Elissa Hambright Massage Therapy

08/30/2024

🤣😂😅

08/16/2024

The art of riding is being an easy weight to carry!

When the rider is in complete harmony with the movement of the horse, the inconvenience of the weight of the rider will be minimal for the horse. However if the rider is against the movement of the horse, ie. if he loses his balance often or if he falls backwards or forwards, then he asks a great deal of adjustment from the horse.

07/29/2024

Happy Monday friends!

Every Monday we spend a few moments with you considering ways we can stay highly motivated in this beautiful sport.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all there is to know about our beloved horses and riding…the care and feeding and health and plans for their retirement, as well as our own health and strength and knowledge and riding pursuits and competitive goals.

One side of the coin is to see and recognize the vast amount of knowledge we want to have and goals to be achieved…and become burdened by them.

But today’s quote reminds us of the opposite side of the coin — the gift we can find when we let go of the desire to conquer it all now.

Complete mastery of horsemanship is a mirage! It simply cannot be done! A *lifetime* isn’t long enough to have learned all that we can about this gorgeous sport and these magnificent animals we work alongside.

We can let that truth make us despair — or we can relish it. 🙂 We can delight ourselves in the knowledge that we are never going to fully appreciate or understand it all. We can relax our shoulders and smile and say “Thank goodness I get to be on this adventure! How lucky am I? What small piece of the puzzle will I understand just a little better today?”

Have a great week at the stables! And may your motivation stay high!

07/21/2024

“The longer I work with horses, the more I recognize that they are extraordinarily willing to tolerate immense discomfort to do what is asked of them until they simply can't anymore. They always find a way to tell us - it then becomes of matter of whether we know how (or care) to listen.”👇👇👇

06/02/2024

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Address the cause of the behaviour, not the behaviour itself because it really is counter productive and just causes even more discomfort that there is no escape from.👇

Whats the purpose of a flash? To keep a horses mouth shut. Why is the horse opening its mouth? Most commonly, evasion of pressure.

Address the cause of the behaviour, not the behaviour itself because it really is counter productive and just causes even more discomfort that there is no escape from.

Why should you say no to a flash and a tight noseband? 👇 do you see that soft bone with no support? That's why. Now imagine a dropped noseband on that. 🫣

Pic screenshot from Henlea Equine Wellness

05/23/2024

Let’s repeat it for the ones in the back - or front, depends how you see it:

We can train and manage and condition our horses - but we can’t change the fact that they are horses.

Horses are prey animals. Their whole existence is wrapped around the ever on going play in nature between prey and predator.
Their whole being has evolved around the behavior and skills they need to play this game.

They played this game more than 50 million years.
The 5000 years of domestication won’t change that soon.

Your horse is supposed to spook from noise and sight.
Your horse is supposed to bolt when it feels threatened.
Your horse is supposed to buck off what’s on his back.
Your horse is supposed to search for food.
Your horse is supposed to be buddy sour.

All what we call „vices“ is simply a surviving mechanism, implanted deeply into the DNA of every horse.

Your horse lives in a human world, where he has no handbook for in his genes. He is just being a horse.

It’s your task to show him trust, patience, calmness, strength, assertiveness and fairness. But you have to be like this yourself.

You cannot expect what you are not ready to give.

It’s your responsibility to help your horse navigate.

Acts of aggression, confining him, calling him names, defining him as „naughty“, does not teach or proof any horse to behave the right way. It only shows your capability of teaching a horse.

There are so many techniques, methods, tools and trainers all defining „bad behavior“ and their solutions, all hustling and managing around a horse to bend and press it into a form. All of them, that claim to be so knowledgeable, so experienced, so wise, have forgotten, that the horse is just a horse.

05/01/2024

💯🎯👇

Absolutely ❤️

10/23/2023

Do you know how to recognize pain in your dog or cat? 🐕🐈

Some signs are more obvious, such as limping or yelping, while others are more subtle, such as increased sleeping or a change in litter box habits. If you suspect your pet is in pain, reach out to your veterinarian. We can help!