Spot On Equine Bodywork LLC

07/01/2025

Winter is the time to evaluate your horse's health and fitness. My program includes help to get your horse balanced.
There isn't a horse out there that wouldn't benefit from my work.
You don't want to arrive in spring with the same issues your horse has been dealing with. Give me a call. I can improve a few things! Or more.

06/12/2024

Now, Booking after January 1, 2025.
Accepting new clients at this time.

23/11/2024

Take a good look at your horse's face. Look from a straight-on view. You might even take a photo because the facial asymmetries show up better in a photo for the untrained eye.

But, often, I see faces that don't seem very asymmetrical. The damage can be more in the body, ability to move, or even mental. Or all of these. As the horse moves through their healing journey, the damage reveals itself.
I do free phone consultations, and the assessment is included in the price of a Craniosacral Session.

17/11/2024

Regularly helping horses stand balanced, saving their body from early aging, and helping their hoomans find the right resource people.

10/11/2024

02/11/2024

Good, Beautiful Fall Day to you!
Today, I present the second in my series for Compensatory Postures/Compensatory Movement.
I am featuring the progress of two horses with what I will call a "Faux Hunter's Bump." This "look" is due to a dysfunctional haunch—a compensation. In craniosacral conditions, the pain goes to the lower back (sacrum). Horses are hard-wired to keep moving at any expense. The horse will find a way to keep moving, even if wrong. Other muscles can be called upon to take over the work, which is inefficient. Engaging muscles to do jobs they were not designed for in the extensive athletic system will cause a horse to break down and find an early retirement.
The front end will take over some of the workload. Sometimes, the back/lumbar muscles will take over. Something will take over and result in incorrect movement. This pattern will also cause training irregularities. Many horses with this faux hunter's bump will have difficulty getting underneath themselves and finding true collection. There could also be fits of temper and misunderstanding. A horse is not saying "I won't, they are saying "I can't".
Correcting this pain and discoordination with Biodynamic Cranial Therapy could make the rider's job much easier.
I will have more in this series that will show other wonky bodies exhibiting hallmarks of a dysfunctional system. They good news is, they get better!

27/10/2024

The changes we can see on all ages of horses!
Beautiful!

26/10/2024

19/10/2024

I’d love to also see this horse’s hooves and ask how good the right/left leads are.
Unfortunately this is more common than you might think.

Slant mouth Saturday!
Make sure those incisors are getting addressed..

18/10/2024

About time!
This isn’t all that new. I saw it available on a European site a year or so ago. So now it might be coming to the U.S.

𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗙𝗘𝗜 𝗠𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢𝗢𝗟 𝗧𝗢 𝗗𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗦𝗘𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗗

With a rollout plan, as of January 2025 the FEI will be using a new measuring tool to determine the tightness of the noseband. This new tool offers a “pass” indicating sufficient laxity or “fail” indicating the noseband is too tight.

This is a positive step forward as the tool will be used on the front (nasal bone) and not on the side as is currently done by the FEI. The tool has been designed to be more practical and horse friendly compared to existing tools.

Video: https://youtu.be/rJNYzf1W5lU

The tool will be available to purchase from the FEI therefore encouraging all riders, trainers and coaches to use it to check noseband fit.

18/10/2024

Wellness truly is in balance. In all things natural.
Biodynamic Craniosacral work is the foundational work to re-establish balance.
Balanced dentistry and balanced farriery are the other parts that bring balance to your horse.
We can work together to get your horse right, bring them back to feeling good, help them be able learners and partners with you, and help them be the athletes they were born to be.

Watch for my new series, Compensatory Postures and Compensation Patterns, to start on my Friday ads on October 25.

09/10/2024

I am accepting new clients at this time. You may be surprised in the changes your horse can make by clearing the craniosacral system and returning them to a balanced state where they can heal!
Phone consults are always free, and I love to hear how you and your horse are doing!

04/10/2024

Is your horse currently on Prascend?

It's not uncommon for owners to take the tabs out of their original packaging and place in baggies for easier dosing. However, pergolide (the active ingredient in Prascend) is unstable in light and air. The pills are individually packaged in nitrogen-filled blister packs that keep out all UV light and air.

Prascend starts to degrade as soon as it is removed from its pack and can't be guaranteed effective if exposed to the environment for greater than 24 hours.

26/09/2024

Audrey DeClue DVM. Has an innovative and fresh approach to lameness. She has coined a description of “Body Lameness”. How interesting. She has some good ideas that are helpful and her own.
Body Lameness…Because while I haven’t had a term for it, it is a thing. A thing I believe merges with Biodynamic Craniosacral Care.
Very interesting podcast I listened to today. Good stuff!

One of the biggest problems in diagnosing and treating horses with lameness is that people do not recognize or know what “normal” is. People are also singularly focusing on the limbs and completely…

26/09/2024

**𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛 𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗘𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗩𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗝𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗔𝗟**

𝗡𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲’𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘁

MacKechnie-Guire, R*, Williams, J.M., Nixon, J., Fisher, M., Fisher, D., Walker, V., Murray, R., Clayton, H.M

𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 (read without a subscription):
https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evj.14420

For the past four years, we have investigated the pressures beneath different nosebands when adjusted from 2.0 to 0.0 finger tightness (0.0 finger adjustment so that the noseband was touching but not compressing the skin).

Poor noseband adjustment could create high pressures that may risk pain or tissue damage. This study is a step forward in providing quantitative data relating to pressures associated with noseband type and fit when adjusted to various tightness’s.

𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀:

🐴No significant difference between noseband pressures when the noseband was adjusted from 2.0 to 1.5 finger tightness.

🐴Noseband pressures were highest on the mandible vs. the lateral aspect of the nasal bones.

🐴No differences were found in noseband pressures between the cavesson, flash or Swedish (crank) noseband types at 2.0 to 0.5 finger tightness.

🐴The Drop noseband had the lowest absolute nasal pressures (mandible pressures not measured) and significantly lower values than the other nosebands. We need to be mindful of the position of the traditional drop. More work needed.

🐴Noseband pressures were lower when ridden in trot, compared with when chewing a treat.

🐴Noseband pressures were cyclical (rise and fall) and not continuous – changing during the stride and the chewing cycle of the horse.

As always, this is a team effort. Thank you to our research assistants, riders, owners and horses.. Thank you to our funders, World Horse Welfare, British Equestrian, Canadian Sport Horse Association, The Worshipful Company of Saddlers and Hartpury University.

NB image taken from pilot testing and was not included in the main study. All noseband types are described in detail in the manuscript.