GILLIAN Higgins is one of the most well-respected equine therapists and equine educators in Europe and runs award-winning, international organisation Horses Inside Out. Higgins is also a former advanced eventer who often utilised the beach. “I used to walk them in the salt water of the sea because it was so helpful for the horse’s legs post-performance,” she explains, “and it was also much cheaper than a salt water spa treatment!”

Higgins is an advocate for positive equine posture and a big believer in polework for horses. She correlates beach work with polework and explains: “The benefit of walking poles in particular, is that they stimulate and condition the horse’s core strength. Similarly, when a horse walks through shallow water it lifts its feet up, over and back down, a bit like it has to with the ground poles. We recorded a video with a painted horse, looking at the effect of working horses in different water depths and it showed just how much the back, and therefore the core, is engaged by controlled water work. You can watch that on the Horses Inside Out Academy website.”