My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
Freedom has been off the past week. He’s not lame. At least he’s not off at the walk or the trot. Nope, he looks just fine until you ask him to canter. Then you get a discombobulated mess. And he’s not happy. It’s particularly bad going to the left. I massage him regularly so it […]
Read MoreTo build the muscles that strengthen a horse’s topline, first you have to get the horse to work correctly — to use his back, engage his abdominals, and push from behind and connect with your hand. You can tell when a horse isn’t working correctly by looking at his musculature. If your horse’s underneck is […]
Read MoreSheldon is a good acupuncture patient. He stands quietly while Dr. Carol inserts the needles, letting her insert them deeply (Freedom can’t take that — when he gets acupuncture the needles are only inserted a small amount). Sheldon has absolutely huge releases in the shape of yawns, neck stretches and shakes, and his muscles twitch […]
Read MoreOn Thursday, Sheldon got a treat — an acupuncture session with vet Carol. It’s not that Sheldon has an obvious problem. He’s actually in pretty good shape. But acupuncture can help with inflammation, boost the immune system and just make a horse feel better. I can get some pretty good releases using acupressure points and […]
Read MoreFreedom carries a lot of tension in his poll. I don’t know if it’s because he’s a cribber and the collar bothers him, but he always needs to be released in this area. Here’s a helpful video from Jim Masterson that shows one way to do it.
Read MoreOn Sunday I wrote about the importance of touch and horses. Learning how to touch horses more effectively is easier to learn today than even just a few years ago because there are more “instruction manuals.” Even better, there are videos. Videos are a great way to learn about bodywork because you can see how […]
Read MoreLast week I read a post at Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch that really struck home, Routine Tasks with no Inherent Meaning Diminish the Spirit of the Horse. There’s a lot in the post that I agree with. But it was this paragraph that really resonated with me. It refers to how we can motivate our […]
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