Horsempower

28/11/2025

One of the most photographed and iconic brumby stallions at Mt Kosi has been trapped along with some of his herd! I feel sad for his loss of freedom but relieved he won’t face a bullet. This has happened just after the bill to protect 3,000 brumbies has tragically been repealed!! A home has been found along with 3 of his herd but app there is another 20 or so but all information is not transparent as yet. He has survived so much, I am praying for him, transition for a brumby like him is going to be tough and I just wish a property could be found for his whole herd! Feeling sad but relieved for all of them!

24/11/2025

Whenever the weather allows, giving horses some time without their rugs is incredibly valuable, better still no rugs! Sunlight on the skin is the natural way horses make VITAMIN D, and even short periods of exposure help keep their levels healthy.

Why Vitamin D Is So Important?
Stronger bones & joints
Vitamin D aids calcium absorption, supporting bone density and healthy joint

Better muscle function
Adequate levels help maintain normal muscle contraction and reduce risk of weakness or stiffness.
   
Immune support
It plays a key role in regulating immune responses, helping horses cope with stress, training, and seasonal changes.
   
Hormonal & metabolic balance
Vitamin D contributes to normal nerve signalling and overall metabolic stability.

Rugs block UVB rays, preventing vitamin D synthesis!

This is my brumby boy, I caught him asleep with his girl soaking up the morning rays ❤️❤️

24/11/2025

There was a lot of focus on diaphragm function at the recent Thirza Hendriks Master class and it’s made me a lot more aware of its importance in movement and respiration so thought I would share her musings that I can relate to and a diaphragm diagram ( maybe that should be a diaphragmgram lol) by the wonderful and talented Mary Sargent.

More than a massage, not just a massage, different to a massage therapist!!!

Working on muscles seems to get a bad rap, like a huge part of the horse doesn't matter, you are deemed sometimes an inferior therapist if you say yes you include muscles in your work yet after the skin, adipose, fascial tissue its the first structure we can touch and affect, they hold the visual clues as to what is going on underneath like reading the first page in a book without skipping to the end to get the juicy news.

We always think by going deeper we come across as more affective yet I approach my work as like pushing that first domino and watching the ripple effect disperse throughout the body, because we cannot affect one singular area when working for the whole horse will feel the hands layed upon it.

Times are changing within the massage world where once it was go hard or go home, I know by qualifying in human massage that that is not what I was taught, I wasnt digging or poking or waiting for the screams from the client to indicate I should stay until the screams subsided I went with the flow of the body, I brought the hands that in my work respected the horse into my human therapy world.

When we first look at the horse we are looking at the muscle definition, its part of our visual assessment, its a tool which should not put down just because someone says your work is deemed inferior because of it.

Muscle or fascia?? Well they are both are so interlinked when you work on one you will affect the other, you may know which one is in trouble by how the horse is after or before movement but dont seperate the body when it comes to the work
When fascia became fashionable the muscles were muted because it didnt sound cool if you didnt work fascially yet fascia is everywhere ao by the very landscape of the substance it means you are always in the vicinity of it.

When learning its good to know where the muscles are and all the layers and all the connections as each one will tell you what's going on a deeper level, how many muscles does it take to do an action is always helpful then we never look at a muscle as just a singular problem.
Anatomical books often get a bad rap as not true to real life yet we first need to know a baseline of what and where a muscle is before we can then recognise the variations, we cannot see a gluteal in trouble if we first do not know where it should be😉

How does the owner view all the different types of therapy?? Can they spot the difference between what we all do or do they just want someone who helps their horse regardless of where we gained our qualifications?? Often owners will choose the person that does the best job not what accolades they have acquired.

I remember someone asked me where was the best place to start in the therapy world and my advice was get a qualification then keep learning for that is where we learn our craft, it doesn't matter to the horse how good you were on paper it matters you are good with your actions that all you learn you can put into practice.

We begin at skin level in whatever we do, and dont disregard how affective we can be on a superficial level and how deep that can reach, superficial is not inferior its our introduction to the horse its how we greet them at the beginning of our work.

The world of therapy changes all the time as new information lands at our feet a good therapist will always be slowly changing their skills as this new information is digested that is what makes a difference we cant change the words to old techniques to keep up with the times we must change our techniques to match the new findings, growth is changing at a speed to understand what we are doing, to stagnate is to keep doing something because we have always done it that way

21/11/2025

CLOSE CALL!!
So if I came down this road just a few seconds later I might have done some decent damage to my new car.
This massive branch dropped right in front of me and I couldnt brake quickly enough and had to plough through!! Fortunately we came out of it with a few minor scratches, bit rattled though 🤪

17/11/2025

Whats in a WALK?

When it comes to horse training, most people focus on the trot or canter…
But a good trained walk is where the real magic happens especially when it comes to building healthy movement and assessing your horse’s body.

The walk is the only four-beat gait with no moment of suspension. That means the horse must carry and stabilise their body with every single step.
Because of this, the walk demands more postural stability, better coordination between front and hind ends, true core engagement, balanced loading through the pelvis and thoracic sling.

A horse can “fake” balance at faster gaits where momentum helps them.
But in the walk, there’s nowhere to hide weaknesses, stiffness, and asymmetries show up clearly.

Training a correct, purposeful walk improves:
• Straightness
• Hind-end engagement
• Stability
• Confidence in transitions
• Overall soundness and longevity
A good walk is the foundation for every other gait and the ideal physio post body work session.
A good remedial body worker 😁can help release, activate and adjust, a good functional trainer can help rewire, strengthen and maintain.

As a body worker in the WALK , I look for:
•Pelvic mobility (is one side hiking, dropping, or tracking shorter?)
•Rib cage glide and rotation
•Neck and head carriage patterns
•Footfall timing and weight distribution
•Signs of discomfort, nerve tension, or joint restriction
•Compensation patterns that disappear once the horse speeds up.

Because the walk requires the horse to stabilise without momentum, it highlights subtle issues like:
•SI tightness
•Thoracic sling fatigue
•Hindlimb weakness
•Suspensory strain
•Compensation after hoof imbalance
•Even jaw, poll, and tongue related tension

📣The WALK is truly the truth teller of the body.

And consider walking your horses out in hand on different surfaces to improve proprioception, keep the hooves well balanced that allow proper contact to the ground to stimulate the mechanoreceptors.
Look for a good functional trainer such as

https://www.facebook.com/share/17fpLL7E2j/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Happy walking!

#

17/11/2025

I find this helps quite a bit with my horses especially those who are aged and/or compromised in their bodies.
Benefits the horse and your dentist whether they are sedated or not. In my work I help a lot of horses who cannot fully open their mouth to yawn by doing these soft tissue and joint mobilisations and of course treating the whole body through all those connections is the most beneficial. If a horse cannot open his mouth fully to yawn how hard would it be for when he has the speculum on🤷‍♀️ My apples for the light in this footage!

10/11/2025

Australia sent 136,000 horses overseas during World War I. Only one came home. His name was Sandy.

Around 30,000 died in battle. Several thousand who lived to 12 years of age or suffered ill health were killed. Some were sold in starving France to butchers. Most of the remaining horses were transferred to the British and Indian armies.

Around 250 light horsemen couldn't bear to leave their horses in Palestine or Egypt and took them out in the desert and shot them without permission.

Almost as many horses as humans suffered and died during WWI in ways only those with them could understand. 8 million were forced into a war they did not cause nor chose to fight. Lest we forget - them and all the other human and non-human victims of wars that continue across the globe to this day for the senseless power and greed of a few.

07/11/2025

Goodbye my dear little sweet Leo, you were adored by so many children! Just about to turn 30 so a might fine innings!

The vet was confident that a lipoma had caused a severe onset of colic. A lipoma is a fatty growth/tumour that is attached and hangs down from the mesentry that attaches the intestines to the abdominal wall and can wrap around the small intestine, they are a common cause of colic in older equines.

He was a seemingly happy chappy and very hardy little pony, this came on suddenly and very severely, very difficult to see him go through it 😢 I have never been so relieved to see my vet Clara from Golden Plains so grateful for her prompt response and expertise 🙏🙏🙏
And very grateful to Chris Nichols for the burial Chris has laid to rest many of my horses over many years, he is the best 🙏
RIP little man
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

07/11/2025

How good is this!
A friend made it for me!

06/11/2025

Great catching up with Dr Claire Wade and Anne Marie Cowell two exceptional fellow EBT practitioners and more at the recent Thirza Hendriks clinic!
Thirza is like a human AI !! Ask a question and you get an essay!
She is all about functional movement. Hip function, energy transfer and diaphragm mobility were a focus in this MC. Brain and breath work to access the body for training and body work for the more unsettled ones featured as well and I saw some amazing demonstrations!

There was just so many ah ha moments! and rabbit holes to explore!
So much to know so little time 🤪
If anyone attended her and Emma Loftus two day assessment clinic yesterday and today please tell me all about it 🙏🙏
I just couldn’t do it after my Osteopath MC and this one, I am broke but hey I am rich in inspiration and new knowledge that my old brain is still processing away 🤪🙏Feeling blessed, grateful and that I know nothing 🤣🤣

03/11/2025

I worked in the racing industry for nearly 10 yrs in another life and the breakdown of babies was rife! I often heard this mentioned that it’s good for these babies to race to strengthen their bones!!
This comes from a fundamental principle in anatomy and biomechanics that describes how bone adapts to the loads placed upon it called wolffs law! This is all very well but what about the growth plates 🤷‍♀️

Way too many horses die in racing.
I pray for the safety of all horses tomorrow and hope they all make it across the line safely!

01/11/2025

So agree with this!! I witnessed this over and over as a trainer and would often encourage owners to be that “ rock” for their horse! I think validate, understand any past trauma then help them be their best self!

Are you guilty of making your horse a victim of a circumstance that we can never really understand ?

How much damage do we do by living in what we perceive is a horses traumatic past and therefore never allowing it the chance to move on and grow.
The first most important part of.dealing with a horse that may have been through something is to not treat it like it is a victim or else we end up only feeling sorrow and pity and they need to know that we are not reliving their past and are now paving the way for a less emotionally charged future.

We have all done it when we meet a horse that we may have had a bad start or rescued from a situation and the first thing we do when we hear the stories is we change our posture, our voice becomes softer we try to become smaller to not pose a threat and most of these actions can amplify the fear in the horse rather than offer them comfort, and we like to touch the horse a lot as we perceive that is what we would do with another human, but for some horses that touch association is not what we perceive it to be.

But horses are not us they don't think like us, they don't process situations the same as us and we therefore how we react and offer comfort for a human in trauma is not how we can then project the same onto horses. If we always feel sorry for the horse, then they become trapped in our emotions and react accordingly so if you keep perceiving your horse as a victim then how can it be anything but

What about the joe bloggs down the road who just gets on with it, and we recoil in horror as people say well don't, they know what that horse has been through?? They probably do but just getting on with it does that mean they don't take into consideration how a horse maybe, I am sure they do.

Reassurance is much more productive than pity, and if studies show that horses perceive us by our facial expression and our energy levels can you imagine how hard it would be for them if we come with a face down to the floor and the emotion of sorrow every time, we meet them it must be blummin exhausting for the horse.

As a therapist I never allow my emotions overrule my practicality when working I don't think it is fair to the horse if I bring my baggage of what I perceive the horse has been through into a session, I acknowledge it and move on. I am soft in the touch but I am not feeling sorry for the horse, I often see that when people discover the power of the softer touch the dialogue changes and I have seen some emotive words and soft hands yet the horse is still saying no but no one is listening then the horse calms not because of the effectiveness of the touch but because the horse has nowhere else to go. A soft hand can still be a restraint if not used properly.

Its not the softness of the touch it’s the internal softness of your approach, its understanding what and why you are doing what you are doing it’s a continual dialogue between you and the horse

We can often get trapped in a vicious circle of over analysing everything the horse does and we can become stuck in a situation where neither the horse nor the owner can move forward through fear of messing up but how will we ever know what our horses can do if we never try and if something does go wrong your horse will not hate you.

Horses are often called the great healers, but we must also ask the question when do we allow them to heal without the added baggage of our pity. Approach every day like a new day, whatever happened yesterday is behind you and today is a fresh start.