Equilibrium

Introduction In the demanding world of equestrian sports, optimising a horse's performance and welfare requires effective warm-up routines. Horses, like human athletes, can benefit from muscle preparation before intense activities. A key innovation in this domain is the Equilibrium Massage Pad Heatsense, a device designed to promote healthy muscles and relieve tension through both targeted heat and massage. A recent study explored the effects of the Equilibrium Massage Pad Heatsense on the shape and dimensions of horses’ backs. Using this device for a single session demonstrated measurable changes in back dimensions, suggesting that the combination of heat and massage could serve as a powerful tool to prepare muscles for performance, which when combined with an active warm-up can help reduce the risk of injury and optimise performance. This article delves into the study's methodology and findings. Methodology The study involved ten horses aged 10 – 14 years of mixed sex and in regular training. Each horse was subject to two days of data collection. On one day the horses’ back was measured before and after a 30-minute session of massage and heat from the Equilibrium Heatsense. On a separate day, back measurements were taken before and after a standardised lunge session so that the degree of change could be compared. Measuring the Back: Saddle fitters regularly measure and record the shape of the horses back at specific points along the spine so they can create a profile of the back. The same method was used in this study. A flexible curve ruler was shaped over the back and the profile transferred to graph paper for analysis. The Massage Session The Equilibrium Massage Pad Heatsense has 6 massage motors evenly spread throughout and is also capable of delivering targeted, therapeutic heat to the lumbosacral area (just behind where the saddle would sit). The massage session lasts for half an hour and within that time the pad delivers 15 minutes of consistent heat at 42 degrees Celsius. This is controlled by temperature sensors that continuously feed back to the control panel, switching the heat on and off, acting like a thermostat. For this study the massage was set to a medium intensity, and the heat function was activated. The Lunge Session To compare the effects of the Heatsense to the effects of an active warm up, the horses’ backs were also measured (on a separate day) before and after a standardised lunge session. The lunging session involved 10 minutes of walk and 7.5 minutes of trot, performed equally on each rein. Results The findings showed that the Equilibrium Massage Pad Heatsense produced statistically significant changes in the shape of the horses’ backs after a single use. The changes in shape are due to the muscles along the back increasing in size due to increased blood circulation and capillary recruitment. The average increase in muscle size was positive across all measurement points. Most horses showed a consistent increase in size, again, at all measurement points. The most prominent enlargement was seen at the “saddle tree point” position (this landmark is three inches from the caudal edge of the scapula and is where the points of the saddle tree align. This is where the saddle angle/ gullet is recorded), with an increase of 37.5 mm at a depth of 13 cm from the back's dorsal midline. These results were statistically significant, meaning they were unlikely to have occurred by chance. Although most measurement points showed an increase in size, some showed a decrease. Prior research suggests that these changes could be explained by the dissipation of fluid or the reduction of underlying muscle tension. The mean differences in dimensional change of the equine back at widths 6 cm, 10 cm and 13cm ventral to the dorsal midline pre and post- use of the Equilibrium Massage Pad Heat Sense © in ten horses. Measurements were taken at six predetermined anatomical landmarks that corresponded to significant muscle groups which were predicted to be influenced by the Equilibrium Massage Pad Heat Sense ©. Light orange columns represent the back dimensions measured at 6cm ventral to the dorsal midline. Darker orange columns represent back dimensions measured at 10 cm ventral to the dorsal midline. The darkest column represents the back dimensions measured at 13 cm ventral to the dorsal midline. Comparison of Massage Pad Heatsense to an active warm up There was no statistically significant correlation between the results from the Heatsense and the exercise session (lunging). This suggests that muscles more affected by exercise were not necessarily more influenced by the Heatsense, indicating that the exercise and Heatsense are yielding slightly differing responses for some areas along the back. Data within this research suggests that some muscular areas may be more effectively prepared by use of the Heatsense than the exercise session (lunging). More research is needed to better understand the relationship between the Heatsense and exercise effects, as well as to explore potential interactions between the two to optimise health and performance. Conclusion The study supports the therapeutic potential of the Equilibrium Massage Pad Heatsense. With proven effectiveness in expanding muscle dimensions, the device offers a non-invasive and safe way to prepare a horse’s back for training or competition. Its unique combination of carefully controlled heat and massage provides a comprehensive approach to muscle activation, enhancing blood flow, and supporting recovery. For equine athletes and leisure horses alike, the Massage Pad Heatsense represents a valuable addition to warm-up and care routines, helping maintain muscle health and potentially reduce the risk of injury. Will the pad affect saddle fit? No. The pad mimics natural back shape changes that occur during exercise. Saddles should be assessed dynamically to fit both the static and moving back shape. Is back shape change beneficial? Yes, it shows that muscles are engaged, supporting posture, balance, and overall health. Why did some muscles decrease in size? Fluid redistribution and muscle relaxation can temporarily reduce muscle size. Can it replace a warm-up? No, while the pad supports blood flow to the back area, a dynamic warm-up also prepares the rest of the body’s musculoskeletal and neuromuscular system, which is essential for safe exercise. How was the back measured? Back measurements were taken by an experienced saddle fitter in the same way that they would be for saddle fit. This is done using a flexible curve ruler which is placed across the back at various points along the back, located by bony landmarks. Thank you to Jasmine Gutsell from Ivy House Saddlery for conducting this research.

Riding out on horseback is a rewarding experience, but it comes with safety challenges, especially when sharing roads or bridleways with motorists and cyclists. High-visibility (hi-vis) gear is essential for ensuring you and your horse are seen in various conditions, reducing the risk of accidents. Here’s a detailed look at why hi-vis gear matters and how to incorporate it into your rides. Why High-Visibility Gear Is Essential Enhances Safety on Roads When riding near traffic, hi-vis ensures you are visible to drivers from a greater distance, giving them more time to slow down and pass safely. Bright colours and reflective strips are particularly effective in low-light conditions, such as early mornings, evenings, or cloudy weather. Improves Visibility on Offroad Hacks In wooded or rural areas, hi-vis gear makes it easier for others, including cyclists, walkers, and fellow riders, to spot you. This can prevent startling encounters that might upset your horse. Prepares for Emergencies If you and your horse become separated, hi-vis gear increases the likelihood of being spotted quickly, whether by search teams or passers by. Types of High-Visibility Gear For the Rider Hi-Vis Jackets or Vests: Lightweight and comfortable, these are a must-have for any ride. Helmet Covers: Bright, reflective covers ensure visibility from above. Leg Bands or Armbands: These add extra visibility without adding bulk. For the Horse Reflective Saddle Pads: A practical choice for daytime and night-time visibility. Leg Wraps or Boots: These provide added safety and can double as protective gear. Boots such as the Tri-Zone Brushing Boot are super lightweight and breathable, but add great visibility with the bright colours and reflective strips that will catch attention as your horse moves.  Exercise Sheets: These brightly coloured sheets often come with reflective strips for maximum visibility. When to Use Hi-Vis Gear Low-Light Conditions: Dawn, dusk, and overcast weather demand hi-vis clothing. All Road Riding: Always assume drivers might not expect to see horses and act accordingly. Winter Months: Shorter days mean less natural light, making hi-vis gear indispensable. Tips for Using Hi-Vis Gear Effectively Layer Reflective and Bright Colours: Combining neon colours with reflective strips enhances visibility in all lighting conditions. Inspect Gear Regularly: Check for wear and replace as needed. Involve the Whole Group: If riding with others, ensure everyone, including their horses, is outfitted in hi-vis gear. A Simple Step for Safer Riding Hi-vis gear is an affordable and effective way to ensure the safety of both horse and rider. By making yourself visible to drivers, cyclists, and fellow riders, you minimise risks and can enjoy your ride with peace of mind. Stay safe, stay seen, and make hi-vis gear a standard part of your riding routine.

Horses are natural grazers. In the wild, they spend the majority of their day slowly consuming forage as they roam across large areas. In this article, we will explore why slowing down a horse’s eating is so important, and we will look at practical methods to help manage greedy eaters.

Stretch & Flex Wraps are made from Stomatex® Originally developed for human athletes, Stomatex® was designed to provide four way stretch, to enable use around mobile joints, plus excellent support for active limbs, and an outstanding ability to keep the skin dry. Stomatex® is a revolutionary material, used across a wide range of products throughout the world including the sport and leisure industry, transport and healthcare to name but a few. It is used in the manufacture of heat acclimatisation suits, padding for wheelchairs, special wetsuits and sports injury support bandages. Stomatex® is an unusual looking, spotty material. It is a high performance fabric made from lightweight, ultra-thin, non porous polyester membrane that has multiple innovative uses. This unique material demonstrates superior tensile strength and elasticity, whilst offering significant advantages over various plastic foam materials. These factors make Stomatex® ideal for close contour applications where body movement must remain unhindered. Stomatex® works by replicating the way in which the stomata of a plant breaths and removes excess water through transpiration. How does Stomatex work? Trapped vapour molecules are efficiently removed from beneath the fabric by the flexing action of minute dome shaped chambers, each with a tiny pore in the centre. Reflecting the rate of physical activity, the chambers create a self-contained micro climate, allowing cooler, drier air to pass through at a controlled rate. This keeps the skin free from perspiration and maintains an ideal skin temperature over an extended period of time. By imitating this process Stomatex® is able to overcome the problems of perspiration and over-heating traditionally associated with the use of closed cell foam materials. It can therefore ensure that body heat, blood flow and compression remain consistent during a wide range of activities. Stomatex® provides a unique four way stretch to enable use around mobile joints such as that  in the lower limb of the horse and an outstanding ability to keep skin dry preventing damage  from perspiration. The harder the horse works, the more Stomatex® works meaning that more heat will be dispelled from the wrap keeping the leg at a comfortable temperature level.

Often one of the first questions we get regarding the range of feeds and supplements we market at Equilibrium Products is “what is the sugar content?” High sugar diets have been increasingly implicated in conditions such as laminitis. Horses are well adapted to digesting sugar and starch in their diets, a capability that has evolved over millennia adapted to the life of a browsing herbivore – essentially trickle feeding of a high fibre based diet. Sugar, a NSC (non-structural carbohydrate along with starch) is an unavoidable part of the horse’s diet alongside the proteins, fibres and oils, vitamins and minerals consumed daily. Sugar is readily found in grass, especially fast growing spring grass, hay/haylage and compound feeds. It’s also an essential nutrient – glucose is the main energy source of the brain, but glucose in the body is sourced not only from eating and digesting sugar, but also converted from the end products of the digestion of fibre. Its likely true that what has changed in recent times is the quantity of sugar a horse consumes not only in one day, but in individual meals. The issue appears to be that in certain breeds at least, higher intakes of sugar, especially when fed in rapidly consumed single meals are in some way affecting the way the horse’s body utilises the absorbed sugars. This “disregulation” of normal metabolic processes is thought to lie behind the incidence of diseases, such as laminitis. The disregulation can be attenuated by controlling starch and sugar intakes, and increasing exercise levels. Sugar and laminitis Dietary management of horses highly susceptible to these conditions means not only maximising fibre and really limiting starch and sugar intakes – by soaking hay and haylage to reduce forage sugar content and selecting high fibre low starch feeds, also ensuring meal sizes are small and preferably little and often. This may make you think that turnout is the ideal situation but in spring, grass grows fast and is nutritionally rich, especially in sugar.   For animals prone to weight gain and or laminitis, this is not an option. For animals prone to these conditions, spring and early summer can mean a very restricted and basic diet– usually involving the horse or pony spending a lot of time indoors without much to eat. Against the evolutionary need to trickle feed, this is not necessarily welfare friendly – behavioural problems linked with boredom could occur and gastric health will be challenged. Restricting grazing to a few hours per day is common but research has shown that, ponies especially, can eat as much in 3 hours as they can in a day when access to grazing is limited. The key in these situations is to extend the eating time of the low calorie low sugar diet as much as possible. Try using small holed hay nets to extend eating time, or give a low sugar, quality fibre block to keep him occupied for longer. Hay and haylage can contain up to 15% sugar, which can be reduced by up to half by soaking the forage for 12-16 hours. It’s easy to choose a compound feed with a low NSC content, as most manufacturers list the starch and sugar contents; chops and chaffs can also be used to slow up consumption of a small hard feed. Sugar and treats Its natural to want to be able to treat or supplement your horse and pony, and whilst in reality they are only fed in a few grammes per day, some treats and supplements can be high in sugar and starch, particularly if they include molasses or cereals – which might not be suitable for the diet your excitable, overweight or laminitic-prone horse or pony. As with humans there are now just as tasty, healthier, low sugar products available to make treating, rewarding or supplementing your horse a low sugar event – all part of the management of the at risk horse or pony.

We’ve added two bridle designs to our Net Relief range. The Muzzle Net for Anatomical Bridles and Muzzle Net for Grackle Bridles are available alongside the original Muzzle Net for Cavesson.  Headshaking can be one of the most distressing conditions a horse owner might have to deal with and ‘Net Relief’ is one of the most effective products in controlling the symptoms of head shaking. Research by De Montfort University found that nose nets offered relief for 79% of horses and that they are the most effective treatment found for sufferers. The Net Relief Muzzle Net is a contoured mesh that fits closely over the upper muzzle, allowing no restriction on the bit or the horse’s breathing and attaches easily to the horse’s noseband. Totally unobtrusive and permitted by British Dressage and British Eventing for use in competition (see rule applying to the use of nose nets for each organisation) “Would like to say thank you for having such an amazing product as your Muzzle Net. My boy was practically un-rideable during the summer months. I’ve used other nets and saw no difference, but then purchased your nets and it’s amazing the difference – NO headshaking, NO snorting and NO more being uncomfortable at all – it is amazing the difference! Thank you so much!” “My horse developed headshaking this year. It was a very severe head shake which results in bolting, throwing himself into the hedge and shaking up and down and side to side. He was virtually unrideable until I was advised by a friend to try your net for muzzles. He was not cured but it enabled him to put up with it enough to still be ridden and also compete. We have won a lot of different disciplines this year including show jumping at agricultural level, unaffiliated dressage and qualifying for the NPS working hunter novice finals. Without your product none of this would have been possible. We have just been to our south western welsh pony and cob performance awards where he won the ridden section c trophy and came 3rd overall!!! He was 2nd working hunter, 3rd dressage, 6th show jumping and 6th showing! Judges have been very good and not marked down for the net but just asked. I think his shaking has something to do with tree pollen as for a few late summer months he was fine. Thank you ever so much for such a fab product and I am glad even BD accept it now.” “During the Summer months, my horse suffers from a Pollen allergy which causes him to headshake and generally get very irritated and itchy around his nose area – that is until I tried Equilibrium Nose nets. They are fantastic and his head shaking has stopped completely and he is a lot more relaxed and happy. For the last three summers he has worn a no sent from April – October to help to relieve the hay fever like symptoms which he seems to suffer from. I now wouldn’t be without one during the summer – they are fantastic, especially as you can cut them down to get the perfect size to fit the individual horse.”