Sports & therapeutic massager Delphine introduces Equery to harness racing

Delphine Vandersarren is a recognised sports and therapeutic massager for horses, she also has a diploma in Animal Rehab Techniques & Sport Coaching. She later specialised further in shiatsu, red light therapy, osteopathy and manual therapies such as EMFR (myofascial release).

She has been running around Belgian racecourses since she was a child, but besides trotting, Delphine is also active in show jumping. By being regularly confronted with injuries, rehabilitation, training schedules and alternative therapies herself, her interest in rehabilitation techniques grew. In order to increase her knowledge, she studied and worked in France and America for a while.

She got to know Equery through Bart Halsberghe, veterinarian orthopaedics & rehabilitation at Via Nova, a scientific centre and innovative horse clinic. After an Equery relaxation session during which her most active and alert trotter almost fell asleep, Delphine immediately saw the potential as a rehabilitation and muscle building tool. At the moment, she and her husband are busy establishing their own rehabilitation centre for horses, Hof ter Biezen in Poperinge. The official opening is scheduled for May 2021. Here she would like to help clients from France and Belgium with various alternative therapies and techniques. In doing so, she first examines the horse's problems and then determines which treatment will yield the best results.

Soon, she will start her own small research into the possibilities of Equery with her 3 trotters. The unique thing about trotters is that they need to do intensive trotting work at a young age. They don't have a lot of muscles but they have to be able to perform well already. With her own research she wants to find out whether Equery can quickly achieve qualitative muscle building and improve muscle tone, without stressing the joints or tendons (as in normal training).

Her three trotters are:

A 7-year-old stallion with a tendon injury who has been standing on the pasture for three years.
A 5-year-old stallion who has little muscle in the front and suffers from a foot turning outwards. He has been standing still on the pasture for a year now.
A 3 year old stallion who is not saddled yet and has to start from scratch.

In addition, she examines whether the tendon injury can be remedied and/or the running performance of her trotters can be improved. As soon as the results are known, she will publish them.

Equery launches in UAE (United Arab Emirates)

The difference between magnetic electro therapy and electrical muscle stimulation

What is the difference between electrical muscle stimulation and magnetic electro therapy?

The significant difference is that electrical muscle stimulation effectively contracts the muscles at the muscle fiber level. This is something that is scientifically impossible to do with magnetic electro therapy.

Magnetic electro therapy

Magnetic electro therapy uses a permanent magnet to create a low static magnetic field. It's somewhat comparable to the alternative medicine practice of electro magnetic therapy where one creates a magnetic field generated by an electrical powered device.

The therapy itself does not use impulses to stimulate muscle and it operates at a much lower frequence, which makes it impossible for the magnetic field to contract muscles. In other words, although it can be beneficial for your horse, magnetic electro therapy can only be used to sooth superficial muscles and calm connective tissue.

Electrical muscle stimulation

The EMS technology used in our Equery suit builds new muscles and stimulates existing deep muscle fiber (red or white). Equery developed different programs to, on the on hand build muscle and relax muscle fibers, but also to treat Kissing Spine, lameness and muscle atrophy. Furthermore, the suit enhances blood flow and boosts your horse's metabolism.

Our EMS technology and the Equery suit are unique in the equine world.

*This article was created in collaboration with Michèle Thissen, Equery distributor for the United Arabic Emirates & The UAE Showhub.

Equery EMS research wins the VAHL 2020 Award!

The VAHL, Veterinary Academy of Higher Learning, is a global organisation dedicated to the continuous education of veterinarians through webinars, clinics, training courses, etc.
At the end of August in Cambridge, they rewarded the research plan of Anna Mokry & Lisa Woord with the very first VAHL Award for promising future research in Europe (ECVSMR).

The research

In 2021, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Ghent University will carry out a research into the impact of EMS technology, 'electro' muscular stimulation, in combination with infrared on the back & hind muscles of sport horses. The Equery R6 device will be used to test whether the EMS technology with infrared can achieve muscle building. The research is a collaboration between Ghent University (Dr. Maarten Oosterlinck, veterinarian Anna Mokry & student Lisa Woord), physiotherapist osteopath Siska Vandendriessche and veterinarian Paul Hanssens.

The examination will be carried out objectively, blindfolded and placebo-controlled on a group of 40 to 50 sport horses, which will be examined weekly during 8 weeks. The treatment lasts approximately one hour, and will be carried out for five consecutive weeks.

Horses wanted!

For the study they are looking for 50 warm-blooded sport horses that are weak or insufficiently muscled (back & hind muscles) for various reasons: a young horse, a horse that had to rehabilitate after recovering from an injury, a horse that is insufficiently trained,... However, horses if lameness is at the basis of poor back musculature then they are not suitable candidates for this study.

Are you interested in participating in this research with your horse? Please contact us via +32(0)476/83.77.11 or andy@equerytech.com.