Equine Body Works Therapeutic Massage

28/12/2021

Hi everyone. Hope you have all had an amazing Christmas.

I am opening my diary for January 2022. I have the following dates left available;

Sunday 16th
Saturday 22nd

If you would like to book please get in touch.

£35 one horse
£30 per horse (2 or more)
£25 per horse (yard bookings- 5 or more horses)

11/12/2021

Sorry the page has been rather quiet 🤫

My son broke his collar bone last week and things have been a tad crazy.

The diary is open for bookings for January 2022, so if you would like an appointment for your Equine friend please get in touch.

30/11/2021

A bit late with this week's pole idea.
Been ill 🤒 and moved yards at the weekend so all a little manic.

I have taken this from petplan Equine but I like the simplicity.

This can be done in walk, trot and canter, make sure the first 2 poles are spaced correctly for the gait you want to work in and most importantly have some fun 😀

24/11/2021

How fantastic is this 😍

22/11/2021

This week's pole challenge if anyone fancies giving it ago.

Only 3 poles needs offering a variety of elements to work on.

Following the yellow line across the diagonal, work on straightness.

Following the orange line work, on the bend and aim for the centre of the poles.

Following the green line, try to work on the straightness over the poles and incorporating a nice supple bend on the loops.

If you fancy a challenge, follow the pink line and practice those turn on the forehands to make the turn.

21/11/2021

If you fancy giving your bestie something a little different.

Ps not my work I have copied this from another source.

18/11/2021

Appointments available.

Weekend and evenings.

🐴£35 for one horse

🐴🐴£30 per horse (2 or more)

🐴🐴🐴£25 per horse (yard bookings 5 plus)

14/11/2021

11/11/2021

Still some availability for appointments this month.

Evenings and weekends available.

If you would like an appointment please send a message or pop a comment on this post.

10/11/2021

Another beautiful mare who received her regular treatment.

I have been working with this beautiful girl for a few months now, she is one of my regulars and we are working towards being hunt field ready next session.

09/11/2021

The beautiful Izzabella Bumble Bee having a well deserved session under the heat pad.

Can not believe the difference in this little mare in just 9 weeks. Her strength and muscle structure is forming amazingly. Well done to her owners. ❤️

08/11/2021

Pole work Mondays.

Each week I will post a pole work challenge. Have ago, post some pics or videos of yourself having ago.

This week's is 'the box'

Using four poles lay them out in a square.

Make the box bigger if your struggling with bending and slowly make the box smaller as balance and suppleness increases.

Here is Jack and I having ago.

Ps this can be done in hand as well.

07/11/2021

This little dude throughly enjoyed his session today. He had the heat pad over his shoulder blades whilst having his back and hind quarters massaged..... think he enjoyed it. 😉

29/10/2021

An interesting read.

Friday fact….obesity is a huge welfare issue here in the U.K. and there are are many contributing factors!

Over feeding, lack of exercise and over rugging are considered to be the main causes. If you have a good doer or native type, then please, before you reach for your rugs, think whether they need them or not!

As I mentioned in last weeks post, the colder autumn and winter months are fantastic for helping weight loss if you allow your horse or pony to use some of their energy to keep warm; although U.K. temperatures are far from cold at the moment!!! I am not saying never use a rug and I am not saying that they should shiver their weight off either...that would be a welfare issue and that is definitely something I would NEVER advocate.

I am however, saying that we generally over rug; we rug according to how cold we feel, not how they feel, and that a huge amount of our horses and ponies do not need the weight of rugs we put on them. I frequently see native types or good doing types with 300g-400g rugs on and this is definitely not a needed for an animal that is very well equipped to deal with the worst of the U.K. weather!

Horses are very good at keeping warm without rugs, the fermentation that occurs in the hind gut when they are eating forage, provides them with their very own central heating system! In addition, they can fluff up their coats better when they are not wearing a rug; this traps air inside the coat, trapping in heat. They are very well equipped to keep themselves warm!

They are not however, as good at cooling themselves down. So when they are tucking into their hay or haylage, which is warming them from inside, then we put heavy weight rugs on them...how warm do you think some of them feel? Do you think that this is more of a welfare issue? If your horse is too warm under his or her rugs and unable to cool down, surely that is much crueler than a horse with no rugs (or very light rugs) with forage to eat who is regulating his or her temperature very well on their own? Most are very good at keeping warm if they have access to forage and shelter.

As part of weight loss programmes, I often recommend not using rugs or just using rain sheets or light weight rugs in inclement weather...the response this gets from many others on the yards is astounding!!

Not rugging or lightly rugging an overweight, good doing or native type horse or pony is not cruel in any way shape or form! Have you seen the harsh environments some of these types live in? Look at Shetlands and Highland ponies...their natural environments are extremely harsh and they survive perfectly well in them!

Then we take them, put them in nice cosy stables, rug them up, feed them huge bucket feeds and energy rich forages. This is why we have an obesity issue!! They are stood overly warm, not moving around much, with a plentiful supply of food...we are turning them into couch potatoes!!!!!

I am not saying rugs should never be used, but I am saying lots do not need the weights of rugs we put on them. Most do perfectly well with just a rain sheet or lightweight rug on.

There are however many that do need to be rugged; finer skinned, the young, the elderly, those underweight, ill equines, those with muscular issues etc. They need to be kept warm, so they should be kept warm!

As I said in last weeks post; if you have a native or good doing type, you will make life much easier for you and your horse if you let them gradually lose their summer weight over the winter months. They will not lose weight if they are over rugged.

*Please read this post before commenting, I am not saying rugs are the spawn of Satan and that they should all be burned in some rug hating ritual!!! I am just saying that we should think about whether our horses really need rugs or if they need the weight of rugs we put on them!*

29/10/2021

Ha ha don't forget guys..... Sunday those clocks change.... darker nights are coming.

26/10/2021

Love this. Ha ha

25/10/2021

Covering the DN15 area on Saturday 30th October. Have some availability for that area if anyone is interested.

20/10/2021

I have some availability for Saturday 30th. If anyone would like an appointment please get in touch.