Sonya Glennie Equine Services

09/08/2024

I will be going to the Manawatu / Wairarapa area early next week if anyone is wanting EMRT /Bowen treatments for their horses, dogs or themselves.
Have your horse feeling it’s best and ready to start the new season.

31/01/2024

What a fabulous few days I had recently at the NZ National Horse and Pony Show
A huge thank you to all the sponsors and committee as without you these shows could not happen. A special thank you to
Gala Equine, CJ Newland Logging, Lawrence Racing and Fixine who sponsored all the rings
Harrison’s Nursery, Love Bradbury & the Croad Family, The Beatson family and Viv & Jordan Appin who sponsored the classes I was in.
Thank You
My special red head Valentino Ohuatahi was an exceptionally good boy most of the time.
Paige Marie Hirini did a fantastic job on the Wednesday showing him inhand for me where they came away with Champion Led Sport Horse. Paige also won Champion Handler
Thursday was the Newcomer classes where we took out the Champion Newcomer Riding Horse.
Friday we were awarded Reserve Champion Novice Riding Horse. Vinnie was getting a little over it by the end of these classes however after a change of saddle (into his favourite jumping saddle)on the Saturday he came out with all the big guns and came 4th in his Riding Horse NZ National Title Class. This was a huge surprise as the horses were magnificent and extremely flash. And to his credit Vinnie put in a lovely performance after the little hiccup the day before.
To top of a fantastic week our lovely 8 week old filly, Gigi, by Vollrath Gershwin won a premium foal award with the New Zealand Hanoverian Society . We thought she was pretty nice but it’s great when the experts think so too. (Co owned with Robyn Clackson who bred Tauanui Helana the lovely mare)
Special thank you Mandy Littlejohn 💜

31/12/2023

It’s been a very busy year for me catching up with clients and adding some new ones too. Crazy busy pretraining and treating racehorses which is so rewarding seeing the changes and improvements in them.
Also two very special additions to our fury team members.
Firstly the very beautiful, intelligent and exciting Valentino. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be given the opportunity to sit on this beautiful boy. Together we’ve had a fantastic start to the show ring winning Novice Championships, Open Championships and even a Supreme Champion. A big thrill was when Valentino won the Witzbold Trophy at the Manawatu Show for the Hanoverian award (I loved the Witzbolds and was lucky enough to have Kohl who was by Witzbold and also had a huge respect for Eric Ropiha)
Valentino is so much fun and really keeps me on my toes. A huge thank you to Mandy Littlejohn for entrusting him to me. Also thank you Nicholas O'Leary for jumping the power pack for me (way too much power for an old girl now😂😂)
Our lovely Voltaire ll mare Tauanui Helana produced a super filly by Vollrath Gershwin early in December.
So all in all exciting times.
I wish you all blessings and have a fantastic 2024 💜

17/10/2023

I thought a good shower of rain would be nice as we had become quite dry and the ground pretty hard. ( Lots of wind lately)
Must be careful of what I wish for. 😂
Got this in a couple of hours😮

01/10/2023

What a fantastic and proud weekend I’ve had as coach to this great group of young people from the Wanganui Petre Pony Club. They took out the top award at the North Island Show Hunter Championships. Well done to all the riders and parents. It’s been a great couple of months with a lot of work and training and everyone has really “put in the hard yards”. When I think back to the start of August we had a very mixed bunch and I was thinking if we could crack the top 10 we’d be doing well. Amazing what has been achieved. WELL DONE. YOU’ RE FANTASTIC!!! ⭐️

24/05/2023

I’m possibly heading to Masterton next week if there’s anyone keen for treatments for four footed friends or themselves. Please text me on 0272892529

12/05/2023

Equivalent to taking a shoestring and tying it around your rib cage, offset girths while they're marketed as being able to help horses with forward girth grooves, actually fail to properly distribute the tension across the body and show localized pressure, with sometimes zero contact in the offset portion. That means a 4" wide girth may only exert pressure across a 1" width, leaving the rest hanging there.

Using a simple ballpoint pen, you can run the pen tip just along the edge of your girth, lying it flat against the horse so as to not poke them) to check the tension. We typically find offset girths have a large gap on one side, while being so tight on the opposite side we cannot even slide the pen underneath.

Also, to clarify, anatomical or shaped =/= offset.

02/05/2023

I’m really looking forward to attending activity week at the lovely Madison Park in New Plymouth. I’ll be there Wednesday and Thursday morning if anyone is wanting treatments for themselves or their four footed friends.
Text me on 0272892529.

20/03/2023

A brilliant interview. Well worth listening to.

27/02/2023

I’m heading to Palmerston North tomorrow and have a couple of spots for anyone wanting EMRT, CCMRT or Bowen. Please text me on 027 2892529

06/02/2023

I’m heading to Palmerston North and Woodville tomorrow (7th February ) and a couple of treatment appointments have become available. Message or text me if you’re wanting a treatment for your horse, dog, cat or you 😊

22/11/2022

Bill Steinkraus told THM in 1983: “I cannot stress too much the vital importance of restoring all aids to their normal state as soon as the horse has complied with them. Once the horse has gone forward, ease up on your driving aids; once it has shortened, open your fingers again enough to reward. It is very common to see exactly the opposite: the rider gets the horse to come back once, but never releases his closed fingers again, and spends the rest of the hour hanging in the horse’s mouth, or, having gotten the horse to go forward, spends the rest of the day with his legs stuck halfway through the horse. The reason you want your aids to be effective is so that you can teach the horse to respond to them more and more sensitively – and so that you can use them less and less."
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/08/four-showjumping-masters-part-2-william-steinkraus/

18/11/2022

I’m looking at coming to the Feilding/Manawatu area on Tuesday 22 November if you’re wanting a treatment for horses, dogs or people
Please text or phone me on
027 289 2529

18/11/2022

WHY ARE DRAW REINS A BAD IDEA?

I could write a very long, technical explanation, but it’s really quite simple. Draw reins place the horse’s mouth at the fulcrum of a lever, one end of which is fixed (the girth), the other end is totally reliant on the feel, or lack of, in the rider’s hands. It is very, VERY easy to over-shorten them.

• They shorten and compress the neck
• They force the horse to close the angle in his gullet, crushing the larynx, parotid and restricting the hyoid apparatus. This also creates hyperflexion in the upper neck, damaging joints and ligaments.
• Compression at the base of the neck will cause most horse to drop through their chest and withers to try to fit the vertebrae into the smaller area they have been given. Rather than a regular, smooth curve at the base of the neck, you then have an ’S’ bend. This drives more weight through the horse’s front legs, making them ‘on the forehand’. Ironic, given that one of the supposed benefits of draw reins is to create lightness in the forehand (actually, they just encourage the horse to sit behind the contact).
• Dropping through the base of the neck will create hollowness under the saddle.
• With all that compression going on in front, any energy created by the hind limbs simply cannot be transmitted forward. There will be a ‘log jam’ somewhere in the middle, probably right under the rider.
• Often, because of this, horses will simply trail their hind limbs.
• A study by Bystrom, et al showed that head and neck angles were significantly decreased, and limb kinematics were affected by the use of draw reins. Roepstorff, et al, found that the use of draw reins influenced ground reaction forces at trot.

We are all familiar with the concept that the horse’s hind end is his ‘engine’. Pulling the front end in and forcing an outline effectively stalls that engine, and creates a chain of damaging load patterns, which will ultimately lead to injury.

Some would argue that only skilled riders should use draw reins. I would argue that really skilled riders have no use for them. If the horse is putting his head up, strong or leaning (already on the forehand, fyi), it is the rider’s responsibility to work out why. This could be due to discomfort, lack of training, or a combination of the two. The horse needs to be shown how to better carry himself through improved hindlimb engagement and posture, which will, in turn, lighten the forehand and allow a soft, lengthened neck to a light, elastic contact.

There are no short cuts to helping the horse find balance under the rider.

The picture illustrates how the horse will sit behind the contact, is compressed through the gullet and over flexed in the upper neck. You can clearly see that the horse’s face is behind the vertical and there is tension in the neck muscles. There is not even any contact on either sets of reins – it is common for horses to do this to avoid uncomfortable mouth pressure, and too often gets confused for being ‘light in the contact’.

You might think it would be a physiotherapist's dream, fixing problems caused by improper use of gadgets - but I'd much rather identify why the horse is having difficulty balancing himself, correct any musculoskeletal imbalances, and help the rider help the horse in a sustainable way.

Byström, A., L. Roepstorff, and C. Johnston. "Effects of draw reins on limb kinematics." Equine Veterinary Journal 38.S36 (2006): 452-456.
Roepstorff, L., et al. "Influence of draw reins on ground reaction forces at the trot." Equine Veterinary Journal 34.S34 (2002): 349-352.

05/11/2022

I was out treating horses today and was introduced to this legend of the race track.
Guess who?

04/11/2022

"But that's too short!"

When we map out a horse to determine the SSA (saddle support area), one of the comments we often hear is "it's too short", with riders forgetting the fact that horses were never meant to be ridden in the first place. Whatever space we have is the space we must find a way to work with for the sake of our equine partner to not cause discomfort or injury that could last a lifetime. We, as owners and rider, cannot make such demands that an animal be more suited to our wishes, and when we do make those demands and put them into selective breeding we end up with what we have today. Modern breeds whose most basic and natural gaits have been altered along with the overall shape and ratios of the horse, leading to the earlier breakdown of the animal all because we wanted to mold him to our desires instead of respecting what was in front of us.

Is the distance between the last thoracic vertebrae and the rear edge of the scapula too short for some riders? Absolutely, but it is not something to complain about. Horses were not made for humans to ride, it is a gift and a privilege that should never be taken for granted.

It is sometimes an unfortunate reality that we, the rider, do not fit our horse, and it is not the fault of anyone but rather just a hard truth we must occasionally accept. To force our will on what nature has deemed incompatible will lead to injury and suffering, all easily avoidable.

21/09/2022

I’m heading to the Manawatu this coming Friday if anyone is wanting to treat their four footed friends or themselves to an EMRT/Bowen treatment. Call or text me
027 2892529

20/09/2022

What a great weekend at the Feilding A,I&P Association jumping show last weekend. A big thank you to all the helpers. Fantastic weather. The best part for me was having the honour of sitting on this boy’s back. Thank you Amanda Howie and Jamie Howie. Thank you Kobe (Obeone Kanobe💜)

10/09/2022

I so love this photo 💜 RIP

01/09/2022

I’m heading to Horowhenua/Wellington next week if anyone is wanting Bowen/EMRT treatments.
Message or text me

22/05/2022

It bears repeating...

Saddle length is a hugely important component when assessing saddle fit and a saddle that is too long can have so many detrimental effects that can manifest as lameness, bad behavior and more.

Some of the issues caused by a saddle that is too long are:
- Bucking
- Lateral walk
- 4 Beat canter
- Saddle slip
- Muscle Atrophy
- Inability to pick up canter/get certain leads
- Hollow back
- Kissing spine
- Broken spinous processes
- Broken transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae

When a saddle is too long it sits on the lumbar vertebrae. The biggest difference between the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae is that the thoracic vertebrae are connected to the ribs and have an additional support structure whereas the lumbar do not. The transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae come straight outwards and are extremely delicate - easily injured by the concussion of saddle and rider when the saddle is not fitted properly.

Additionally, a saddle that is too long also blocks the movement of the back which is why many horses will be unable to pick up certain canter leads, or the canter all together. They will also buck to try and relieve the pressure off the lumbar - where many think bucking is simply bad behavior, it is, more often than not, a reaction to pain.

With longer saddles, riders typically sit further back, especially if they are not in a gender appropriate saddle. This only exacerbates the issue as there is now excess pressure behind the last thoracic vertebrae, to which the horse will react by dropping and tensing their back. They can no longer move softly or utilize their body appropriately to carry the rider and thus causes additional stress on not just the back, but now also the legs and other parts of the body.

Unfortunately, a huge majority of the saddles we see are far too long for the horse and the consequences of the incorrect fit are obvious.

12/05/2022

See-sawing.

A sadly still common trend among many riders, who utilize see-sawing the reins to get their horses "in frame". Many of these horses are also trained completely backwards, ridden from the hands mostly, with the constant nagging and jabbing of the legs and spurs and practically no seat aids whatsoever.

To look at a horse and think "Yes, I will saw on the mouth and create a round, in-frame, supple and willing horse" is beyond delusional. All the rider is doing is shortening the neck, creating tension in the jaw, activating the wrong neck muscles, dropping the base of the neck, dropping the back, creating a stagnated gait, limiting vision, breathing and swallowing if the horse is BTV (which it usually is). Not to mention they usually have the mouths tied shut to quiet any indication of pain.

Nothing about any of that is healthy, supple or has anything to do with collection/roundness/dressage.

Horses aren't only ridden backwards, but their training is often backwards as well with riders jumping on the back of a 3 year old and trying to wrestle it into a "frame", effectively destroying the way of going for that animal, any willingness to soften to contact, and creating a domino effect of tension throughout the entire body.

It takes time to develop an athlete, and in the hands of a truly skilled rider, obtaining proper collection happens not in a matter of weeks or months, but YEARS. Don't think you can bypass any steps with heavy hands and short-cut gadgets.

If you see-saw on your horse, please get yourself a lovely pair of scissors and cut your reins off. There is no excuse, in this universe or the next, for anyone to do this to their horse.

Also, How a horse is ridden directly affects the health of the back (and other areas of the body) which affect how a saddle is fitted, or needs to be fitted. Understanding how the horse is ridden is a key element in understanding the impact the rider has on the saddle.

01/01/2022

Wishing everyone an exciting and happy 2022.
I’m planning on heading to the Wairarapa via Palmerston North this coming week on Wednesday/Thursday for anyone wanting treatments (EMRT, CCMRT, Bowen)
Then the Wellington area the following week.
Please contact/text me on 0272982529 or FB messenger to book.
Stay safe and take care X

27/12/2021

This is gold!

24/12/2021

😂😂

11/08/2021

03/08/2021