Animal Physio UK - Andraya Hiscock

11/11/2025

Please act 🙏💚

09/11/2025

Takes 5 mins

09/11/2025

09/11/2025

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/738192

We think each year, individuals suffer because of loud fireworks. We believe horses, dogs, cats, livestock and wildlife can be terrified by noisy fireworks and many people find them intolerable.

09/11/2025

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
🧡🧡🧡

09/11/2025

💜

Whispers to a War Horse ❤
Amid the chaos, still and near,
A soldier bends, the world unclear.
With trembling hands, he strokes the mane,
A fleeting balm for grief and pain.

The horse leans close, its dark eyes deep,
A keeper of the secrets they keep.
No words are said, yet both can feel,
The bond of trust, unbroken, real.

Steel and leather, dust and fear,
Echo round them, sharp and near.
But in this moment, soft, profound,
The noise of war makes not a sound.

For though the world may tear apart,
Man and beast share one brave heart.
Through blood, through loss, they’ll march as one,
Till night has claimed what day’s begun.

remembering all those horses who lost their loves in Wars on Memorial Day

08/11/2025

Lest we forget

08/11/2025

💜

Our yearly tribute to the millions of animals killed through war, is out on Park Lane again.
It simply says....

And amongst the men lay the horses..
Eight million involuntary souls.

We remember them too. 💜

05/11/2025

02/11/2025

Why Isn’t Your Horse on the Bit?

Here’s another common and misunderstood questions in riding: why isn’t your horse on the bit?

If I’m honest, it’s also a question that once held me back from exploring French classical training. I was uninformed and, truthfully, a little judgmental about what I was seeing until I took the time to read and understand the theory behind why we should wait before asking for poll flexion.

Even now, it’s a question that can make me feel a bit exposed when I’m working through those early, messy stages of helping a horse find balance.

In the School of Légèreté, we don’t start by putting the horse “on the bit” by asking for poll flexion. We start by educating the mouth.

Before a horse can seek contact, he must first learn to accept it; with confidence, not tension. That begins with a soft, mobile jaw. When the jaw is relaxed, the poll and neck can follow, and the topline opens up. Without that first conversation in the mouth, any contact risks becoming a constraint rather than a communication.

From there, we focus on bending and extending the neck, left and right, forward and out. This isn’t just about stretch; it’s about symmetry. By gymnasticising the neck, we free and lengthen the spine so the horse can move straight and without contraction. Only once the body is supple, balanced, and aligned do we add the final piece; poll flexion, the cherry on the cake.

I often think about this through my own body. I’m tall, with a long neck, and I struggle with neck and shoulder pain. To avoid strain, I need to tuck my chin slightly toward my neck; a small flexion at the atlanto-occipital joint, the human equivalent of the horse’s poll. It helps enormously, but only if I’ve first lengthened and aligned my spine. If I try it from a collapsed posture, the discomfort multiplies.

Try it yourself; it’s a simple but powerful way to feel why a horse needs a long, symmetrical neck before you think about flexing the poll.

So, if you see a horse being ridden with their head ahead of the vertical, it might not be because the rider doesn’t know how to “get him on the bit.” They may simply be taking the slower, more thoughtful route; ensuring every piece of the puzzle is in place so that, when flexion comes, it creates lightness and stability, not restriction.

30/10/2025

Link to the free Wellness Audio Warm-up:
https://www.coreconditioningforhorses.com/core-conditioning-audios-1