Equine Manual Therapy

Yup, still got it 🫠

Another week of Equigate founder life reminding me how crap I am at this 😅

No 2 days are the same!

The busier I am the more organised I need to be. Equigate helps me to do the, to reply to your enquiries sooner, keep your (& me!) reminded of when our appointments are, and allows me to send you your reports instantly.

To make an appointment with me you'll need the Equigate app. - it's free for you. And you can message me on there. You'll have your appointments, reports, invoices and can even pay by card over the app.

Drop me a DM for more info if you'd like an appointment.

And if you're a body worker and would like to know more, DM me MORE 🙌

Honestly, I miss the good old days when my neck didn't sound like a glow stick 😅

As we age, our bodies change - strength, range of motion, elasticity of tissue is all affected. Now how our horses bodies age, though we see changes over time, these don't always mirror the way humans bodies change, and ultimately the demands we place on our horses bodies differ too.

I find that during adolescence - 4-7 (ish) is where we see a lot of issues. We are starting to train strength and power into young bodies. The modern sports horse is more hyper mobile - you don't get the paces, the flexibility, the technique that we see in performance horses without an element of hypermobility. Their bodies are super flexible, and they are developing enormous strength, sometimes very quickly. This opens the door for issues. We see compensation/decompensation patterns starting to establish. These patterns start a loading pattern that ultimately can cause one-sidedness, strength asymmetry, and unfortunately then strain related pathology.

Managing these EARLY can be the difference between your horse then developing a lameness issue or not

As they age, we will see evidence of their career showing in their body - Polo ponies have RSI injuries to the hamstrings, upper cervical region and the right fore shows more signs of wear and tear. Any jumping horse will begin to show evidence on concussive fore from landing after every fence through the whole thoracic sling. Managing these with regular body work can help to keep your horse as comfortable as possible and help them perform their best for you.

In later life, as mobility reduces, joint ROM reduces, elasticity of soft tissue reduces and they recover more slowly. Traumatic events, like slips or falls have a more significant impact on your horses body, and take much longer to recover.

I've worked with some of my clients throughout their whole career (I've been in practice for 20 years now) and knowing their patterns and recognising when something has CHANGED is the key to prevention-rather-than-cure.

If you'd like more info about how to work with me, dm me MORE

Answers on a postcard 🙌

I lost 6000 hours of my life to a sh*ty record keeping system. So I build a system that is saving practitioners that’s time and more!

I now split my time between running , running my osteopathy practice, and parenting the tiny dictator (aka Tiggs)

More time that I’d care to admit is spent getting things wrong. So I figured it’s about time I started sharing some of that, in case anyone was under the illusion I had my ducks in a row 😅

The first

To work with a good body worker is the simplest answer.

Hindleg split is what you’re after for the strongest, most elastic balanced canter, but it’s easily affected with any lower back or pelvic dysfunction. This can be structural parietal (musculoskeletal) but it can also be visceral - influenced by the organs of the pelvic room, the diaphragm and abdominal organs. As well as craniosacrally - the poll and the sacrum are on a pulley system. Not to mention the reciprocal system operating the hock and stifle.

A perfectly symmetrical pelvis is unusual to see, we aim for as symmetrical function of the hindquarter as possible. Asymmetrical function shows as one-sidedness, strength asymmetry - drifting to one side over a fence, disuniting in canter, shortened hindlimb strides or shifting the saddle to one side, and complex compensation patterns that affect the whole body

For complete range of motion of the hindlimb your horse needs pelvic and lower back freedom and mobility too. Put your hand on your lower back and try swinging your leg forwards and backwards without moving your back or pelvis. Now try again allowing your back to move - Range and freedom of motion is much bigger.

Regular body work with someone who knows your horse, and their patterns is often the key to better performance, and that elusive better hind leg split.

If you’d like to know more about working with me DM me MORE

Equine osteopathy | Equine body work | Equine osteopathy for performance

I’m so grateful to each and every one of my clients, not only for helping me to improve how I help your horses, but also for how understanding you all are when I need to ask you to switch your appointments around.

Stay legendary 🙌

Three things worth remembering for the next long trip:

→ Big horses need more space than the lorry manufacturer thinks
→ Regular breaks on anything over 4 hours
→ Get there a day early OR book bodywork for the day after arrival

If your horse feels “off” after a long journey DM me. Don’t wait a fortnight to “see if it settles” 🐴