My favorite befores and afters of 2024...new years day I will share the best save of my career to date.
Who do you think it is?
Tomorrow I will resume the 12 days of Christmas.
Sometimes, it's all about working through older restrictions that were likely present before a more crucial-to-treat injury.
This sweet mare was treated for bilateral degenerative proximal suspensory issues that had also affected her right stifle. I met her probably 2 months ago as she was coming off of a list of year long restrictions and was beginning her journey back into riding once a week. She was doing great until her right hamstring gathered up in tension and her stifle presented more resistance. It almost presented as stringhalt except that once I worked on it, it did soften and want to normalize. (The vet comes Tuesday, so we will know for sure soon enough. I'm not a vet so diagnosis is theirs to make of course)
She recieved an Infrared therapy session,(one of my favorite things and one I'll be writing a course for next year ✨️ 😉), my cryo ball, some cupping, and some kinesiology tape applied to the area. Hopefully this soft tissue adjustment will hold and we can get some modification in movement.
Today, I have chicken in the roaster for dumplings tonight, goats being delivered, and a trail ride in my sight.
Stay tuned for some great rehab cases and a really great hot topic Tuesday!
Enjoy your weekend, but as always please feel free to ask questions or have conversations here! I'll answer later today
May all your rehabs stick
One of my hot topic maybe controversial topics is or could be starting horses young. I'm not going to delve into it just now, but I do want to reiterate one very important thing:
When you start them young, please be aware of the rest and digest phase. This is 50% of the vagus nerve's job. Without this very important function, the body begins to stay in a neuromuscular imbalance.
This is often caused by being started young, placing a lot of responsibility on the horse, and not giving their brains and bodies enough time to marinate in the things they've learned. Without time to decompress, their bodies will stay in work mode longer and biofeedback systems will head into overdrive in effort to try to compensate for things their body can only achieve when it's in its rest and digest phase.
This in turn causes weight loss, fascial restrictions, gastrointestinal upsets, lower numbers on the body scale, headaches, lethargy, and so much more than I can cover in this post.
Basically the take away from this conversation (I will expand later. I'm exhausted 😩) is that when you start them young, you need to allow equal time for them to go out and process the joys of just being a horse so their bodies can return to normal states of balance.
I just needed to take a break and appreciate the beauty of my clients and how much dedication and love they pour into their horses day in and day out.
This is the best example of how a program that provides good nutrition, body balance, maintenance programming, proper and centered riding, and love and respect from all the handlers can impact the horses at your barn.
Sure makes for happy horses that love their job. All it takes is a good maintenance program that encompasses all care (doesn't even have to be the best care, just a careful eye and attention to detail) from hoof to tooth.
This is the reason I have worked so many years to have good and faithful relationships with all of you, and all of your dentists, chiropractors, farriers, veterinarians, nutritionists, osteopaths, and natural paths. Maybe you don't need all of them, but I guarantee you need at least 3 of us at any given moment in your horse's life.
They say collaboration happens at the top, and I know this to be correct. Everyone benefits when everyone works together, most especially your horses.
Just take a moment and appreciate the beauty of this moment of my view while working another horse. Look at how quiet, skilled, and happy this horse and Rider pair is. Look at their dedication to eachother, and look at the freedom this stallion has to freely move his body. Look at the history and culture in this moment.
This is that product. A well bred horse with a whole body maintenance program being ridden by a highly educated and kind seat.
(These are all andalusan or andalusan/Spanish dancing horse studs, literally straight out of Spain. So much culture in this barn)
Anyways, I'm off to work so I can take some time off this weekend.
Enjoy your Labor Day weekend.
#naturalbeautychallengegotnothingontheseguys
#stilldontmissthatofficejob
#butthatsuckyofficejobsurebuiltsomegoodskillsthatiusetoday
Updates to in-state service area, apologies in advance...
This year has been a difficult and transitory year for my little family. Our youngest child has turned 15 and starts high-school this year (he also starts and finishes his school day later), epm hit one of our senior horses, two other horses turned completely metabolic, my speaking engagement calendar blew up, and Travis opened his own guitar tech and recording studio. In the middle of all of this we have been slowly pecking away at polishing off the rehab center on our facilities set to open (if the creek don't rise 🤷🏼♀️) either December or January, which has until this posting been quietly moved from summer/fall of 2025 because we were way further ahead than I thought we were. All great problems to have, but due to that some really hard decisions have had to be made.
One of those is reducing my in-state travel radius and being more readily available for 1)haul ins 2)immediate injury/rehab availabilities 3)making room for those future rehab stays at our facilities and 4)the wonderful locals that are close to within 50 miles of Newnan. Anything that is over the 50 mile radius is subject to an increased travel fee no matter the number of horses, so long as the gas prices stay as high as they have been. There is another post coming about the fee schedule but you won't see that one until the end of the year if and when there are any changes.
If you haven't heard from me about this new arrangement yet, you are likely not affected. This does not affect anyone on any of these state lines, or over them: ga/fl, ga/al, ga/sc, ga/tn. It also does not affect those anyone that I travel to that require overnight stays or those that I catch on the way back home from those stays.
This was a very difficult decision to make and honestly I'm sad about it. But as sad as I am about it, I am very very excited for everything else that's coming from me to you. I am truly blessed to have such a supportive client
Proprioceptive Therapy Day for Remington and his locking stifle (surgical repair with a previous owner).
Sometimes a locking stifle, other such stifle injuries, or stifle issues that still occur after surgery don't always stem from the connective tissues but instead can be caused by a dysfunction in the stay apparatus.
During proprioceptive therapies, horses sway and self stretch. When they go through these motions they work their core muscles and exercise the lock and load mechanism of the stay apparatus.
This will eventually over time decrease the occurrence of locking stifle and increase comfort as he heads back into work.
Bubbles the donkey wanted to try it too
It's amazing to me how mentally, emotionally, and physically resilient horses are.
It's amazing how much we can teach eachother if only we are willing to work together even when one of us can't communicate using words.
This lonely, sad, and frightened almost feral boy has been so traumatized by people (not the current owners) but he still wanted to trust me.
After this video yesterday, I left him alone to marinate with his thoughts until this morning. After some very short trust building exercises this morning, he allowed me to halter him, and then allowed me to give him a good solid craniosacral session with some nerve releases. He didn't want to leave, he just needed me to allow him to take a step backwards from time to time.
Once allowed to take a step back, he wanted to lean on me and stay close. He spent a long time just breathing on me. I braided his forelock so he wouldn't be so worried when I switched sides, and he enjoyed it. After his session was complete, he was calm and not near as worried about what people might do.
I am hopeful that I was able to help him find his way back to trusting that people are good.
It's all in being able to understand how their minds and bodies work along with pressure and releases. It's all in the ability to read body language and being intuitive enough in your interpretation to be able to communicate it right back.
Sometimes, rehab is just the tiniest step forward. Sometimes it's leaps and bounds where it really counts.
Last call for any LAST MINUTE appointments tomorrow and Tuesday (July 15/16). I am 100% out of pocket from the 17th to the 21st, but am only back in town for the 22..could not fit anything else in that day if I tried.
Be sure and check to make sure you do not need seen between the 17 and the 25 because you won't be able to get in for a session (unless, of course, you are already on the schedule).
I will be in and out of service and will have a harder time responding, but will still do my best to help where I can.
Yall know what to do! (If you don't, comment/message/call)
I'll only be gone for as long of a stretch as Rose took yesterday 💪💪
Have some last minute openings with the heat and everyone swapping up getting ready for 4th of July shows or youth world!
July 8
July 9
July 12, haul ins only
July16, haul ins only
10% off if I travel OR you're new to my roster OR you can come to me for $75 a horse. My travel time is limited but haul ins are unlimited.
I am absolutely 100% out of pocket July 17-21, and in South Carolina rotation the 23 and 24 so please be sure and make sure you get serviced beforehand.
404.877.8571, call or text anytime.
Just a heads up:
Anyone that has thermal images in their reports, just know those reports are stuck in cyberspace.
I have to go back in manually to release them and correct the issue. It's probably 75 reports, so it will take some untangling.
So long story short, just know that you may get all of the reports I've ever done on your animals all at once. So sorry!
Thank you all for your patience, I will try to sit in my quiet spot and get it done this weekend.
Tomorrow I will resume the fascial line post series after I get home in the evening.
Thanks again for your never ending patience, support, and referrals. It's truly appreciated.
