Connection
Through using my hands to release tissue, to soften and relax tight over developed muscles and allow for greater range of motion I’ve seen some really great changes in the horses I’ve worked on both instantly and over time, however when I realised how a horses relationship to connection governs all what I do with my hands I started to play about with this concept.
As when ever we have brace to contact we have brace in the body, you see the most beautiful thing about the nervous system is that when the horse feels and has a good relationship to contact this contact feels good to them then, it initiates a relaxation and calms the nervous system, allowing for them to operate from there parasympathetic nervous system, and this from an anatomical point of view means that the horse has access to muscles that will help to strangthen and build their thoracic sling, enabling for a neutral supported spine, open shoulders and an open ribcage, allowing for true flexion and extension through their lumbosacral joint, instead of the horse feeling brace and therefore operating from the sympathetic nervous system, which means the horse will be braced through there ventral neck, pulling their shoulders in, compressing their ribs, a negative angle spine putting so much tension on the hindend that the horse is then held in Flexion through their lumbosacral joint, trying to support their front end and stabilise as much as they can, meaning it’s impossible for a horse to have accesss to their thoracic sling muscles and the body is moving in disconnect.
It’s simple yet complex- starting every connection with a check in, feeling for your horse and finding that softness literally opens their bodies in ways I’ve never been able to achieve with just my hands, it really is so beautiful to whiteness 🪽🪽
This is just a littlle clip of me checking in with my own horse and haltering her with softness and connection at the forefront of my mind, you can see how she’s able to conn
Through the type of bodywork I do we can achieve nervous system regulation we can create body awareness…
When we can calm the nervous system and allow the horse to come back into their own bodies we get the most beautiful changes. We will see the muscles that have been protecting soften and relax and lengthen, and we will see tensegrity building theough their bodies, as we get activation of the muscles that support and strengthen the horse. Through this process our horses are able to self regulate, they become more present and in control and the physical changes are 🤯
This mare has been making amazing progress, to see her be so open and confidently going within to ‘feel’ the changes in our last session is the most rewarding thing to witness and her body is developing so beautifully and slowly as it should, she’s unfolding and developing her wings 🪽
At the end of the session she could hear a fellow herd member stressed and galloping up and down, myself and her owner watched her work through this so beautifully, she didn’t blow up, she didn’t want to leave, she found her ‘sweet spot’ pillar one herself and she walked so confidently back out to her field… it was amazing… 🥰 it’s magic it really is ❤️
A little clip here showing how little Cleo went from being very tender and reactive to the lightest of touch- and then after the nerve release work around her Nuchal crest and ears to then being comfortable to even enjoying a scratch on what was her worst side 💛
Tension in this area is really common from horses wearing rope halters, when pressure is applied downwards on them the top of the rope jams into the area at the back of the occipital bone as you can see from the image of the horses skull and cervical vertebrae here there is a hook, this area is highly innervated with nerves, a huge player being the vagus. This area can also carry excessive tension when the horse has a weak or compromised thoracic sling as the upper attachments of the brachiocephalic muscles are having to support the horse to make up for this weakness causing tension and hypertrophy in the muscles of the poll.
** Image in comments from google**
A lovely session with this little mare yesterday, each time I see her she opens up more and more, this time really allowing me to work on her neck and shoulders, she’s been not able to extend through her knees fully, her knees often tremble and she has been unable to lock them, and from the knee down to her hooves were freezing cold, after some manual work we then did some light movement , to get her to feel her body more now the tissue was more free and to restore range of motion in her joints, decompressing the nerves which allows them to do their job of communicating to the muscles to allow the knees to lock, with this we felt the warmth coming back to her lower limbs as the circulation improved, her eyes soften and her energy changed, it was beautiful 🌺
True connection with your horse, starts from within yourself…. since loosing my dad, I’ve had days where I felt lost and disconnected, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all, those days I’ve allowed myself time, I have been learning how to allow myself to sit in the sadness and grief and learning how to feel into it, then most importantly allowing those feeling pass through me instead of allowing them to linger or trying to keep them away, this isn’t easy, for the last couple of weeks I’ve mostly just fed the horses and checked on them, I wasn’t in a good place to work with them. However today I wanted to do something with them.
It’s been so interesting to see how my emotional state has affected my horses. These last 2 weeks I’ve been running off survival mode, my sympathetic NS was running the show due, I wasn’t sleeping great, I wasn’t eating properly, drinking way to much caffeine and not enough water and this was escalating me already feeling anxious, and disconnected from myself. I needed to break the cycle, I am developing quite a good ‘toolbox’ to enable me to tap into my parasympathetic NS and allow my body to relax and my cortisol levels to come down. So this is what I’ve focused on. Today I spent time with Cherry, just in her field, and through nervous system co regulation we could find that safe space, to fully let go, this allows our bodies natural ‘protector’ muscles to relax, when we are in survival mode blood is redirected to our muscles to allow us to spring into action, and we are running on adrenaline and cortisol these suppress our digestive system and affect our immune response, and prolonged periods of stress are harmful to our bodies, it’s very easy for us to become stuck here.
So here’s a little clip of me and my horse becoming more regulated together, it doesn’t look much, but just shows she needed it as much as me today as her nervous system mirrors mine. This is something that’s now integrated in
**sensitive post***
I really wasn’t planning on posting this but I feel it’s just two special to not.
I’ve not sat on my girl since the start of feb and I’ve had very little time to do anything for these last few months with me & my family going through such a challenging time.
Today I decided to do a little something with her as I could see from her posture and the tension in her body that’s what she needed.
Pillar one is more than just a posture we look for, it’s a feeling, and synchronicity of the nervous system due to feeling safe and heard, I apply this to every second we are in each others company. From before I even get the headcollar on right to my last contact with her believe I leave for the day.
After a lovely morning I felt called to have a sit on her, it’s so important to me that we carry this same feeling all the way through to me being on her back, and so I did- this was the last few minutes, I’ve never known Cherry so still and quiet, she can feel how much heartache I am carrying with me, she stood here like a rock while I broke down, she just stood and held space for me- it’s like she knew right at the time that I needed it, her energy was so peaceful and calming, and I felt such a deep connection with her. I thanked her from the bottom of my heart for being my rock as my focus is always on being hers, she just knew ❤️ and the special part is that my Dad & his wife brought Cherry for me as a yearling ❤️🩹
