What Our Clients Say

“I am a huge advocate of the facilities at Sun Hill Sports horse fitness & rehab, Ann and George Duffield and their team are highly experienced, the stiff hill gallop has helped me get my eventers fit for many years and I have seen fantastic results with my horses using their underwater treadmill”

Merlin had his first session today on the water treadmill after I was lucky enough to win a free session. He absolutely loved it! Everyone was lovely and very helpful, explaining everything that was happening, what the treadmill does and how it all works. Fantastic facilities so close to home, we will definitely be back and adding it to his regime in his return to work!

Pearl had her first session on the water treadmill today and absolutely loved it. Lovely warm welcome. Staff were fantastic and very friendly. Highly recommend!! We’ll be back very soon!

Clorogue Rebel has always been difficult to get fit due to his breeding, he has also had a recurring infection in his frog which reappeared every summer. Since using the water treadmill he is considerably fitter, more able to do his job to the best of his ability and, as a bonus, the foot problems have completely cleared up and are no longer holding him back. I have found that combining use of the water treadmill, gallops and vitafloor has made a tremendous difference to him, giving him a much more competitive edge.

I sent my event horse to the treadmill for 3 weeks training, and wow what a difference. He injured himself at the end of last year and was recovering well but needed help strengthening and fitness without the concussion of road work. Ann has been so helpful, and her knowledge and experience has been invaluable in helping to get Nemo feeling and looking better than ever! I look forward to continuing to work with Ann throughout the event season. Thank you

I initially brought my dressage horse Fly to the water treadmill to build up the muscles in his hindquarters and over the lumber area of his back, also to improve his fitness in a non – intensive form, the water treadmill does just that and much more. It has most certainly increased his muscles behind and fitness immensely in only a couple of months.! As well as producing more length to his stride, he is now beginning to sit more behind too which is due to the water making him have to drive more with his hind legs, alleviating the weight from his front. Fly then finishes each time with a session on the vita floor, overall, I cannot thank Ann and her team enough for the use of the water treadmill, the huge difference it has made to Fly’s performance & well-being is undeniable! And shall continue to be a regular part of his weekly regime. We have begun our season, winning our first competition, which speaks for itself!

Chocky Wocky Doodah (Charlie) is an 8 year old Irish Sport horse – well he was a big fat maxi coloured cob. He had a fractured splint bone in his off hind leg last year and was turned away over the winter. Following re-x-ray in April he was brought back into work and was grossly overweight at 712kgs. Due to the hard ground conditions he could not really do any fast work to increase his cardio vascular rate. I took him to The SHF&R centre for a session on the water treadmill with the plan of having weekly sessions to help with his fitness and weight loss without compromising his joints on the hard ground. I was greeted on arrival by the loveliest and kindest staff who must have sensed how anxious I was. He took to it well and I decided to leave him at the yard for another 6 days on a residential stay. Each day he went onto the horse walker, the water treadmill and the vitafloor/solarium and the walker again at the end of the day. He only just managed 12 minutes the first day and was blowing hard, but by the end of the week he was up to 20 minutes and seemed to really enjoy it. The morning I went to collect him the lads were getting him ready to go onto the treadmill and had waited so I could watch him. They are the friendliest and most caring handlers you could wish for and Charlie was very comfortable and happy around them. He looked amazing and I could really see a big difference. He had lost a lot of belly and fat pads and muscles were beginning to appear from under the blubber. The next day he was a different horse to ride, much more forward going. He has competed in a BD Dressage competition gaining a 1st and 2nd at Novice level, done a 2 Day training camp just last weekend, will be competing again at Northallerton this Wednesday and then I am dropping him back off  at The centre again for “Boot Camp” for another week. This is by far the best thing I have done for Charlie, as restricting his food was never going to be enough to get him to a healthier weight and he was very miserable. He is in better shape already although he is still a work in progress. I am very excited at the prospect of collecting him from his second week of intensive training and will be booking him in for his third in August.