It’s mid-September and the rain has just stopped. It was the morning of the 220v by TheraPlate launch photoshoot and we’re so excited to share with you what we’ve been working on over the last few months!

2020 has been a difficult year for so many and it has changed the world forever. Never before have we seen such turmoil and disruption on a global scale. The pandemic has brought with it a shift that will mean things will never be the same again.

But we can’t let that stop us!

We had a packed year planned out with lots of trade stands at big horse shows around the world, but that wasn’t to be. So, sat at home and stuck in the office lead us to develop something else.

We recognised a gap in the equestrian market for a clothing range that united an urban feel with horses. Two things which don’t always meet, but work so well together. Our new and innovative, tech friendly designs will refresh and update equestrian fashion as we know it.

We wanted to capture the crazy events of 2020 in the designs, which lead us to the very talented young artist, Charsley Art, who has drawn the designs for us. This, coupled with the horse head QR code on the backs of the clothing, makes them something that the equestrian industry has not seen before. The QR code takes you straight Instagram so you can share all your fabulous photos of you wearing the items while you’re out and about.

Designed to be comfortable whether you’re at the yard or chilling at home, we wanted to create something to wear wherever you are. Our models at the shoot, Jade Affleck and Jevan Williams showed the clothing off to it’s best and we had a fantastic photoshoot with them, with so many more ideas to come.

But they weren’t the only stars of the shoot. We had the wonderful Hugo, who is a stunning bay warmblood. Hugo was such a good boy and didn’t mind the smoke machine or the lights in the shoot. I think you’ll agree with us that he’s a handsome boy here with Jade.

We weren’t short of canine company either. We had two gorgeous Cane Corsos, Fonzi and Haus join us too. They added a dramatic element to the shoot which we think looks awesome on the photos!

And we can’t forget, faithful TheraPlate HQ office dog Chalky! He ran in and gate crashed the shoot to become a star of the show.

The full range will be launching at the beginning of November so make sure you sign up here and follow us on social media for all the latest previews and exclusive early access!

Okay, so you’re thinking about getting a TheraPlate?

Or maybe one of the alternatives? Maybe you want a combination therapy floor?

That seems like a good idea and it’s cheaper too!

BUT… 

Do you really know the difference?

What are the pros and cons of each?

So TheraPlate vibrates, just like all the other therapy floors… WRONG!!!

That’s just what the others say to get your money out of your pocket and in to theirs. It’s honestly like comparing a horse walker to an equine spa!!

TheraPlate doesn’t vibrate, what TheraPlate uses is Centrifugal Force… you know like those fancy Dyson Hoover’s, or like an Airplane engine.

It doesn’t have frequencies, as frequency is the rate of vibration and oscillation measured over a specific period of time (usually one second). In layman’s terms, it’s simply a repeating sequence.

TheraPlate doesn’t use a repeating sequence, in fact quite the opposite.

TheraPlate uses intensity of motion, such as acceleration, or orbital force.

The dial on the TheraPlate control box, which is labelled 0-100 is to change the intensity of the motors inside your TheraPlate and you can slow the speed right down, or speed it right up to maximize the circulation though-out the entire body.

TheraPlate motors are also programmed to run completely out of sync, because let’s face it, baring a few people, in everyone’s life, that we could all mention, our bodies are pretty clever and would Plateau if not continuously challenged. That’s why TheraPlate, by using a vortex created by centrifugal force, causes muscle contractions in waves which in turn increases circulation (Vortex Wave Circulation Therapy VWC).

Now… we have some basic knowledge and understanding on what TheraPlate actually does, we can move onto the best part.

TheraPlate is physical therapy and NOT physical fitness… meaning you can safely use TheraPlate when you are not physically fit, you can use it to aid a faster recovery time during times of rest, to help improve your circulation when you are not physically active.

Meaning, if you are out of action due to a broken leg, or your horses are in need of box rest, it is safe to use and it won’t aggravate any existing condition. This is all down to the fact that TheraPlate DOES NOT vibrate!

Vibration floors are only advised to be used when you are physically fit and NOT injured, which is why you find power plates at the gym! Where fit people live! Yaayy! And because they work through means of resistance of the muscle rather than contractions of a relaxed muscle.

Q: Would you stand on a vibrate plate with a bad back or a broken leg?

A: No…

So, why make your horse?… Apart from the possibility of causing further injury, it will almost certainly aggravate an existing one.

So, make sure you know your technologies.

Nobody likes to be jolted around, especially straight after surgery, or while being injured, we want wine and we want cuddles, not ouchies!

Other great points when you’re considering between the two are:

• TheraPlate is 100% portable, making it a viable business or enables you to take TheraPlate to the box rather than a box rested animal to the treatment.
• TheraPlate has legitimate, independent scientific data, which is in mature and box rested horses.
• TheraPlate offers an unbeatable warranty giving you the protection you deserve; we also have a customer service team who are always on hand to help.
• Insurance companies, vets, farriers, physiotherapist, chiropractors and other skilled professionals, love, endorse, recommend and use TheraPlate, but we still can’t help how they all feel about each other.
• TheraPlate offer a fully recognized CPD accredited training course, so you can become a specialist in the field of TheraPlate technology. We are super passionate about science especially physics!
• TheraPlate is uncomplicated, very simple to use and works, just as is the technology to understand. We don’t use any of these so-called explanations that are designed to confuse – aka: It’s a load of nonsense and I’m just interested in your money.

We want you to make the right decision for you and your individual situation, whether you want to make a business investment or are looking for that light at the start, rather than the end of the rehabilitation tunnel. We want to make sure you know all the facts before you part with your hard-earned money!

Our promise to you is to always offer you honest, solid advice based on your individual needs.

TheraPlate doesn’t need to be sold, because TheraPlate will do all the talking and the results simply speak for themselves.

So, I bet you’re wondering what happened to Dominic after the last article?

Let’s recap a little…

Following a nasty injury, Dominic was out of racing while he recovered, uncertain if he should return at all. Meanwhile, his father collapsed in a supermarket and never regained consciousness which left Dominic even more uncertain of the future. Jockey turned public speaker, Dominic’s father wanted him to return to racing, but after the accident and injury Dominic was left weighing up his options.

And that’s where we pick the story up.

We did tell you that this would be about the story of TheraPlate Ltd, however, and Dominic is only half of the gutsy duo who started the company, so where does Francesca come in?

Dominic and Francesca met just 6 weeks before his father passed away. Francesca echoed Dominic’s father in encouraging him to return to racing, and after the shock of the few months previous, Dominic thought he might as well give it another go.

His first race back was a winning one, at the Ayr Gold Cup meeting and shortly after that also won his second race at The Racing Post Trophy meeting. So, needless to say that Dominic was on form and flying high on his return. Not only that, but that year he was the leading claiming rider on the turf too.

On top of his game, Dominic and Francesca saw an opportunity. With their philosophy of ‘always give something a shot, that way you have no regrets’, they moved to America in March 2013. They both wanted to travel and experience living in another country, and the races and prize money were much greater in the US.

It certainly was not smooth sailing though, and after a string of moves around America, trying to get settled, the money they had put aside to start again had run out. At this point Francesca and Dominic were mainly living in their car and using money he attained from riding horses in the morning for the odd motel stay.

They knew they couldn’t carry on like this, and then Francesca found out she was pregnant with their daughter Pip. Francesca ended up having her in hospital in New York, but there were complications. Following the birth, Dominic was sent home with baby Pip on his own and informed by the doctors that there was a high chance of Francesca not making it.

After 3 weeks of hospital visits to the ICU, Francesca was allowed home and Dominic had found some work in Kentucky. The now, family of three moved there to settle down and lay some roots, but little did they know at this point, the hardship was not over.

Francesca, on her discharge from hospital started an online bespoke service, where she would draw portraits and also “bling” peoples tack by hand, which became quite successful, to the point it actually became a now widely used range of tack.

While they were in Kentucky, Francesca also attended a horse show where there was a TheraPlate trade stand. Lisa Spellman, an independent agent for TheraPlate Revolution was there and the product first caught Francesca’s eye. The two of them got chatting and Lisa told Francesca about her friend who was completely bed ridden with arthritis. After a rehab programme which included using the TheraPlate, her friend was actually able to get back in the saddle and start riding again.

Francesca knew that this was a game changing piece of equipment and couldn’t wait to tell Dominic all about it when she got home. Dominic had seen them on the racing yards all over America, but didn’t know much about them. He knew how popular they were with the trainers, and knew there was nothing like it on yards in the UK.

Time went on and the family of three became four with their Labrador Chalky joining them. At this point, it seems to be going along the lines of ‘and then they lived happily ever after…’ but that wasn’t to be, not yet anyway!

Next time…

A tragic event sees the family uproot and move continent, with some huge decisions to make. Tough times lay ahead of them, it’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure.

Packed with ponies and plenty of other animals, Callie Coles’ life is the essence of country with tons of stories from out hunting and the adventures of Jesse and Merlin. Callie shares her story with us from an early morning start with husband Toby and her boys. So let’s hand over to Callie…

The alarm went off at 4am this morning. Toby was already long gone, disappearing off into the night to tend to his hounds.  I blearily get out of bed straight away, I do not want to go back to sleep, tempting as it is at that very moment.  First port of call – 9 year old Jesse.  He is the harder one of our boys to wake up.  I put the lamp on, no sudden movements, otherwise he will wake up cranky and that is not much fun.  He, luckily, gets out of bed on the right side and slowly starts to lumber about like a lanky, cub, dazed in the headlights.  

“Get dressed Jesse Bear.  Your clothes are all laid out here.”  We have found all of his smart riding clothes, shirt, tie and breeches (even pants and socks) the night before to make getting dressed simple in the early morning.  

Then I head next door into Merlin’s bedroom.  Merlin is absolutely conked out, like only a three year old can be.  Arms stretched up above his head, eyelashes like starfish lying long almost reaching to his cheekbones.  I pause a moment, surely only a madwoman wakes up a rampant toddler from a deep sleep at 4:05am, then taking a deep breath, that is exactly what I proceed to do.

“Darling, morning.” I whisper softly.  In an instant Merlin is awake, alert, he climbs into my arms to clasp his little hands about my neck, laying his warm head gently against my chest.

“Are we hunting in the dark Mummy?”

“Yep.” I answer, knowing this is the answer he is looking for.

“Hooray! Let’s go and get Sparky.” In a moment he is standing on his changing table holding his arms out waiting for me to dress him like a little Raja.

Finally, all three of us dressed, we make it out into the yard.  Crookshanks our cockerell seeing the lights on in the stables starts to cock-a-doodle-doo.  The sound is loud and abrasive at this time of the morning.  Merlin pipes up,

“Can someone shut that bloody bird up, please?” Which makes us all laugh.  He has now been saying it all day. Fifty-eight time’s a charm.

05:45 and Warrior (my horse) Pomegranate (Jesse’s pony) and Sparky (Mr Glitter Sparkle’s, Merlin’s pony) are tacked up.  Off up to meet Daddy and his hounds.  The sun is coming up, the clouds are gold and pink in the sky.  I have to stop and take photographs as it’s all so pretty.  It’s the very best way to start the day. 

We hope you enjoyed the glimpse into Callie’s life and join us here for more soon. 

If you have ever met Dominic & Francesca Fox, Founders of TheraPlate Ltd, you will know how passionate they are about the TheraPlate, their business and equestrian sport. Both with equestrian backgrounds, the husband and wife team have fought their way from nothing to where they are today. It’s this journey that has developed their grit, determination and resilience to a whole new level, and we want to share their journey with you.

To really set the scene, let us take you back and start with a bit of history on Dominic, his family and their racing backgrounds.

A keen showjumper and horse woman, Dominic’s mother and her family all loved racing, which lead to owning a few racehorses and one day while watching a horse run at Windsor racecourse Dominic’s mother and father met.

Dominic’s Mother

A fantastic jockey, Dominic’s father enjoyed a long and prosperous career after coming over from Ireland to work as an apprentice for Seamus McGrath aged just 14. Throughout his career he rode 872 winners in total, including horses for the Queen and Sheik Mohammed to name a few.

Dominic’s Father

So naturally, Dominic was brought up surrounded by the racing industry and followed in his father’s footsteps, but no one said it would be easy! At just 16, Dominic starting riding out racehorses but was far too small to race. He was dubbed the ‘Smallest Jockey in the World’ by newspapers, standing at just 4ft tall and weighing in at a tiny 4st 4lbs.

Unable to race until he had put more weight on, Dominic honed his skills riding horses out on the gallops at home. His first race wasn’t until he was 21, but even then, he still only weighed 5st 2lbs. This meant that the horse had to wear two lead cloths and Dominic had to wear an 8lb lead jacket under his silks, which not only was incredibly dangerous and hard to ride in, was also against racing rules. But nevertheless, this didn’t deter Dominic from his dreams of winning races.

At 23, Dominic was named Racing Schools Champion Apprentice and he enjoyed many successful years of racing, despite being plagued with injuries, as many jockeys are. It did seem that every time he got going and things started to look good, he would get injured again and over a 7-year period Dominic had broken just over 15 bones, each on separate occasions.

On returning from racing in India, Dominic suffered a serious accident which saw his career put on hold again, but this time it wasn’t something as minor as breaking bones. He was double barrelled in the chest by a horse and was initially declared uninjured on his first trip to hospital. Later when Dominic returned home, he collapsed and was rushed back into hospital, being resuscitated twice on route. It was at this point they found that he was bleeding internally and had already lost over 3.5 litres of blood.

The road to recovery from such serious injury would see Dominic take an extended break from racing, despite his father always trying to encourage him to get back in the game. The next 3 years would be extremely difficult for Dominic and his family.

Dominic’s father was someone who always pushed him to improve. An example of this that Dominic recalls is “I’d just had three winners in a day, I was still only a year in to race riding and feeling excited, so I called dad to tell him and his response was “yeah, I rode four in one day” and hung up the phone.” He was hard on Dominic, but it instilled a ‘never give up attitude’ that meant he would never rest on his laurels, even to this day.

So, through the ups and downs of a jockey’s lifestyle, of which there are many, Dominic sought support from his mother, who having been at his father’s side throughout his riding career, knew all too well the strains, both mental and physical, the career had on someone.

Sadly, in 2010 Dominic’s father collapsed very suddenly while out shopping, hitting his head as he did so. He was immediately rushed to hospital, where he would never regain consciousness. This had a huge impact on Dominic, but this was not the only strain in his life at that time. Dominic’s mother was also undergoing treatment for a brain tumour, of which would need surgery to remove.

This left Dominic with a huge hole and in quite a lonely place, not only without a career, but also without a father and a very ill mother.

In the next article…

Find out how Dominic coped with the loss of his dad and where Francesca fits into all of this.

Does Dominic return to racing like his father wished?

Or will he take a completely different path?

ABOUT ESTHER

Esther Horsfall set up Shaw Farm Equestrian in 2008 to offer 5* livery and training in the North of England. Since then, Esther has used her 25+ years of experience to train many horses and riders, while also competing her own horses to a high level in dressage. Esther is passionate about what she does and that comes across in her work, looking at the horse and rider as a whole package. That is why they offer so much more than just a normal yard, including TheraPlate sessions for both horses and riders.

So, now we know a little more about Esther, let’s dive into her article on Transitions!

TRANSITIONS

You can never ride too many transitions!!

So if I was to be asked what is the golden rule of training our horses… It would be to never ride a bad transition.

We use transitions in our day to day riding far more than people realise, whether it be happy hackers or top level riders, transitions are there and are an important role in our riding.

As for training the dressage horse, they are the one tool we all need in order to prepare our horses, balance our horses and to check our horses are with us.

Transitions will without a doubt help improve your horses rhythm, balance, self carriage, reactions, concentration, suppleness and connection to name a few!

Direct transitions from one pace to another are a great tool to check reactivity but also transitions within the pace in order to check our horses are in front of our leg and ‘with us’.

I see so many riders who just ride round and round the arena in the hope their horses way of going improves!! But how if we don’t change something or do something to help or do something to show the horse there’s another way!!

So start off with some basic training by setting yourself a goal to ride on a more regular basis with the focus of transitions within your training.

Start with direct transitions from one pace to another and ensure the reaction is there and your horse is switched on, if not you need to ride with more energy in order to gain more reaction from your horse. From there then aim to wean your horse off the more energetic aid and into a much more subtle, quiet aid. Then work towards playing around with your horses tempo within the pace to checking whether you can ride a transition within the pace and send the horse more forward or bring the horse back to you a little.

Repeat repeat repeat!!

Minimum input from the rider and maximum output from the horse is the end goal!