Sublime Sporthorses

07/29/2025

You don’t teach the horse proper posture and movement you develop it from the basics. Advanced maneuvers are just highly conditioned basic maneuvers 👏🏼

I frequently say that if you take time in the short run, you will save time in the long run. I have endlessly witnessed horses, especially talented ones, being rushed along and, down the line, usually at or around 3rd level, they are having issues with purity of gait, symmetry of movements and throughness. This is also where you see behavior issues... swishing tails, ears pinned, rearing, kicking out and refusal to enter the arena. You see riders sitting to one side, one rein always tighter than another, one hand higher than the other, one heel always up, head bobbing because the seat can't follow the back . You will never be sorry about spending time on the basics and being fastidious about your equitation. Don't be neurotic about it but be honest and diligent in your attention to good work. Reiner Klimke spent much time riding without stirrups to maintain a balanced, centered and deep seat... even at the top of his game, he was very particular about the basics.
If you are interested in Virtual Dressage lessons, feel free to FB message me... I am very discerning about the basics!

Photo of Michelle Woollard and Boletta

07/15/2025

Not that you need an excuse to give your pony extra treats today! 🥰

July 15 is National I Love Horses Day. This is for all the neigh-sayers out there.

06/28/2025

Easy way to remember how the joints work in the neck
How i explain it, and yes i know there is more detail but sometimes to understand stuff you first have to imagine the movement and saying things like dorsoventral, axial rotation, lateral flexion etc can be confusing if you are trying to figure out how can dorsal and ventral be in the same sentence 😃😃🙃🙃

Jaw (Temporomandibular) think if your horse was chewing bubblegum how would they move their jaw, we see so many jaws without the ability to move in most directions yet we never begin at the head, well I do 😃
Ps do not feed your horse bubblegum just use your imagination 😁

Skull and atlas (atlantoocciptal) simply if your horse is nodding up and down or the yes action

Atlas and Axis (atlantoaxial) if your horses head is moving side to side or the no action

C3-C6 the inbetweeners, these are the supporting crowd helping create the movement you see in the other parts except where the articular processes (facet joints) are placed will limit some other movement that other joints can do

C7-T1 the bendy Wendy, when your horse reaches round with its neck to itch or if been trained by a cowboy 😄

Hope this helps
And if i got anything wrong I dont care, its took me all day doing these pics
If you want complicated then I am not the page for you 😃😃😃😃
Ps I did put the Temporohyoid in the first pic but forgot to write about it

06/13/2025

We take our horses’ stoicism for granted, we take our horse’s sensitivity for granted.

If your horses is acting “off” there is probably good reason for it….

06/08/2025

The visceral system is directly correlated to the muscle system which is directly correlated to the skeletal system- dysfunction in one will create dysfunction in all 👏🏼

good organ health is imperative for proper form and function 👌🏼

YES.
The hindgut tension your horse is carrying — due to everyday stress, diet, dehydration, or subtle fear — is directly connected to the tightness in the pelvis, the psoas, and the tongue.

Why does it matter?
Because:

A horse cannot step under with ease if the colon is inflamed & cannot suspend his back if the intestines are tight.

And here’s the shocking consequence:

Your horse will lose the ability to sit, to coordinate his body, to breathe & to elevate.

Your doesn’t die due to lack of muscle engagement. It dies in the gut, long before you ever ask for the first step.

This is not a metaphor. It’s anatomical fact:
🧠The vagus nerve connects the gut to the brainstem
👅 The tongue is a fascial continuation of the digestive tract
➿The pelvis shares myofascial lines with the intestinal system.

So if your horse’s gut is inflamed, the piaffe will be blocked — no matter how much you practice. Intestines are not passive tubes. They are living organs with constant peristalsis, rich in nerve endings, wrapped in layers of smooth muscle, and deeply connected to:

✔️ The psoas (hip flexor and spinal stabilizer)
✔️ The diaphragm (which regulates breath and rhythm)
✔️ The tongue and jaw (via the vagus and facial nerves)
✔️ And the entire pelvic sling (which you rely on for sit and suspension)

Most trainers will never tell you this. Because they don’t know.
But in my course From Walk to Piaffe, we begin where others don’t even look:

– Relaxation of the gut,
– Restoration of vagal tone & relaxation of the pelvis.
– Activation of tendon-based movement,
– Oscillation before steps
– Pelvic vector correction from within

If your horse shows:
– Lack of sit
– Explosive reaction to piaffe aids
– Uneven steps or diagonal loss
– Lack of forwardness
– Or chronic tension…

Then you are not dealing with a training issue.
You are dealing with a GUT-SPINE COORDINATION BREAKDOWN.

And that is where I work.

➡️ Comment GUT below and I’ll send you on Monday more information about my system.
Or DM me the word PIAFFE and I’ll make sure you get link 🔗 to an early access! 💜

Because this time… we don’t train harder.
We go deeper 📈📈📈

05/27/2025

OBSESSED with this postural glow-up.

Classical training on a western horse WORKS.

Stop chasing fads, and pick up a book. You won’t regret it.

This isn’t MY stuff. It’s stuff that belongs to all of us, passed down from the life’s work of those before us.

05/26/2025

This was a big discussion point at module 2 of my osteopath course! Anatomically it makes sense; they are better designed for reaching upwards for trees and brush than they are downwards to graze for grass.

🌿🐴 Are Horses Really Grazers… or Have We Just Made Them That Way? 🤔

We’ve all done it—looked out at a field of lush, green grass and thought,
“That looks like horse heaven!” 💚

But here’s the thing most owners don’t realise…
👇
Horses aren’t true grazers.
They are 👉 specialist browsers — designed to move continuously across large areas, nibbling on coarse grasses, bark, leaves, herbs, and hedgerow plants. 🌾🍂🌿

So why do we keep them on small, super-rich paddocks?
📍Because it’s convenient. For us.
🚫 Not because it’s best for them.

And unfortunately, that well-meaning setup often leads to:
⚠️ Laminitis
⚠️ Ulcers
⚠️ Obesity & insulin resistance
⚠️ Boredom & behaviour issues

💡 Want to help your horse thrive?
Think less golf course… more track system.
More variety, more movement, more natural behaviours.

⸻

✅ Small changes, big impact:
• Provide access to low-sugar forage
• Use hedgerows, herbs, and branches for enrichment
• Encourage slow movement with feeding stations
• Reduce time on rich pasture

⸻

Let’s stop mistaking what looks nice to us for what’s right for them.
✨ A happier, healthier horse starts with understanding how they’re truly designed to live.

💬 Have you made changes to help your horse live more like a browser?
Drop your tips below 👇
Or save this post for later—it’s a game changer! 🔄

05/03/2025

LOUDER for the folks in the back! 👏🏼😤

04/14/2025

Great ride from Janet and Fancy today! 👏🏼😄

04/14/2025

I’m going to say it louder for the people in the back!!

A horses’ head tells us EVERYTHING we need to know about where their state of balance is at. We cannot accurately judge a horses ability to carry themselves if we are a manually altering the horses’s head position OR ability to adjust their head position. It’s so important to understand that it does not matter where or how the horse is holding their head, if they are not engaged from the base of the neck than they are NOT properly engaged through their body!

When the sternum is lifted, the base of the neck raises allowing the rest of the neck to stretch up, out and over which encourages the horse to open up the throat latch and create a “rainbow” or “macaroni noodle” shaped profile of the head and neck which allows maximum forward swing of the shoulders and helps encourage the horse to push from the hind end.

thought for the day-
Good riding isn’t about bringing the horse’s chin in, head up, or head down-
it’s about bringing the base of the neck up. This is where anything “correct” can develop from. Otherwise we become puppeteers monkeying a horse’s body into a shape, while riding a horse with a braced back.

04/14/2025

I am very excited to have availability to take on some new clients!

I am currently available for
👉🏼 lessons
👉🏼 conditioning
👉🏼 bodywork

What is better than an instructor/trainer that also has over half a decade of experience as a bodyworker AND is currently a student of equine osteopathy at the Vluggen Institute? Not much! The greatest benefit to working with me is knowing that the work I do is backed by a specialized education and years of experience to help increase your horse’s fitness, soundness, and overall wellbeing!

Your horse’s soundness and overall wellbeing is my top priority above all else! Regardless of discipline or breed of choice I can help you and your partner along with whatever your journey may be whether that be performance, pleasure, or rehabilitation. My program stands alone or makes a great supplement to any program you may already be apart of.

Get in touch today and I can see you as soon as next week! All breeds, all disciplines encouraged and welcome 🙌🏼

07/17/2024