Airmid Equine Bodyworks

11/03/2024

Movement is key to the horse’s comfort and a healthy musculoskeletal, and fascial system.

11/01/2024

From the horse’s mouth... actually the horse’s tongue

After my recent post regarding fitting a bit to the individual horses mouth, it has become clear that horse riders don’t understand the horse’s tongue. At all. The horse’s tongue is the key to everything. It can tell you what a horse is feeling and thinking, it can tell you how true a horse’s carriage is or can reveal tension that is limiting their performance.

The horse’s tongue is a huge bunch of muscle, like way bigger than you think. The last tooth is about level with the horse’s eye, and the tongue goes even further back than that. Just behind the bit, the tongue doubles in height to completely fill the mouth. The tongue connects, via a long line of interconnected muscles, all the way back to the hind legs. What happens with the horse’s tongue DIRECTLY affects the horse’s ability to use his hind legs.

Yet many many riders consider the tongue a nuisance and tie it away. Using drop nosebands, flashes, grackles, micklems, “anatomical” nosebands, cranks etc. Some use spoon bits (remember the tongue doubles in height behind the bit), while others actually tie the tongue down! You are missing a vital source of information that the horse is eager to give!

Why does a horse stick it’s tongue out? It is NOT bad manners and it is not a bit evasion, it’s a cry for help. When the tongue is in the mouth, it is short and fat. Any sharp points on the teeth can cause pain, and pressure from the bit is amplified. The horse’s immediate reaction is to stick their tongue out. This makes the tongue long and thin, reducing the pressure from the bit and any sharp teeth. If this is prevented using nosebands, even loose ones (if it’s below the level of the bit, it’s a problem, loose or not, consider leverage distance to the temparomandibular joint) then the horse will resort to pulling their tongue back by tensing it or even putting the tongue over the bit. A drop noseband will not stop this happening, you just can’t see it happening anymore.

When the tongue is pulled back, it causes tension all the way down the neck, along the back and into the hind legs. If the tongue is over the bit, the bit lies directly on the bars. The bars are knife-edge-sharp bone with a very thin layer of gum over the top. When the bit directly contacts the bars it is extremely painful and horses will react very strongly, sometimes rearing or ditching the rider. This is not naughty behaviour, it is pain. The horse is creating pain trying to avoid pain, they can’t win and they can’t vocalise this. No matter how hard they try.

Tension in the tongue isn’t only caused by poorly managed teeth and poorly fitted bits however. The outline a horse is worked in also affects the tongue’s tension. Tuck your chin up and in, feel how large your tongue feels. Hold it there for a while and the back of your tongue will begin to ache. Now open your mouth and stick your tongue out. Sure it’s not comfortable, but it’s a relief from that tension. This happens in the horse too, but on a much larger scale. Anything that makes the horse carry itself like this (over bent, nose behind the vertical) will cause tongue issues. Whether that be poor riding, back pain or subtle hind limb lameness. This reaction is not limited to a bit, an overbent horse in a bitless bridle will still have a restricted tongue as soon as the head moves behind the vertical. Looking at it the other way around, most have heard of bridle lameness, this is when the tension in the tongue actually causes a visible lameness.

There is a reason why having the tongue out is seen as a bad thing in dressage, and it’s not because it’s bad manners. It’s because it highlights tension or poor training. The lazy solution seems to be, tie the mouth shut. Personally I believe all nosebands below the bit should be banned for dressage and 2 fingers should comfortably be placed under the bridge of the nose of a cavesson. That would sort the wheat from the chaff.

To summarise, make sure your horse’s teeth have been checked by a qualified EDT or dental trained vet, make sure your bit fits the anatomy of your individual horse, ride with a loose noseband that does not sit below the bit, make sure your horse is working correctly over their top line, truly engaged and swinging over their backs. Then your horse will not feel the need to stick their tongues out.

As a side note, the tongue is a symptom and not a problem in itself. Do not allow anyone to mess with your horse’s tongue. The trend of releasing the Hyoid apparatus using the tongue is not only dangerous but a load of BS. Do not fall for it.

Always remember, dentistry is basic care NOT a luxury.

08/09/2024

Alright Airmid peeps, I am looking for suggestions and volunteers to have their horse bodywork done as a presentation. Here is the background. Airmid has been invited to have a booth at the new Wellness centre of the New Brunswick Provincial Exhibition. I am looking for any photos or videos taken during bodywork sessions. If anyone is planning to be at the Ex with a horse, it would nice to do a session as a presentation. So, hit me with your ideas. Please.

07/29/2024

We have had a busy season this year competing as well as bodywork. A few days rest then back to it.

07/05/2024

07/05/2024

Equine massage therapy and vertebral realignment services, including kinesiology taping, specializing

04/29/2024

So easy for anyone to do. Please follow this bodyworker if you, like me, wish to continue to learn and help horses.

04/18/2024

Full treatment of racehorse with Christian, explaining treatment and magnesium supplements & answering live questions.

04/11/2024

When we look at diet both in the human and equine world it is a minefield
Feed for top line
Feed for laminitis
Feed for healthy gut
Balancers, supplements, and a whole array of other stuff

If you put a white coat on and sit at a desk on social media you become an expert (I kid you not I just watched a man telling all us ladies that menopause is caused by fat blocking our fallopian tubes🤔) and while this may seem ridiculous, the food and supplements industry across all species is huge

I do not give Feed advice because in simple terms I am not qualified to and while I know what works putting a nutriionist hat on however helpful I may think I am being is outside my lane and as always for me to err on the side of caution often is better than giving out advice which maybe wrong

But I am going to talk about my personal opinion and what I see in day to day

It's simply it's often not only what they eat but also it's the state of mind that decides where and how those nutrional benefits are rewarded

Stress is one of the biggest issues with horses wether it be through pain, perceived pain, injury, illness or environment
You could Feed the most expensive Feed to build topline but posture, pain and stress dictates shape so if you have an ill fitting saddle then no matter how much you feed the muscle it will not be able to build while the brain is stuck in pain

The digestive system is complicated dictated by the AUTNOMIC and ENTERIC system which is involuntary so while we can regulate our breath to kick in a system we like the horse are a slave to outside enviroment affecting internal workings, I mean how many of you are internal worriers yet simply all those ice baths you take only relieve that internal worry for a short time, it's your nature which in a moment of crisis will always take over

I often work on horses and the first thing the owners notice is their horse is putting on weight, it's the first sign and a good sign to me that the stressors that were in place before have lessened

Horses often do not have one huge stress factor but by merely being in our world they can build up small micro stresses from the outside in and it's upto us to notice and limit as much of these as possible

Again this is my opinion (and I do not wear a white coat 😀) but we must ask ourselves if our horses are not utilising the nutrients they are in taking correctly then what is going on with either them or their world that is causing the imbalance

03/22/2024

Jazz show. Check out Kayla Summer(kaylita.sg) LIVE videos on TikTok! Watch, follow, and discover the latest content from Kayla Summer(kaylita.sg).

03/12/2024

Looking forward to the Bodyworks stretching clinic at Elite Equestrian this coming Saturday.

Yoga and carrots are a horse's best friend!

03/10/2024