Equi-librium Therapy, LLC

03/12/2024

AAETT is working so hard to better the equine supportive care industry in the interests of the horses, professionals, horse owners, and everyone invested in the industry as a whole. Please consider supporting their mission today and every day!

AAETT was founded to bring together equine professionals working to make horses' lives better, to further education, and to elevate the industry to a higher standard of care.

Our horses work hard for us. They are extremely giving creatures. Most professionals in the Equine Supportive Care Industry would tell you: we do it for the horse.

It is a way to give back to the creatures who do so much for us.

💙💛Today is Giving Tuesday💛💙

AAETT is deeply grateful for your support of our mission however fits best.

The simplest option is a straight forward donation. AAETT is a non-profit which means all donations are tax-deductible.

As a fully volunteer-run organization, all donations apply 100% to supporting the equine industry through AAETT's mission.

Sponsorship is another avenue of support.

AAETT greatly appreciates our Annual Sponsors including:

⭐️Magnus Magnetica, the Founding Sponsor
⭐️Northwest School of Animal Massage
⭐️HEALequine
⭐️School of Applied Integrative Therapy Equine
⭐️Respond Systems, Inc.
⭐️London College of Animal Osteopathy

If you aren't already a member of AAETT, please consider joining. Membership drives AAETT.

Currently our committees, staffed by members, are:

🦄 Finalizing AAETT's application for Standards of Excellence accreditation

🦄 Preparing to roll out a Board Level Core Knowledge Exam for Equine Care Professionals

🦄 Planning the 2025 Educational Conference

🦄 Working on securing further benefits for members through partnerships with our sponsors and supporters

🦄 Working with Veterinary Boards across the country to develop positive working relationships.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg. Membership is vital, both financially and for the power and momentum needed to accomplish AAETT's goals!

We hope you’ll consider supporting us on this Giving Tuesday. Links to donate and join are pinned below ⬇️

04/11/2024

❗𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗩𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗙𝗲𝗯. 𝟭𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱, at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Kentucky. Organized by the University of Kentucky in collaboration with the Kentucky Horse Council and made possible by industry partners, the event is designed for 𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕘𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕦𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕤 interested in a career in veterinary medicine.
🔹This year’s event features more exploratory tracks and more available seats. Registration will open Dec. 2 and the event is expected to quickly fill again. The registration fee of $25 will cover breakfast, snack and networking lunch, along with entry into the morning seminars, panel sessions and one afternoon focus site. Focus sites include practices and professionals focusing on equine, large animal, small animal, mixed animal practice, government/regulatory and wildlife veterinary medicine.
🔹Sponsorship opportunities are also available to businesses and organizations. For more information or to be placed on a notification list when registration opens, please visit https://afs.ca.uky.edu/students/pre-vet/pre-vet-experience-day.

14/10/2024

YES!!

Reevaluating the Approach to Equine Care: A Call for Modernization

As I complete my mandatory continuing education to maintain my healthcare license, I encountered an eye-opening topic: the stark contrast between the 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 and the 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 in human healthcare.

This led me to reflect on how similar patterns are playing out in equine healthcare, highlighting the need for a shift in how we care for our horses.

The 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹, still prevalent in much of equine healthcare, places the professional in control. The health provider assesses symptoms, prescribes treatments, and expects compliance from the patient (or in this case, the horse’s owner). While this model may seem efficient, it leaves no room for the patient’s preferences or input. It is an outdated, top-down approach where decisions are made for the patient, not with them.

In stark contrast, the 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 —which I am required to follow as a licensed human healthcare provider in BC, Canada — focuses on collaborative decision-making. This model respects the patient’s needs, preferences, and values. Care is designed with the patient’s input, ensuring a more personalized and responsive approach to health.

It made me think: if human healthcare has moved away from this archaic model, why is equine care still so rooted in it? Shouldn’t our horses deserve the same respect, empathy, and collaborative care that humans do?

It’s time to challenge the status quo in equine medical care. If we are required to maintain modern, patient-centered practices as licensed human healthcare professionals, why should equine professionals be any different? This isn't just a matter of preference—it's about ethics, respect, and the evolution of care.

It’s time for change. A movement toward equine care that truly considers the horse as an active participant, with treatment that reflects their individual needs, behaviors, and feedback.

13/10/2024

Calling all RIDERS:

One rider who volunteers the MOST hours this week will get their entry AND stabling back!

You game? Contact Lynn Davis to work out your volunteer shifts : [email protected] 📧

08/10/2024

📣 Educational opportunity! 📣 

Join us for this live event where two veterinarians will answer your questions about preventative equine joint care. Sponsored by Arthramid Vet.

03/10/2024

Best of luck in New Jersey, Jacob Arnold Combined Driving!!

The boys have their 🕺🏻 shoes on!

01/10/2024

This is SO COOL and very educational!!

01/10/2024

27/09/2024

❤️❤️❤️

You've heard the expression, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink". It means that we can make something easier for someone else, provide them with an opportunity, but you cannot force them to do it. In many cases, our kind hearted gestures in life are based on what WE THINK is needed, and not necessarily based on the what the intended recipient might actually need, or even want. In these moments we can sometimes unknowingly shut down the possibility for any changes we hope to see, simply because we have taken over the space and acted through the lens of our own assumptions and conclusions.

As bodyworkers, we commit to study vigorously, gain practical skills and experience, take Continuing Education courses to stay current in our industry. We take pride in our high standards for performance in this field and the knowledge we have worked so hard to acquire. Yet, if we approach our sessions already intent on fixing or changing something about the horse which WE HAVE DECIDED needs to happen, we will miss the most important piece of this work, the discovery of unknown paths that can lead to deeper healing. We know that horses are stoic and hide their pain, and we know that many of the symptoms they finally present can be secondary or even tertiary to past injuries or trauma. But there is so much underneath that we just can't know. Add to that the verbal communication barrier, and we now must really open our senses and intuition to be able to encourage and allow whatever comes up to be heard.

We cannot make healing happen. We cannot make the horse "drink." We are only the guardians of that moment, of that space that allows things to move, to evolve, process and emerge. This space has no rules nor needs validation because it is nothing more than the present moment being shared between two souls. This IS where the magic happens.

www.schoolait.com

21/09/2024

Michele is very grateful to have learned early on from coaches like Shelby Hume & Joyce Brinsfield about these types of basics! These concepts even apply and rehabilitative work, because they are based upon average stride length in various gaits. So useful!!

There are, by actual count, 143,962 dressage riders who, if asked to place the appropriate letters with the correct distances between them in their designated slots, would be unable to do so with precise accuracy.

We wouldn’t expect someone who isn’t involved in dressage riding to be able to do this, any more than we’d expect someone who isn’t involved with hockey to explain the lines on a hockey rink, but wouldn’t we think that a dressage rider would have taken the effort to learn?

It’s the same thing in jumping sports, how many feet, roughly, should there be in a three stride in and out? Again, deer in the headlights.

Is this basic ignorance the result of sheer laziness? Lack of interest? Inability to comprehend any reason to learn the basics of the sport?

It’s an easy out to blame the teacher---“She never told me to learn that stuff.” But is that really the teacher’s job?

At some point what we see is that the learners are going to learn, while the non-learners probably won’t. Nobody can make someone want something. Sure, they can make them do it, through reward or punishment, but wanting comes from within.

(It will be interesting to speculate who will read this and decide to learn it.)

14/09/2024

Want to better understand biomechanics as they relate to hoof balance? Check out this introductory level webinar from The Equine Documentalist!!

Toe length and base proportions are vital for creating equilibrium, but what does that mean?

There are big debates at the moment on the importance of toe length, some suggesting its not as important as we make out. Some suggesting it doesn't matter in laminitis, others suggesting toe length doesn't matter in locomotion.

But there seems to be a lacking of understanding of the importance of creating correct strain share between the tendons and ligaments of the digit, AND the importance of maintaining a level hoof on soft ground when the weight of the horse moves over the hoof (midstance). Both of these being a state of equilibrium which basically means a state of balance between opposing forces.

This understanding of the physics involved in the digit has relevance in the treatment if laminitis and in every day shoeing and essentially maintaining a healthy digit.

I will be doing an introduction to digit biomechanics, with The study of the equine hoof, where I will look to explain these things in simple and easy terms to allow for everyone to be able to assess the different theories from a more educated place.

3rd October 7pm BST
Get your tickets now...

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/digit-biomechanics-101

04/09/2024

Sometimes this is a hard truth to swallow…but it’s the core of truly BEING with equines, and so very worth it. ❤️❤️

"I am fine!"

"No, you're not."

"No... I am fine."

"I can feel that differently."

"Don't feel me."

"Why. You are literally on my body and next to me. I am always feeling you."

"Because I am holding back the flood of feelings that I have no idea what to do with. If I felt them, I might fall apart"

"Ok. I won't feel you then."

"Excuse me... can you pay attention to me? I am asking you a question nicely. Can you respond to me nicely please?"

"But we just made an agreement. That I disconnect to how you feel, just like you disconnect to how you feel."

"Yes but, don't connect to my feelings. Connect to my actions and commands."

"They are one and the same. That is impossible unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless I detach myself from you. Emotional death."

"Great. I'll have one emotional death please. None of those nasty inconvenient feelings. Let us just do actions please."

"Ok. But I am here, waiting for you."

"What are you waiting for?"

"For you to feel. So that we can communicate with feel."

29/08/2024

Equestrians…the landscape is changing and equine wellness is shifting. We have vet shortages and so much more going on. If you own horses, use services such as massage, bodywork, PEMF, etc OR you offer these and other services, you should be on this call to hear exactly what’s shifting and how you can help participate in shaping the future of equine wellness.

And it’s FREE. The replay is available for life.

Don’t miss it. If you’ve got a lot going on, at least register and listen to the replay. The discussion continues on the Veterinary Compendium page following the gathering.

This info and the conversation surrounding it is VERY important in regards to the future of equine bodywork & therapies!

21/08/2024

On one hand, we are excited about the 955 entries for the AEC next week! On the other hand, we still have lots of volunteer positions to fill so we’d love to hear from you…or your friends or your family or your neighbors…you get the point! You can check out what we need at: https://www.eventingvolunteers.com/events/3361/signup

20/08/2024

For all our fellow equine care providers…AAETT sees YOU.

Join today (https://www.aaett.org/memberships).

Also Save The Dates for the 2025 annual conference (June 25-29 in Lexington, Kentucky). 

💙Bodyworker…

💛Therapist…

🩶Technician…

🤍Acupressure, massage, PEMF, laser, cryotherapy, kinesiotaping….

We go by many different names and provide a wide variety of services - but we share similar goals, dreams, and challenges in navigating the equine industry.

Whatever your speciality - the American Association of Equine Therapists and Technicians sees you.

We strive to bring the equine care industry together by:

✨Creating educational opportunities

✨Promoting and encouraging legal compliance

✨Developing core educational standards for equine care professionals

✨Advocating for the independent recognition of qualified professionals

✨Developing supportive oversight and certifications for equine care professionals

You are not alone out there! We are here for you.

Tell us what you do in the comments ⬇️⬇️

And join our growing community of collaborative and like-minded professionals today!

https://www.aaett.org/plans-pricing

Don’t forget to save the date for our 2025 Conference in the Lexington, KY area:

🌟June 25-29, 2025🌟