward improving rider flexibility and strength. You'll find step-by-step instructions and photo series for 10 stretches and 8 exercises for a healthy, stress-free back, allowing you to not only enjoy your riding but all your day-to-day activities, whatever they may be.

A highly illustrated guide to simple yet effective methods for keeping horses sound, healthy, and performing their best. Over time, horses (like people) acquire postural habits, compensate for soreness and injury, and develop poor movement patterns. This limits performance ability, causes unsoundness and health issues, and ultimately undermines the horse's overall well–being. Jec Aristotle Ballou has made a name for herself advocating for the horse and providing sensible instruction in his schooling, conditioning, and care. Her bestselling books and popular clinics are designed to enable any horse person to correctly apply proven principles that bring measurable progress while avoiding boredom and confusion. In her latest collection of mounted and unmounted corrective exercises, Ballou demonstrates how we can actively work to improve the horse's posture and movement, whether he is: An active performance or pleasure mount. An aging or older horse that benefits from gentle exercise. A horse being rehabilitated following injury, illness, or lack of conditioning. Ballou's positive cross–training techniques are free of shortcuts, and her guidelines for analyzing the horse's posture and way of going help readers gain a new awareness of the equine body. Applicable for all disciplines and full of quality color photographs to explain the exercises, this is an integral collection that optimizes how the horse uses his body and helps ensure he stays sounder and healthier for more years of his life.

When your horse suddenly develops a performance problem or a bad attitude and neither seem to be remedied by new training techniques or medical care, you often face months—even years—of frustration and career limitation. Dr. Joyce Harman, veterinarian and respected saddle-fitting expert, states that 75 percent of horses with such issues are simply reacting to pain caused by ill-fitting saddles. And, as she explains in this thorough and highly illustrated book, poor saddle fit can be corrected with patience and know-how.