Equine Bodyworks By Mary Sargeant

Equine Bodyworks By Mary Sargeant Musculoskeletal, Myofascial Therapist, Whole Horse Therapist
Releasing Tension Improving Performance
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Over the years I have incorporated many modalities to my original qualifications which offers you a unique way of bodywork for your horse
Masterson Method Practitioner MMCP since 2013
Equine Touch level 1 and 2
Saddle fit4life cpd
Mobilization techniques
Rehab (Classical training)
Anatomy and palpation
Veterinarian assessment and biomechanics
Kinesio taping
Myo-Fascial
Cranio-Sacral
Equine Massage
3 Whole Horse Dissections and Limb dissections
Tucker bio kinetics
Dr Kerry ridgeway acupressure
Many cpd hours with various webinars

All this with the added bonus of watching the horses responses while I work so your horse is getting the benefit of movement within the joint while in a relaxed state. I am fully insured and a member of IAAT

I NOW OFFER ONE DAY HORSE OWNERS COURSES AND DEMOS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE

Sometimes even i think jeez Mary you look wierd 😅😅😅
24/03/2026

Sometimes even i think jeez Mary you look wierd 😅😅😅

Lay the horse down or stand and do nothing???We have two camps and a huge chasm in between between extreme horsemanship ...
24/03/2026

Lay the horse down or stand and do nothing???

We have two camps and a huge chasm in between between extreme horsemanship and nothing horsemanship and we need to find a middle ground where one does not come at the cost of the other.

If you put it out there someone is going to try it.

That is my thought process when I am showing any of my work, some will be grabbing their phone heading down to the barn and giving it a go so we have to have a responsibility to both horse and owner when we create "content".

Those who show their work are often highly skilled in that work its probably a repetitive part of their job they do without even having to think about it yet remember most people only show their best and forget to tell you the worst, the risk involved, the hurt that both you and your horse may acquire because the skill has not yet been developed.

We can look at differences in simple geographics, laying a horse down in the uk is not the norm we are told its choice yet our eyes tell us different we are not used to seeing it so we often believe our own eyes rather than someones narration.

You think you are unique in using a flat headcollar we think its the norm, swinging a horse although still used is not what we would consider the polite way to teach a horse to tie, and also if we have been around for a long time we saw the ugly side of tying a horse till it could no longer pull, the mistakes of the handler could cost the horse its life yet the risks are hardly ever talked about while the video is running.

But we have the extreme on the other side
Dont push or pull, dont do anything if your horse has any reaction other than standing like a zombie, let the horse decide ???? Are you sure your giving choice or allowing them "consent", everything we want to do is usually not the same needs of a horse so we either recognise that we are asking the horse to do something and for me watching some of these is like pulling a plaster off slowly it all sounds nice yet the horse knows what's coming, it knows what you want and for some horses it can be torturous in the waiting.
If a horse has tension around humans then how can going slow be the best thing for that horse???

Both of these extremes gets traction because they have the other side up in arms, so we also have to ask is it for the good of the horse or is it simply ragebait to feed an algorithm

The middle is often boring for us but good for the horse, the recognisition that when we work with horses its probably not their number one choice of things to do, they certainly cannot give consent (anyone want to argue with me show me your vid and I will show where consent was denied),
The choices we make have to include how does the horse feel and how can we make it better and we give back to the horse so if we ask them to work then we must allow them quality downtime.

I often think those that couldn't change their actions simply changed their words to make it more palatable for a more critical audience, and those who fed into what we think we want never learned the true art of horsemanship as they were to busy talking so their actions were simply to do nothing but talk while you stand there with your horse waiting for something.

The world of working with horses is changing we are always told yet is it??? I am still in the middle perplexed at what we really want.

Can I just talk about my pictures☺️I get lots of requests if people can use my pictures and I dont mind but I cant let ...
24/03/2026

Can I just talk about my pictures☺️
I get lots of requests if people can use my pictures and I dont mind but I cant let people use them to make money I.e take out my name and replace them with either their name or completely omit my copywrite mark that is in them, first if you remove my name then you know what you are doing!!! You are intentionally setting out to decieve someone.

While anatomy cannot be claimed by anyone I think we all have our own unique way of putting things out there, my first and foremost mission in life is to make things less complicated for the viewer and believe it takes ages and alot of hard work to make things look easy, for every drawing there is a pile of rubbish, half filled coffee cups, the piled up plates next to me as I work into the small hours of the morning trying to get it just right

My page is monetised so every like, share, comment all adds up and its not alot for instance my gelding scar video got 1.2 million views and earned me about 187.00 dollars so you can imagine the average post or picture never reaches those dizzy heights so each reaction on my page is important as its this what allows me to give you the free access to information, same as my subscribers page its only 99c a month but for that I try to give you your moneys worth😁

To take my free info then place it in a monetised platform like a course, is not fair to me neither is it fair to the paying customer. We both lose out.

My bag is simple, easy, I dont tackle subjects that are to complicated if I cant put it across in simple terms, we all have a different way of showing you our world and that is what gives you the option of a wider choice for your horse.

You are not doing me a favour if you copy and paste, even though when I private message you try to explain that is what you think you are doing, but I also wasnt born under a rock, I may have been a therapist for over 10 years but I have been in the world of business for over 30 and I know all the tactics of being gaslit to placate someone else into thinking they are doing you a favour.

Although I give all the pictures for free they are also part of my own projects, just because I may not do something with them now does not give anyone the right to climb in my head take my ideas and sell those because I am not ready to put my idea out there.

So please respect the effort it takes and dont be offended if I say no, I used to say yes but quickly learned that the yes led to being ripped off and a few bad apples spoiled the batch.

23/03/2026

Thomas is one of the sweetest horses i have ever had, he never waits at the gate unless he wants something or I have forgot to do something, he had waited patiently until I had finished and reminded me I had forgot to give his shoulders a scratch 😁
My way of giving my horses a say in what I can offer them xx
Excuse the heay breathing I had just barrowed two barrows of poo upto to the top 😅

Do you always get what you pay for?We often equate time with quality, the longer someone's spends on your horse then the...
23/03/2026

Do you always get what you pay for?
We often equate time with quality, the longer someone's spends on your horse then the more value for money you get, right?

I have heard two sides of the extreme where people have spent less than 20 minutes and on the other side of the coin someone has spent hours working on the horse usually cost is high with both, I like to be somewhere in the middle with both time and cost and increase my price as my knowledge and experience grows if you come put of the gate at top dollar are you overpricing your skillset, prices for me most grow organically as you experience and knowledge grows.

We have the quick fixers when you tell them where the horse is sore (usually back) they confirm and then slap a machine or get that finger poked in and voila your horse is fixed and off you go and in a few weeks it's all back again and the treadmill of sessions begin but if the same thing is having to be addressed every time then it makes sense that the cause has never been dealt with and then you have to ask when did the issue return was it four weeks or was it the next day and you only assume its four weeks because that is when the professional reevaluates the horse again

We then have the other side of the coin where the horses nervous system is slowly cooked over a period of hours and by the end of it the horse is zoned out of life it wouldn't care if a brass band went by as so much has gone on its system is no longer with us, we often get caught up in the moment and keep pushing the horse even when it's teetering on the edge because we are so in the moment, it's feels magical to us but what we feel is magical could be simply the horse has clocked out of the situation often the horses knees may buckle or they may lay down but still no reprieve from the person who then will continue to seek even more from the horse that can give no more, even if the horse has layed down it is often not seen as an opportunity for peace its seen as opportunity for a photoshoot.

I hear of some eye watering prices that are charged, into the 100,s for one session, one session yep you heard that right and for me just because you can does it always mean you should?
We often then think it's the education not session we pay so much for yet I always find the more expensive the person is the harder it is to find that education on their bios, the more you ask the more evasive the answer, by the way it never used to be this case of extortionate prices but it seems to be on the rise

People like the above get lax they feel secure that no-one will be coming to check their work because often the owner in their hour of desperation feel emotionally aswell as financially invested in the professional but every professional knows what is old issues or new issues and I feel so mad when you go and the issues I find are not new and often within 1 hour of work a different horse stands before me

We often try to be diplomatic at what we find but is it time to not be so diplomatic and say when something has not been addressed for after all we are supposed to be here for the horse

A few things you can do as an owner

Check credentials a certificate is not a qualification and especially in the UK certification does not qualify for insurance

Look at the bio, where are the qualifications and CPDS if you have to wade through bullcrap and you still can't find any history of what they actually do then that is a huge red flag

If the same issue is having to be dealt with every few weeks then something is going wrong, it could be a number of things and maybe you need to reevaluate everything

Horses get worse before they get better, if you hear that and your horse is hobbling around that is another red flag

I can fix everything, no matter what ails your horse they can fix it, first we never fix and second can that person truly hold the key to every ailment and if so why are they so confident could it be ego not experience

It only works if you do x,y,z for the rest of your life.
Good therapy doesn't rely on the owner having to learn to be a bodyworker, we shouldn't go into the session only thinking things will hold if the owner picks up the baton, that isnt fair to the owner our skills should be that we alone should be able to make a difference regardless of owner input, more often than not it can be a get out of jail free card for the professional when they dont do a good enough job.
A good therapist should be able to address the issues and you doing any work after should be a bonus not a necessity because when it all goes t**s up often you not the incompetent therapist gets the blame

What you see and what really happens can be miles apart, social media is a wonderful thing but also we can be or say anything we want I have seen some pretty impressive words that never translated into real life, editing can leave in the parts that appeal to the viewer whereas in real life we cant cut and paste

All therapists are not the same, a physio, sports massage therapist, chiro, osteopath, fascial, are just a few we all achieve an end goal but we all approach work differently (we are not all back people lol) some may use tools others may use just their hands but always look for quality whatever the therapist
Does your horse need more than a therapist to investigate what's going on?? Or even does that therapist who has a brand new shiny machine got a monthly bill to pay on it so needs to bring in an income ???

Just because someone is cheap doesn't mean their rubbish it could be someone who has just qualified and getting their name out there they may not have as much experience but it does not mean they are going to do a bad job, we all have to start somewhere, what is cheap??? It all depends on what you class as expensive

And on the other just because they are mega expensive doesn't always mean quality they might be expensive because they never get called back so they have to make their money quick because if you are only ever going to there for the short term you still got to make bank, in the world of social media often ego can inflate the price but it may not reflect quality

Trust is a huge thing you trust someone is going to do a good job but background checking just gives you that window of more information to guide you on who is best for your horse

We need to start being a little more honest
Pic from Google and edited

22/03/2026

Trying out my harness again for filming, I think it needs to be higher not to get my feet in 😅
Its a long walk to my field this was a 5 speed 😆

Why do we set the bar so low with our horses??Often an owner will look at me surprised after a session and simply say "m...
22/03/2026

Why do we set the bar so low with our horses??

Often an owner will look at me surprised after a session and simply say "my horse looked so relaxed" I think i should feel flattered yet it leaves me feeling a little sad that the horse being part of and my duty to take the horses wellbeing into consideration when working with it is often a unique situation for the horse and owner yet it is the normal for me and it should be for that horse and owner.

We respect, care, think of our horses as partners yet often we are willing to put up with things that make us feel uncomfortable and certainly if we are feeling it our horses are usually living it guided by the promise of it will get better, yet for many horses they dont understand the words of promise from the professional they just understand the action of today and that is the lesson they learn to take forward into tomorrow.

If a bodyworker is creating pain in your horse then how can they ever understand its for the better, is it for the better??? What purpose does it serve the horse to keep poking an area that is already sore, inflamed or uncomfortable it may make great TV but it may come at a cost to your horses view of every person that lays a hand on your horse, if we asked the horse how it felt would it see those hands as magic???

We always talk about the subtle, we yearn to learn when to notice things quicker, earlier, so we can make the horse better yet we call in the very people who escalate, ignore, declare success when the body no longer has the capacity to respond

The pain train can be a slow train, flooding the area with a different sustained pressure can give a new sensory input which can look magic but its science, the question we need to ask how long does it last ??? If your horse has the same issues on the next visit then did it take four weeks to return or is it only noticed because the therapist returns in four weeks?? Was the initial escalation by the therapsit worth the small reprieve??

As therapists we are facilitators for the better of the horse and in that we need to raise the bar on what we are willing to put our horses through to reach a result.

Only humans would go back to a therapist they hate and that causes them pain, horses sadly dont have a voice to say stop and often when their behaviour is saying stop, the therapist is to busy looking down the camera lens

Lets do better x

When the sun is shining, you have finally managed to poo pick all the fields then realised in your pic you missed one 😅😅...
21/03/2026

When the sun is shining, you have finally managed to poo pick all the fields then realised in your pic you missed one 😅😅😅😅

I like a little of what you do ☺️I have always been a Cherry picker when it comes to learning about horses, its ok to no...
21/03/2026

I like a little of what you do ☺️

I have always been a Cherry picker when it comes to learning about horses, its ok to not like everything about something someone does but its ok to say you like some of it.

Your either in or out, i really struggle with that concept for my commitment level waivers quite quickly and I dont like the rigidity of only being allowed to do one thing because I am always thinking can I do this differently will it make an improvement.

Its often why the things I do can look familiar but are not the same, a technique that I was doing last year could have different context this year as I learn more

Yet commitment and rigidity are often the unwavering contract that so many offer, you offer your own thoughts to be put on hold and I can't even commit to my sourdough starter😅😅

I watch a trainer I like the vertical but I don't like the gnashing on the bit, I am told its normal but is it ??? Its not what I have been brought up to believe but I can like some of things but not all

I watch someone who caught a horse, as the previous owner of a uncatchable horse i know how tense this can be for both horse and human yet i liked what I saw, but I dont like all the things they do as it doesn't align with the way I work with horses and that's ok.

I like many things that others do but I also dislike some of the things they do, and the wonderful thing we have is the power of choice, you can watch all, you watch a little bit or you can choose not to see

I often think we work in the way we do with horses because someone else did it and we liked what they did its as simple as that, I just like little bits and I choose to cherry pick them and adapt them to what fits in with my ethos

Cultural differences can often be brought in to play, what may seem normal for one may be illogical for another, laying down horses is about as alien to me as if E.T landed, mainly in the UK we just dont come across it so when we are told this is the only way something can happen we simply think we have other solutions.
Even down to halters when someone claims they are unique in using a flat headcollar and the rope halter people go up in arms, for some of us flat headcollars are the norm and rope halters are the different. I dont think I have ever tied up using a cross tie either (only the posh yards did that in my day 😅).

The ability to know more stops when we think we know it all, the ability to be flexible in gaining a wider world of knowledge stops when we become rigid in our education, we cant open our minds to the possibilities if we have closed the door on other opportunities.

After 36 years in the industry I am still searching for the one thing thats aligns all my beliefs into one way of working and I guarantee you the next 36 I will still be looking, but I dont think its a fruitless search because in that I will be cherry picking my way picking up the best bits discarding the ones that I choose not to be part of and all the while being a bit better for the horse today then I was yesterday

Back to my sourdough starter which is on day 6 I swear I dont even put this much commitment into my human relationships 😅😅😅😅

Biomechanics, anatomy, and limitations To understand Biomechanics there must be some knowledge of correct anatomy becau...
21/03/2026

Biomechanics, anatomy, and limitations

To understand Biomechanics there must be some knowledge of correct anatomy because we can then understand the limitations on the horse's body when asking it to move in a frame that we deem beneficial to the horse

When you understand the anatomy and also individuality you may then look at the horse differently, often you may see an exercise video put up and everyone will rush to try it but when you understand anatomy with seeing the individuality of how every horse may be the same species yet we have to look at every horse on an individual basis and the first question often that bodyworkers have in their mind is what limitations does this horse have that may hinder the horse if we proceed with a generic exercise, are we considering pain or just looking at range of motion, for a horse that has a limited range of motion will often also have pain which keeps those limitations in place and we need to ask both these questions when working on either.

We never look at a one size fits all when looking at working with the horse, we always must have in mind can the horse do this without causing a breakdown somewhere else and often our eyes are scanning the horse during exercise to see if fatigue, or compensation is starting to kick in

We must look at is repetition good or will the horse that applied the correct way of moving on Monday by Friday has worked out how to move in such a way that they no longer are working correctly but merely saving energy by moving less parts

We must look at when working with proprioception that often the short bursts of using something to encourage a different action will no longer be valid when the body gets used to it and the sensation is now null and void

Pole work, are you doing rehab are you looking for a lift or do you notice the hock that is slightly fatigued after 5 minutes and is now starting to lag so the horse must put more effort into the front end therefore creating another issue

Pictures with shapes and arrows of how a normal horse should carry itself without considering anatomical changes that have occurred, injuries or illness so we going to try to force a perfect frame on imperfect bodies
Only looking at one structure and proclaiming that by immediately changing the shape will always have a positive impact on the horse without ever stopping to ask how long has the horse carried itself in that shape and how will the rest of the horse cope when we have achieved the pleasing angle we all seem to desire

When we look at any work, we do with our horse we should not be doing it because joe blogs down the road said it worked for their horse because horses should be first assessed on their limitations and ability, age, fitness, weight, how they are kept, injury or illness and the mental attitude to what we are asking should always come first in the assessment

Muscles are often cherry picked and the whole horse theory fades as the focus hones into one area, your eyes and focus become less whole horse and often the compensation patterns grow in the areas the focus is taken off

In all training the first thing that is usually taught is know your limitations and this should go for the horse, look at the picture which muscle is the most important in the hind end?? Are they not all important for the correct function of the horse and that is only a few I have chosen or does the whole-body ride or die with one or two muscles out of nearly 700

We are brought up in a world of push past pain, and often it filters down to the training of our horses but that pain we feel is your body telling you are at your limit before damage may occur it’s a warning system to stop not a green light to continue, we know our limitations and still ignore it in the pursuit of building muscle so we have to be very careful we do not take the ethos of no pain no gain when working with horses

Biomechanics means the science of movement in a living body, of forces acted and generated and how they affect the tissue. Motion, force, momentum, and balance and to understand these actions you need to understand directional terms, anatomy and form and function but the most important part is the Bio part which is the living body, and all are subject to individual limitations depending on how and what has occurred in the individual body

21/03/2026

Hope this helps remembering some of the muscles of the equine forelimb and shoulder
There are many more but I hope I have covered the basics
Hope this helps

Its not the piece of paper you hold in your hand it's what you do after getting it that makes you a therapist.Arguing ov...
20/03/2026

Its not the piece of paper you hold in your hand it's what you do after getting it that makes you a therapist.

Arguing over who is better qualified, what qualification they have, do they have a qualification, is as old as the hills, there is always someone out there who thinks they are better than you and to be honest if we are honest each and everyone of us think we are doing our best.

We have people who build a class only through tearing others down, they will tell you what we do is not good enough and how they are different yet it all looks the same😉.

You could have two people who qualified at exactly the same time, exactly the same method yet one went out working and the other didnt yet on paper there is no difference only when hands are applied maybe then experience will define who did what after they gained that piece of paper.

How we learn has changed, when I was learning everything was in person, yet I dont think we will ever return to that so we must adapt and change just like we do when out working, if we can learn hands on thats good but the luxury of learning at home has also some benefits, I have attended some amazing in person and online classes but I also have had a terrible learning experience in both, it doesn't mean one was better than the other

The horses we learn on are often nothing like the horses we meet when out there, we may learn a technique when learning and the practice can only be fine tuned when we step out into the world of the horses they become the real tutors

So dont let anyone put you down in order for them to stand taller, for a piece of paper may show your commitment yet the hands on will develope your skill and that is where you truly earn the title on that piece of paper xx

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Barnsley

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 6pm
Tuesday 8am - 6pm
Wednesday 8am - 6pm
Thursday 8am - 6pm
Friday 8am - 6pm
Saturday 9am - 1pm

Telephone

+447528431922

Website

https://www.equinebodyworksbymarysargeant.com/challenges, https://www.eq

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ABOUT ME

I first qualified as a Masterson Method practitioner in 2013 and Over the years I have incorporated many modalities to my original qualification which offers you a unique way of bodywork for your horse Equine Touch level 1 and 2 Saddle fit4life cpd Mobilization techniques Anatomy and palpation Veterinarian assessment and biomechanics Kinesio taping Myo-Fascial Level 1 Cranio-Sacral Equine Massage and stretching Whole Horse Dissections and Limb dissections.

Biokinetics and acupressure

All this with the added bonus of watching the horses responses while I work so your horse is getting the benefit of movement within the joint while in a relaxed state.

You can be effective without great movement, a treatment where your horse is a partner