Exercise Rehabilitation might sound like a scary phrase (!) especially when we are doing post injury rehab, BUT we can use exercise rehabilitation in all sorts of positive ways, for all sorts of issues whether injury related or not, and we can use it in the 'improvement' phase too which is where I work a lot...posture and movement improvement is my piece! 

So we can think of exercise rehabilitation as a way of getting from A to B so to speak, with our horses. And it's all about planning,...

Massage is part of my treatment sessions for the horses that I work with, alongside other techniques (I'm qualified in a number of modalities!) and it’s the part that horses really do enjoy!

I tailor my sessions based on what the horse needs on that day, whether they are on box rest, a senior horse, whether it’s an injury treatment session or rehabilitation work, or a competition horse or happy hacker!

But generally I use massage within sessions a lot! And always find that the...

Did you know that your horse is either left or right handed? All horses are 'one sided', crooked, stiffer on one rein, whatever we want to call it...they are all crooked to one degree or another. And it affects the whole body unfortunately.

One sidedness is present in our horses bodies throughout their life, and it means that they can do movements in one direction better than the other. They prefer to take their weight on one hindlimb/diagonal pair more than the opposite hindlimb/diagonal...

'Poor posture' in the horse is a term that is used quite frequently these days, which is a good thing in my opinion! The more we talk about it, the more horse owners can learn about it, what it means for the horse, how to spot it, and most importantly what to do about it for the horse. 

The horses posture is a part of my work that I'm constantly looking at, assessing, adjusting work plans, rehab plans etc, to get the best results for the horse in terms of postural improvement, comfort...

Developing Correct Movement in the horse Part 9: Linking to ridden work

The final lesson in this series, is how all of the movement improvement work discussed so far in this series links to ridden work!

If we consider the horses natural state, we already know that horses are crooked in body, limbs and therefore their movement, and potentially have poor posture (gravitational pull is just one reason!). So already they have some significant disadvantages within exercise, and these are...

Developing Correct Movement Training Series Part 8: Developing symmetry in the horse 

Developing symmetry in the horses body and movement isn’t a quick or straight forward thing, it’s long term training work. If you’re continually coming back to the same point...your horse is crooked, struggling on one rein, can’t maintain straightness, struggling with certain movements...and none of this improves, then the issue is deeper in the body/limbs, and your current...

7. Developing bend  

I have talked about natural crookedness in some of the previous posts in this series, and the horses crookedness pattern links to bend too. Your horse will be able to bend more easily in one direction than the other, and this is part of their natural crookedness pattern affecting body and limbs. 

In the crooked horse, if they are heavy on the forehand, and their body and limbs puts them into bend in one direction and unable to bend in the opposite...

Developing Correct Movement, Training Series Part 6: Training the hindlimbs 

The natural crookedness pattern in the horse makes them effectively left or right handed. So we have uneven weight bearing and movement as a natural pattern in their body from day 1 of their life. 

So in training / rehab we need to work on our horses symmetrical use of their body and limbs within movement, to develop both strength AND flexibility into the horses body and limbs. The crookedness pattern...

Developing Correct Movement, Training Series Part 5: Moving on from long and low

If you haven't yet read parts 1-4 in this series, you can read them on the blog, this is a series that works together! 

In the earlier posts in this series, I have discussed why 'long and low' posture is important to develop, and then once we have improved that part of the horses movement, how to then see if your horse is now on the forehand...the next layer of training! 

So once we have...