Touch Equine

25/06/2025

Good luck to all my clients competing at The Royal Norfolk show 🏆

25/06/2025

One of my favourites!

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀 - a great in-hand exercise that encourages and improves:
🔹 Lateral suppleness
🔹 Core control
🔹 Coordination
🔹 Proprioception

As you walk your horse on the serpentine between the poles he must bring his hind and front legs closer together to negotiate the grid - core muscles are recruited and the back is rounded.

17/06/2025

I see a lot of people recommending chiropractors and pemf and excluding massage therapists. I want to give you a few reasons why I believe a massage therapist should be used regularly at times in a horse’s life:

We all have different skills to contribute to your horse’s care. Bodies need different kinds of help at different times.

Remember that it’s the muscles that create tensile strength and hold the bones and organs in place. They are also what pulls the body out of optimum, by strength or weakness, which combine to create imbalance and potential unsoundness. This is especially true and important when a horse is coming into increased work, coming back into fitness, or when a horse is older and needs a little help staying loose and comfortable. You can be a great trainer, your horse will still build strength unevenly, it’s simply what happens when out of shape horses are put into exercise. It’s natural, normal and expected.

By being proactive and working with a great massage therapist you can help your horse be more balanced and comfortable and so sounder, more mentally balanced and train more easily. We can help the horse through the process by manually suppling, helping him learn his body, improving awareness and letting him use himself the best he can while he works to build and become, hopefully, the best version of himself.

Learn more here - https://koperequine.com/why-hands-on-massage-is-the-best-way-to-for-sore-care-muscles/

03/06/2025

Steroid Injections

Can be a controversial topic.

Used wisely they may be a powerful tool for helping horses with conditions like kissing spine, hock issues, or other joint problems, but only if they’re used correctly. Are there better options out there? Let me know .

All too often, we hear about horses being injected routinely for maintenance purposes, and sadly, those horses more than likely will eventually break down. Because they arnt being put through a proper rehabilitation program. The research shows the deterioration of ligaments & tendons when misused.

We know steroids work by reducing pain and inflammation.

What I see far too often is horses being injected in multiple areas, given a few days rest, and then put straight back into work because the rider is eager to compete or get riding again , without much thought for whats really going on inside the body.

You see, it’s never just about the joint or spine. We have to look beyond the site of the injection, addressing the tight muscles, the emotional state of the horse, the weak muscles, the fascial tension, and even potential visceral restrictions. Saddle fit, riders position, feet etc

Having steroid injections isn’t a green light to jump straight back on. Often they are being misused to the detriment of the horse.

Post injection rehab is a valuable window of opportunity it’s a time to release excess tension, reset posture, and help the horse realize it’s safe to move forward without bracing or fear of pain.

It’s about using that time wisely:

✅ Giving the horse confidence to use its body correctly

✅ Strengthening the surrounding structures to reduce compensatory patterns & avoid the horse falling back into that negative mind set & posture

✅ Combining hands on bodywork to address the whole system not just the joint or spine

The picture below is one of my lovely clients who has put her heart and soul into rehabbing her horse the right way. With zero misuse of any drugs. He’s an ex race horse & after his first treatment with me, we decided he should go for further investigation. He was found to have some close spinal processes.

I am so proud of her because rehabbing a horse properly isn’t easy. It takes time, dedication, patience, and a lot of emotional & financial investment.

She has addressed the whole horse & used that window of opportunity to get stuck in to create a positive change 🙌
He’s not dumping his weight forward as much & is moving so much better , able to use himself correctly, working from behind into a stronger front. Hes a way to go yet but so far I’m over the moon with this 🙏

Thank you for allowing me to be part of your journey. And I look forward to treating him again after his 2nd set of X-rays

As always please do your own research 📕

10/05/2025

https://amzn.to/3RWMMEv

09/05/2025

Lovely to have one of the fabulous Westover vets watch me work on a clients horse today and get great feedback on what I do 🥰

28/04/2025

This is adapted from a course prsentation I did a few (ahem) years back. The point is that often, just resting a horse with a 'sore back' isn't enough, especially when the problem has been building up due to ride after ride with a saddle that doesn't fit. It varies of course - not all saddle misfts are equal and nor are pain levels. Should we just assume it's negligible? Of course not! If unsure, the best option is to get advice.
Also, recognise that while a problem may not be veterinary level in its seriousness, it can still be utterly debilitating for a horse that's being asked to perform. Chronic pain, and associated musculoskeletal changes and postural adaptation, can be as deeply damaging as acute problems. It can also be soul-destroying. That's why being thoughtful and engaging empathy is important, especially when it comes to recognising that a horse may still expect pain for a while to come.
Please feel free to add your own points and observations - I'm sure there will be a few :-)

- Jane

25/04/2025

24/04/2025

This pilot study investigated the effects of massage therapy on stress indicators in recreational horses, focusing on salivary cortisol levels, heart rate and conflict behaviors. Five recreational horses were analyzed under two experimental conditions: without and with massage treatments before ridi...

16/04/2025

24/03/2025

Always give mine either 2 full days off or 1 day and a gentle walk hack the following day.

*** THE IMPORTANCE OF REST DAYS FOLLOWING STRENUOUS EXERCISE ***

All of my horses, with no exceptions, have the day off following travelling to either train or compete. In fact, they often get two consecutive days off after competing. When they are Eventing at a reasonable level, they get three days off after an Event.

Travelling on its own, regardless of what exercise is subsequently performed, can be stressful for horses, and is in fact hard work. If you’ve ever watched a horse being transported, you will see that they are almost constantly moving, to brace and balance. As a rough guide, it has been suggested that travelling a horse is roughly equivalent to walking the horse, energy wise; so if you’ve transported your horse 2 hours to a competition, he’s used roughly as much energy as he would have done walking for two hours, and very likely been slightly stressed at the same time, often due to excitement of the impending outing.

Horses are about 50% muscle; approximately 50% of a fit, athletic horse’s body weight is muscle. It therefore goes without saying that this will need time to recover after strenuous exercise. In humans, a recovery time of 48-72 hours is recommended for moderate to intense exercise. Despite there being little research on the equine equivalent, we presume that the recover times are similar, if not longer. Actually, in horses the time to restore muscle glycogen is much slower, and can often take up to 72 hours.

So why do horses need rest days after competing? When muscles work, a small amount of damage occurs; this is normal, and it’s how muscles build and form. The body needs sufficient protein in order to repair and re-build the muscle, and this is why good quality protein is essential for athletic horses. This repair can take days, or even longer, so we must give the horse sufficient rest time to allow not only the glycogen stores to replenish, but for any micro tears in the muscle to repair. A horse competing in an Intermediate Horse Trials is obviously going to require longer to recover than one jumping a 90cm show jumping round, but the glycogen stores need to replenish in both cases, and don’t forget the travelling aspect for both.

I often post about the importance of keeping your horses fit enough for their respective jobs, but giving a horse sufficient time to recover after travelling to train or compete is just as important.

Alfred had today off. He travelled for two hours yesterday and jumped two very small classes. He will still get two days off. A horse will lose no fitness in that time, and it will allow his muscles to recover, not to mention potentially decreasing the risk of developing glandular ulcers. If the days off are not out in sufficiently big enough paddocks, then in hand walking/grazing would be required to alleviate any stiffness.

Alfred is on a daily muscle supplement, and they all receive the same supplement (Muscle Strength from Premier Performance) the day before, of, and after, any strenuous training or competing.

Photo of a very fit Johnnie, Keysoe 3* 2021.

Feel free to directly share, but not to copy and paste my words.

19/03/2025

Cranial work is so important for horses.