Yasmin Stuart Equine Physio

27/05/2024

"What can I do with my horse?" is a question that I get posed a great deal -

And it's a question that I actually find really difficult to answer - not because I don't have 1001 exercises to target different movement patterns and muscle groups; because I do -

It's because I can set you exercises for your horse, and I can give you the progressive loading patterns, but it's up to you to read your horse's behaviour and body language to determine whether they are ready for it.

Because an exercise is only as good as its application and your horse's perception of the work is only going to be positive if you can unconditionally meet them where they are at.

And this is why I feel SO strongly that everyone should be able to understand behaviour and body language.

This evening Olivia Turner and I will be teaching you exactly that in our live webinar:

What Is Your Horse Trying To Tell You?

27.05.2024 19:00 BST

Recording will be available if you can't make the live.

Link in the comments ❤️✨️

26/05/2024

I am a recovering absolutist.

I used to see the world through absolutes. Two sides of the story, followed by one real truth - that means to say your version of events, followed by what really happened.

My perception, followed by the reality of it.

And this is what I, and many of us are like with horses. The horse's lived experience, the human's lived experience, followed by what science (ergo "best practice") tells us to be true.

Whereas my current beliefs orientate along this line:

Your lived experience - a culmination of nature, nurture and your ego (your self imposed ideologies; your ever changing - or not - narrative)

Your horse's lived experiences, a culmination of nature and nuture. Your perception of your nuture towards them, juxtaposed by what they actually think of it.

Followed by the materials you have available to you to make the best of it.

What does this mean?

We are nothing but our perception of our lived experiences.

And this changes over time depending on our evidence basis. Be it research, cumulative discussion with others, personal development (pick your modality).

The beauty of this is there are so many possibilities. So many paths to Rome.

I can consciously pick my path, much like you can consciously pick yours.

And that is beautiful because there are no absolutes ❤️

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What Is Your Horse Trying To Tell You?

27.05.2024 19:00 BST Olivia Turner and I are hosting a live Train Your Eye session on horse behaviour and body language. Recording will be available if you can't make the live.

Link in the comments ❤️✨️

13/05/2024

"I didn’t know where to start. It was huge to me that Yasmin Stuart came so far then Julie Bradbury too. I think Jessica Crighton’s beautiful photos captured a perfectly acsense of how beautiful it was at heart. A rescue mission... All this started when I failed to attend a clinic because I had a migraine half way through the drive across Scotland was to a clinic. Instead of saying tough.. they made a whole plan to come to us! Hundreds of miles! The dedication to helping us and our horses made me cry tbh. It was utterly surreal. Watching the tension in Spirit melt away whilst getting his treatment on the beach was like a fairytale. Nazraah went from lame to sound in one session with gentle, intuitive treatment. Hope that I can help them to feel well was reignited. It’s been a long winter in my head and heart for some reason and felt like the sun was coming out. In fact it actually did. Lots to think about and apply yet really all so simple. I’m sorry I didn’t post anything till sharing this. I just didn’t know how to put it into words. BTMM really is so powerful the way that it identifies the central nervous system being grounded and at peace is intrinsically linked to the horses ability to move well and promote health which is mirrored in ourselves. All sound a bit crazy I know but it’s powerful magic.. I’ve been struggling to do much with my horses with other stuff going on but I’m holding that feeling so when I do it’s there. 💞Sorry for rambling. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart."

Whilst I couldn't find the words for this trip, Spirit's amazing human, Claire, has captured the entire essence of it in her write up. Thank you so much 🥹❤️

08/05/2024

I've made so many garbled attempts at putting together a post to describe my last trip to Scotland and yet I know I could never do this feeling any justice in writing. So I'm just going to get straight to the point...

Bodyworking horses on the beach in the shadow of Ben Nevis provided my soul with something I just can't describe. I have so much gratitude to the incredible women who made this trip happen, curated the experience with a beautiful little cottage to stay in, wonderful horses to hang out with and plenty of laughter too.

What an absolute honour ❤️

📸 Jessica Crighton Original Art
(It's not lost on me that you were there to capture the experience, Jess! Thank you SO much ❤️)

27/04/2024

Live webinar 29.04.2024 19:00 GMT

Sign up link in comments ❤️✨️

26/04/2024

What will it take to make an actual change? The evidence is showing us unequivically about these things. And yet here we are, having to make a case for the horse.

Over and over again.

"This is not new information"

No, no it isn't.

The importance of hoof balance has been known for decades.

Appropriate biomechanic function has been written about for centuries.

And it does not take a rocket scientist to discern that a horse is having a hard time by looking at their face.

But with all this information that we've apparently known for so long, it's seems like somewhat of a fallacy that many people are still not doing it?

Or they say they are - but their horse tells me they are not.

They say they are riding with careful mind to their horse's biomechanics - yet their horse is still moving it painful dysfunction.

They say they care for consent, and yet 96% of horses exhibit abnormal behaviour when tacking up and mounting.

They say they are aware of hoof ratios and what that means for biomechanics, and yet their horse is still walking around like it might be able to free dive with the flippers permanently attached to their limbs.

Yet people get all excited on social media - because its not new news - and criticise the people platforming this information?

It is sad to me that we needed research to determine that a horse is in pain - but I have benefitted hugely from that research because it means I have an evidence base to convince a sceptical client that their horse is hurting.

I have used research to make a case about why a horse's coronet band trajectory might be informing a horse's suspensory and sacroiliac pain.

I have used studies to highlight how a horse running away from a mounting block is not normal, happy horse behaviour.

So, while we are all out here lambasting reseachers for their hard work, take a long hard look -

Are you walking the walk?

Or are you simply talking the talk?

25/04/2024

It's starting - join LS Horsemanship and I for our conversation on What Everyone Needs to Know About Posture ✨️

22/04/2024

"I need to work my horse harder because they need to get stronger" I phrase that I hear very often - and I don't overtly disagree.

We do want our horses to be strong, to be able to deal with all that life asks of them [or to tolerate what we want to do to them]

But we shouldn't be strengthening them up at the expense of themselves.

And here is where that statement hits a bump in the philosophical road.

You have to expose your horse to stimulus to trigger muscular adaptation, and in doing this you might lose some form in a bid to develop new neural pathways, to continue to attain better movement patterns.

It can't be perfect all the time.

But we do have to be objective that in some situations, we are not training what we think we are training.

We are compounding the sub optimal movement.

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Here are two pictures of Falcon, a couple of months apart. The stances arent 100% the same, the camera angle is slightly different, but for me we are close enough in the stride cycle to draw comparison.

In both photos he is meant to be in a more advanced frame - the pic on the left being an initial attempt, the pic on the right being more established.

In the picture on the left, his withers are higher than his croup. Thoracic sling engagement? Maybe. Though I think his mid thoracic region looks a bit saggy. So maybe not.

There is a dip in front of his wither, and there are brace lines through his neck - this suggests to me he needs more muscle over his topline perhaps? But also that the base of his neck is extended and his upper neck region is tight and compressed.

Then if we look at his hind end - notice how his inside hind is externally rotated. His stifle points out, his hock points in and his hoof steps to the midline and points out. This indicates that he has lost lumbar and hip range of motion - he's robbing the movement from external rotation.

He needs to be stronger, yes. But he also needs more mobility.

In the picture on the right, he has certainly put on condition. He is stronger. The dip in front of his wither has filled in a little. Perhaps his hind quarters look rounder.

But the brace lines in his neck are still there. And his inside hind is still rotated. I've trained the compensation. I have compounded the movement that isn't serving him well.

This, for many horses, is the difference between rehabilitation or not. This is what we need to be paying attention to.

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Join LS Horsemanship and I on our Live on thursday at 19:00 BST where we will be talking about what everyone needs to know about posture.

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Thank you, Falcon, for continuing to deliver me lessons, even from the other side ❤️

13/04/2024

I've typed and retyped words to capture the feeling from this moment, but none of them quite do it justice ❤️✨️

This beautiful spotty guy doing an incredible job of holding the space for his friend who was letting go of her TMJ and pterygoid tension post tooth infection and extraction.

My heart is full - I can't believe this is the life that I get to live ❤️

11/04/2024

Incongruence has been a big theme throughout a lot of my sessions lately -

So many people feeling the weight of expectation they've placed upon themselves to make better choices for their horse, whilst simultaneously feeling the burn of other's eyes - feeling judged for being non-conformist.

Or perhaps they are subconsciously judging themself based upon their own previous values and metrics for success.

Chastising themselves for not "doing more" - even though they know that they can force doing more but that comes at the expense of their horse.

Berating themselves for not "getting there quicker" - even though the clock is metaphorical and the joy comes from being present.

Because when you start to see, you cannot unsee;

The thousands of ways in which we interact with our horses and our horses return the conversation.

Especially pertinent when you are maybe in the minority of people that really see your horse for who they are.

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Just when I think that I've found the final watering hole - the one with all the answers - I look to the horizon and there, in the very distance, I see the glimmer of another.

There are so many possibilities of a fulfulling life and so many possibilities of avenues to venture down in the pursuit of horsemanship -

I often joke that you need a thousand lifetimes to do all of them justice.

But the thing to keep in mind during the pursuit of this is understanding what your personal priorities are.

Priorities can shift over time, throughout growth and progression. And it might mean that you have to make sacrifices in some areas as you head towards mastery in others.

Sometimes your horse's needs will step in the way of your wants.

Sometimes we don't get a choice. And sometimes we do get a choice... but maybe the scales with that choice are biased in a specific direction.

There are many paths to fulfillment - even if the one you end up taking isnt exactly the one you would have chosen.

"In life you must choose your regrets" - Douglas Murray

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I see you.

Your horse sees you.

You've got this ❤️

31/03/2024

I was first introduced to Sure Foot pads back in 2018, having had the opportunity to attend a few Wendy Murdoch clinics in the Netherlands; since then they have become a staple of my tool kit -

Such an incredibly diverse piece of equipment, despite their simplicity(!), I use them to down regulate muscular tone to save my hands, as a means of stripping away compensation to find the seat of muscular disbalance, for proprioception to draw awareness to forgotten areas of fascia and also to shine a light on human disbalance too!

Wendy is coming to Tilefield Equestrian in May to deliver her Sure Foot Stability Programme - this is going to be a fantastic opportunity to learn from her, whether you are a looking to bolster your toolkit as a professional or simply support your horse as an owner.

Note: the pig is optional, but also enjoys the healing vibes! 😂❤️

https://www.facebook.com/events/1514212832469675

26/03/2024

I am still a little lost for words from the past 4 days -

My intention is to platform the things I have learned and continue to learn through my career and through my experience and reflection of having horses, to empower people to really see their horse under all the institutionalised expectations we have for them, and ultimately make evidence and intuition informed choices to support their wellbeing.

The 2 day courses are designed to inform, train eyes and also build connection with other people on the same or similar journeys - it's a lonely old road sometimes and weekends like this make it all feel very possible.

It's then beyond a privilege to observe the people that I work with putting in the work, acknowledging the awful winter we've had, and seeing their horses thriving as a result.

Thank you so much Amanda, for being a fabulous host and facilitator - as always!

I can't believe I get to live this life ❤️

15/03/2024

Yes! ❤️

Your horse doesn’t understand English, Spanish, French, German, Italian.. you name it.

So why is word choice so important?

Because we understand the words we are using and they are directly connected to how we feel about the situation. Word choice is important and tied up with emotion.

So when you are talking to your horse, about your horse, and around your horse. I encourage you to be mindful of the words you are choosing to use and the stories you are telling you, your horse, and those around you about your horse.

➡️Instead of... “He’s just being a baby and being overly sensitive today. He’s fine.”.... try “He’s having a hard time today and needs support.”

➡️Instead of...“She’s such a drama queen. I love her.” (even in jest).. try “She’s very expressive with how she feels, and I appreciate that about her. It helps me understand her better and develop a deeper level of communication and connection with her.”

See how those sound COMPLETELY different and come from such a different place? You horse didn’t understand either of those sentences, but they DO understand how you feel about them and how you are treating them. And word choice impacts those things for us.

This is also why I believe names are so important! WE, humans, understand words and the meaning behind them and act accordingly. Name your horse with the understanding that their name will directly impact how they are treated and thought of by you and everyone around them.

02/03/2024

Movement is medicine.

Except for when it isn't.

I used to believe that because I was training my horse with a set of principles in mind, which were - in theory - platformed around horse health, wellbeing and longevity, I was doing the right thing for them.

But the bigger picture is so much broader than that.

It's a fine balance between what you think your horse needs from a postural standpoint, followed by a key player that is frequently ignored; the time it takes for tissue adaptation:

Bone approx 12 weeks
Muscle approx 8 weeks
Fascia approx 9 months
Hoof health... depends on the environment the hoof is placed in and the trim style.

And that's assuming your horse isn't physiologically challenged in some way - think orthopaedic issues, EMS/PSSM/MIM etc.

(I'm also making the assumption that you're training your horse within their emotional capacity - because many people don't do that either.)

Your training can be aimed at developing the horse physically, but if youre training outside of their tissue tolerance or their posture & hoof balance is bad, you will be overloading certain anatomical structures whilst under recruiting others -

And this is where injury happens.

So for me, if we want to train or ride horses in any capacity - even 'just a hack', we need to understand how they move, what influences their movement and identify changes in movement pattern.

Because if we're insisting that they live in a human world, it's up to us to keep them safe.

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Transform Your Horse's Movement: Gait Assessment & Exercise Programming

I am so excited for my next in person 2 day workshop at Tilefield Equestrian (23/24 March) where we will be taking a deep dive into this!

https://www.tilefieldequestrian.com/product/transform-your-horses-movement-2-day-workshop-with-yasmin-stuart-on-23-24-march/

❤️

29/02/2024

❤️

“Its just normal young horse behaviour” 🐴

I hear this phrase used so much to excuse a horse struggling or stop any further thinking into their behaviour. As long as you just keep plugging away the horse will turn 7 years old and suddenly be relaxed and balanced in their work and it is purely just a young horse “trying it on” because that’s what young horses do, right? Nope. We need to change the narrative that battling through is just something you have to do with a young horse.

I have recently started working with someone who has been really struggling with their young horse, they sought help from a highly recommended professional and have been doing the best they could with the advice they’ve been given. This horse is constantly snatching, tail swishing, hu***ng their back and grinding to a halt going into canter, stopping at tiny fences and doesn’t look sound behind. What is the advice being given? “You just need to keep her head up and ride forward, she’s taking the mick out of you, she knows how to get out of work, you’re ruining her by letting her get away with it.” This horse couldn’t shout any louder, their lovely owner has been trying to listen and that is the professional advice being given to someone seeking help.

What’s even sadder is none of the experienced people around this horse recognised any discomfort, it has been insinuated that the horse just needs a “better/stronger” rider and its somehow the rider’s fault, or they just need to hang in there and ride through this rough patch. If this is what has been normalised how can people learn to be better? I would’ve thought the same in the past, thought the rider was brave for kicking on and the horse just needed to learn. But once you learn the science behind conflict behaviour you can’t unsee it.

When we’re asking horses to do things they’re physically not strong enough to do in a healthy way, its going to cause soreness, possible injury and stress. Imagine you were working out and you have been pushed to your limit, you’re really sore and fatigued but someone forced you to keep going and called you lazy and stubborn. Then they make you do it again the next day when you’re still so sore that you physically can’t keep good form. People are doing this to horses every day. Horses cannot speak but they can communicate, we need to learn to listen.

There is such a lack of education regarding healthy movement and posture that it is common for horses to have a terrible start. Horses out jumping courses when they can’t even reliably walk in a straight line? I used to think that as long as the horse lets a rider on their back then they’re strong enough to carry one. I see things through a very different lense now. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

If your horse is spending most of your session going around hollow, tense and crooked, then you are strengthening those movement patterns and training them to be hollow, tense and crooked. Adding more pressure and battling on through until the horse gives in is not the education you’re being told it is. We need to stay within what the horse is capable of doing and quit when they’re fatigued.

This topic hits very close to home for me. When my own horse Lenny was 6 (he’s now 20), he was explosive and would deck me seemingly without cause almost every time I rode him. I got a vet out who watched him trot up once and used the phrase “I think he’s just a normal bolshy 6yo who knows he can get away with it because you’re too soft”, 2 weeks later I got a different vet and he was actually bi-laterally lame in front and behind, had issues with his spine and had stomach ulcers. Unfortunately in the equine industry many professionals seem to have no knowledge or education on equine behaviour at all. It baffles me. This is so damaging as well-meaning owners are being misled.

If we take the time to learn about behaviour and what healthy movement looks like, we can advocate for our own horses and enable ourselves to choose better professionals to help us. If we have patience, learn to regulate our own emotions and stop listening to people who think our horses are deliberately working against us we’ll all be better off and our horses will be too. 🐴

Here’s a photo of me trying to “work Lenny through it” on the vet’s advice, note the tail swishing, braced neck, falling in and strengthening nothing but his compensatory movement patterns and negative associations with training. ☹️

www.lshorsemanship.co.uk

25/02/2024

You get what you are actually training, not what you THINK you are training.

If your horse practices more time moving in tension, you are training tension.

If your horse practices more time moving in relaxation, you are training relaxation.

If your horse spends more time feeling stressed in a training situation than they do feeling relaxed, you are teaching them that training is stressful.

Even if your intention is relaxation -

If they spend 40 minutes moving in tension, for you to achieve 2 minutes of relaxation at the end of that session...

You have been training your horse to move in tension.

If your horse spends 5 minutes moving in relaxation, to then fall out of that relaxation, for you spend 15 minutes in tension trying to get back to relaxation...

You have been training your horse to move in tension.

You have to set your horse up for success - both emotionally and physically.

And relaxation or compliance, which occurs after your horse has fatigued from spending sustained time in tension, will unlikely be teaching your horse anything meaningful.

Despite what your ego might want, you do not have to end a session on a good note.

Because after all, you get what you train ❤️

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The Fundamentals of Horse Posture:

https://www.yasminstuartequinephysio.com/fundamentals-of-horse-posture

The Fundamentals of Exercise Programming:

https://www.yasminstuartequinephysio.com/fundamentals-of-exercise-programming

22/02/2024

I have seen horses thrive barefoot.

I have seen horses that need a supportive boots/shoeing package to maintain quality of life.

I have seen horses thrive on a grass-free track system.

Equally, I have seen horses flourish when taking them off the track system and into a more 'traditional' management setting which includes grass.

I have seen horses unwind when they are given the opportunity to hang out with conspecifics.

I have seen horses that are so poorly socialised that they need a rehab plan and careful management to help them to feel safe and develop positive associations in a herd-based environment.

I have seen horses that visibly sigh with relief when their exercise schedule is reduced.

I have seen horses breakdown at the reduction of their workload intensity or routine.

I have seen horses graciously carry their terrfied human around a trail ride.

I have seen horses come completely undone at the slightest hint of tension from their rider.

With all the horses I have had the privilege to meet, I have NEVER seen a horse do well out of a one-size-fits-all approach.

Whilst gold standard for horses might look like one collection of traits or variables, gold standard for your horse might not be that for your horse at that particular moment - or ever.

Recognise your horse is an individual, with needs that are founded upon their in-utero, early life and day to day experience.

And surround yourself with professionals that do the same too ❤️

19/02/2024

Train Your Eye

With the intention of never ending empowerment for horse owners and professionals alike, whilst I feel that knowledge is power, I think that knowledge also needs to grow corn(!)

You need to be able to have tangible, applicable skills to be able to apply to your horses.

Last year I paved the way for my online courses - the Fundamentals of Horse Posture & the Fundamentals of Exercise Programming. These were supported by a preliminary 2 day course at Tilefield Equestrian last November where the focus was training your eye to static & dynamic posture, fatigue and gait assessment over prescriptive exercises.

This year I am continuing the theme of Train Your Eye with the following offerings:

Online Live (via Zoom) menu of webinars with some pretty incredible industry specialists - designed to give you tangible skills to take away with you and apply to your horses or the horses you work with - more details coming soon!

An evening talk at Tilefield Equestrian on An Introduction to Exercise Programming on 22 March

A 2 day course at Tilefield Equestrian on 23-24 March - Transform Your Horse's Movement: Gait Assessment, as a follow up to the two day course last year, where we will be taking a deeper dive into gait assessment at walk/trot/canter and the application of in hand exercises to support healthy movement.

A 2 day course on Foundations of Posture and Prescriptive Exercises - to train your eye to static/dynamic posture, assessing fatigue and observing gait patterns over prescriptive exercise at the following venues:

Middlewood Farm in Cheshire on 6-7 April
GB Equestrian in Suffolk on 27-28 April
Brandy House Farm in Wales on 13-14 July

Keep your eyes peeled for event details which will be shared on my page - but please do reach out to register your interest and I can put you in touch with organisers to get your spots secured!

Im so grateful to be able to curate these offerings to support you and your horses - and as always, I am so grateful for your support ❤️✨️

14/02/2024

Beccy's understanding of the hoof is like nothing else I have ever seen - her eye and attention to detail is second to none and I cannot wait to dive into her new online course to pick up even more of the nuance that she sees! ❤️

12/02/2024

"What's the value of 'Yes' if 'No' isn't even an option?"

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Last year, I burned out. I was on the road all the time, I didn't exercise, I didn't nourish myself, I didn't make time for myself.

I started to feel pretty awful - emotionally and physically.

I'd planned to have December off and when that month came around, my goodness the wheels thoroughly fell off. Low mood and then eventually, raging illness.

And I knew that it would be hard, but I had to find a little glimmer of starting to gently rebuild myself and relaying foundations [whilst also promising to never let my self care fall by the wayside again]

I've always been active and I've always trained at the gym and/or practiced yoga and so I wasn't prepared for what I would feel like when I started a bit of yoga again.

I kept the intensity very low, mostly stretch poses on the floor - I wanted to step back into my body, not punish it.

So I was horrified when those very gentle poses made me feel physically sick - I hadn't even raised my heart rate, why was I so nauseous?

I later learned, after some reading, that this is in fact a safety mechanism from the body - when you've been chronically stressed, you're body sees movement patterns outside of the norm as a threat, which results in an upregulation in your sympathetic nervous system.

A stress response to movement.

It took me about 4 weeks of gentle consistency to stop feeling like that. And some days I would stop because I felt too terrible.

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Through a bodywork lens, when you look at a horse and see their respective muscular restrictions and tensional patterns, you can get caught in a cycle of 'doing to' the horse, not 'working with' the horse -

You see the 'lack' or the problem to be fixed, not the fact there is a whole being there who has a fully embodied experience of their tensional patterns.

The patterns that kept them safe and served them exceptionally well until they manifested in chronic strain and overuse.

The temptation (and admittedly the initial training) is to bodywork the horse to get rid of the tension and then this is followed by an expection to put together a programme of exercises to get the horse nice and strong so it doesn't happen again.

What increasingly no longer sits well with me is that when you give out directives for what someone should do with their horse, it can stop the horse from being seen.

They become the list of exercises to tick off, irrespective of how those exercises make them or their body feel.

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Every horse that I work woth teaches me something, but my goodness this horse absolutely deals the lessons in an incredibly beautiful way...

He absolutely commanded to be the curator of his experience and his human was absolutely listening.

This meant that I could say "hey, this is what I would like you to work towards" and it would be integrated into his plan, gently. To his tolerance.

He gets to say Yes and equally, he gets to say No. Both of these are fine.

Likewise from a bodywork perspective, I thought that I was soft and gentle, but he taught me that I can always be softer and more gentle. And equally just because it's soft and gentle doesn't mean it's tolerable.

10 months between the photos and we're just getting started ❤️✨️