ENGLISH TEXTS after spending one or more months in a stall, it allows the horse to get back to work more gently, and the cold helps tighten tissues. For competition horses, the pool improves cardio and lung function, while the water walker strengthens muscles. When a horse races several times a month, the joints take a beating, this helps loosen them up.” At every stage of a race or competition horse’ s life, water offers significant benefits. The Haras de Sassy is also a breeding station for some of Europe’ s top performers, including several Elitloppet winners or placed horses like Timoko, Dijon, Horsy Dream, and Go On Boy. Jean-Yves Lhérété explains:“ The pool allows them to keep training without the strain of impact. Stallions are now entering stud earlier, around 4 or 5 years old, the pool also helps them unwind.” There’ s the KMK Center of Marion Donabedian and Kevyn Thonnerieux in the Alpilles, the river of the Roubaud cousins in the Bouches-du-Rhône, Charly Mary’ s balneotherapy center in Mayenne, the“ pool” of the Chauve-Laffay family in the Loire, the paddling pool just meters from Jean-Michel Bazire’ s yard in Grosbois, and the underwater treadmill at Louis Baudron’ s in the Orne. Clearly, trotting professionals have been aware for years of the many benefits water brings to the training and performance of their athletes.
TRAINER’ S INSIGHT
Pierre Belloche, trainer of Horsy Dream, winner of the 2024 Elitloppet, explains:“ Choosing Sassy for Horsy Dream made sense- it’ s a great complement during the breeding season. Pool work allows proper muscle rebuilding while doing cardio. I also use the pool for horses in training, if there’ s a 5 to 6-week gap between races, it keeps them in shape without overworking them on the track. But in my opinion, the sea remains the most beneficial— combining track work with the therapeutic effects of seawater is a major advantage.”
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By Mégane Martins
OBJECTIFYING TREATMENT PROTOCOLS IN PHYSIOTHERAPY AND HYDROTHERAPY
Inaugurated on August 31, 2020, Kinésia is a one-ofa-kind physiotherapy unit located within Normandie Equine Vallée in Goustranville. A 40-meter pool equipped with an observation pit and facilities such as an aquatic treadmill enables the on-site teams to conduct research on the care of athletic horses and the treatment of pathologies. These research projects aim to address the critical lack of objective scientific data on the effects of physiotherapy and rehabilitation techniques on the horse’ s musculoskeletal system, notably thanks to the clinical investigation and imaging platform of Cirale.
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By Julia-Marie Penouilh
MOBILEHORSE CARE: THE FIRST MOBILE SPA DEDICATED TO EQUINE WELL-BEING
Equine medicine is evolving with solutions that are increasingly tailored to the needs of professionals. MobileHorse Care embodies this trend by offering the first mobile unit for hydrotherapy and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy for horses, traveling across France and Europe for the past year. This innovative project was born from a collaboration between four partners.“ For us, well-being has always been a priority. Every horse is treated like an athlete with a personalized training program,” explains the managing director. The idea took shape after discovering the benefits of balneotherapy on horses’ recovery: to create a mobile solution that addresses the main issue faced by professionals— lack of time. Integrating the spa into a truck was a real technological challenge, met with the help
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