Flying Changes Equine - Wow Saddles

It's all a big reciprocal system -

If the horse can't mobilise their neck, they won't be able to recruit their sling muscles

If they can't recruit their sling muscles, they won't be able to mobilise their neck to their full potential.

Likewise if a horse can't mobilise their lumbar region, they're going to struggle to mobilise their pelvis

And if they can't mobilise their pelvis, they're going to struggle to mobilise their lumbar region.

(There are many more examples I could give but then we're not playing to the algorithm, so I'll let you continue in your head)

At this point, from a bodywork perspective you've then gotta pick your 'in' -

For me is a spinal decompression; get those spinal segments moving and everything else wants to power back online.

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Thrilled with the results of this session - this guy's spine looking a lot more neutral, elevation through his thoracic sling and relief through his pelvic region - all combined to help the energy transfer freely through his body to help him find a healthier gait pattern and better comfort!

I adore my job ❤️

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Interested in learning more about your horse's posture and movement? I might have something for you - details below!

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Beginning with innovative Free Space Girth.

If you have thinking about whether this Girth could make a big difference to you horse, you now have the opportunity to try for a month and see how your horse responds!

There's a statement I think about a lot because in my job I hear it a lot.

"That's just the way they are" or "they've always been like that"

This is usually with direct reference to a behaviour or presentation, which may or may not be problematic for the horse, that myself or another person has drawn attention to.

My issue with this statement is that, regardless of the timeframe in which the horse has been exhibiting said behaviour, dissmissives like "they have always been like that" have the power to condemn the horse to that state indefinitely.

And I believe this becomes a slippery slope to poor welfare state.

I appreciate that the path of least resistance feels like the safest route to follow, but when catching yourself thinking "this is how it is"

Maybe you could challenge yourself to think "does this have to be how it is?"

Or "has anyone made a concerted effort to get a different result?"

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The Fundamentals of Horse Posture:

https://www.yasminstuartequinephysio.com/fundamentals-of-horse-posture

DIPS AND INDENTATIONS IN HORSES BACKS… NOT NORMAL! ❌

If you can see where your saddle sits on your horses back by the indents in their muscles, something is WRONG.

Compressed, atrophied muscles are in this state because of increased pressure to the degree of neurological pathology.

Indentations such as these are not correlated to a horse simply not working over their back, or a horse needing to develop topline due to weakness… this is a pathology. No amount of training, riding, muscle building supplements and feed is going to make this area pop back up.

Speak with your saddler, physiotherapist and vet to get to the bottom of these areas of muscular wastage.

Probably one of my most brutal posts, but I feel this really has to be drawn attention to as I see this so often in varying degrees where this is not given the attention it deserves. 😖

"Hard choices now, easy life later"

This could be applied to all aspects of life, but for me this is particularly salient with respect to horses -

How many times are we faced with choosing between doing something that social culture percieves to be fun or exciting, e.g. going to a competition, doing some jumping, going for a gallop;

Versus doing something that social culture doesnt find *that* sexy, e.g. exercises which solidify your horse's development emotionally and/or physically?

"People will trade a hidden metric for success with an observable metric for success"

I've talked before about our attachment to the hedonistic treadmill - always pushing for more; better performance, bigger jumps, the next dressage move but these observable metrics for success can find us straying away from the feeling in your gut that your horse isn't ready, or correcting your horse's communicative behaviours of discomfort.

Setting the foundations with hidden metrics of success, like spending time developing trust or solidifying your horse's posture in hand before introducing a rider, may not look hugely exciting in the moment, but for me this is what builds long lasting success.

You really cant beat laying a solid foundation ❤️

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🔊 Musings from Modern Wisdom #691 - Jimmy Carr - The Secret Hacks For Living a Fulfilled Life

Saddles cannot create soundness. (but they can support it)
Saddles can however, create unsoundness.

Equestrians tend to have an odd tendency to hyper focus on a single facet of care when a problem arises, thinking that throwing all of their time and money at this one particular problem that everything else will fall into place. While the saddle is an integral part of maintaining soundness in your horse, it's also not a magic pill that will overcome thoracic outlet syndrome, poor trimming, poor diet, cruel/forceful/coercive/improper riding, lack of turnout, poor blanket fit, little/no dentistry, etc.

While not overly common, there are times when we go out to evaluate saddle fit only to see a horse in complete and utter dysfunction, to the point where we cannot ethically condone any type of riding. In these instances, we can provide the most perfect saddle for the horse in front of us, but we'd only become part of the problem in basically encouraging the owner that riding this unsound (not lame) animal is OK. This is when we provide the owner with resources on equine professionals we know and trust to help bring this horse to a place where riding will not cause direct discomfort and damage to an already stressed body stuck in compensation.

We also understand that not all owners will be happy with hearing that they shouldn't be riding, nor will all of them take our recommendations to heart. There will definitely continue to be instances where they simply call out another fitter who may not see, or choses to ignore, the very clear physical indications of unsoundness. Luckily, we run into many owners who are willing to take the time it needs working with whatever other professionals such as vets, bodyworkers, farriers to help their horses overcome whatever ails them.

The image gives an example of dysfunctional posture/hoof angles.