Pause or a moment and try something with me...
I want you to close your eyes, focus your mind on what you love about your horse, and take 10 deep breaths, then come back here.
What do you see?
Read More
Big news! Two of my online courses are now approved by the National Board of Certification for Animal Acupressure and Massage (NBCAAM) for continuing education hours!
The Kissing Spine Masterclass is approved for both skills and general hours
and
The Equine Dental Connection is approved for general hours
Read More
I’ve heard it time and time again…
“That’s just their conformation”
“Once their back drops that’s just how it is”
“There’s nothing we can do”
I’ve heard it so many times that I started to believe it myself.
Read More
I probably don’t say this enough…
But the truth is rehab is HARD.
Caregiver burden is real and it’s valid and it can destroy relationships if you don’t make sure to take care of yourself, too.
Your friends are going on a trail ride and you can’t go, so your social life suffers.
The changes are often small and slow, it’s hard to see and feel the progress to stay motivated.
Read More
Here we’re going to stick with our side view and the same horses from Part 1, but we’re going to focus our eyes specifically on the spine.
The spine is the (hopefully) stable base off which everything else moves, so dysfunction in the spine can have far-reaching consequences in movement and posture.
Therefore, having the ability to quickly screen for spine dysfunction is super handy!
Once again, this is not diagnostic, dysfunction here can happen for many reasons. This is big picture stuff that might key you in that a horse needs an evaluation from a professional.
Read More
I was chatting with some old friends the other day and they said something that really hit me -
“We just can’t see what you see”
When I post before and afters, they have no reference point and they can’t always see the changes. Which is before? Which is after? And if they can see differences, which differences are “good differences?”
I do not think they’re alone! Actually, I know they’re not alone.
Read More
DIMINISHED INCLINATION and why it needs to be the first thing you check for if your horse has TMJ dysfunction.
This is a before and after from some top notch work from equine dentist Suzzi Peeler today.
We’ve been looking for a diminished inclination example to add to our online course The Equine Dental Connection and today was the day!
This guy was kept up to date on dentals, but unfortunately as sharp points were taken down, the normal angles of the molars were not restored by the practitioner.
Read More
Recently someone took a before and after photo collage I shared of Malachi, a horse in my care for rehabilitation, and posted it in a Facebook conformation evaluation group. The poster was questioning my integrity, suggesting these results were not possible and the photos or the way I took them must have been manipulated to achieve the results I was claiming - and ultimately the comments got turned off…
That’s a normal thing nowadays but honestly it was disappointing because some nice discussions were starting to happen around the differences between conformation and posture and what is actually possible in rehabilitation.
Read More
Usually people are saying this in the context of emotions
and I think that part is true, too -
but my example today speaks to the physical body and how our own physical imbalances are so often mirrored by our horse’s imbalances.
The question becomes - which came first? Is our horse our mirror or are we our horse’s mirror? And we don’t always know. Chicken and egg.
Read More
So an interesting thing happened tonight.
Someone took my Malachi before and after from the other day and stuck it in a conformation group to talk about why my photos weren’t good comparisons and to express doubt about the truthfulness of my claims or how this could be possible.
The word used was “gimmicky”
Read More