4 Movement

05/18/2024

I urge all horse enthusiasts to read jec’s post and to listen to the podcast !!!!!

04/06/2024

This is very lovely thought for all beings to take in…..;-)

It's your light that lights the world ~ Rumi

03/29/2024

This is a fantastic and very generous post given by Jec Aristotle Ballou! Stifle issues are sadly extremely common for a myriad of reasons. Her exercises are simple and explanations are very clear! Read on so that you can Ride On!!!

Weak stifles can hinder even a horse with incredible talent. How do we go about helping horses with stifle dysfunction?

02/21/2024

Absolutely fantastic information from Shea Stewart- please read this slowly and take it in… think of what you can do when working over the horse’s face, around his ears and jawline - especially when using The Masterson Method, Integrated Equine Performance Bodywork Light to the Core techniques. I see changes in the position and softness in horse’s eyes often after working with them.
Shea is an absolute gift to all for sharing such incredible information.
🙏🐎💚

02/01/2024

This is simply really really fun to know!! Congratulations to Jim The Masterson Method, Integrated Equine Performance Bodywork and to Trafalgar Books!!!!!!!!!

So I’m gonna geek out a little here: 🤓 I might be one of the only people who looks at the copyright page of every book I open (well, I taught my son the habit, too), but in case you’ve never closed in on the little string of numbers at the bottom (the printer’s key or print line or print number line), it tells you how many times a book has been reprinted, usually in sequences of 10.

One of our goals at TSB is for all our books to become strong “backlist,” which means they sell well over the long term, rather than just right out of the gate, and we reprint them as long as we can. Well, we’re reprinting Jim Masterson’s BEYOND HORSE MASSAGE for the tenth time, 🥳🥳 which means we’ve had to reprint it almost once a year for every year since it was first released in 2011. Not bad for a “horse book” 😌🤩 We’re so proud to have been a part of Jim’s effort to bring his DIY form of bodywork to horse owners everywhere—horses are happier, more comfortable, and better connected to their people because of it. 🐎

Congrats to Jim and the whole Masterson Method team! ❤️🐴📕

01/20/2024

So on the heels of Jec’s post - I invite you to ask yourself “ what is a fixed position “? This concept is not exclusive to the use of taught side reins or draw reins or unforgiving hands. In the recent Dissection Course that I attended- the discussion of the importance of offering various feeding positions came up- the more that the housing that we offer mimics nature the better. Horses graze with head and neck down and they also browse with their heads at mid shoulder height and yes they also reach up to find the apple above their heads. If you feed from hay bags you can easily add a few hooks at alternate heights to better accommodate the horses natural varied postures. We can do so much more for them if we open our eyes and break away from the “ that’s the way it’s always been done” type of thinking. 💫🙏🐎💚

"If muscles which are primarily muscles designed for movement have to maintain continuous tension, they become inflamed. Blood and lymph circulation in their substance is impaired, and the muscle fibers cannot absorb the nutrients and oxygen which are necessary to their development in bulk and elasticity."
-- Udo Burger, 1959 The Way to Perfect Horsemanship

Consider these words from decades ago....why are we still holding horses in fixed postures for extended periods of time?? We cannot ignore physiology. We might be decades late, but let's put this vital wisdom in to play.

12/19/2023

This is an incredibly beautiful post… please take your time in a quiet comfortable place to read through it. I am holding my breath in hopes of taking a CS course with Equine Balance by Shea Stewart when she comes to California thanks Jane Kameny Brown next year. Shea is a spiritual gift in human form. 🙏💖💫

12/17/2023

Horses can get bored with routine exercise activities just like we do- boredom greatly reduces the neuromuscular improvements that you are seeking- Jec takes this concept farther in her post… enjoy!

12/15/2023

I am looking forward to connecting with my colleagues and expanding our equine education again early next year!! The collaboration and connectivity is fantastic and contagious!

Boundless Equine Bodywork will be attending this event!!! I can't wait to learn from such knowledgeable presenters!!!

11/09/2023

There are soooo many reasons “ why” I’m reposting this beautiful and oh so true quote .
🙏💖

This picture really sums up the work.

Owners always want their horse to “behave” for sessions. To stand quietly and nicely and let it happen and have a magical moment.
Everyone wants their horses to be gentle and kind and fall head over heels into this kind of work.

I get it!

The thing is, these sessions are an offering from me for the horse to show up and express themselves, no matter what they have to say.
That doesn’t always look pretty and cosmic.

Sometimes horses melt under my hands.
Sometimes they’re firing from both ends.
Sometimes they’re still.
Sometimes they need to move through their releases.

All of it is okay.
All of it is poetic to me.

I’m not here to train anymore.
Behaviors that I may have redirected at one point in time I now acknowledge and hold space for the horses throughout.
To me, it’s part of the process, especially for horses who have spent a lot of time shut down.

Because, as this picture says, their behavior comes from a feeling and a need, not the desire to be “bad”.
As we get going and those needs are being met, the behaviors tend to change.

When we strive to understand instead of fix, that’s when things get good.

10/04/2023

I absolutely love this……

Sure, I’ll grab the moon for you and be home with it in about 20. 🤣