My Wild Mane

04/05/2025

My heart.. 🤍

03/31/2025

Fun fact I learned the other day: It takes 45 minutes for horses eyes to adjust from outside light to indoor lighting…

03/23/2025

Have an opening tomorrow morning if anyone wants to snag it, in the Bitterroot! 🤍 BOOKED

03/19/2025

I had a couple reschedules for Thursday the 20th in the BITTERROOT if anyone wants to snag them up.. midday… room for maybe up to 3 horses… message me! 🤍Have a beautiful day! BOOKED

03/18/2025

Gotta keep our farriers feeling good too with some KTTape!!!!

03/12/2025

I just wanted to do a shout out to my amazing clients! The overwhelming love and support you give me makes my heart swell! I so appreciate the flooding recommendations you give me! Love you all! Too many to tag but you know who you are! And Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for entrusting me with you precious animals! 🤍

03/11/2025

Bubblebutts, skislopes, wonky donky and big booties

I did a post on butt's a few years ago but since I was accosted by a horse insisting I work on his butt the other day I thought I would revisit it

Nowadays it's quite hard to tell a hind end is what I would class as "normal", normal for me is no visible muscle outlines, a nice peachy look, no protruding pelvic bones, no uneven muscle tone

Most of what happens to a horses hind end is usually done long before you get your horse and the biggest issue a horse will face is incorrect or backing to early, their bodies are just not designed to have the excess strain while their delicate structures are still forming, fusing and growing
Mostly what you do early on will have an affect for that horse years

Like everything horses come in all shapes and sizes, but whatever the shape, breed or conformation it must be capable of working correctly and by looking at the shape you may discover the areas what may need fine tuning for your horse.

If the hind end is weak then it means other areas are having to work harder to make it look like everything is ok, and that in turn means other structures are under more duress than needed so you then have numerous amounts of areas either working beyond their expected capability and in turn overloading which can lead to a breakdown.

Think of a chain on a bicycle while ever it is working it is in turn powering other cogs to keep the wheels turning and powering the rest of the bike (stay with me I promise no more puns), now think of a weak link in the chain you will have to either work harder to get past it or it will miss and your foot will slip either way eventually the chain will come off and things will grind to a halt

We need to see a nice round shape to the hind end, everything looking near as equal as possible we want to see a smooth shape no bulging muscles or no lack of muscles. watch your horse move they want to walk with a swing like a supermodel, count as your horse lands each foot you want a count of one, two as the hind feet fall if you count longer on one side then you know the horse is working harder on that side. Watch the tail does it have a nice swing from side to side or is it stuck out like a rudder or clamped or just swinging to one side.

The reason why I choose the hind end because it has huge muscles that are easy to spot if something is going wrong,

The four pics depict different variations of what I see when working everyday

Overweight is a huge issue, not only does it put excess stress on all the body including organs, but it's basically prematurely ageing the joints, the stifle (knee) will have to move wider to avoid a huge belly and the repercussions will be felt further down as the angle will change at all joints below
Over the last few years weight has been a big issue, and if you are struggling it's worth speaking to a nutritionist as they will not only advise on feed but also management throughout the year

Bubblebutts this is the easy term for if you see that telltale line across your horses butt, often it can be a sign that your horse is loading more onto the hamstring group (biceps femoris, semimembranosus, semitendinosus), are these offloading from the stifle?? Are the quads weak, is that stride pushing forward ?? Does your horse insist on the groin being scratched?? Do they want scratched or are they trying to relieve an overworked Gracillis often associated with holding the horse in a frame but can also be a breed/metabolic issue as gut issues will always reflect in the hind end

Ski slopes, it is really hard to build up a horse that has this, even the preference for breeding long legged extravagant movers often leaves these horses struggling to build an even muscle tone, often we noticed the tuber sacrale (top of the pelvis) poking up and usually its only visible through lack of muscle tone sometimes the angle of the pelvis can have an effect on the development often the tail can be stuck out or if the sacroiliac is affected off to one side, I often refer the tail as the rudder to a ship if the horse isn't balanced it will have to find a compensation pattern to counterbalance
Poor core strength goes hand in hand with this so you may see the belly hanging and back muscles not engaging as they should

Pointy pelvis, this can often be confused with the ski slope and the two are similar but often you will see a difference in height at the Tuber Sacrale (the bony part you can feel on top of the butt), often referred to as a hunters bump and usually due to a fall, slip or strain early on in the horses life, often not realised until ridden where lack of propulsion, bunny hopping can become an issue again tails are often a reflection of the sacrum orientation the sacrum orientation is a reflection of the health of the sacroiliac joints.

We have to think of whole horse when addressing any issues if you only think the hind end is the issue then you may be loading onto a front end problem, if you think its a front end issue and push back onto an already compromised hind end things will start to fall apart

And if your horse is a butt scratcher check they are not trying to relieve a hind end problem as often they want you to press on the tuber ischium (butt bones) rather than scratch their but 🫠

03/08/2025

Perfect time of year to get bodywork for your loves .. making sure the horses are in tip top shape before the season ahead.. and help with recovery from getting into shape.. 🤍 call or message me to get on my schedule

*Here is my horse Boudi with her adopted baby Floyd… Floyd lost his mama back in January.. when we put him in the field with my herd he tried to nurse Boudi.. she ever so kindly told him no but she does treat him like her baby…

03/08/2025

Really been soaking up these beautiful days lately! 🤍 Its been so great to work without layering up in clothes and feeling like a marshmallow woman.. 🤣

02/25/2025

Trying to talk this shy percheron into being my best friend.. hehe! 🤍 (not a horse I was working on, he was just observing.. it was adorable on how curious he was on what we were doing..)

02/17/2025

This mare is magnificent, Love Dove! And her owner is just the sweetest thing! 🤍

01/26/2025

The neighbor Mule Jenny loves to jump the field to come visit with my herd.. my herd welcomes her so kindly… she is super adorable.. and quite impressive she can jump that fence…

01/25/2025

Back home from Calgary.. such a fun trip… highlight for me was getting a pair of boots from .. their shop is so beautiful, plus they make the boots right in the back of the shop in a little factory, where you can see them making the boots.. super cool… highlight for Andrew was definitely the hockey game.. which was a first for me, such a fun game to watch..

I do have some openings next week, let me know if you want on the schedule.. 🤍

01/22/2025

Heading to Canada, once there I will not have service but will have wifi at times.. message me through instagram or messenger and I will be sure to get back to you! 🤍 Have a lovely couple days!

01/17/2025