C & M Therapeutic Services, LLC

03/12/2025

01/12/2025

So sick of seeing people ride their horses this way. Same traders/fippers. Please just STOP..

We need to talk about space in the neck — something I’m continuously focused on with my own horses, and something every owner should keep an eye on.

We’ve become far too used to seeing compressed, bulging, tight necks in sport and competition. Necks that are C2-high rather than poll-high. Necks that look “round” but are actually locked, shortened and dysfunctional.

And here’s the truth:
When you lose space in the neck, you lose functional movement everywhere.

Compression in the neck forces the horse to find compression throughout the whole body. The base of the neck drops, the ribcage collapses, the balance falls downhill. The back then drops and/or braces. And the hind end either tucks under defensively or trails out behind.
Every horse responds slightly differently — but none of those compensations lead to soundness.

We’re seeing more of this because we’ve bred increasingly flexible horses, and at the same time lost the old knowledge about patience, correct balance, and developing a horse slowly. Shortcuts and control have replaced understanding. Pulling the neck into a “shape” has become normal.

But the cost is high:
Behavioural issues. Weakness. Unsoundness. Tension. Pain. Horses who look round but cannot use their backs. Horses who balance through the neck because they can’t balance through the body.

And remember — the neck is a pendulum with a heavy head on the end.
If the horse becomes unbalanced, it will use the neck to counteract that imbalance instead of lifting the thoracic sling, engaging the abdominals and transferring weight behind.
For the ridden horse, this is a disaster.
Everything becomes weak, downhill, fragile, and on the road to long-term problems.

So what do we do?

We create space.
We stack the vertebrae.
We stop overflexing C1/C2.
We stop allowing the lower neck to drop.
We align instead of an S-bend.
And we teach the horse to find balance from behind — through a lifting thoracic sling, a working back, and a relaxed, lengthened neck.

This is why I use the cavesson so often.
Working from the front of the face means there is no backward pull. You can guide the nose forward and open, giving the neck space to function and the muscles room to actually develop.

Because the neck is not an isolated body part — it is part of the whole system.
If the neck is wrong, the whole horse is compromised.
But if the neck is allowed to lengthen, open, and organise, the entire body can finally lift, balance, and strengthen.

And that is the foundation of a sound, happy horse.

01/12/2025

💉💉💉💉💉💉

01/12/2025

❤️ God blessed the Cowgirl...
with patience for the wild ones,
courage for the storms,
and a stubborn kind of hope
that refuses to quit.

He gave her hands that heal,
feet that wander,
and a heart that loves deeper
than the miles she rides.

He trusted her
with little eyes watching,
little boots following,
and a legacy written
in dust, sunlight, and saddle time.

He gave her grit for hard days,
grace for the quiet ones,
and a fire in her spirit
that carries her through the long cold nights.

She rises before the sun,
works harder than she ever imagined
she could,
and laughs in the face of chaos
because she knows storms always pass.

God blessed the cowgirl
with determination stitched into every step
and eyes that see the beauty
in the small, ordinary moments
that others often miss.

He gave her patience to teach,
wisdom to guide,
and courage to stand ready
when the path isn't clear
and the world questions her choices.

Through mud, rain, and late night chores,
she carries the weight of dreams,
and finds joy in her work,
the smell of hay and the steady rhythm of hooves on hard ground.

The barn is where she hears Him best,
where quiet speaks louder than anything she could say,
and faith settles steady in the scent of leather and the strength of old wood beams
bathed in fading light.

God blessed the cowgirl
with a faith that carries her
across prairies, through pastures,
and straight into the hearts
of all who love her.

And at the end of the day,
she sits in the barn doorway,
boots muddy, hands tired,
eyes soft with a deep love
for the kind of life only a
cowgirl could live.

❤️ Michelle | Born In The Barn

29/11/2025

The Tensor Fascia Latae or the (TFL) you will hear it shortened to, is a small muscle on the front outer part of the horse’s hindquarters, sitting just ahead of the gluteals. It blends into the strong fascia lata, helping stabilise the stifle and hip.

🐎 What it Does
Flexes the hip
Helps extend the stifle
Tightens the fascia lata for hindlimb stability
Supports the stay apparatus

🤷‍♀️ Reasons It Can Get Tight
Compensation for weak gluteals/quadriceps
Poor saddle fit
Rider imbalance
Straightness issues
Demands of collected work

🐎 Signs of TFL Tension
Shortened hindlimb stride
Difficulty with canter leads
Sensitivity over the hip area
Reduced engagement

Keeping the TFL soft and functional supports better movement, balance, and comfort under saddle. Ask your bodyworker about this area on your horse 🙌

Enjoy one of our diagrams we created for our Diploma Programme 🎓
www.woldsequinemassage.co.uk

28/11/2025

28/11/2025

Why do all the horse traders/trainers complain so much? Don’t start colts if you don’t want to. Don’t sell horses if you don’t want to. Simple.

28/11/2025

As of Nov. 28, the EDCC has confirmed 44 EHV cases associated with the WPRA World Finals and Elite Barrel Race event. The cases are located in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, Arizona, and South Dakota.

28/11/2025

⭐ 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟑 - 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐚 + 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞’𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

Let’s talk about the two things that influence your horse’s body more than anything else:
𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐚 and 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬.
If Part 3 was about what compensation looks like, Part 4 is about why it develops in the first place and how we fix it.

And spoiler alert:
It’s not magic.
It’s not “just how they’re built.”
It’s science, structure, and the body’s survival system.

⭐ 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐚: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐝𝐲’𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲

Fascia is NOT “just connective tissue.”
It’s the body’s most dynamic, intelligent system one giant 3D web that wraps through, around, and between 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞, 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭, 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧, 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐞.

When fascia tightens, sticks, or becomes restricted, it can:

• Pull joints out of alignment
• Change hoof loading patterns
• Limit stride length
• Create bracing through the topline
• Shift weight unevenly through the diagonal pairs
• Cause that “won’t bend left” or “feels stuck on the right” feeling
• Make the horse move differently to avoid tension or pain

This is why you can’t isolate one muscle or one body part in rehab.
𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞.
If fascia is stuck, movement is stuck.
And when movement is stuck, compensation begins.

⭐ 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞

Biomechanics is simply:
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲.

A balanced horse moves like this:

• Hind end drives → core stabilizes → ribcage lifts → front end frees up
• Forces travel diagonally through the body
• Joints load evenly
• Fascia glides
• Steps match left-to-right
• The spine flexes and absorbs shock
• The body stays symmetrical under the rider or on the ground

This is the blueprint the body wants to follow.

But when something interferes ; pain, weakness, stiffness, poor posture, old injuries, or even training mistakes, the biomechanics shift.
And then the fascia adapts.
And then the entire movement pattern rewrites itself.

That’s how compensation becomes “normal.”

⭐ 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐲: 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲

You can’t fix biomechanics without addressing fascia.
And you can’t fix fascia without retraining biomechanics.

This is where people get stuck.

They:
• Stretch the horse
• Work the horse harder
• Put special shoes on
• Do injections
• Do one chiro session
• Or just hope conditioning rides will fix it

But if the fascia chain is still restricted? → the horse reverts.
If the biomechanics aren’t retrained? → the pattern returns.
If the compensation isn’t addressed at its source? → the problem persists.

This is EXACTLY why your “whole horse” approach works because you treat causes, not symptoms.

⭐ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 “𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐌𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐈𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞” 𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡

Let’s say a horse has:

• A short right front stride
• A dropped right shoulder
• A tighter right ribcage
• A weaker left hind
• An underrun left front heel

To an untrained eye, this looks like conformation.

But to someone who understands fascia + biomechanics?
This screams diagonal compensation pattern caused by a hind-end weakness or restriction.

Once the fascia is released…
Once the strength is rebuilt…
Once you restore proper loading and balance…
Once the horse can move correctly again…

Suddenly the “conformation issue” disappears.

Because it was never conformation.
It was adaptation.

⭐ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟒

Your horse’s body is not betraying them.
It’s protecting them.

And when you combine:
✨ Fascia release
✨ Correct biomechanics
✨ Functional strength rebuilding
✨ Consistency in rehab

You’re not just fixing a movement problem
you’re undoing YEARS of compensation and giving your horse the chance to move the way they were designed to.

This is how we break the patterns.
This is how we rebuild balance.
This is how we change the whole horse.