Emma Barber Healing Hands Veterinary Physiotherapy

14/12/2024

So cosy 🥰

14/12/2024

Studies have shown that the horse has a thinner epidermis packed with nerve receptors!

11/12/2024

In hand work today with Pip 🦄

In hand and groundwork are both hugely beneficial techniques for horses of all ages!

It can be used to teach about the bit contact from the ground before moving to ridden work, can start training for lateral work , can help develop correct movement and posture and importantly can develop the horse human relationship and connection.

If you’d like to know more about how these techniques can help your horse, just get in touch!

01/12/2024

30/11/2024

Had a lovely day at The Horsemanship Showcase! Met up with clients Deb, Katie and Alethea, got to watch horseback archery (must have a go at this!), Lee Rutter (western demo), Ben Atkinson (liberty work), Sean Coleman (working on the canter), and Warwick Schiller (attuned horseman). Along with shopping and catching up with colleagues!

Lots to think about and lots of ideas for things that will fit in with the current services I offer, especially the groundwork and horse human connection work.

www.emmabarber-vetphysio.co.uk

27/11/2024

Sollie settling down for the night with his buddy Simba 🐱

20/11/2024

👏🏼

You get what you train.

And that is with respect to the muscle groups you target, the emotions you practice and the nervous system state you operate from.

If you practice sitting hunched at your desk like a shrimp, you will lay down muscle to support you there.

If you are always operating from an upregulated nervous system, your body will try to adjust its physiology so that this becomes the new homeostasis.

If you spend your life practicing negative thoughts, this will become your default setting.

This means that you will develop into wherever you spend the longest time - irrespective of what you *think* you are working on.

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"Tell me 3 things you love about your horse"

I was working with a lovely lady, who cares very deeply about her horse and was diligently helping him to feel better in his body. And yet every session started with all of the ways in which he still wasn't quite right, or was doing things she didn't want him to do.

Frustration was radiating from her body.

She looked at me, a little derailed by my question.

"Do you want me to tell you 3 things I love about your horse?"

She nodded

"I love the black tips on his ears. And the way the markings on his muzzle look like a love heart. And the way his black stockings make him look really classy"

And then she got excited and told me all the things she loved about him... as he stood there yawning, licking and chewing, releasing the tension in his neck.

And as her energy changed towards him, his energy changed towards her -

And in that session he moved like a totally different horse, flowing in a way that we had never seen before.

The exercises were the same, though the output was totally different.

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My initial training taught me about targetting the musculoskeletal system and that, if you repeat the exercise enough, with an appropriate amount of progressive loading, you develop the body.

And this isn't wrong at all.

But I subsequently learned that the emotional and nervous systems run the show.

We can do all the right moves, but if the nervous system and emotional association to the work aren't in alignment then you will be perpetually putting a stick in your bicycle spokes.

This provokes topics for discussion -

How do you show up to your horse? They can feel that energy and it has an effect on how safe they feel.

If your horse does not feel safe, the quality of their movement will be compromised. And let me tell you that their own personal safety is their opinion based upon their perceptions - not yours.

Though we do need to give them coping strategies to feel safe in a chaotic human world.

What does your horse perceive of the work? The exercise might be appropriate for their muscles but if the emotional association is poor, the output will be too.

Whilst the body may benefit, if their amygdala-hippocampus relay is perpetually assigning the work with negative emotions, its never going to feel nice to them.

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📸 before & after of stripping the tension out of this guy's neck by helping him to find safety in some very simple movement patterns combined with very gentle upper cervical mobilisations ❤️

20/11/2024

Not just a buzz word! A healthy thoracic sling is vital for function of the whole body.

12/11/2024

06/11/2024

Many of these expressions and behaviours have different meanings depending on the situation and context.

For example yawning when the horse is snoozing in the paddock or relaxing has a totally different context to a horse yawning after removal from a stressful situation such as loading or travelling.

They can be a useful initial guide for us to start thinking of what our horses are communicating and what the context is that they are showing them in.

02/11/2024

Ready for the fireworks 😩😩

Sound reducing ear muffs on, fly mask on, sedation in. Bloody fireworks

30/10/2024

I’ve been out helping with the lovely, and large Pip today! He is coming back in to ridden work after having time to mature in to a very strapping young man 💙

He was nervous being asked to work on the outside of the school, so to give him some support I simply moved to the outside to help him feel “in the safe spot”.

Why do I mean by “the safe spot”?

Thinking of a herd of horses grazing, there will be some horses in the centre of the herd, such as young or more vulnerable horses, and some on the outer edges of the herd, those keeping an eye out for danger.

By putting Pip in the centre of the school, I’m taking on the role of lookout and allowing him to take the safer spot in the centre of our little herd. A simple method to promote confidence 🥰

29/10/2024

And that’s a wrap for summer! Third night in for the ponies, Sollie was starting to look tired and seemed ready to come in.

Unfortunately I don’t have access to facilities for all year round turn out, but they are fortunate to be able to go out every day over winter.

For those less fortunate, and subject to restricted access to turn out. The important thing is to get your horses moving as much as possible! This can be in the form of foraging walks in hand, an explore around the yard in hand, or a blast around the school to get some energy out, it doesn’t just have to be ridden work!

Get creative!

28/10/2024

With unexplained behaviour it’s often that we just haven’t found the issue yet, rather than it’s just the horse behaving badly.

28/10/2024

This past week I have been doing some work with Eve on her self regulation in the ménage.

Eve is great at this when out and about on our walks, looking to me for support if she’s unsure of something. But in the ménage she is much closer to her buddies and finds things going on around her distracting and a little stressful.

This is her after 3 days of short (less than 15mins) sessions. I focused on my mindset, keeping myself centred and grounded, regulating my breathing, and when she had a stressful moment (shown mainly by rearing!), I kept myself in my grounded place, allowing her to demonstrate her behaviour, and then softly returned to what I was asking without making a fuss or an issue of the undesirable behaviour.

This allowed Eve to show her feelings and experiment with her opinions, which I listened to without judgment and without escalation, which allowed me to gently guided her back to regulation encouraging her to follow my lead, this is known as co-regulation.

“Co-regulation is the ability to regulate emotions and behaviours, manage stress (internal or external ), and return to a calm state, with the support and direction of a connecting person.”

🩷Just look at that lovely soft eye 🥰