Healing Hands Equine Sports Massage

01/13/2023

New name, new page! Please follow!

11/06/2022

Stretching the Back vs SI

Photo 1: Neutral position before asking for any stretch.

Photo 2: Stretching the back muscles by running fingertips along abdomen. Notice the back is rounded which has naturally lowered the neck. The stretch starts near the withers and works down the vertebrae as you progress along the abdomen. This is similar to a cow pose in yoga. It’s very beneficial to stretch the back muscles, which typically carry the riders weight and tend to hold tension.

Photo 3: This stretch is from putting pressure between the point of hip and point of buttock. Notice the rounding of the top line is more towards the lower back, or the SI joint (where the horse’s back and pelvis connect). It’s important not to forget to stretch these muscles that surround the SI joint, as this is where the horse’s hindquarter engagement comes from. The more they are able to step under themselves, the more they’ll naturally round the back and lower the neck. Remember your “frame” starts from the hindquarters; you can’t fake it from forcing a neck carriage.

08/03/2021

Mounting.

Mounting is something not many riders tend to think about, other than the side in which they mount. However, mounting alone can be the cause of many issues with the back, and can even twist the saddle tree.

The photo is the rib of a horse who was consistently mounted from the ground.

Even when mounting from a block or elevated surface, if you constantly pull on the pommel or are too low that you're having to push off the stirrup, you risk causing injury to your horse that is so easily avoided.

06/09/2021

“The horse just has a little arthritis in his left hock, it doesn’t seem to bother him too much.”

Horses are great compensators, and they will create alternative locomotive patterns to continue movement.

So, say this little bit of osteoarthritis causes a reduced range of motion of the tarsal joint. In an attempt to maintain stride length and hide this dysfunction to potential predators (because you never know when a lion could be waiting around the corner... or a flapping plastic bag!) the tarsal joint is rotated medially (inwards) during the swing phase of the stride. This results in asymmetrical & medial weight bearing through the digit. This places additional stress through medial hamstring muscles, resulting in muscle tension and trigger points. And this is all something that is potentially going on in just the affected hindlimb.

A hip hike/drop can occur at corresponding phases of the stride, placing the sacroiliac joint under stress, resulting in paraspinal and asymmetrical gluteal tone/pain.

Decreased impulsion from the left hindlimb leads to increased weight bearing through the right forelimb diagonal. This can create tension and hypertrophy to the right pectoral muscles and related fascial planes.

The spiral of compensation could continue on further, affecting cervical muscles that become hypertonic as a result of weight shifting, digit shape and size, TMJ pain, head tiling, hyoid dysfunction, asymmetric tail holding...

Often it can be the case where I see a horse that is a chronic stage of compensation and it can be difficult to find the true cause especially when the horse may appear just overall “stiff”.

I liken the rehabilitation of chronic cases to peeling the layers off an onion; one layer at a time and piece by piece to unravel and rewind the compensation spiral. 🐴

** Note after recieving a lot of messages, if you feel you require help with anything I have mentioned in this post, please drop me a message and I will try to get back to you but it may take me a while as I receive multiple a day! I am based in Surrey and cover most of the South East, so if you’d like a treatment & plan for your horse I would be more than happy. ♥️

03/07/2021

09/18/2020

I will be in the St. Johnsbury area tomorrow morning and have openings. If you would like to schedule something please send me a message!

09/02/2020

07/13/2020

Put your scapulas in their pockets.

This visualization is another of my favorites for riders.

If you tell a rider ‘shoulders back’, 9 times out of 10 the rider will pinch their shoulders together and arch their lower back. This puts a great deal of tension into the back and shoulders.

If you cue a rider to ‘put their scapulas into a soft pocket in their back’, it’s an entirely different movement. The scaps drop down gently, the shoulders and chest open and the movement is fluid.

So the next time you climb into the saddle, breath in and as you exhale, put your scaps into their pockets.

06/28/2020

Has anyone tried to use an elastic band behind the hindquarters to encourage more engagement? What were your thoughts? How did it work? This was my first attempt and I’m still playing around to see what will work best.

05/14/2020

Good vs poor muscle development in the horse

Credits to herzenspferd.de

05/13/2020

Has your trainer ever complimented you and thanked for your "doing your homework?" There are ways to improve even out of the saddle.

05/13/2020

04/18/2020

Equilab is my new favorite app for tracking my rides. I’ve used it twice on a couple short rides but I’m excited to try it out on some longer ones soon!

03/11/2020

Progressive stretching and strengthening exercises that target specific muscles and ligaments can keep this important joint in peak condition.

03/01/2020

02/12/2020

❤️ FASCIA. As with much in life if you look for patterns you will find them. This is certainly true of anatomical imbalances and their transitional effects through the system be it muscular or fascial.
As you can see from this fantastic diagram, what looks like a spiderweb (taken from Practical steps in rehabilitating your horse by Sara Wyche) is actually a depiction of fascia, on the left healthy balanced with no restriction and on the right quite obviously compromised.
The pinch points where you can see the web gathering unevenly are indignant of areas of fascial tightness but just as importantly look at the secondary effects as the distal areas of the web become involved exasperating the initial primary issue (this may cause something other than just fascial issues such as muscular atrophy/injury/weakness etc but in this scenario I am focusing on fascia).
For every action there is a reaction and so more often than not fascial restriction isn’t isolated to the primary area of interest as it can follow chains and encompass full body transitional effects.
Fascia’s job is to prevent friction of not only the surrounding muscular skeletal tissue but for example also the internal organs as it surrounds and encompasses everything on both a deep and superficial level.
Imagine you have oil on your hands and think how smoothly and seemlessly you could wring your hands together in any variation of direction. Now imagine you have a piece of cling film on both hands and try to produce the same movement... it will be greatly restricted and start to bunch and become adhered, this is a similar scenario of healthy and compromised fascia.
When we treat your horse (or yourself) we work on both muscular and fascial release as one isn’t the same outcome without the other.

01/20/2020

01/20/2020

What horse and rider combinations do you think have a correct extended trot in the Grand Prix ring today?

01/07/2020

Hey , which button would you press? Comment below!

01/06/2020

01/06/2020

Here is this week's Friday Freebie!

🐴 The Pulley Rein

Every rider should learn how to do the pulley rein. It's the ultimate in emergency brake, as if done correctly, it will stop any horse quickly. And it is a great tool to use as a back up aid for riders whose horses get strong.

Here's how to do it 👇👇👇

https://www.myvirtualeventingcoach.com/articles/the_pulley_rein

11/12/2019

You can't expect your horse to get broke by riding him for 20 minutes at a time. You have to put some steady miles under his feet. Horses can go sour very quickly if you only ride them in small enclosed spaces, such as roundpens or arenas. The smaller the area, the more it shuts the horse down mentally and physically. Get your horse out on some long trails or dirt roads or ride him in a big pasture. Free him up mentally and give him a reason to move his feet. - Clinton