Down South Horsemanship

12/08/2025

Kids working on respect and trick training.

27/07/2025

Ezra wasn't in the mood to work with us today.....

26/07/2025

Truth

26/07/2025

Yup.

26/07/2025

Mathew and Silver doing some trick training

25/07/2025

And the horsemanship has begun. Some good progress from each rider and horse

21/07/2025

And it's begun. Nelmari and Ezra working out the kinks and Disney teaching Victoria.

15/07/2025

Nelmari and Hazel working on liberty

24/06/2025

11/12/2024

Hmmm. Guide dog or guide horse. Tricky one. Do both

06/10/2024

Yip

TRAINING AIDS......
Q re: PESSOAS
NO I do not recommend these for rehabbing from a KISSING SPINE diagnosis.
Research so far hasn't proven them to be of any great help in some key areas.

😏 The pessoa aims to encourage correct “rounding” while collecting the hindlimbs with the most popular placement leading between the front legs to adjoin to a ring on the girth of the roller, designed to “stretch the topline” while engaging the hocks.
Hmmmmm
👇👇👇👇👇👇👇
Walker et al. found dorsoventral displacement (topline and core) increased with pessoa use when set at shoulder level, with greater lumbosacral joint extension during hindlimb retraction, suggesting greater back movement. However, the highest point of the horse changed from the poll to the crest, suggesting a high degree of cervical ventral flexion, which is not ideal for horses with neck pain and, is not indicative of a more uphill, engaged, and collected frame.

Other research noted the pessoa on setting 1 on a treadmill did not increase core muscle use, which also supports previous research finding no increase in long back muscle use with a pessoa, it does not assist with spinal stabilisation, and a horse should already have good back and core musculature prior to use for collection.

Additionally, Mackenchnie-Guire et al. found high pressures below rollers with a training aid such as a pessoa, thus indicating use during kissing spine rehab may be counter-intuitive when pressures are highest at T11-T12 which are key kissing spine locations.

So do your horse a favour and learn ground work from someone reputable.

👉🌟You can also learn some techniques to help start your horse off correctly on my 2 day horse owners course. June is full but JULY & AUGUST dates added on the events tab on my page.
It's not a course specifically for horse owners with ks horses but I may organise one for the end of the year, however you will learn some very useful information and techniques as a horse owner whether competitor or happy hacker that will be invaluable.

Links:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0737080618301035?via%3Dihub

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/comparative-exercise-physiology/article/abs/effects-of-training-aids-on-the-longissimus-dorsi-in-the-equine-back/7A61B5273E88DBFD9FC1FEB8FB7DEE33

https://animaltherapymedia.co.uk/the-effect-of-the-pessoa-training-aid-on-equine-rectus-abdominus-workload-on-a-treadmill/

https://facebook.com/events/s/horse-owners-empowerment-cours/216833067598885/

Image from Google

02/09/2024