The Law of Attraction
Firstly, Happy St. Valentine's Day ❤️do you celebrate Valentine's? Or ignore? I'm a big fan of the simple Valentine's gestures...nothing cheesy in this farmhouse 🧀
Last year Will & I spent our Valentine's night having a picnic on the floor of our completely empty house. We hadn't moved in yet because the builders were still renovating but we snuck in for a picnic of our favourite foods! My kind of Valentine's ❤️
So, in honour of the day, let's talk about something I've been pondering over a while. The Law of Attraction. What I mean is...magnets! Specifically magnetic therapy in relation to equines. What is it? Does it work? I had no idea. Is it just a fad? Something popular at the minute with little study behind it?
I'd seen some high profile equine brands selling their own magnetic therapy products so surely it must have a positive impact on our precious ponies?
A quick google shows me how easy it is to purchase magnetic therapy products for our horses from high profile brands such as: * Premier Equine * Equilibrium * EQU Streamz * Veredus * LeMieux * Bio Flow
If brands such as the ones I've listed had dedicated magnetic products with their names on, there must be something good about the use of magnets, right?
I set about doing some research.
The first thing I thought was necessary to discover was, what exactly do magnetic therapy products claim to do? A quick read of a popular magnetic therapy product website will show you their explanation:
"Magnetic Therapy encourages blood flow and increases cellular activity in the body however, magnets in themselves, do not heal. When a powerful magnet is placed against the body, cellular activity is increased, and this in turn can increase the rate at which cells regenerate and repair"
Perusing the rest of the website, there appears to be a lot of information regarding the science behind the use of magnetic products. However, are we ever 100% certain that a company is telling the truth about a product they sell? Or is the truth twisted slightly to encourage us to purchase a product?
I thought it was important to find an article or paper written by an independent body rather than a company who sells magnetic therapy products. I came across this fantastic article on Veterinary News website (linked below) called 'Equine magnetic therapy: the positives and negatives'
A quote from the article is below: "Dr. Robert Holcomb MD, PhD, at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, writes, "Magnetic fields produce the following results when in direct contact with the body: increased circulation; vasodilatation; muscle relaxation; reduction of edema; reduction of nerve-cell firing (which reduces pain); and reduction of free radicals (which improves the body's ability to fight inflammation and improves the immune system)."
The author then goes on to say that the problem with the discussion of magnetic products is that there is an equally large amount of researchers and scientists on the other side of the issue.
"Dr. Phillip Steyn and a group of researchers in the Department of Radiological Health Services at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University looked at the effects of static magnets on blood flow in the metacarpas of the horse and concluded, "static magnetic fields associated with the application of commercially available magnetic wraps for 48 hours did not increase the blood flow pattern of the metacarpas under the wrap."
The research I undertook for this blog post garnered the same results in terms of support on both sides of the magnet argument. However, I would go as far as to say that the articles I found in support of magnetic therapy were written by the very companies that sell the products, meaning they were not independent studies.
In comparison to this, it was relatively easy to find well written articles supported by scientific studies that found little to no benefit to horses wearing magnets.
A quick survey put out to my followers showed that less people were using magnetic products than I had initially thought. I can't seem to turn left or right these days without seeing another advert for magnetic therapy products and yet I was surprised to learn that of the people surveyed 61% had never used them.
In general, I had believed magnets to be the newest craze (like those petal overreach boots were!).
So are magnets not as popular as I first thought? Or are they more popular with high profile competitors in comparison to the amateur rider? An article on Horse & Hounds website titled "Can magnets boost performance?" contains a quote from an international eventer:
"Magnets are a very big thing on the eventing circuit,” says international event rider Lucy Thompson, who runs Equine Sport Therapy along with sports therapist Chris Caden-Parker. “I’ve used a wide range of them on all my horses. They’re particularly useful for travelling as you’ll find that after a long trip, the horses wearing magnetic rugs definitely come off the box less stiff.”"
A lot of writing and research later and although I've gained a massive headache, I haven't really managed to gather my own opinion on the use of magnets. Does your horse stiffen up when they travel home from a competition and magnetic boots have helped them? Or do you have a cold-backed horse who benefits from wearing a magnetic rug before being ridden? The basis of this entire blog post boils down to one simple question. Are magnetic products going to benefit my horse when she is in full time work and competing? Seeing as I'm still undecided as to whether these products have a positive impact, I'd really like to hear your positive stories. Equally I'd love to hear some suggestions for products that you think might benefit us so that we can try them out for ourselves!
Until next time x
Veterinary News article: veterinarynews.dvm360.com/equine-magnetic-therapy-positives-and-negatives
Equilibrium: www.equilibriumproducts.com/wellbeing/how-magnetic-therapy-works/
Horse and Hound article: www.horseandhound.co.uk/horse-care/vet-advice/can-magnets-boost-performance-36185
