Equine Bodywork and Rehab Therapy by Kate, LLC

10/06/2024

For sale:
16” Stubben Wotan saddle. Tree is stamped a 31. Very good condition with new stirrup leathers and case included. $550 or OBO

04/06/2024

Is your horses feeling sore and stressed? How about a massage or raindrop treatment!
June special is 3 massages for $120!!

16/04/2024

Got a nice surprise in my order today 😊 Love the bag to put all my tape supplies in. Thank you ☺️

02/12/2023

Got to work on this boy today. Manny has been having trouble with his stifles locking up. Started with massaging then stretching both hind legs and lastly added Hestaband tape. He really relaxed and softened as I applied the tape.

29/11/2023

Boone getting a massage and red light. The red light is under the cooler warming up is back. I moved it to his neck while working on his back.

29/11/2023

Worked on my boy over the Thanksgiving break. Mudd got his final raindrop for EPM.

15/04/2023

Got to work on this very stoic boy this morning 🤠 Getting ready for Michigan HS Rodeo this weekend. Good luck Doc and Tyler!!

06/04/2023

Anne Bok

28/02/2023

Something to think about before getting that first spring ride in. Let me know if you would like to try some bodywork this year. Your partner will love it!!

With spring right on our doorstep, a lot of us are gearing up to start riding again; or for those who rode all winter, increase work-out regimens.

As tempting as it is to hop on and go for a nice long ride on the first warm day of spring, we must realistically consider our horses fitness level and what is really fair to be asking of them instead of placing our WANTS before their NEEDS.
Bringing your horse back after a winter off should not include saddling up and going for a 5 mile ride through the woods.

Gaining fitness is a slow, gradual process; shortchanging that process is not only unfair to your horse, but could have some significant consequences to their joints and soft tissue.

Wallaby here is an extreme example of this, but the visual is valuable.
These photos were taken on June 1st, 2021 (top) before we started any work for the year, and August 18th, 2021 (bottom).
An 80-day time-lapse being in a generally light conditioning program, and yet the physical changes are undeniable. We are excluding the fact that she lives outdoors 24/7 and is constantly moving.
Wallaby was coming 23 in these photos. Her age, paired with her long back conformation, means her body goes through some significant changes in being fit/unfit. I personally wouldn't even consider her to be really fit yet in this bottom photo (and she's a little heavy).

Now, not every horse will have as dramatic of a visual change as Wallaby will, but it's a good visual when considering and comparing just how fit your horse *really* is after spending the winter off, probably stalled more than usual, and not getting the same amount of movement out in the pasture as they normally would.

There are many different variables that influence a horses capacity to regain and maintain muscle, which includes but is not limited to:
• Age
• Management (stalling, turn-out)
• Diet
• Previous injury
• Underlying illness
• Tack/training equipment
• Previous fitness level
• Current body condition
• BODYWORK SCHEDULE ⚠️

In general, it takes a minimum of 2 weeks of exercising a muscle before the body decides to start building new tissue. Why? Because building new tissue is expensive and requires resources.

Expect a minimum of 6-8 weeks of regular exercise (+/-) to get your horse back to a decent baseline level of fitness. This will vary depending on the aforementioned variables.

Finally, go into this riding season with the understanding that horses were never designed to carry a rider.
Everything they allow us to do with them is an immense privilege at the expense of their body.
So, show some respect for your partner and give him the courtesy of ensuring he is mentally and physically prepared to do the job that is being asked of him.

Happy riding! 🌷

01/04/2022

How tight do you make your saddle? It can really affect your horses health and attitude.

01/01/2022

Happy New Year
Thank you for supporting me last year. I look forward to helping your wonderful ponies feel better in this new year!! Many blessings to all!!!

27/12/2021

You may have never thought about your horses like this before. We ask a lot from them and we need to be kind to them. Sometimes we need to look at their past and help them over the trauma they may have endured in their life❤️❤️

Most horses pass from one human to another - some horsemen and women are patient and forgiving, others are rigorous and demanding, others are cruel, others are ignorant.

Horses have to learn how to, at the minimum, walk, trot, canter, gallop, go on trails and maybe jump, to be treated by the vet, all with sense and good manners.

Talented Thoroughbreds must learn how to win races, and if they can't do that, they must learn how to negotiate courses and jump over strange obstacles without touching them, or do complicated dance
like movements or control cattle or accommodate severely handicapped children and adults in therapy work.

Many horses learn all of these things in the course of a single lifetime. Besides this, they learn to understand and fit into the successive social systems of other horses they meet along the way.

A horse's life is rather like twenty years in foster care, or in and out of prison, while at the same time changing schools over and over and discovering that not only do the other students already have their own social groups, but that what you learned at the old school hasn't much application at the new one.

We do not require as much of any other species, including humans.

That horses frequently excel, that they exceed the expectations of their owners and trainers in such circumstances, is as much a testament to their intelligence and adaptability as to their relationship skills or their natural generosity or their inborn nature.

That they sometimes manifest the same symptoms as abandoned orphans - distress, strange behaviors, anger, fear - is less surprising than that they usually don't.

No one expects a child, or even a dog to develop its intellectual capacities living in a box 23 hours a day and then doing controlled exercises the remaining one.

Mammal minds develop through social interaction and stimulation.

A horse that seems "stupid", "slow", "stubborn", etc. might just have not gotten the chance to learn!

Take care of your horses and treasure them.

Written by Jane Smiley

🌟We are their caretakers...let's do it kindly & with compassion!🌟

25/12/2021

May you and your family all have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!!

02/12/2021

30/09/2021

If any of you know my Mr. Mudd, I’m sure you can see him enjoying a good ear rub!! Just another way to connect with your horse.

04/08/2021

None of us are perfectly sound. Including myself!!

When I first got out of veterinary school and started looking at horses prior to purchase (usually referred to as a “vet check” or a prepurchase exam), the horses usually fit into one of three categories. The first category was the horse with no problems noted at the time of the exam. That decis...

13/07/2021

Mudd getting his massage after a tough weekend of riding at Mohican State Forest. I didn’t realize how sore he was. He was not being mean just telling me to take it easy.
If your horse has hit a mid-summer slump, a massage may help refresh them. I am still offering my special of 3 sessions for $120 for 1 horse used in 3 months.

04/07/2021

Happy 4th of July!!! 🦅🗽🎆