The Benefits of Hydrotherapy for Horses

If you’ve ever had the chance to take your horse swimming, you probably did so for fun. But did you know that swimming can physically help your horse? Hydrotherapy for horses has many benefits, and it can help with everything from injury recovery to conditioning a horse for a competition.

What Is Horse Hydrotherapy?

Equine hydrotherapy uses water as a tool that can help address several health issues. Dr. Chyrle Bonk, DVM, says that hydrotherapy can help horses recover from injuries and improve their physical conditioning.

“Water provides resistance to help build muscle and increase flexibility, while also providing buoyancy to relieve pressure on joints and injuries,” she explains. “It can also be very calming for horses that are used to it.”

Horse owners can choose from several types of hydrotherapy:

• Cold hosing, or continuously passing cold water over the body

• Saltwater spas, in which a horse stands in a spa of cold saltwater

• Underwater treadmills, in which a horse walks through water

• Swimming, whether in an equine swimming pool or natural body of water

“Hydrotherapy is becoming more and more popular as people start to understand its benefits and uses in the horse world,” says Bonk. “It’s especially popular for sport horses because it can not only help them get them into proper condition for their competitions, but is also a great recovery tool for injuries or surgeries that often come with horses that are competing.”

What Are the Benefits of Hydrotherapy for Horses?

During equine hydrotherapy, the water provides buoyancy to help relieve joint pain and support injury healing, particularly for soft tissue injuries like tendon and ligament tears, or after joint surgeries. “It can also provide a massaging factor to help increase blood flow to affected areas,” Bonk says. “Water provides resistance in order to provide a more thorough and targeted workout for muscle groups, as well.” This can help muscle growth, lung capacity, and endurance.

Kimberly Apgar, LVT, VTS (ECC), CHPT, ISA, of SUNY Morrisville Equine Rehabilitation Center, notes that hydrotherapy has many physical impacts on horses, so it’s important to choose the modality that’s right for each horse and their limitations.

Certain conditions require different types of healing and strengthening. For example, swimming is great for cardiovascular and respiratory training, but it puts strain on the upper limbs, neck and back. Underwater treadmills are typically implemented during certain periods of recovery after a soft tissue injury, as recommended by your veterinarian, but they can also be used appropriately for maintenance training and conditioning.

How Is Horse Hydrotherapy Performed?

Apgar explains that at the SUNY Morrisville Equine Rehabilitation Center—which offers cold saltwater spa, swimming, and underwater treadmill therapy—horse owners need to do minimal prep work. “Our first step in doing any hydrotherapy is acclimating the horse to the equipment,” she says.

Once the horse is comfortable with the equipment, a workout plan is created and implemented. Apgar notes that all aspects of the plan are explained to the owner so they’re aware of what to expect.

If transporting a horse to a rehabilitation facility isn’t possible, a vet might recommend horse owners perform cold hosing at home; this is particularly helpful for large wound healing. Whether you’re considering finding a horse hydrotherapy facility or doing your own hydrotherapy at home, talk with your vet about the best treatment program for your horse.

Swimming

“Swimming is an excellent cardiovascular workout and aerobic exercise, so it makes a great conditioning tool,” Apgar explains. “It also provides exercise with no concussion [(force)] on the limbs, so it can enable animals with lower limb injuries to maintain work.”

While swimming can be beneficial for many horses, they must hold their heads up out of the water to swim. As a result, they must invert their backs, which can strain muscles. The movements required to swim can also strain stifles, so swimming isn’t recommended for horses with back, neck, or upper leg injuries.

Underwater Treadmill

An underwater treadmill provides a workout with resistance, and the water’s buoyancy can decrease the strain on a horse’s limbs. However, an underwater treadmill “does not necessarily provide the cardiovascular workout that swimming does, and studies show that heart rate and respiratory rate don’t increase as they do with swimming,” says Apgar. This may mean the treadmill may not be the correct form of hydrotherapy if lung capacity and endurance are the goals for training.

Cold Hosing or Saltwater Spa

Some injuries, such as acute soft tissue injuries, can benefit from cold therapy, which neither swimming nor an underwater treadmill provide. In these cases, cold hosing or a saltwater spa may be best, similar to icing any swelling or bruising in humans. For wounds, cold hosing helps with inflammation, and encourages healing factors from the blood system to gather in the area and promote granulation tissue growth.

“If you are looking for strictly cold therapy, spas are more beneficial, in my opinion,” Apgar says. “But cold hosing is a good option if you are looking for a more focused treatment or there are other reasons why a spa treatment would not be appropriate,” For example, if a horse has a skin issue that would be irritated by the salt, cold hosing would be a better choice.

How Much Does Horse Hydrotherapy Cost?

The cost of hydrotherapy for horses varies significantly and partially depends on the program that’s appropriate for each horse. “Depending on the facility, horses might be able to truck in or be boarded for a period of time,” Apgar says, which will also impact costs. The goal for the horse’s treatments and overall conditioning will determine whether they will need to stay at the facility.

The type of therapy used and the horse’s injury or condition affect the treatment’s duration. It takes time before a horse owner will see a difference in their horse after a treadmill or swimming session. Some effects of cold hosing or saltwater therapy may be more evident right after treatment but they may be short-lived, so multiple sessions may be required. The more chronic or severe a condition, the longer it may take to see the full benefits of hydrotherapy.

Keep in mind that a horse may benefit from pairing hydrotherapy with other therapies, and your veterinarian might recommend that you explore several therapy types depending on the condition being addressed. According to Apgar, pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy, laser treatments, and vibration plate therapy may also complement a rehabilitation and conditioning program that includes hydrotherapy, as well as:

• Injections

• Regenerative therapies

• Acupuncture

• Surgery

• Shockwave therapy

• Medications