Equine Equilibrium MT Ltd

06/02/2026

I can recommend this course.

Owner 🐎 thoughts 💭 v’s Therapist’s thoughts 💭

👀 What the owner may notice and comment on:
“He feels tight through his back”
“She won’t lift or round properly”
“He’s hollow and resistant”
“She struggles to maintain rhythm”
“He feels uncomfortable when I sit or apply leg”

🧠 What the therapist is considering:
Reduced spinal flexibility
Restriction through the longissimus dorsi
Decreased ability to lift the thoracic sling
Altered engagement of the hindquarters
Whether muscle tone and tissue quality are limiting back function

🐎 Small restrictions in key muscles like the longissimus dorsi can have such a massive impact on your horses way of going and how they react to even the smallest of things.

A welfare led assessment and appropriate bodywork help connect what you feel under saddle with what’s actually happening within the body.

Career Change for 2026? Professional Equine Massage? 🎓🙌
Just visit 👉 www.woldsequinemassage.co.uk

05/02/2026

Let horses be horses 😊

The Purpose of Mutual Grooming in Horses - And what it teaches us about touch

Mutual grooming is not casual affection in horses. It is a purposeful, biologically meaningful behavior with clear social and physiological functions.

In a herd, horses most often groom each other along the neck, withers, and shoulders—areas that are difficult to reach alone and rich in sensory receptors. These sessions are typically reciprocal, rhythmic, and unhurried. When one horse stops, the other often stops too. When one shifts, the rhythm adjusts. It is a conversation without words.

Why horses groom each other

Mutual grooming serves several essential purposes:
• Social bonding and trust
Grooming strengthens affiliative bonds and reinforces social stability within the herd.
• Nervous system regulation
Studies show mutual grooming lowers heart rate and reduces stress-related behaviors. It activates parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) pathways, helping both horses settle.
• Tactile stimulation and comfort
Grooming stimulates the skin and underlying fascia, increasing circulation and sensory feedback in a way that feels safe and familiar.
• Mutual consent and control
Unlike dominance behaviors, grooming is cooperative. Either horse can disengage at any time, which is key to its calming effect.

In short, mutual grooming is how horses co-regulate—they help each other feel safe in their bodies.

The health benefits

Physiologically, mutual grooming is associated with:
• reduced cortisol levels
• improved emotional regulation
• increased relaxation and social confidence
• better tolerance to touch and proximity

This isn’t sentiment—it’s nervous system biology.

How massage therapy relates

Equine massage therapy can, at times, mimic elements of mutual grooming when done thoughtfully.

When massage is:
• slow and rhythmic
• pressure is appropriate and responsive
• touch is predictable and respectful
• the horse is allowed choice and feedback

…the nervous system may interpret it similarly to social grooming.

This does not mean massage replaces herd interaction, or that herd interactions replace therapeutic massage.
Horses need horses.
But skilled, attuned touch can speak a language the equine nervous system already understands.

The takeaway

Mutual grooming reminds us that touch is not just mechanical.
It is relational.
It is regulatory.

When we understand this, we stop asking touch to do more—
and start allowing it to support the systems that create change.

https://koperequine.com/new-research-highlights-horses-exceptional-intelligence/

05/02/2026

Absolutely ❣️

05/02/2026

Please help where you can ….

We need your help please. Our welfare officer Sandy has liaised and helped… Munchkins Miniature Shetland Rescue needs your support for Desperate Rescue Appeal

04/02/2026

04/02/2026

😂