My favorite thing about children and horse back riding is watching them problem solve. Hope knows where the gate is and when others are around and a child is on her she usually picks a person and just stays by them until convinced to move otherwise. I try not to jump in but sometimes that’s easier said than done. It’s so fun to see and talk Spencer through figuring out how to get Hope to leave the gate. And his cute little legs barely able to get her to move is pretty adorable as well.
Hope got a massage yesterday and I would have to say I think it’s safe to say she loved it. Got a bunch of releases and her muscles felt like jello after!
Much loved belly scratches!
Some may find this a bit Boring but I’ll still share!! Hope got a bit of a massage today. I didn’t do her full body as I didn’t have time and just wanted to get her major tension points (I talked about these in an earlier post so I won’t go into too much detail about this in this post).
In this clip I’m working on her MULTIFIDIUS CERVICUS and her BRACHIOCEPHALICUS. Once I find a tension point in Hopes neck (this will feel like a speed bump in her muscle) I apply direct pressure. Light pressure. Zero out, moderate pressure; zero out, finish with heavy pressure. After heavy pressure I apply cross fiber friction if finish breaking up the point of tension then working up the neck repeat at the next point of tension. I love feeling those tension points break up. The feeling reminds me of popping bubble wrap. After releasing all the tension I apply compression and heavy to close off the muscles and then move onto the next muscle group!!
This is very necessary with sound so sound is staying on but look at these 2 go. Hope loves Spencer and Spencer loves Hope and it’s the most adorable thing ever.
Spencer got to experience his first solo trot and I never thought that would happen in Hope always thought it was going to happen on Sky but I’m so glad we used Hope for that even though it very much wasn’t planned.
Look at these 2 go!!! @autumn.heiman and Cinder have come an insanely long way in the year. Even with the lack of consistency that winter has brought this year Cinder has proven her weight in cold or should I say carrots? Definitely a highlight of my week. This clip doesn’t look like much but if you saw Cinder last fall even you’d know this is a huge accomplishment. This week I wanted to just keep it calm and quiet and just let these 2 get the feel for each other again and let Autumn “memorize this feeling” as I kept saying.
Here we were working on asking Cinder to stretch out her top line by extending her nose to the ground. Complex movement but one that is so so good for an equines top line as this stretches out the rectus capitus lateralis (poll), splenius, trapezius, rhomboid, longissimus and latissimus dorsi. Lifts the abs which is working the intercostals, and the obliques. And also works the gluteus. Can we say full body workout?
Just a fun little glimpse of a massage therapy session for baby Hope. I’m trying out a new routine for her. She did okay with it today but want to play with it more before I share or decide if it’s going to stay or be modified at all.
Not the best lunging session but I love that I can see all her muscles working. Makes me so excited to think about.
Anyways have a lot of work to do with this girly this year and I can’t wait.
A much needed ground work session. Not sure if anyone remembers Echo from a while back but I got to play with her a bit today and let’s just say my heart needed it.
You can see in the beginning she stepped away from my stick thus giving me the incorrect answer instead of getting after her we just simple went back a step and I had to help guide her the direction I wanted. Harshness gets you no where when it comes to working with horses.
Very proud of this one today! Hopes canter has definitely come a long way this year. Wasn’t planning on doing any canter work today as she was very stiff when I first got on her but she quickly loosened up so I decided to just ask for a little canter and she was awesome so decided to play with it a bit.
She always knows when she’s going to get treats and who can resist that face?
Hope generally isn’t a fan of being loved on so I was pleasantly surprised this morning when she came up to me, got super close and wanted love and attention. She’s been a bit of a wired head lately so it was funny to see those sides of her come out while also loving the attention. Warmed my heart, after the long week.
This is probably going to be boring for some but I’m enjoying it so I must share.
Hope got a bit of a message today. I’m planning on finishing my test Saturday so been trying to study as much as I can lately so Hope got to help today. Let’s just say her entire body was as tense as tense could be so good thing we did that. Now for the fun part.
Who knows where the intercostal muscle is? What is its function?
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The intercostal muscle is the muscle between each of the horses ribs. This muscle supports the rib cage and aids in respiration.
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To message this muscle of the message sequence we palpate at moderate pressure between the ribs. At a point of tension we apply direct pressure. Light for 10 seconds. Moderate for 15 seconds. Heavy for 20 seconds. Holding the heavy slide up two inches and back down to the next point of tension.
Did Hope absolutely love this today? Yes.
Watching this with sound is a definite must! Spencer experienced his first time trotting and well it’s safe to say he loves it!! Moments like this is why I do what I do! Moments like this is why I keep going through all the tears. Moments like this is why I keep going even when missing dad is too much. Moments like this is why I love what I do.
I always seem to forget that this horse has a bit more training than any of the others in the barn and am then suddenly surprised when I can ride and kinda just enjoy it instead of teach. For reference we are talking about Cin.
So sage has been renamed as the flying potato. He’s a bit chunky, and a bit cranky about the fact that him and cin are now on a strict lunging schedule.
Fun little exercise hope got to play with yesterday. This was her first time doing this and well I don’t know if we’ll do it again anytime soon. Hope is a very clumsy girl and sometimes forgets how to use her feet but that’s why we did this exercise and hill work is so helpful to build muscle!
Much fun happened today! Very proud of baby Hope. Got a nice gallop out of her and learned she hates being in the back when running with friends. It was nice to just relax and have fun. Could feel dad watching today!
Had an awesome morning ride on Hope today. Got to use a friends super awesome pink saddle pad on Hope and well I think I think I need to get myself one it’s just do I really want to spend about a hundred dollars on one? I I’ve that it sits a little farther back on hopes whither as those can be a bit sensitive on her but again they’re so expensive. But hey got this awesome clip. Been working on just getting her more comfortable with the canter lately (saddle pad helps with that too) along with picking up the correct leads which. Also really focused on myself and trying to sit her canter which let me tell you is not easy.
Got a very nice canter out of Hope yesterday! Making some progress with her. Slowly but surely making progress!
