The Yorkshire stables keeping the legacy of Gold Cup-winning trainer Peter Beaumont alive

It is now home to fledgling Point to Point trainer Alex Wilson who has had two winners to date with Tanora, but also where horse owners’ dreams are being kept alive by two young ladies who are committed to giving every horse the best possible opportunity.

Elspeth Williams, who has previously bought horses unbroken, trained and competed them until selling at the point when they are commercially attractive; and Amelia McArthur, a well-respected equine vet, have joined forces to bring about Consort Equine Therapies, which started life as a pipedream, say Elspeth.

“I met Amelia through working as a sales representative for a veterinary pharmaceutical company. We became good friends and found ourselves in one of those philosophical discussions saying ‘if you could do anything, what would you do’ and I happened to say that I’d love to have a water treadmill and run a rehab yard.

“I’ve always been involved with horses, I’ve been riding since I was six or seven years old, and felt I really wanted to do something different.

"I left my sales role and worked for a trainer in Sheriff Hutton before starting this and I have my horse Milena who competed and won last year at Bramham and was second at the Burleigh Final, but this is now my future.

“Amelia said she’d always wanted to do horse rehab too and that led to us thinking about doing this.”

Elspeth says it had been her experience of sending a horse to a water treadmill in Northumberland that set her on her way.

“The horse came back transformed. It had really changed him and gave him the opportunity to have a ridden career. I was amazed by the results.

"That’s where the thought of ‘I would love to run a treadmill’ came from and the idea of running an equine therapy centre to get horses back into condition appealed to both of us. That’s where I get satisfaction, taking something that’s poorly or injured or broken and turning it around.

“We are now the first in this area to have a water treadmill open to the public and available to everyone. The horse walks in, you shut all the doors and you get the horse walking and when the horse settles into a rhythm you start to add different levels of water to alter how the horse moves.

“All horses walk differently and that level of water means they have to walk up and out of it, which helps build strength. You get an element of buoyancy like when you walk in a swimming pool, there’s resistance as well, so in terms of fitness you can build muscular endurance.

‘The thing we’ve realised most since we’ve started just six weeks ago is just what an amazing piece of kit the water treadmill is and how, by harnessing Amelia’s knowledge of orthopaedics, how horses move and using different water heights we can work each horse in the best way for them.

"Although all horses walk similarly they also all walk very differently and have strong points and weak points.

“We tailor every single session for each horse and the treadmill has an amazing data set-up, saving individual sessions so we know to the second how much work that horse has done that day.”

Consort Equine Therapies is not just about a water treadmill that can also replicate going uphill or downhill, as Elspeth explains.

“We’ve also invested in an Equivibe floor, a vibrating floor, and Amelia is also about to undertake an acupuncture course so that we’ll be able to offer acupuncture on site.

“As well as these therapies we have also Installed salt chamber halogenerators to provide salt for horses delivered as therapy to improve overall health and efficiency of their respiratory system, which leads to improved cardiovascular performance.

"We are working with Janet Wintringham of Yorkshire Equine Salt Therapy to deliver this. We’ve a stable we’ve made as airtight as possible for this purpose.”

Elspeth says she recognises the impact of the isolation owners can feel having a horse injured and the damage it can do to their own wellbeing – and that she and Amelia are keen to offer as much the right environment for owners as their horses.

“We want this to be a bit of a hub where people can come and get a bit of everything. Having a horse injured can be really isolating, especially if you’ve only got one and it’s your social life, which often involves going around shows with friends. When your horse is injured, you might not go to shows and miss that camaderie.

“We’re trying to create a climate where people can come while their horse may be in rehab, maybe just going on the treadmill for a session, and still get some of that social stuff. We are putting in a sofa, coffee machine and telly for people.”

Elspeth and Amelia currently offer 14 boxes and are able to calculate a rough assessment on time of stay based on injury, previous history and what the referring vet would like to see.

“It all just depends on what’s right for the horse. We had one that started out for four weeks and six weeks later he’s still here because his owners are happy and he’s really happy here.

"Last week we had one come for three days who has now gone home and comes twice a week, a walk-in, to use the treadmill. We are getting a lot of walk-ins, and we’re building up our patients’ offering.

“A trainer rang this morning with one she wants to bring and we have individuals, event riders, leisure riders and a few showing producers bringing a couple, a couple of times a week. We’ve only been going a short while and it is already looking good.

“I think people really like that we are run by an equine vet like Amelia. We write up notes for each session and hand all our notes back to the appropriate vet.

“It’s such a great environment here. We have the main yard and Alex and his partner Esme have their bungalow and a block of four boxes for Alex’s pointers. We all work really well together. It’s all very relaxed.”

Elspeth says the legacy of Peter Beaumont lives on.

“When we first came here it was really rundown. We’ve put a lot of work into this place and we will be keeping Peter’s legacy alive with pictures of Jodami in our client room.

"I think we’ll end up with a Pointer at some stage. Amelia is a local girl who grew up in Strensall and used the gallops here years ago. We’re looking upwards and onwards.”