They Don’t Call Them Hay Burners for Nothing! 🔥❄️
Alberta’s deep freeze isn’t letting up this week, with temps still sitting in the -20s to -40s 🥶. When it’s this cold, your horse’s best built-in heater isn’t a blanket—it’s forage! 🌾 Digesting hay generates internal warmth, keeping them comfortable even in extreme cold. That’s why free-choice or frequent feedings are a must in weather like this!
🐴 Winter Horse Care Must-Haves:
✔️ Plenty of Forage – More hay = more heat! Keep that belly working to keep them warm.
✔️ Fresh, Unfrozen Water – Hydration is key for digestion and overall health. Use heated buckets or tank heaters to prevent freezing.
✔️ Salt & Electrolytes – Encourage drinking and prevent dehydration. Even in winter, they need it!
✔️ Shelter & Blanketing (When Needed) – A windbreak, barn, or well-fitted blanket helps protect against the deep freeze, especially for clipped, senior, or hard-keeping horses.
Winter care isn’t just about surviving—it’s about thriving. A warm, well-fed, and comfortable horse is a happy, healthy horse. ❄️💙
Need help keeping your equine athlete, lesson pony, or backyard companion feeling their best this winter? Bodywork supports circulation, mobility, and muscle health all season long! Book a session today.
www.melanielausenequineservices.com
#WinterHorseCare #EquineBodywork #HorseMassage #ColdWeatherHorseCare #HayBurners #HorseOwners #StrathmoreAB #CalgaryEquestrian #SouthernAlbertaHorses #MelanieLausenEquineServices
🐴How to stretch your horses legs out. 🦵
Does your horse rip their legs away from you while trying to stretch them out?
Than this video is for you! 👇
www.melanielausenequineservices.com
Have a horse that CAN have cookies? 🍪
Give this front leg and top line stretch a try!
**It is recommended to perform stretches with your horse post-exercise when their muscles and tissues are warm.
www.melanielausenequineservices.com
‼️SIGNS YOUR HORSE NEEDS BODYWORK‼️
If your horse exhibits any of the signs listed here, it's time to book that appointment!
My September schedule will be out shortly. To book, send me a DM ☑️
www.melanielausenequineservices.com
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Much like a river runs, your horses various body systems are akin to a rivers natural flowing state.
From the nervous system to the muscles, the blood and the lymph, if at any point the horse suffers from an injury or "trauma", any number of these interconnected systems can become blocked... just like a beaver dam blocks a flowing river.
The beaver dam can look like scars, adhesions, spasms, knots, misalignments, compensation patterns or anything that doesn't allow the body's systems to flow.
When these systems are damned up, your horse experiences symptoms such as limited mobility and range of motion, pain behaviours (biting, kicking out, bucking, crow hopping, girthiness), sour mood, etc.
Body work goes after those beaver dams like an excavator would; It opens a large gap for the flow to start again, but doesn't tackle the whole dam.
When we incorporate regular bodywork with stretches, targeted exercises and good nutrition, over time the beaver dam will erode away, and good 'flow' will be restored.
When your horse can use their WHOLE body effectively this will prevent injuries and fatigue, preventing another 'beaver dam' from jamming up the system!
🛠 TOOLS OF THE TRADE 🛠
In my practice, there are a few handy tools that I love to use when working with your horses.
This one I call the "fascia-blaster".
This rolling pin style tool allows me to help with softening adhesions over a larger surface area than I could do with only my hands.
Many horses love it, and I use varying pressures as your horse needs.
What's even better about this tool, is it was only a few bucks at Canadian Tire! 🇨🇦👌
What tool does your horse seem to love most?
#bodyworker #equinebodyworker #eebw #equinology #fascia #fasciablaster #MLequineservices #albertahorses
Every single horse needs Tummy Tucks!☝️
💥Addressing core strength and straightness will be KEY to preventing lameness and increasing mobility, flexibility, impulsion and correctness.
More on this topic to come... stay tuned 👀
Clear and concise communication, coupled with softness in the horse and rider should always be the ultimate goal... I will forever DIE ON THIS HILL!
If you agree, but you aren't quite sure how to get there, join me on March 23, 2024 for my Basic Horsemanship Clinic, where we will unearth a new level of communication between you and your horse.
Location: Lausen's Indoor Arena, south of Strathmore on Highway 817
Date: March 23, 2024, 12-4 pm
Cost: $150
Melanie Lausen Equine Services. Equine Massage-Riding Lessons
