Borders Equine bodywork

01/02/2025

What is the Masterson Method? Click on the link below to hear from Jim Masterson himself who founded this The Masterson Method, Integrated Equine Performance Bodywork

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm5cBrJc9Io

08/01/2025

16/12/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19waHUMrgF/

10/12/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/15sPTgcQyF/

It’s easy for us to take something at face value when it’s all we’ve ever known, all we’ve ever heard or all we’ve ever been taught.

It’s easy to accept what’s being sold to you when it’s coming from a ‘trusted’ source.

It’s easy to turn a blind eye when you don’t actually have the whole story.

How many times have we heard the phrase, ‘the horse has thick skin’? Well I can assure you, their skin is not incredibly thick, and it contains nerve endings just like ours. The can feel a whip, crop, pat, kick, smack and even a fly.

How many of us have actually seen beneath the surface of the horse? How many of us have witnessed the damage to the equine body post mortem?

Until you have- it’s very easy to hop on the bandwagon of:
‘Hyperflexion isn’t damaging’
‘The saddle does fit’
‘The noseband isn’t too tight’
‘They always get spur rubs because they don’t move forward, it’s normal’
‘Smack him with the crop to get him over the jump’
‘They aren’t atrophied, this is what a fit horse looks like’

Bony remodeling, intraarticular changes not visible through imaging, abnormal organs… the list goes on. There is SO much going on underneath the surface of the horse- much of which we can’t see or diagnose until after death.

What’s happening in the equine body directly affects how the horse moves, how they think, how they feel, how they perform.

We need to shift where we are placing our trust in this industry. Stop focusing on performance and judging, and start focusing on the science and anatomy.

The horse’s behavior is paramount.
It is the only thing we have to communicate with them.
Their anatomy tells a story.
It’s time we start listening.

08/12/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/1NN7kQLqxw/

One of the biggest things I see is people wanting to know what to do for an underdeveloped topline…

Well let me tell you what, an avid rider hates to see me coming because the first thing I’m going to tell you is to GET OFF OF THE HORSE’S BACK.

Get out of the saddle and stay out of the saddle until the muscle comes back.

You don’t build a topline by riding… meaning,

You can’t strengthen something that isn’t there to begin with- so if your horse’s top line musculature is depleted, you aren’t going to fix the problem by riding.

You add a rider once you have foundational muscle.

And I think that’s where the disconnect lies. Riders, trainers, breeders etc. have all convinced themselves that underdeveloped muscle is just fine and they call it ‘fitness’.

If you want real results you have to do real work.

You start building muscle once you’ve stopped the pain cycle. Once you’ve addressed tensional patterns.

Look at the situation for what it is.

These horses are started too young, they’re ridden in tack that doesn’t fit with restrictive training aids that don’t allow for the appropriate muscles to build and engage. On top of that, most don’t receive enough natural movement in their routines because they’re confined to a stall.

The formula is easy folks. We’ve created the problems. Just modify a few things and you’d be surprised how good that horse’s topline looks. You don’t need to make it harder than it has to be.

Poor topline= get off the back

⭐️You can check out my ‘rehabbing the topline’ freebie here- it has a few helpful tips. This is something I’m going to be going into a lot more detail about in a project I’m working on🤭 stay tuned

https://stan.store/abequinetherapy?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabvCH-69u_CN5SKDBf_5lM_kU4dalF5a3AYGjMygLAsth4hFe7RApPEV-s_aem_hjVz7GmOrGgBeRkAWuE9hw

06/12/2024

https://youtube.com/shorts/rgIKzi8T7jw?si=urpAFLfwQDH7YOHf

[WARNING: Some parts of this video depict medical interventions that are gross 🤢 to watch.]Titan is still struggling, BUT we feel so blessed to have Christy...

08/11/2024

So Pelvic procedure and TMJ are our essential friends as well as Coccyx!!

Studies have shown evidence that mobility improvements in the jaw can relieve tension in the pelvic area and vice versa. Additionally, if the hips or jaw is off balance, there is a good chance the other is too.

This might sound rather unlikely - unless you are training to be a Bowen Technique therapist! Read on to see how these two very different parts of the body might be connected?

The connection begins during embryologic development at around day fifteen. In this stage, called gastrulation, two depressions form on the dorsal side of the embryo, which becomes the oropharyngeal membrane (goes on to form the mouth) and the cloacal membrane (goes on to form the openings of the urinary, reproductive and digestive tracts). The spine grows between them, and the two remain connected from their early beginnings as one being in the embryo.

The head and the tails are the cranium and the sacrum. The sacrum, located at the end of the spine in the pelvis, is important to the proper function of our spine and our ability to know where our body is in space, called proprioception.

Tensions and imbalances in the jaw can affect the membranes connecting the dura to the skull and affect where it is tethered below in the sacrum.

Uneven pressures and pulling in the sacral area can, in turn, affect the cranial attachments and lead to pain, dysfunction, and other symptoms on either end of the craniosacral system.

This uneven distribution can cause many symptoms across all body systems – from your cardiovascular to your neurologic, musculoskeletal, gut, and on.

Ref: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19539119/

Learn more: https://bit.ly/jaw-and-body

Fix my posture → https://bit.ly/38KFpww




pic

26/09/2024

24/09/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/D8fUx5CGXxcs2STR/

We will never see subtle if we continue to poke horses for visual purposes

How can we persuade horses we are there to help when we are a cause of reactivity in our first meeting, how can we expect them to relax which is the first step to healing when their body will be braced waiting for the next pen top, stick or poky finger
We have to ask ourselves we may see ourselves as being there to help yet how does the horse view us in that first encounter

I am sorry but I really hate videos where the poor horse is constantly prodded to show you the audience how sore or reactive a horse is for how will you ever learn to see the more subtle reactions if the professional is looking for that big response or reaction

If we are getting that reaction then we have missed the signs from 0-9 and waited till we have got to ten, when I assess a horse I try and never get passed 1.

Can you imagine being sore and having a professional keep poking only when you shout stop and then keep ignoring you, would you then trust that professional at any point in the future, would you then relax or would you be on guard???

Why do we think horses are any different in response to pain

What if we showed instead the subtle signals the horse gives off as we enter the stable, the glance as we place a hand on the horse, their face or movement pattern as we work around the horse. Wouldn't that be better for an owner to learn so we are not called in at level 10 of pain but instead level 1.

Wouldn't it better for the horse to be worked on when the pain is not at a super reactive level, why do we still need to see horses jump out of their skin as people grab, poke and prod

Try it yourself press your finger hard in between your ribs or press your finger on your sternum (sternum work should be always addressed very sensitively) and then ask how your horse would feel

We are there to help the horse not to prove there was pain and now there is not because isn't that our job anyway

It makes me cringe and I make no apologies, good hands never cause more suffering to the already pained horse

13/09/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/frncY3LuGpoXcfkj/

A pull back always needs investigation, it can have whole body ramifications and set your horse up for lifelong problems.
Starting at the poll, the kgs of pressure exerted over the top of a complex area of muscles, ligaments, tendons and nerves, is Enormous! Several tons of pressure, even if your horse is tied to the inevitable baling twine, immense pressure is still exerted before that twine breaks.
The neck and thoracic sling are stretched and twisted into unnatural positions.
The ribs are pulled out of position by the tortion of the supra spinous ligament, and the thoracic spine.
The fascia and muscles of the back and core are strained.
The lumbar sacral and sacroiliac joints are forced into damaging positions, the stifles, hocks and feltocks can be twisted and compressed. Muscles and connective tissues beneath the scapula can be torn, the pectorals are also at risk. The shoulder and elbow joints can be strained.
Moving back to the poll, the connections from there to the jaw, tmj and hyoid can be strained causing pain and dental imbalance.
Often, after a pull back, the horse will become one-sided, reluctant to bend to one side, tense in the poll and jaw, and unable to engage from behind as well as they could before.
Avoid pull backs as much as is humanly possible but if it happens, get your horse thoroughly checked over as soon as you can. This will help prevent scar tissue and neural patterning from changing your horse forever.

13/09/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/wS5TDgafpazxh42y/

12/09/2024

12/09/2024

Pleased to help this little fella with his breathing 😮‍💨 3 x 40 mins sessions and owners are hearing and seeing the results! So happy to help creatures big and small

11/09/2024

Interesting

11/09/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/gLKcyLchF9nc2J3E/