Stable Hands Equine Therapy

07/26/2025

Almost time for a little rest and rejuvenation ⛱️

07/08/2025

6️⃣ things I prioritized:

1. No small circles: technically we were lunging but I was always walking along side her so we could use the full arena. Horses aren’t designed to move in tight circles for extended periods. 🌀

2. No gadgets: This mare is very well mannered so we lunged in a plain halter and never with any tools to restrict her head or wrap around her legs so she could build her own balance and work towards self carriage. 🐴

3. Quality over quantity: How the mare was moving was more important than how long she was moving for. Remember that muscle at rest will still burn fat. This was 12 sessions of 30 minute workouts and I never even asked her to canter. 🐎

4. Identify issues: Where are the “hiccups” in their movement? What side looks weaker and where? For instance this mare tends to move slightly short right hind. After observation I notice that she isn’t so much short stepping as she is bringing her leg medially during the swing phase to land with her hoof close to the midline which leads me to believe she’s trying to protect something on that side. Combined with knowledge of her body from massage I also know that she tends to stand with right hind externally rotated. 🕺🏽

5. Target: This mare is an accomplished lifelong western horse so poles had to be introduced slower than I would for a hunter/jumper. We started by adding a single raised pole into her warm up walk work to get her thinking about all 4 feet individually and to help activate her quadriceps. Next we added a pole to her walk/trot transition work to continue that proprioception work. Finally, I started using our cool down walk as a time to do some shallow serpentines over a pole to encourage her to step laterally with the hind limbs to try and build strength and awareness within that wider stance. 🎯

6. Bodywork: I had been cleared to work on the mare along side exercising her and it gave me a chance to experiment with different theories and taping applications to assist her. If you’ve ever gotten back in shape yourself then you’ll know that there’s no time you feel worse than those first few weeks back in a routine when your body hasn’t adjusted yet. 💆🏼

07/06/2025

Good things come to those who work for it! 💪🏼

Heads up: this post is a going to be a little bit different than my regularly scheduled content!


In June I was exercising a clients horse while they were on vacation. The mare had been working with her owner to successfully slim down and couldn’t be left to sit and gain it all back. Complicating factors included her older age and some previous injuries and resulting compensation patterns we had to take into consideration. The work we did was really slow, methodical and honestly pretty f’n boring but the results speak for themselves!

Do you want to know the 6 things I prioritized during our workouts to get these results?

05/19/2025

Research has shown that both animals and humans learn faster, retain information better and are more confident when they engage in playful learning activities!

After my long yearling Juniper showed an intense interest in climbing into my wheelbarrow, I was inspired to build her a pedestal. It was love at first sight and now we can work on balance, coordination and confidence like a true circus pony! 🎪

We can also use the block to mobilize her spine and achieve deeper stretches with less effort. Enrichment doesn’t have to be expensive or pretty, it just needs to provide a novel challenge to stimulate your horses mind. 🐴

05/04/2025

Have you ever taken a minute to think about how muscle tension and fascial adhesions can affect your posture? 🧌

Last Sunday I went a little too hard clearing weeds with a short spade shovel. 🪏 I was keeping my left foot on the shovel as I lifted it up and stepped down over and over. The next morning I woke up with my hamstring muscles on just that left leg feeling like they had seized up. It started to affect my life; I couldn’t bend down without pain shooting through my lower back so I quickly started walking differently to compensate. I tried focusing on bending my knee more so I wouldn’t drag my toe. I tried to make my stride on both sides shorter to accommodate the left. I tried repeatedly to stretch and attempt to warm up out of it to no avail. The longer I left this strain unchecked it was started to affect more and more of my body, so what did I do?

I took myself to a professional for a massage and when I still felt sore afterwards I k-taped myself with to help relax those strained muscles. Two days later, the tape is off and I’m feeling 95% back to normal even after going for a long walk yesterday and today.

The moral of the story is I’m old and injure easily 😂 the actual moral of the story is that it gave me even more empathy for our equine partners. I see horses everyday with extremely tight hamstrings and now I understand their plight and compensation patterns better. Ideally I’ll stop injuring myself to learn these things one day 🤷🏻‍♀️

🦄:

10/09/2024

This isn’t something I have ever advertised but something I have always offered free of charge. If you are an existing client who has made the incredibly tough decision to put your equine partner down, reach out to me and we can set up a time to lavish them with love ❤️ this is just one small way I feel I can give back to the animals who have brought me so much peace 🕊️

05/30/2024

I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen ads for sales horses with “superficial scars that don’t bother them”. Horses are stoic by nature; don’t take that as an excuse not to listen.

Just a superficial scar?

Below shows a partially torn hind extensor tendon that had adhered to the skin in its healing process. This mare had a previous fence injury that seemed to be very superficial and wouldn’t cause any issues but she developed gait abnormalities and a locking stifle afterwards.
She also had hock arthritis at just 5 from in my opinion compensation as she’d done relatively little,
Her findings will be available on patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/Becks_nairn

05/16/2024

I’ll be out of town until Monday, all texts and messages will get answered when I have reception! Happy long weekend 🤗

04/11/2024

A list of 10 Things You Might Not Know About EHV-1 and EHM, from testing to treatment and prevention.

02/20/2024

I spoke at this event last year and was really impressed with the format of the camp! Not only do you get to train with some amazing coaches, you also get to learn from industry professionals and experience true community and support from one another. Cannot recommend it enough!

01/01/2024

Wow! 🤩 I was so blown away with everyone’s participation in this contest (40+!) that I decided to pick 2 winners!

Congratulations go to:
Closest without going over: 525 Gesika Bliss
Closest to the actual number: 560 Casey M McAskill

The final tally for horses I worked on in 2023 was….
556!

Book now for January to take advantage of the 2023 rate! Stay tuned for price changes coming in February 🐴

12/28/2023

Can you guess how many massages I did in 2023? 🤔

The closest guess without going over will receive 1 free massage to be used anytime in January 2024! 🤩

One guess per person can be commented on this post on Instagram or Facebook, and winner will be announced January 1st! Happy guessing 😉