NS Equestrian

10/30/2024

The results are coming 🙌🏼

10/24/2024

Do you agree :) ?
credits: Pinterest

10/21/2024

10/21/2024

𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚖𝚗 𝚌𝚊𝚔𝚎 🍰🧁🎂

10/14/2024

We have power and internet back! 🙌 I am slowly getting this week figured out, so will be reaching out to everyone individually.
If you still do not have power, water, or cleaned up post storm, or could just use some help and a break, please let me know! I am happy to help clients with whatever needs while we all get back to “normal”

10/12/2024

We still do not have power or gas, service is off and on as well. Once I am able to regularly get gas, I will be back on the road!

10/10/2024

All the animals and myself are fine, but home base is flooded and camper took a small beating.
We are staying with friends, but no power or internet, so will not be answering messages or traveling the remainder of the week so we can all catch up on resources, etc.

10/06/2024

Regular schedule Monday!
Tuesday and Wednesday I will not be working ! 🌀
Thursday and Friday are tentative due to impact, power outages, etc.
Please be safe and have plans in order now!

10/04/2024

Normalize not forcing things with your horse.

So much of the equestrian competition world is about forward movement - and that’s okay, when the progression is natural. But it’s not okay when it’s forced. If you find that you are moving your horse too fast into the next step, or you are molding them into a box they don’t fit into, it is time to re-evaluate.

Horses don’t exist for our viewing pleasure. They are beings with souls, and I will die on this hill. We need to treat them with love and respect. Not roughly move them up the levels, or jump them a foot higher because our timeline or pocketbooks dictate that’s how it should be.

10/01/2024

🤣

Happy spooky season!

10/01/2024

🎯 🎯 We live in an instant gratification culture, remember it takes YEARS.

09/30/2024

I will be at LAJUF Hunter Jumper Dressage Schooling Show 10/4 - 10/6! I have appointments available Saturday and Sunday, and a couple of slots open for Friday
352-232-0621. Call, text or pm to set up your appointment.

Equine: massage/sports massage includes at no additional charge myofascial release and Neuromuscular Therapy.
I also offer Acupressure Pain Point Therapy: uses stretching, and massage techniques as well as movement to release restrictions in the fascia to influence the horse’s ability to move optimally, great to use in conjunction with chiro. Keeps everything in line to help adjustments last longer.
*cold laser therapy for your horse offered with any service or alone.

Riders: Massage chair to your barn if you need a little work. Contact me ahead of time for this service.

Licensed and insured LMT (MA94791) CEMT, CESM, CEPPT, CENMT

352-232-0621 call, text or pm

09/28/2024

Why do biomechanics matter?

No one uttered this term to me, in all my years of riding and lesson-taking, until I was well into my 20's. I heard lots of other words: contact, responsiveness, connection, rhythm, impulsion, suppleness. All of them felt like these ethereal concepts that had multiple meanings depending on who you talked to. They also had varying degrees of importance or ranking in terms of what you need first before the horse can offer the next thing, depending on who you talked to. I still see this all the time, and hear about how frustrating it is from other horsepeople trying to do the best they can.

Biomechanics are the physical relationships and structural laws that govern how living things move. Biomechanics are the HOW in all of those aforementioned ethereal terms. They are vital in understanding how to correctly develop a horse for riding. This is the first reason why biomechanics matter.

The second reason is because horses weren't designed to be ridden. I cannot overstate how important this is to understand if you want to ride horses and ride them well: horses were NEVER designed to be sat on. The horse is born with a specific set of biomechanical tools available to him, and they serve him very well...when they are needed.

The thing is, those tools were designed for maximum efficiency if the horse's life is in danger: used for brief moments, blips in between long stretches of calm. Those exact tools can cause injury, unsoundness, and degeneration if used every day, day in and day out, for years.
. . . . . . . .

I want you to look at these two photos.

The top horse is using what nature gave him (and what work with humans helped him turn into long-standing patterns in movement). The bottom horse has been given new tools and taught how to use them to move in ways that preserve soundness, not encourage degeneration.

The top horse is moving in a way that directly ties into the same sympathetic nervous system responses that kick in when a horse is in danger. The bottom horse is demonstrating all of the power potential the nervous system makes available when the horse is in danger, but accessing it through relaxation and completely different biomechanics.

The top horse is using the ground to support his weight in movement, putting a lot of pressure on his joints. The bottom horse is doing a lot of that supporting himself by virtue of his posture, putting significantly less strain on his joints.

You may have already figured out this is the same horse. These photos were taken approximately two years apart.

I guess what I'm getting at is this: the way to develop the bottom horse isn't to simply take the top horse and add contact, impulsion, responsiveness, ride circle after circle, do pole and hill work, etc. Whatever you apply to the ridden horse will only reinforce what is already in him.

You must teach him, literally from the ground up, a new way of moving, a different biomechanical perspective. Some horses will come by this easier than others, but not a one is born knowing how to put all of these things together on their own when the human asks it. Not a one.

We have to show them how.

PC: Mandy Helwege. Thank you for permitting me to share your lovely boy.

09/27/2024

The mare squad and I are all good post storm, we were fortunate and didnt even have the equivalent to an average afternoon storm here in Florida.
We have been helping friends today who have suffered some big losses, and will be helping through the weekend until back to regular schedule starting Monday morning 🩵