The Wrangler Horse and Rodeo News

October, 2024 • The WRANGLER • 9 is sore and what that means." Case explained how we may believe we have knee pain, but the joint itself is not the root issue. "The problem isn't necessarily the knee most of the time. It's the muscles and ligaments attached to the knee that are really sore and tight, but because brain receptors are more sensitive to our joints, we feel it more in our joints." Case starts by assessing the individual, "I do a lot of feeling and understanding to determine where is sore, then we're working by rehydrating that tissue, we're stretching it back out. We're breaking the muscle memory of the injuries, so literally after one session, you have almost 70% more mobility. We are actually manipulating the tissues so that it goes away faster and lasts longer. Within two to three sessions in a short amount of time, I shouldn't have to see you for six to eight months." As Case and his team have worked on more humans and horses, he has seen their interconnected nature, "When you're sore, you can give mis-cues to your horse, because you don't realize how tight you are. If you are loose and more focused, you use less pressure. Our ultimate goal is to help the rider and the horse be more square and more balanced together." While many therapeutic modalities focus on creating circulation through heat, cryotherapy is unique in how it achieves maximum impact. "When we ice the body, it's better than heat when we have inflammation. But the problem is our nerves get numb, then we over-ice the muscle. Then your body has to circulate blood flow at a slower rate to warm the muscles back up. Cryotherapy is so intense, it's so cold, but it's so quick. It's not numbing the tissue, it's just cooling down your nerve sensors. Then your body knows it needs to warm it back up, but because it's not numb, your blood flow actually circulates faster. When it moves faster, it's pushing out inflammation," he described. Sometimes at events, people are hesitant to try something new, and the process of scraping and cryotherapy can seem intimidating. That is why Case and his team are educated in the way that they are, so they know how to benefit a variety of horses in a variety of situations, including maximizing performance at an event. "We have different processes of what we do, depending on what the horse needs. When you're at an event, we're not going to do deep body tissue work because that can cause soreness and sometimes it causes us to feel more lethargic. We want you to have a lot of energy, so we do light muscle scraping and more cryotherapy to enhance that blood flow. When you enhance blood flow, you get more oxygen. When you have more oxygen flowing through your muscles, you have more endurance. And that's what we want when you're at an event." One of the misconceptions is that cold restricts blood flow, but Case explains, "Actually, we're doing the opposite. We use cold to warm up the body. We know how to customize the session, depending on where your horse is, what event you're at, what your horse is going through." The Precision Equine team are working to evolve the equine industry by offering a more uniform, consistent approach. Through their website, you can search for an expert near you. Keep an eye on events in your region as well, as team members are often set up at events in all equine disciplines. Brady Case using cryotherapy to treat a client's horse. Photo Credit: Naomi Johnson Photography Find out More:

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