Cryotherapy for Horses

Holistic Care for Animals by Taranet

Why Your Horse Will Love Cryotherapy Benefits



Horse in cold

What is Cryotherapy & How Can It Help My Horse?



Cryotherapy is also known as cold therapy.  There are various methods of this complementary therapy. Most commonly used to help horse health. These include:

• Ice boots
• Equine spa
• Icing and bandaging the legs
• Using a bucket of cold water for the horse to have one of his/her legs standing in it

Cryotherapy basically involves using the very cold for short periods of time. It's very important to only use cold therapy for short amounts of time. As although it can be extremely helpful. Too much cold can have a negative effect. Your Veterinary Surgeon will be able to advise on what you should use and how long for.
 

How can Cryotherapy help my horse?



Cryotherapy has been used for years to help professional human athletes. For instance the use of ice packs is very common to help with sports injuries. 

It's believed to have:
  • anti-inflammatory
  • pain relieving effects
  • hypometabolism effects. (This effectively means slowing the body's processes down. Why is this helpful? Well it reduce demands on injured tissues).

Cryotherapy is used to help horses with:
  • lameness
  • laminitis
  • dermatological issues, such as horses with sarcoids.

There is also another linked technique called "cryosurgery" which is used by many Veterinary Surgeons. But this is different. So should not be confused as being the same!
 
Reminder
If your animal has an injury or is suffering other ill-health. Always to speak to your Veterinary Surgeon first before using any complementary therapy, including Cryotherapy.
 
Cryotherapy Research
Equine laminitis: cryotherapy reduces the severity of the acute lesion; A.W. Van Eps and C.C. Pollitt; Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit, University of Queensland; 2004

About The Author
This article has been extensively researched and written by Suzanne Harris. Who is also the designer and developer of this site. A lifelong animal lover with a passion for ensuring animals can access complementary therapies for their health and wellbeing.

You can get more information on many complementary therapies for animals here at Taranet. Take a look at the sitemap here for a list.