Sooner Than Later Animal Massage & Bodywork

11/13/2025

How interesting? You learn something new everyday 🙂

The “Stifle Lameness” That Wasn’t: A Story About Referred Pain

I once had a client who told me about a horse that developed an odd, on-again off-again hind-end lameness that no one could quite pin down. Some days the horse looked off behind, as if his stifle was sore; other days he moved completely normally. Nothing about it followed the usual patterns. Things that should have made a stifle issue worse didn’t seem to, and things that “should have” helped it, didn’t.

We were all very confused.

One day, the vet happened to be on the property with a brand-new scope and offered to scope several horses for gastric ulcers — partly to familiarize themselves with the equipment. When they scoped this particular horse, they found significant stomach ulcers.

The horse was placed on a veterinarian-directed ulcer-care plan, and within a few weeks, something unexpected happened:
the ulcers healed, and the mysterious “stifle lameness” vanished along with them.

It turned out the stifle itself had never been the problem. The horse had been expressing ulcer-related visceral pain as stifle discomfort — a classic example of referred pain.

Why Ulcers Can Look Like Hind-End or Stifle Issues

This situation is a great illustration of how the equine body handles pain. Signals from the internal organs and the limbs travel through overlapping pathways in the spinal cord.

Here’s what science tells us:

1. Visceral nerves and musculoskeletal nerves converge.

The stomach and the hindquarters share overlapping spinal segments, especially through the thoracolumbar region. When the stomach is irritated, the brain can misinterpret those signals as coming from the back, pelvis, or stifle.

2. Fascia connects everything.

The deep fascial membranes link the viscera to the musculoskeletal system. When the gut is irritated, the horse may brace through the abdomen and back, altering pelvic motion and limb loading.

3. Protective guarding changes movement patterns.

A horse in visceral discomfort often holds tension through the core, diaphragm, and back. This can create subtle gait irregularities that look orthopedic but aren’t.

When the gastric discomfort resolved under the veterinarian’s care, the nervous system stopped sending those distress signals — and the hind-end “lameness” disappeared.

✳️ Why This Matters

Not every hind-end irregularity originates in a limb. Sometimes the body is expressing visceral discomfort through movement changes.

This story is a reminder of how important it is to work closely with a wonderful veterinarian, and to consider the whole horse — inside and out.

https://koperequine.com/fascia-the-skeleton-of-the-nerves/

11/11/2025

Big Guy, a horse I performed and some integrative having an awesome release!
If you look closely, Scooby, the horse behind him also started processing at the same time for a brief moment . I was so pleased to see that ☺️💕✨

🍂 NOVEMBER AVAILABLILITY 🍂

I have A LOT of OPEN AVAILABILITY on the FOLLOW DATES…
🍂 Thursday, November 13th, and 20th.

🍂 Saturday, November 15th

🍂 Sunday, November 16th.
And Sunday, the 23rd(I’m traveling to St. Augusta this day. I’ll happily book anyone in the following cities along the way…Nowthen, Elk River, and Monticello ✨ As long as it’s before 12 PM)

🍂 Tuesday, November 18th and 25th

✨ BENEFITS OF MASSAGE✨

• Reduces pain and/or discomfort from stiffness/inflammation

• Improves muscle tone, spinal/body alignment, flexibility & range of motion

• Reduces anxiety and stress; eases emotional traumas

• Promotes blood and lymph circulation
Heightens immune system function

• Aids in healing from surgery or injury

• Builds trust, self-confidence and sociability

•Promotes longevity and slows degenerative processes

Contact Sooner Than Later Animal Massage & Bodywork to book your appointment today, or if you simply have any questions! Please don’t hesitate to reach out.

10/31/2025

I can’t believe it’s been a WHOLE DECADE with Sooner !! 💕

My grandmother purchased Sooner for me in my early teens. I took one look at his sale ad, and I had a gut feeling, “this horse belongs with me.”
When he went to purchase him, he was very depressed, head hung low, Sooner seemed like “his spirit had been broken”, non-reacting to everything happening. He didn’t care for anything.
When I approached, he immediately came to life! Sooners eye lit up with a small spark, attentively watching my every movement, engaging with me.
I walked away, and he went back to “dull”. An employee noticed, and started to have random people walk up, he stayed composed, no reaction. Not even an ear flick, or slight turn of the head. I approached again, and he magically had “life” again.
I like to think Sooner picked me more than I picked him. 💕
I had to work very hard, and slow to earn his trust fully, and the more I discovered, I felt he had a very tough/hard life before. I believe he didn’t know what it meant to have a human truly be compassionate, loving, and willing to alter their approach for his comfort.
10 years laters, we are both in our early 20s, we have So many wonderful memories created together, and I hope for more. I cherish every second with him as I always worry it’ll be the last.
I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him, Soonie Woonie.
He’s done so much for me, but the biggest is saving my life when I felt at my lowest.
Now, it’s my turn to give back to him. When I found out massage/bodywork was even possible for animals, I knew I found my “calling” in life. I looked into a program and became certified. I founded a , Sooner Than Later animal massage & Bodywork in his honor.
Thank you, Sooner, my dear friend. Let’s aim for another 10 years, and make it 2 decades together! 😉💕

10/25/2025

I love this!

10/11/2025

Dear Clients,
I’m informing you I will be increasing my Initial Patient prices ONLY.
New Prices for Initial Equine($120) and Canine/Feline($110)

This will be effective, STARTING November 8th, 2025.

~ Sooner Than Later

10/10/2025

Some helpful hints when it comes to applying the ends your tape 😉

10/10/2025

Dear Clients, I’m undergoing surgery tomorrow, and will need a couple days to recover. I will respond to messages as soon as possible. Thank you for being understanding
~ Sooner Than Later

10/06/2025

I had the opportunity to do on Boris, an today! He was so incredibly sweet, and overall seemed to enjoy his very first ☺️✨

I was also gifted some awesome, all natural, homemade pet treats from Olivia's Treats!
My two , LOVED them, especially the flavor. They were literally drooling 🤤 😋
Check out her page, and get yourself some for your or ! She also has kicker’s for your

10/06/2025

Sesshomaru the Ninja Warrior(Sesshy) is a senior cat that I’ve been performing bodywork on for a whole year now! 😀 It’s been quite the journey through the ups and downs.
When I first started seeing Sesshy, he was unsure of strangers, I had to go extremely slow with him, and earn his trust overtime. I believe it took about 5-6 sessions before I could really get my hands on him.

Today, I felt like I hit a huge with him 😸💕 He greeted me within a couple of minutes, ready ready for his session. He was purring so loudly, and overall seemed content.
We accomplished so much today with

Thank you so much for your continued support ✨💕😁

10/04/2025

Muscle type just because the hare is faster than the tortoise does not mean it will always win the race

Ever wondered why you have dark and light meat on your chicken??? Well there is a reasoning behind it and these are the questions that I once asked and if you have ever wondered then look no further here is the answer 😃

When we think of a muscle we often think of them as one unit we seperate them from other structures, concentrate on exercises with just that one muscle in mind, without sometimes considering what the fibres in the muscle are built for or what they can do beyond a stretch or movement pattern, but they are part of one whole system and when it comes to working with them not only thinking of shape but understanding what the fibres are built for can change your outlook when it comes to training them for a more overall healthier body.
Remember horses are not at the gym where we want to focus on a muscle group for aesthetics horses need function

Why does it matter to know wether a muscle is a type 1 or 2??? Because knowing the difference can tell you alot about the way your horse is utilising their muscles a powerhouse horse that tires quickly may be like those weightlifters strong but weak at the same time, a horse that could go all day at one speed but struggles to go over a cross pole may have endurance yet lack strength.

All need to be working together to produce that fluid smooth movement that we strive for so what are they??

Easy explanation to help build up a picture of what goes where, what it does and how to spot if something may not be pulling its weight 🙂
And we often think of postural muscles as only containing type 1 yet often muscles can contain a variety just one is more dominant than the other, muscle groups may contain one which is type 1 than another which is type 2

Easy explanation of course as always 😀

Type 1 Slow twitch muscles

The tortoise
Low impact more stamina, are you sat reading this then your type 1 muscles will be in action making sure you maintain your posture 😉
They get their main energy source from oxygen so are more densely packed with capillaries and myoglobin hence the darker colour.
Myoglobin are the uber drivers delivering and storing oxygen in the fibres releasing the oxygen to the mighty mitochondria for energy
These fibres are also used in tonic muscles, lift your hand and turn it palm up your hand stays there because of the tonic muscles it happens subconsciously always changing to maintain posture and balance, and why posture is but a moment in time for the job that is needed and why when we think of postural exercises for the horse it can be quite tiring so next time someone asks you to maintain a different postural position for a lengthy time for your horse how much is the body fighting subconsciously to go back where it feels more comfortable, are you sitting correctly??? How uncomfortable for you is it to maintain correct posture yet we often dont even ask the question for our horses.
So low impact, less fatigued, changing all the time to maintain equilibrium, contracts more slowly.

Type 2A. And 2B
The Hare and the cheetah

There are 2 types of fast twitch muscles (new studies have even shown a 3rd type but jeez I am not even in that rabbit hole yet).

The hare.
These are the power but less stamina fibres and it makes sense there are more type 2 fibres found in the hind end.
Type 2A is often classed as intermediate fibres as have traits of both fast and slow fibres
They are lighter in colour to represent the lesser numbers of myoglobin (myo= muscle, globin = blood) they still use oxygen for energy but do have a high level of mitochondria so can use aerobic metabolism (oxygen) and if needed anaerobic metabolism which uses energy already in the body like glucose and fat to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) these fibres are classed as oxidative-glycolotic muscles
So short bursts of power, fatigue quicker, good for reflex response i.e if your horse trips then quickly recovers these are the muscle fibres in use.

Type 2b
The cheetah.
The lightest colour of muscle because they do not rely on oxygen as an energy source but instead use glucose (anaerobic glycogen) so have the least amount of myoglobin and mitochondria they are know as nonoxidative muscles
They are usually the larger more powerhouse muscles used for intense bursts of energy yet fatigue the quickest,.they contract quickly, generate a huge amount of force but cant maintain the power for very long
They are the i need to get out of here quick but cant last long muscles

So when we think of training do we want one pace?? Do we want only strength training?? Or do we want a more rounded approach, slow and steady maybe good for the postural muscles yet short power bursts may increase stamina in those fast twitch muscles ??
Balance is working all the horse to maintain health throughout, recognising fatigue is probably one of the most important parts of rehab. Yet often in training fatigue is very rarely talked about.

Genetics play a huge role on the formation of these fibres, breed, age, health can have a factor on the outcome of the horses ability to do the same as the horse standing next to it.

You dont want your horse to be either the tortoise, hare or cheetah you need your horse to be all of them to win the race

Ps if I got anything slightly wrong sorry I am trying to keep it as simple as I can explain it xx

P.s if you share could you please share the original post i am monetised on Facebook and give you the free content because of money i earn through the likes, comments and shares and it isnt alot but helps. Copying and pasting my content means I go hungry (well not really but it sounds more dramatic 😃😃😃)

10/01/2025

Sooner recently got a small cut near his eye, which is causing some inflammation/weeping eyes. I VERY CAREFULLY used my device around his eye, as well as gently massaging. He had an almost immediate release with a lick/chew response to this 😮‍💨
✨ I’ve seen an application on the page for inflammation around the eye, I slightly altered the application for
I’m also working on improving his , and used one of my favorite, yet simple applications around his cornet bands on all four hooves.

✨ I love this application because it increases circulation and helps improve proprioception(the body’s awareness in space)

✨HOW TO APPLY THE CORNET BAND APPLICATION ✨
1. Measure an “i” strip around the horse's cornet band, ending the measurement at their heel bulb
2. Once your “I” strip is measured and cut, tear the paper backing in the middle, and use mild stretch around the cornet band. Half on hoof, half on hair. Always make sure the last 2 inches have no stretch/paper-off tension.

3. Rub your tape to activate it!! Reapply as needed, BUT always wait 24-48 hours in between applications to give skin/hair a break from adhesives
The longest I’ve had this application stay on is 3ish days
And of course, he received a on top of it all. 🙂

09/19/2025

So true! ✨

Train Long to Grow Strong: What Science Says About Muscle Length and Performance

Did you know that training muscles at longer lengths leads to greater strength, growth, and athletic performance?

Research shows that when muscles are loaded in their lengthened position — rather than short and compressed — they experience:
• More mechanical tension
• Greater muscle fiber remodeling
• Stronger signals for growth and performance

🏇 What does this mean for horse training?
Exercises that encourage a full range of motion — like hill work, cavalletti, and long-and-low frames — promote:
• Stronger, more resilient muscles
• Better stride length and joint stability
• Improved dynamic performance in sports like dressage, jumping, and barrels

⚠️ Short, choppy movements or always working in a collected frame can limit muscle development by avoiding these lengthened positions.

✅ Want to build strength that transfers to real performance?
Encourage your horse to move in full, fluid ranges — not just for fitness, but for long-term soundness and athleticism.

Follow this link for more interesting info -
https://koperequine.com/articles/