For Irish Grand Prix show jumper and trainer Shane Sweetnam, both the difficulty and the appeal of riding professionally is that he always has new challenges to conquer. “You’re not going to have one horse for your whole career, so you are always reinventing the wheel with a different horse, and you’re always working with a different project,” he said. “Sure, you have your skills, but you have to be able to adapt to each horse, and that’s why every year it’s different.”
TheraPlate, the Official Therapy Plate of US Equestrian, agrees that no two horses can be trained or conditioned in the exact same way. That’s why TheraPlate’s revolutionary therapy platforms are fully programmable to meet the needs of every horse, whether the platform is being used to improve fitness, relieve pain, or foster healing. While Sweetnam experienced immediate results after trying the TheraPlate with his Grand Prix horse last summer, it was the unit’s multiple settings and programmability — making the TheraPlate completely adaptable to each of the more than 60 horses that he currently works with — that cinched his decision to acquire a TheraPlate of his own.
“After the first time I used the TheraPlate on my Grand Prix horse, he jumped very well and felt quite loose,” Sweetnam said. “Since then, we have noticed a difference with all of the horses after using it, and I find that the TheraPlate really has a positive impact on circulation, muscles, and bones. The horses really enjoy it and find it very relaxing.”
In fact, Sweetnam, who established Sweet Oak Farm in Wellington, Florida with his wife Ali in 2006, found the machine to be so effective that he has since obtained two additional units to accommodate all of Sweet Oak’s horses. TheraPlate is proud to announce that Sweetnam is now an official TheraPlate Brand Ambassador. “Because we have such a big barn and so many horses that like to use the TheraPlate, we have one unit here at the farm, had one at the FEI stabling at WEF [the Winter Equestrian Festival], and had another one at the tent with the national horses,” he said. “We currently have 30 horses using the TheraPlate, and we try to split the units up so that everyone has access to them.”
Sweetnam’s show horses use the TheraPlate three times a week at home and more often at shows, where he puts them on the platform for a warm-up before each class. “It’s important to find something like this that the horses enjoy,” he said. “Especially when they are in the FEI and in stalls all the time, it is great to find something that doesn’t take up too much space that they can get on and relax. It definitely helps them in more ways than one.”
Sweetnam just completed another highly successful season at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, to which he brought a team of over 10 riders and a total of 60 horses. The majority of these horses belonged to clients of Sweet Oak Farm, but Sweetnam rode 10 of them to an impressive number of victories, including capturing the $35,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 8 aboard Swedish Warmblood gelding Cobolt (Cyklon 1083 x Camaro M), and helping Ireland win the $150,000 FEI Nations Cup and personally winning the $216,000 Grand Prix CSIO 4* aboard Zangersheide stallion Chaqui Z (Chacco-Blue x Quinar Z). He was awarded the Niall Grimes "Cheers" Perpetual Trophy as the top Irish rider during the Nations Cup week, an honor he also received in 2011.
“My proudest moment so far this year was winning the Grand Prix,” said Sweetnam. “We won the Nations Cup here last year, and that was definitely my proudest moment last year — so to repeat that win and then do a Nations Cup Grand Prix like that, I was very happy.”
Both at 11 years old, Cobolt and Chaqui Z are considered Sweetnam’s top contenders this year. “Normally, I think 11 is the perfect age,” he said. Sweetnam is also working with several talented younger horses, including the nine-year-old gelding Main Road (Heartbeat x Irco Marco). “Main Road is already placing in the Grand Prix but is still green and has a bit to learn,” he said. “Cyklon is older now, at 16, but he is still going strong and trying to be a winner, so I’m quite lucky.”
This summer, Sweetnam will bring his horses — along with his TheraPlates — to compete at the Kentucky Horse Park and the Tryon International Equestrian Center before moving on to Europe. “Every year I have similar goals, especially when I have good horses,” he said. “It will be in the back of my head to be aiming toward the European Championships this year, and next year is the World Equestrian Games at Tryon, so it is important to build a strong platform for that. Every year, I am working toward the top, and each horse has to bring its A-game. It is a difficult process just to have them in the right place at the right time, but I have a good bit of experience doing it every year, so hopefully we’ll meet the goals.”