Essence Equine Therapy And Training

21/06/2024

This is so amazing put. I have felt many regrets through my history with horses, but as I have continued to work in therapy and the journey i have taken with Ago, I have stopping feeling sorry for what I had done and instead I strive farther to understand the potential damage we cause through things we have been taught and find better ways of understanding and working with our amazing equine friends.

GIVING MYSELF GRACE…

This is one of the first pictures of me and Ollie (the horse that changed my life) back in 2017.

I have a hard time looking back because NOW I see all of the things I didn’t back then and it’s hard to not feel guilty for not knowing better…

If you’ve been following me for any length of time you likely know our story-but if not, in a nutshell he was a half blind, very broken 20yr old (when he passed) Appaloosa that taught me more in 5 years than I had learned my whole life-about many things.

+FETLOCK SORES are NOT normal. They are a major indicator that there’s an underlying problem.
We eventually learned that his were from sleep deprivation.
I naively thought he just rubbed them getting up and down..doctored them, put boots on them pumped him full of joint supplements…

+BLINDNESS puts an added stress on horses that their entire body compensates for. They can absolutely live great lives with impaired vision but their environment needs to support stress free ways to do so.

+MUSCLE INJURIES wreak havoc. Period.
Ollie was in an accident as a young horse where he injured his eye, lost his right pec and sustained a hind end injury we later find out was the cause of his sleep deprivation..
The pectoral muscles are a very important part of the horses frame and losing one or even part of one (any muscle) should be taken into great consideration.

+UNEVEN STANCE should never be overlooked. There is a reason they need to shift weight to cope…
Ollie would always stand off kilter in his hind in one way or another.
He was massaged ALL the time, receiving monthly Chiro and lived 5 years with me that most horses dream of as far as species appropriate environments go BUT after extensive diagnostics-a deteriorating meniscus would never improve…

ALL this to say that in 2017, I knew I was taking on a project.
I really thought I could fix him.
I never knew the experience would teach me all that it did and I am so grateful.
I forgive myself for not knowing what I didn’t know and reassure myself that Ollie came to me to help other horses suffer less.

My goal is to always advocate for horses.
Mine.
Yours.
All of them.
Sharing experiences in hopes that I can help people along their journeys…
Providing services and education to those who want to know better and do better…

Give yourself grace for the things you didn’t know-and once you know better-fiercely create change.

09/04/2024

I am so lucky that I get to work on this handsome gentlemen so often! Tymeless Danny ❤️

06/04/2024

Wow, do I have a before and after for you guys!!
Meet Sunny or "Blondie", he is a 16 year old Tennesse Walker Gelding. He has had some serious SI issues and subsequent major postural changes that I've been working with him, his mother Laura Crow and her team for almost two years now with amazing results. He has been a pretty strict physical rehab case for that time frame but he just yesterday got his first Cranial Sacral session and holy cow! I am seriously taken a back at his changes. His forehead shortened up and widened out, his eyes evened out (still not quite where we want them but much better) and they tipped (I haven't recognized or noticed this change in a horse before where the line of the eye lid changed, he went from more horizontal to a downward angle towards his nose), evening out of the nostrils/nose, softening of the TMJ area, the distinct cut line below his cheek bone has disappeared, softening of the throat latch area and softening around the base of the ears, getting a slight drop and dish to his face and over all widening and shortening of the whole face. Honestly, I think his expression in his after photos says it all. Thank you Laura for letting my try my Woowoo stuff on him!! I'm throwing some full posture shots on here, too. Just so you guys can see how amazing he's doing.

06/04/2024

It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.

I believe this quote came from Star Trek. I know nothing about the series, but it certainly hits hard in the realm of horses, horse keeping and riding.

Having horses is a gamble. After getting a text from a student this past weekend that she had to euthanize her lovely young mare, whom she had done such a beautiful job of starting, I couldn’t help but flash back to my own recent loss of a young horse. While the circumstances were different – hers a freak accident, mine the culmination of nearly two years of trial and more trial – it was yet another stark reminder that all the skill, knowledge and know-how in the world cannot fix an outcome.

It’s just not possible to armor oneself with enough understanding to avoid loss, so the question then becomes what we do after it happens. The reality is that by opening ourselves up to the possibility of connection, we also open ourselves up to the potential for loss. You can’t have one without the other.

But a life without connection isn’t really a life. We’re made to feel, and do so deeply, a broad spectrum of emotions that are the color palette to a fully lived lifetime. Some of them are downright unpleasant, but without them there’d be nothing to cause us to reflect on those that ultimately make life worth living.

So while you’re out pursuing better horsemanship, don’t lose sight of the fact that what you are gaining is happening en route to your destination - not necessarily just upon arrival - because ultimately the arrival is never guaranteed.

15/03/2024

Who remembers Charlie? Charlie has been a special case for me for some time now. He is owned by one dedicated horse mom, Michaela Orme. This wonderful hidden horse has had a typical kind of start in life for a horse in the modern world. Started late in life and pulled from his comfortable "home", expososed to some people's questionable training tactics and was at one point a boarding barn abandon. But with Charlie, his personality and specific characteristics caused those situations and scenarios to absolutely break him, his spirit, his confidence, his trust and understanding in people. He often acts similar to mustangs, high reactivity, mental shut down or shut out, panic and as I put it, multiple Charlie's depending on equipment, environment and proximity. He has a hard wired defense of an "expectation" behavior depending on what equipment you have and how close you are. And he really hates the "pressure" of two people working with him.
It has been a long road of confidence battles and back slides, mountains of frustration that has been learned to be left behind, and continued belief that with patience, love, understanding you can win back a broken horse. Today, before horrible weather came sweaping through Indiana, while being a heavily windy day, I was able to approach and touch Charlie while Michaela was mounted. This has been a goal for us as a team since the beginning. Not only was I touching and approaching him, but he was absolutely calm. We have worked so hard to not create a learned helplessness with him, we do not force or hold him still to be handled. True calm not a behavior we see with Charlie + people, including his mom even with all her time and effort. You can see him calm with horse friends and eating but calm is not a behavior he understands to be acceptable with people. This moment is the biggest turn in the road we have gotten from him to date. Today was a magical day.

15/09/2023

Yes, yes, yes!

"Lowering the horse's head lifts their back"

This is something I see a great deal, and whilst it's not inherently wrong there is so much more nuance to it than simply lowering the head. And it's the misunderstanding of the nuance that I believe has the power to hurt a lot of horses.

When you look at the horse's thoracic spinous processes, their orientation depicts the range of motion - the spinous processes of the wither are longer and angled towards the horse's tail, the spinous processes of the mid thoracic (where the rider sits) are more upright, and the spinous processes of the late thoracic begin to angle towards the horse's head. This enables greater flexion/extension of the spine through the mid thoracic region.

The supraspinous ligament runs over the top of the thoracolumbar spinous processes (the bright pink line on the picture) this then blends into nuchal ligament - the funicular portion of which attaches to the horse's skull - the lamellar portions fan off in sheets to attach to the cervical vertebrae.

When the horse with a healthy back (and that's the important piece here) lowers their head, the nuchal lig. tractions on the supraspinous lig. and the early thoracic spinous processes orientate slightly forwards, creating space between them and lifting the mid thoracic region. You can see this when a horse lowers their head, the dip behind the wither should lift.

From a ridden perspective, this should be supported by the thoracic sling muscles, which lift the ribcage between the front legs and the horse's core muscles (not just their abs FYI!)

When a horse moves with spinal tension (poor riding/saddle fit/management etc.) The ligament system is restricted - the muscles of the neck become braced, the errector spinae muscles become hypertonic and the back becomes extended - evidenced by the acute angulation at the base of the wither.

When the neck and back muscles aren't free and mobile, the spinal ligs. reduce their range of motion and then potentially shorten. The thoracic processes approximate towards each other and we perhaps put the horse into a kissing spines danger zone.

So if you try to force their head into a lowered position and the horse braces, you create strain.

Their back muscles are tight and to offload the weight of the head, they have to tighten up more. So you are inducing the back into more tension, but then the weight of the rider/saddle/restriction of a surcingle will possibly induce more extension still.

Add pain in here and you create a bigger issue.

If you deal with the pain, unload the horse's back (e.g. no rider/no saddle/no surcingle), help the horse to relax and then lower their head to tolerance without creating a brace, you can help to restore this system.

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There is 30 mins difference between the top photo and the bottom photo. Notice how the horse's withers have lifted in the bottom photo, but also the angulation at the base of the wither is less acute even though the horse's head is higher.

This is the starting point of restoring the activity of the ligament system, the thoracic sling and the horse's core.

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Interested in learning more? Sign up to The Fundamentals of Horse Posture:
https://www.yasminstuartequinephysio.com/fundamentals-of-horse-posture

31/08/2023

Everyone watch for messages. Rachel and I have a tentative schedule for the full month of Sept!! We will be reaching out to confirm schedule dates and time. See you all soon!!

23/07/2023

The time has FINALLY come to start adding back to the schedule!! I will be opening one day this week (Wed) for a first contact, first serve spot for lessons or light therapy (no cranial, no body work; muscle trigger point or energy work only) please reach out to Rachel (the number linked to this business page) and we will get you in. This is going to be a tricky process and the schedule is going to change a lot of the next coming weeks. I would like it to eventually go back to the same day, same time as you were prior to my surgery but for now it's going to be a bit chaotic, so please bare with us as we get kick started again. Love you all and I can't wait to see everyone!!!

12/06/2023

My post op appointment went well. He says I'm healing well. I am to continue to go slow but can extend my exercise and add hand and leg weights. I can't wait to start doing more things around the house and farm, within reason. It looks like a few local lessons should be able to as early as next week!! I'm so excited to start seeing everyone.
I still am on strick core restrictions until August so no triggerpoint or muscle work until then. (And I will be enjoying my long nails to keep me from pocking on horses in that time frame lol) I may be able to do some cranial before then but that will depend on my energy level and select cases. Be looking for texts from myself or Rachel Hendricks going forward as we start stitching together the calendar. I do still have a driving distance restriction from a pain and energy stand point so that will affect locations I can get to as well. I do have pictures of "it" that I will post in a separate post. One step forward.

25/03/2023

Yup, done that for too long and now we have a problem. A heads up to everyone, I'm having some health issues that are effecting work. The schedule is going to be a little light for the next two weeks until we have more info about surgery. Yes, you read that right, I will be needing surgery. With that we will let everyone know accordingly as I will be taking extended time off to heal. Thank you all for your prayers and patience through this. We are working to get back to normal asap.

11/01/2023

Well the unfortunate time is here, like everything else these days, prices are having to go up. As always, I do what I can to keep my prices as reasonable as I can but the truth of the matter is I'm not surviving, not by a long shot. All new prices will be in effect no later than Feb 15th. If you are a new client they are effective at your first session. I hate to be in this position but I have to be honest with the situation. Thank you all for your continued support. Here's to The New YEAR! 😵‍💫🫣

03/08/2022

We have Zelle back! We can now take Zelle payments again! I know this was a hiccup for some, thank you all for bearing with while they got this sorted out.

14/07/2022

!!Attn Clients!!
I am currently unable to take Zelle payments at the moment. Zelle has decided to not allow changes to your cards and you must go through your banks app and my bank has yet to add it, so I'm stuck in the middle with no way to access it until possibly the end of the month. If you have sent a payment to me via Zelle after July 1st please cancel your payment (if zelle hasn't sent it back already) and contact me for other payment options. I take PayPal, Venmo, FB pay and old fasion checks and cash

23/05/2022

****Long term progression post****

Meet Chloe, she is a 20+ year old Quarterhorse rescue. She had a tough start to life under the care of an owner who had dementia, unfortunately some days she would remember she had a barn full of babies, other days not. She was intermittently starved, often locked up with no where to walk around, standing in a perpetually dirty stall and left to take care of 6 other babies. She didn't even get broke to ride until after 10 years old.
Chloe and her Mom first came to me for lessons about 7 years ago. They wanted to do barrel racing but Cloe was stiff to turn, often couldn't balance will enough to stay at speed, they both braced against eachother and they struggled terribly to get a right lead canter. Chloe also had a tendency to stand tucked under herself and she struggled to turn her head and neck well as well as a tendency to set back. It was clear that our main focus would be rebalancing posture and getting both of them independent in their own movement first and foremost.
I was just starting out with bodywork so as I was learning and growing we started to address her particular issues. We started with her poll issues, which were clear, a right shoulder issue that was connected to her poll and a right hind tightness that seemed consistent along with the other irritations. As time went on she started to stand out from underneath herself, started gaining flexion in body and neck but still struggled with the right lead. I started to suspect the dreaded SI joint but I didn't know enough to truly help her, just keep her comfortable.
When they started racing they consistently ran about 24sec runs, by 2019 they had cut it down to 20s and in early 2020 they broke into the teens for the fist time at 19 seconds and ended the season getting into the 18 second range.
We were very hopeful for 2021 and what progress we could make after such a fantastic 2020 season. But early in the show season she set back at the trailer and landed on her butt, quite literally. She came up quite lame after and the vet suspected SI. She was put on no work and some medical intervention, with SI injections likely. So we busted hard doing body work sessions weekly and adding additional postural exercises. She made it through with out injections and we were ready to get back to work. Unfotunaly before we got a change to get back into the swing of things she got into a pasture accident that left her stranded on a pasture fence for 15-20 mins, resulting in massive soft tissue injuries down the fronts of both back legs and re-injuring the SI.
Everything felt kinda hopeless, but after years of working together Chloe had really become efficient at telling both her mom and myself when she was having issues and where they were. I had been doing trigger point therapy for a couple years at this point but I had just started trying out a dual trigger point method specifically to address competing or cooperating muscles in the hind end that were proving to help address the SI disfunction I had been seeing with multiple horses. So we tried it and it was the miracle we had been waiting for.
After 10 months total of time off and rehab they were ready for their first show just last week. They came back into the arena and pulled a 19 second run like nothing had happened. One of the most chilling moments of my life was watching this horse who could barely bend her legs from her injuries 6 months prior, come in and own that arena like she had never left it.
Chloe has been so important in my learning process and progression as a practitioner. She has laid the road to recovery for many of my other clients with what she has taught me along the way. This is the kind of trust and accomplishment that can happen from routine and regular sessions with a body worker. So please enjoy the pictures (in the comments b/c FB won't let me post pics and videos in the same post) and videos from over the years and check out her long term progression.

17/05/2022

Hey all, I know it's been a while since I posted, can anyone guess why??! B/c we are so busy!! Rachel and I worked very hard to rearrange the calendar to see if we could pack a little tighter and accommodate a little better and you know what we found? No amount of schedule change was going to make more room because we literally have no room to be made. SO AS OF RIGHT NOW ESSENCE EQUINE IS NOT TAKING ANY NEW CLIENTS! We will reevaluate the schedule towards the end of the summer.
I also want to extent a heart felt Thank you to everyone who has worked with us on the May calendar to accommodate my second passion, Indy car. It's very important for everyone that I get my car time too so thank you for making that possible.
We will have another massive disruption next week as my sweet Grandfather passed last week and I will be leaving for the funeral in between race commitments so it will cause another ripple. Please be patient with us as we work our way through everyone. Thank you all again for your trust and continuing to let me help you and your horses!

30/09/2021

30/09/2021

Ok everyone. I officially have 52 active clients, that's not including number of horses so I have hired someone to run the scheduling. So the contact number on here will change. Please keep my phone number for any questions you have regarding your horses or their needs and all messages through this page will still go directly to me but please contact Rachel for scheduling. Myself and/or Rachel will be contacting you this weekend for new schedule changes if you are currently waiting for your next appointment date. Thank you so much for your patience and help with this new transition! ❤️❤️

26/09/2021

As some of you may know, I'm having a scheduling nightmare that is hindering my ability to have an healthy work/home balance and still have time to accommodate clients. If you are not currently on the schedule please don't panic. I have some new help and will be getting with everyone individually this week to fill the schedule. Thank you for your patience

01/06/2021

****ATTENTION ATTENTION****
Essence Equine Therapy will be increasing prices starting June 15, 2021. Basic service body work will be going to $55, muscle trigger point will be $65, Cranial Sacral will be $75. All of these are for a one hour session, there may be an extra charge if we have to go over an hour to complete a service. 6 pack therapy packages will be going up to $300 *please note therapy packages are only available for routine, continuous therapy on a monthly, weekly or biweekly basis. Travel fees will be going up to .50¢ per mile one way, if applicable (Boone and Hendricks counties are still no travel fee). This has not been an easy decision as I try to keep my prices low to help you continue with your horses' therapy. I would not be able to do what I love without you and your horses. Thank you all for your understanding and continued patronage!! ❤️❤️

Training and training/therapy packages are still staying the same at $45/hr and $240/6.

15/05/2021

Jackson the Wonderhorse aka Red Run Equinox's show debut. He was a bit worried about the white panels on the bottom of the fence and he definitely was looking for his mom in his first class. The first three videos are his first class, novice horse/rider 2 gaited. He was having a very Jackson moment over the pavement and needed to be hand walked onto it before we conquered it. He was very confident going back into the show ring and was less worried about the fence so he was able to really strut his stuff. It paid off with a second place! Last three videos were his second class, All day pleasure 2 gaited. I was very proud of how well he handled himself through the whole day and I can't wait to see Julia up in the saddle for the next one ❤️ way to go guys, I'm so proud of your progress!

13/03/2021

Two years progress!! Julia and Jackson! Getting ready for their show ring debut ❤️ the top video is 2019, bottom 2021

11/03/2021

This is Charley. Charley has some issues, but we love him anyways. He really only likes his mommy. He tolerates me and most of the rest of the family and some days better than others. But Charley has had quite a past, so his mom and I have been working very hard for about a year to help him get past his past. We all hit a bit of a road block a few months back and a majority of our progress stood still. So with the advice of another trainer we moved into positive reinforcement training (those that know me know I don't use positive reinforcement training on horses, at least not until now, if you are curious as to why ask me sometime) brought back liberty and added games and a toy to the whole process as well as a couple close packed cranial sessions. Today, the windiest of all days, the day you would think the spooking king would be on the verge of loosing his mind, we threw a new saddle on and rode a lesson for the first time in probably two, maybe three months and this boy barely skipped a beat. He was the softest I had ever seen him ride, he was comfortable with his job and what he was being asked to do, he was engaged through his body and also his mind, he even rode up to me at the end (believe me that's a very scary, hard thing for him to do) let me pet him without flinching and snuggled with me. And after the ride even willingly let me hang on him and pat his butt. These are huge steps for him! I was so thrilled to see a glimpse of the Charley we knew was in there and I can't wait to see him on a more regular basis. Great work Michaela , keep polishing that diamond 💕