31/10/2025
I am working on the:
Fascia
Nerves
Muscle
Bone
Joints
Why we cant seperate one from another and are never working on one specific anatomical structure.
You will have heard many say they are working on one specific structure yet still quote whole horse, yet if you are thinking of only one structure then you can never think of whole horse as your focus and attention will think this one structure trumps every other moving part in the horse.
Let's look at one example
Your therapist says we are working on the medial gluteal and off they pop working in the area over the rump yet never venture onto the lumbar area, what is being missed out ???
Well first how is the skin in that area because as therapists its the first thing we touch, its one of the first approaches into the sensory nervous system, how we touch matters to how the horse will gauge the rest of our work, its always how the horse sees our approach not how we view the area that needs work. If we introduce ourselves with a dig and poke then already we are bringing alarm to the nervous system.
What are we addressing there is the gluteal fascia that comes before the muscle, can we ever address one without the other or are they so interconnected to the whole system that we always have to have a mind set of approaching both.
It has connections to the longissimus muscle extending as the gluteal tongue, it has connections to the illium, sacriolliac ligaments, femur so why do we only concentrate on the middle part without ever wondering into the connections, is the range of motion restricted through the hindlimbs by this one muscle or do we think of how the muscles work in conjunction with others and other structures to achieve an extension, abduction, retraction.
When people ask what I am thinking when working on a horse its those questions from all above and it extends throughout the body, always have as many questions for that may lead to more answers.
Thinking in a singular structural thought leads to less questions and often an answer that may never get to the root of an issue.
We often quote whole horse yet still say its a singular issue, yet all affects one another.
It would be nice if there was just one issue and one answer, how easy our life would be yet even time is our enemy and can affect the body for often professionals are coming in long after the one issue occured.
A diagnosis is often not the beginning of an issue its only the beginning of addressing an issue that may have been there long enough for other issues to arise either in the healing or compensation timeline.
So if someone asks do I work on the nerves, fascia, muscles, joints, bones or any other structure people like to single out my simple answer is I work on the whole horse nothing more nothing less its what I have always done and how I have always thought.
