Equine Therapy Centre

Offering a superb learning and research environment, our Equine Therapy Centre allows students to gain real-world experience alongside or as part of their studies. It also provides the base for exciting research around the rehabilitation of horses at a range of levels, undertaken by students and staff at all levels, that's shaping equine therapy and rehabilitation across the globe.

The centre runs a ‘Demo Horse Scheme’, involving student and staff horses in research projects, in return for exercising them on either or both of our treadmills for free.

The Equine Therapy Centre offers treatment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal conditions using a combination of the most up-to-date facilities, physical therapy and techniques in veterinary medicine. Since 1999, the Centre has helped thousands of horses achieve their full potential whatever their role in life. Dressage world-record holder, Charlotte Dujardin’s wonder-horse, Valegro, even visits the centre several times a month!

The centre has extensive facilities which support the treatment of horses. These include:

• Sato high-speed and Aquafit water treadmills for valuable assessment and rehabilitation activities for horses of all levels
• Equigait inertial motion sensor system, enabling tacking of horse and rider in the field, and a Qualisys 3D motion capture camera system, enabling tracking of skin surface markers (essential for accurate equine biomechanics studies)
• Conformat saddle pressure mat for investigation of the horse-saddle interface – key to learning and research on saddle fitting
• Delsys Electromyography system with integrated inertial motion sensors for measurement and evaluation of muscle activity
• Veterinary facilities including an examination room where procedures such as nerve blocking, joint medication and radiography are carried out, and a 40mx4m trot up with 12m diameter trotting circle
• Separate treatment box where electrotherapy and Zamar treatment is undertaken
• Weighbridge, solarium, indoor and outdoor Andrews Bowen waxed arenas, off-road training track, Monarch horse walker and restricted turnout pens
• Night cameras to support 24-hour observation of behaviour - used to observe and evaluate sleep behaviour in the stabled horse