Equisoinsonline

Equisoinsonline Natural care products for horses and other animals, based in France.
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30/10/2024

Two of my favourite horse people and how lovely that someone like Alizée still looks to learn. 🥰

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/yUbenp6nVCQobDbe/?mibextid=WC7FNeA fabulous day of theory and hands on massage for hors...
21/10/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/yUbenp6nVCQobDbe/?mibextid=WC7FNe

A fabulous day of theory and hands on massage for horses was had at L'écurie du Prince, Thermes Magnoac, great enthusiastic participants, both human students and equine models, can't wait for the next one on Acupressure in November, which is full, but watch out for more like this in the future as Kate Lockwood Equi Lot and I share our obsessions 😊

https://youtu.be/5FbJhyCpPR8?si=H2YrSbpUYTEseMBVFor you F***y Trautvetterand anyone else with a "pulley" horse 🐴 Happy w...
28/09/2024

https://youtu.be/5FbJhyCpPR8?si=H2YrSbpUYTEseMBV
For you F***y Trautvetter
and anyone else with a "pulley" horse 🐴 Happy weekend everyone 🥰

While working with a group of people at a clinic, Warwick helps demonstrate how to effectively lead a horse who is "always lunging at grass." If you like the...

06/09/2024
Be prepared for Autumn laminitis.....
20/08/2024

Be prepared for Autumn laminitis.....

Your horse should be kicking up her heels in the cool, crisp autumn air but every year some are struck by laminitis. There are several distinct groups of horses at risk and they all have EMS/…

20/08/2024

Your horse should be kicking up her heels in the cool, crisp autumn air but every year some are struck by laminitis. There are several distinct groups of horses at risk and they all have EMS/…

31/07/2024

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🙂

Another super informative article from Mrs Magic hands aka Kate Lockwood Equi Lothttps://www.facebook.com/share/p/hjynrg...
29/07/2024

Another super informative article from Mrs Magic hands aka Kate Lockwood Equi Lot

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/hjynrgh5dVZu8JB1/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Hello and welcome to another week!
Here is SW France it is going to be very hot the next few days so I will remind you all to look back at the post and video for Large Intestine 11 that we created, the heat release point. This is an essential point for you and your animals in such weather. You will find the post and video pinned at the top of the QiAnimaux page so it is easy to find. 🧡

Today I also wanted to share with you my next instalment of the Anatomy of movement blog. Something to read whilst staying inside in the cool! 🩵

The Anatomy of Movement : Lumbar Spine and Pelvis.

The next section of the horse to discuss is the “Engine Room or Power House” . Your horse’s hind quarters.

Anatomically this is a very complex area. The lumbar spine consists of 6 vertebrae, the sacrum (5 fused vertebrae) and the pelvis (3 fused bones) and the tail up to 23 vertebrae, plus several large strong and powerful muscles, muscular attachments, ligaments and huge fascial connections, not to mention the spinal cord , neurological pathways and meridian channels too! .

The lumbar spine provides attachments for the large, strong muscles and ligaments of the hind quarters and abdomen as well as protection for the internal organs that lie beneath it.
Within this area there are 3 important junctions to consider when thinking about good correct movement of the horse.

The first junction is where the last thoracic vertebrae joins the first lumbar vertebrae (this is called the thoraco-lumbar junction), and is directly behind the back of the saddle. The next junction is the lumbo-sacral junction (where the lumbar spine meets the sacrum) and the third is the sacroiliac junction (where the pelvis meets the sacrum on each side of the pelvis).
It is important to note that there is not a huge amount of movement through the vertebrae of the lumbar spine and even less through the sacroiliac joints (this is for good reason that I will explain later). However correct movement at the afore mentioned junctions is very important to enable the horse to sit, engage and push off with the hind quarters.

The main movement that occurs at the thoraco-lumbar and lumbo-sacral junctions is flexion. This flexion must work in combination with the rest of the spinal movements. As discussed previously the horse functions as a whole and not in separate sections so it is very important that the movement can be fluid throughout the body.

As mentioned in my two previous blogs, when one sits on a horse and we put our “leg on” you want him to be able to “lift up” through the withers. It is this lift (or opening) at the base of the neck (through the cervical-thoracic junction, sternum, thoracic sling and rib cage) that shifts the weight of the horse back to the hind quarters. It is then when you need the junctions in the lumbar spine and pelvis to be able to flex so that the horse can sit, and get his hind leg underneath him and push off the ground.

For the horse to be able to engage the hind quarter and create a push off the ground, be it just in walk, trot, canter or more powerfully to jump, there needs to be enough flexibility combined with stability in this region for this to be able to happen. If there is a lack of flexion and/or restrictions in any of these junctional areas then the horse will not be able to engage the hind quarters correctly.

Some common problems seen in horses who are restricted in these areas include:
Poll and upper neck tension, difficulties in gaining a correct canter lead, maintaining canter, he may start refusing fences or knocking poles down, he may start to buck and he may struggle with suppleness on one rein verses the other.

Why do problems occur in this region?
Just some of the common reasons for finding problems in this region include poorly fitting tack (past or present), misuse of gadgets that tie the horse down in-front not allowing him to use himself correctly (past or present), unbalanced rider (past or present), an accident or injury involving a sliding stop, rotational fall, problems elsewhere in the spine, foot and limb problems/lameness (past or present), and internal problems such as ovarian issues and ulcers (particularly hind gut ulcers).

My horse’s pelvis is “Out” Whilst in the region of the hind quarters I also wanted to discuss an issue that I hear a lot of people talking about and that is sacro-Iliac problems. “My horse’s pelvis is out” is a phrase that I hear very often from clients and I often respond with “where has it gone” but that is just my sense of humour!. I believe that there is a lot of misunderstanding about this area and how it functions but more importantly how it can be injured.

The Sacroiliac joint attaches the pelvis to the spine and is a very strong joint. The horse’s spine runs through the top of the pelvis, where the wedge shaped sacrum (5 fused vertebrae) is strongly attached to the pelvis at the sacroiliac joint (on either side of the pelvis).

The Sacroiliac joint functions to transfer the stresses of the hind limbs as they push off the ground, through to the spine and body and to support the weight of the horse’s torso. It is for this reason that this is a fairly immovable joint and needs to be very strong.

The mechanics of this joint (or joints) are that you will find only one to two degrees of movement here and this is dependent on the relative position of the horse’s pelvis. When the pelvis is tucked under there is slightly more movement at the joint compared to when it is a neutral position where it is quite rigid. Without this rigidity the horse would have no basis for support through the hind quarters and would find it impossible to use his pelvis as the strong power house to push off from. Just to help you imagine the kind of stability needed at this joint if you imagine standing on one leg, then bending the knee of the leg you are standing on and try to jump up… this can be done if you have good stability and strength through your ankle joint, if your ankle joint was hyper-mobile and wobbly you would struggle to perform this movement. The same principle applies to the sacroiliac joint of the horse.

So by nature of this stability and enormous strength in the attaching ligaments it is (in my opinion) very difficult to get a “true” sacroiliac injury. To get a “true” sacroiliac injury you need a huge amount of force to have been put through the joint..for example a high speed fall or particularly high speed rotational fall. The two main injuries that can occur at the sacroiliac joint are minor sprains and arthritis. As with any joint, it is possible to sprain or over-stretch the joint and its supporting ligaments. When a ligament is stretched past its potential length some degree of tearing will occur. In the case of the Sacroiliac joint this is usually only tiny micro tears (due to the huge strength the connecting ligaments have), the joint has never been known to rupture or dislocate. These tears are initially inflamed and painful taking from one to six weeks to heal.
Arthritis or degenerative changes are also fairly common in the sacroiliac joint, both following an injury and in the aged horse with no history of sacroiliac injury. Arthritic changes will occur in a joint if abnormal stress is paced on it. If the stresses placed on a joint are greater than the cartilage’s ability to withstand stress then damage will occur. If this process continues the joint begins to break down.

Remembering that I have just told you that we have very little movement at this sacroiliac joint (the joint that connects the pelvis to the spine) how then is it possible to observe a visual asymmetry or rotation of the pelvis (where one side appears higher or lower than the other)? and for the pelvis to be “out”?
Given that the pelvis is a relatively fixed object attached to a relatively flexible structure (the spine) if you have a rotation through the flexible structure by nature of the mechanics any structure fixed to it will also move/rotate. Therefore if you have a rotation further up the spine ie: through the thoracic or lumbar spine you can often see a pelvis rotation, but generally it is not the pelvis that is causing it. In most cases the problem is further up the spine and until this is resolved the pelvic rotation will continue. This rotation is sustained or held in place by the powerful pull of the large back and pelvic muscles. This occurs in an attempt to alleviate pain following an initial injury. You then enter into a pain-spasm-pain cycle and each time the cycle repeats the muscles get tighter, further affecting the function of the sacroiliac joint, pelvis and spine. In summary, the initial sprain leads to a pelvic rotation, which leads to a loss of function. The horse then has to compensate for this rotation at the pelvis, placing abnormal stresses on a whole new set of joints, muscles, ligaments and fascia and causing further problems.

I hope that this highlights why it is very important to always examine, observe and treat the whole horse. As mentioned before the horse functions as a whole and due to the nature of his spinal mechanics, muscular and fascial makeup, very often the problem actually causing the issues is far away from the observed changes.

Remember your first port of call if you are concerned about your horse’s health or soundness is always your Veterinarian.

Interesting and excellent thoughts on the sad revelations from the video of Charlotte's training, let's hope it starts p...
25/07/2024

Interesting and excellent thoughts on the sad revelations from the video of Charlotte's training, let's hope it starts people thinking

So, when Charlotte (Dujardin) was in London 2012 Olympics with Valegro, she got my attention. Because Valegro was the first competitive dressage horse I personally saw in recent memory, in recent records, compete and win without an abundance of overtly obvious calming signals and signs of stress. Valegro did show stress, lots and lots of it. But in an environment to his left and right, horses showed stressx100000, and he showed stressx100, he appeared relaxed by comparison. Not relaxed according to what I prefer and try to practice. Putting myself in the shoes of an other, I saw an exception in Charlotte then. I do not see an exception in her now.

So she got my attention.

In subsequent years, when Valegro (Blueberry) retired and I saw her riding of other horses, it became clear to me that Valegro might have been an exceptional animal and an anomaly, and then digging a little deeper into personal research, I tried to find quotes from Charlotte herself talking about her champion horse.

A person always tells you exactly who they are, if we believe them.

I heard a rumor, that Charlotte described Valegro as "Hard Mouthed". I am not sure if that is true. Because much of their press is glossy and idolised. Like this article, still on the FEI website, attributing Charlotte and Valegro to inspiring a whole new generation of dressage riders. https://www.fei.org/stories/sport/dressage/5-things-learn-charlotte-dujardin-valegro

So if a Gold Medallist is describing her champion horse as Hard Mouthed, what does this mean for the training process that horse went through when nobody was watching? I guessed, wildly speculated for myself, that Valegro might be a horse who tolerated more pressure, than perhaps other horses would. Perhaps a horse who was predisposed to working under an enormous amount of compression, without feeling emotionally off-kilter about it. And was therefore able to demonstrate high level competitive riding with her, without an abundance of signs of stress (not no stress at all, just drastically less than is typically seen in those contexts). And actually win. Valegro actually looked... sort of happy... with her. By comparison to the horses around them.

But in subsequent years watching her ride Pumpkin and others, I personally did not like what I saw. I saw too much of the modern, Continental Euro-Dressage culture in the horses body. I felt quietly she needed to listen more to Carl Hester, and less to the Continental Hyper-Mobile style that is so rewarded now across the board.

So in recent years I waned my interest in Charlotte, after initially feeling pleasantly surprised at how much I found an affiliate image in her public body of work that I felt I could... maybe, just maybe, enjoy watching and supporting.

Charlotte is currently under-going the effects of Cancel Culture. Cancel Culture is something I would like to cancel. Let us not throw the baby out with the bath water. Here is a competitor who demonstrated at the Olympics that once in a blue moon, 1 horse in a million could compete -and win-with a drastically minimised output of overt signs of stress. Charlotte showed that to us. She also popularised and brought into fashion the era of helmets in competitive riding. Before that, it was all tuxedo's and top hats. And now helmets are popular and normalised at upper levels. She was the first to really popularise that. She, together with Carl, also used her enormous platform to advocate for the ample turn out of their horses. They even hack their top horses on country roads. At a time when some competitors horses never saw light of day, or had a chance to roll in a field, or play with their buddies, this person was returning from world championships, and instead of posting a photo of her ribbons and trophies, would post of video of turning the champion horse out in a field with their buddies.

And then we see a video of her abusing a horse with a whip. In my opinion, the video is egregious. Her actions in the video are horrific. They appear well practiced. They appear to be perfunctory, like she had done them before. There is NO EXCUSE for what she did. It is bonafide abuse.

But there are explanations why. And understanding WHY is crucial for us right now if we are to avoid the pitfall before us. The pitfall of making camps on the left and right, while we hurl abuse at each other. Let us have enough self restraint to pump the breaks on our outrage, and understand why. We must, if we are to use this moment as a crucial turning point in the development of horse welfare.

I have made mistakes with horses. So have you, yes you. I have done things with horses out of frustration. So have you. Nobody is immune to that. All of us have sinned. But I have never whipped a horse like was shown in the surfaced video. I have never done that. To the laughter of those filming? Sickening. And the inaction of the rider. And the entitlement of Charlotte.

And yet, I do not agree that now is the time to cancel Charlotte.

It would not occur to me to blame the victim. The timing is perhaps suspect to speculation. But perhaps the timing has nothing to do with it. I know what it is like to wait years, 10 years in fact, to blow the whistle on my abusers. I have abusers who I am still waiting for the right time to blow my whistle on them. Now is not the time. I waited for a time when the groundswell of support was such that I could blow the whistle and not stand alone. Perhaps Charlottes whistle blower waited until they had enough support around them, so they COULD be brave. I do not know. But we must not make this about the whistleblower that is the lowest hanging fruit here today.

Let us make this about WHY the top competitor in our industry, so completely failed. Why we cannot sanction almost any competitive riding in 2024 through an ethics lens? And why we need to stop cancelling peoples mistakes, and instead learn from them. So we never-ever- repeat them.

Two things can be true at the same time.

Someone can be abusing horses. And in the same breathe, make great choices for them. It is the human-problem. We have a heavy, clever, abstract brain that needs another 50 millions years of evolution to refine this new bio-computer and de-bug some of its glitches. The human brains most common glitch in my opinion, is the glitch of incongruence. Say one thing. Do one thing. Next minute contradict that entirely. It is almost like somebody left the paddock gate open in the human psyche and all the horses got out. Running chaos across the road. It is the reason why we so wholly engage in acts of abuse, torture, murder and systematic annihilation of others. Just like cancel culture is the annihilation of others we abhor, the same way abusive horse training is the annihilation of the horses well-being in real time. Be careful, outraged or not we may be, be careful to track the threads of aggression and hostility through our bodies, lest we make hypocrites of ourselves.

To use hostility and aggression and lack of listening to others and lack of compassion of others to cancel another, is the same human trait of lack of listening, hostility, aggression and lack of compassion shown to the horse in Charlotte's scandal. To weaponise the same weapons of the person we cancel... is by definition incongruent. The best way to no longer sanction the sort of abuse Charlotte engaged in, is to eliminate those same urgings from ourselves... wherever they show up. Yes- even when directed at Charlotte.

The human brains most common glitch in my opinion, is the glitch of incongruence. Our brains have not fully re-connected recent complex brain developments into our body, our ancient wisdoms, our empathy and our kindness.

I mean, we can. But it takes a Herculean effort to do so. In order to live a congruent life, one must be actively anti-social to the mainstream. Because mainstream living requires incongruence to fit in, survive and be successful.

Charlotte, like tens of thousands of top equine professionals, is part of this problem. Stuck in a system where she must force performance, force compliance, by any egregious means necessary, so that she can maintain her safety, her success, her image and her acceptance. Imagine being an Olympic Gold Medallist, training someone elses "lesser" horse, and the horse is not doing it the way your Valegro did it for you. Imagine doing that in front of an audience.

"I saw Charlotte at a clinic and actually, she couldn't get the results. It must be Valegro, not her"

Such nasty phrases are common place and directed everyday to all trainers, everywhere. Trainers are under enormous pressures to prove not only competency, but competency RIGHT NOW, and the means necessary are not important. This is a dynamic I work hard everyday to counter. It is so hard to do.

If we cancel Charlotte now we risk the following
1. Not learning from this. WHY did the TOP COMPETITOR in that industry still fail at horse ethics 101. If she is failing, we all are.
2. We risk covering up the positive impact she did make towards helmet culture, turn out culture and showcasing, 12 years ago, a relaxed horse. Even if he was one in a million. She still showcased that.
3. We lose an opportunity to understand the popular culture of training and how we need to double our efforts to reform it.

We actually need new parameters of competency. New parameters of success. We don't need to cancel Charlotte. She will get what is coming for her.

Cancel Culture in my opinion is the epitome of a diversion tactic. It is also hostile, and aggressive. And eye for an eye and we are all blind. Someone grappling with their own conscience in what they did or are currently doing to horses, can redirect their internal turmoil onto another and heap their own self loathing onto a scapegoat. They get an adrenal hit out of it. They feel better about themselves. The Germans call it "Schadenfreude" direct translation is Crappyfriend, or happiness at the misfortune of others. It is a toxic trait in my opinion to cancel an other.

We cannot talk a storyline of holding space for misbehaving horses, for troubled horses, if we cannot hold space for misbehaving and troubled people.

I see someone like Charlotte whipping a horse the way she did and I want to throw up, but I also acknowledge how troubled she must be. Troubled and damaged, before, during and after the abuse. not an excuse, I hold no sympathy for her. But damn, how damaged must someone be, to do what she did. How damaged must someone be to believe they can cancel another. Deny their existence, like a death. The same way horses are denied their existence.

Be careful, outraged or not, to track aggression patterns through our bodies and stop them in their tracks.

I have been saying for months:
"S**t is going to hit the fan this Olympics. We need to be ready to catch the people who are abandoning ship"

Olympics hasn't even started yet, and here we are. S**t-fan-ship.

I have just published this on Kate Lockwood Equi Lot and my page QiAnimaux as an interesting story of holistic help for ...
20/07/2024

I have just published this on Kate Lockwood Equi Lot and my page QiAnimaux as an interesting story of holistic help for two horses with Cushings, it may be of interest to some of you....

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/eJbxVSNjyuLZkpLv/

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/4NHS3RRPWBo2CuQL/?mibextid=WC7FNe
19/07/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/4NHS3RRPWBo2CuQL/?mibextid=WC7FNe

The Anatomy of Movement - Thinking about the "Whole" Horse.

How does my horse work from the inside out? Why is it important to have a basic understanding of how my horse works biomechanically? How will this affect my riding or should I say how does my riding affect this? What can I do to help improve the way my horse moves?

Over the next couple of blogs I am going to explore these thoughts …. I will break it up into “bite size” pieces because there will be a lot to take in …. (and I don’t want you all to fall asleep!)…

As an Osteopath I follow a philosophy that embraces the idea of the unity of structure and function through four main principles.

Body is a unit, and the person (or animal) represents a combination of body, mind and spirit.
The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing and health maintenance.
Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.
Rational treatment is based on an understanding of these principles: body unity, self-regulation, and the interrelationship of structure and function.

Whilst these principles were initially taught during my human training they can certainly be applied to working with horses too.

There is a lot of talk these days on working in a more holistic manner with our horses and more and more emphasis is being placed on understanding the horses mind, gaining an incite into how the horse thinks, how the horse performs and how we can influence it.

What I want to talk about here is how what we do with our horses affects their body and their mind. Increasing our understanding that the body functions as a “whole” and everything within it is influenced and interrelated to everything else.

Animals, like us, have bodies which are dynamic and ever changing. The body is constantly at work as it has an inherent capacity to defend and repair itself.

Movement of bodily fluids (ie: blood and lymph etc) is essential to the maintenance of health. These fluids are pumped around the body with the assistance of muscles. Therefore one of the biggest things we can do, not only to help ourselves but to help maintain health in our animals is movement!

As I have just mentioned I always look at the horse as a “whole” taking into consideration not only what I hear from an owner in a history about the horse (which can give me an incite into mental as well as physical health), but what I see during an active examination and what I feel during a physical examination.

However in order to make things a little easier for you to digest I am going to break up the horse into bite size sections….ultimately linking everything together in the last blog…the first of my “bite size” pieces for you with regards to understanding biomechanics of the horse is to start with the head, poll and neck.

The head, poll and neck contain probably one of the most important group of structures of the horse and ensuring that these areas are free from dysfunction is absolutely key to the way the rest of the horse will function (in my opinion).

The head and poll contains not only a large quantity of small muscles and muscular and fascial attachments but also importantly a huge network of nerves. Within these nerve pathways you have motor nerves that control movement and autonomic nerves that control bodily functions (breathing heart rate, sweating, fight or flight responses etc).
In the poll (which is the area where the spinal cord leaves the brain) and around the TMJ (the joint where the top and bottom jaw meet) you also have a huge concentration of proprioceptive nerves. These nerves are responsible for telling the brain where the body (and various parts of the body) are in space, they are also responsible for balance and co-ordination. Therefore tension in the muscles around these areas can put pressure on these nerves disrupting the neural pathways and sending confused signals to the brain. Thus you can end up with a horse who may exhibit signs such as struggling to engage the hind quarter, perhaps is disunited in the canter, lacks balance, is reluctant to go forwards, starts to exhibit behavioural changes, reluctant to jump, bucking…amongst other things.

Very closely linked to the functioning of this area is the hyoid apparatus. The hyoid apparatus is a U shaped bony structure located under the horses jaw. This apparatus has huge significance in your horses well being and performance and is often overlooked. The hyoid bone “floats” in muscular, ligamentous and fascial attachments. It does not have a direct bony attachment to the rest of the skeleton and yet links the head and neck to the forelimbs and sternum, which in turn are directly linked to the thoracic cage, thoracic spine, lumbar spine and pelvis - thus linking the head and neck to the rest of the body.

There are over 20 muscles that are attached to the hyoid but for me one of the most fascinating is the connection from the base of the tongue via the hyoid to the forelimb! Yes your horses tongue is connected to his forelimb!!. The hyoid apparatus therefore plays a vital role in how well your whole horse functions. Tension coming from the top of the neck that puts stress on the hyoid will affect the freedom of movement of the shoulder and forelimb. The same will happen in reverse, a horse that is tight/sore through its shoulder and forelimb will cause tension to travel up and into the hyoid apparatus.

I see a lot of horses with head shaking and other associated behaviours, nearly all of these horses I find have imbalances in the hyoid apparatus and tension in the head/jaw/poll and upper neck.

Why might my horse have tension in the head, poll, jaw or neck region?

There are many reasons that this may occur in your horse and they include:
Poor fitting tack (bridle, bit, saddle, girth etc)
Poor foot balance (incorrect trimming or shoeing) or sore feet
Incorrect training methods (hyperflexion, flat and hollow frame, weak core and postural muscles)
Teeth problems (or even just a recent visit from the dentist)
Digestive problems (ulcers etc)
Tension through other areas of the body
Rider imbalances

Symptoms might my horse show if he has tension in these areas include:
Behavioural changes (starting from just grumpiness through to bucking and rearing - he is likely have a headache)
Lack of hind quarter engagement
Difficulty striking and maintaining a correct canter lead
Head shaking
Lack of forwardness
Lack of co-ordination or balance
Preference and ease of working on one rein to another

What can we do to address these problems?
Certainly you can start by running a check through all the points listed above as to possible causes of the tension and talk to and involve your team of experts such as vet, farrier, dentist, trainer and physical therapist where necessary.
Having an osteopathic consultation during which I can help you, together with your team, work out what the primary and secondary causes of tension though out the body are. Then by taking a holistic approach to treatment and management, I can then offer a treatment plan to address these issues, prevent them from reoccurring and give you guidance on home management.

Thank you for reading - Kate Lockwood

My next blog will move onto the importance of the ribcage, thoracic spine and CORE muscles.

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