Borders Equine bodywork

27/02/2026

Meet loki,
A lovely Arab whose such a character.
First full session today, we started well releasing plenty in his TMJ ,

22/02/2026

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21/02/2026

18/02/2026

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17/02/2026

Again wonderfully time working with these amazing horses.

15/02/2026

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WHEN A HORSE DOESN'T ACCEPT BODYWORK?
I often have students come across a horse during their hands on practice hours that is just NOT HAVING any part of being massaged-and of course we all get to talk about why??

Horses are incredibly sensitive to touch and pressure. As prey animals they move away from pressure-humans lean into pressure (but we are not the same).

In most cases, while students are learning-they are developing a feel for reading horses body language and pressure preferences during bodywork-and most all come to the realization that with horses less is almost always more. In these situations, they adjust their pressures and the horses have successful sessions.
I have had students feel pressured by owners or handlers to “go deeper or harder” and that never ends well. The horse gets overstimulated and the student gets very discouraged. I always encourage students to listen to their gut-always.

What if adjusting pressures doesn't work? Some horses enjoy more of an energetic type of bodywork as opposed to compressive manual work. Some horses are just so incredibly sore that they cannot tolerate the feeling of even the softest compression modality-in this case I encourage owners to try and address the cause of this discomfort before bodywork can be attempted. Maybe a call to the vet is needed. Maybe they are uncomfortable in their gut, their feet…maybe they're hungry or need to pee-I have seen just about all of those reasons be relevant.

We should never take a horse past their threshold of comfort….even if we think they “need” it-they don't enjoy the “hurt so good” like we do sometimes.

Then there are other times when horses are just having an off day and show us through their body language that today just isn't the day-and that's ok too.
Providing bodywork to horses is not a one size fits all approach-if a horse is speaking we should always listen and NEVER look past their discomfort.

www.schaefferbodyworks.com

10/02/2026

Meet Bren. This chap has hock issues, which then cause stifle and gluteal problems, this is him enjoying some releases from his bodywork session today.

09/02/2026

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privileged to keep this fella in tip top shape in his body to do his work x

We’re back…! 👋🏻

Buie made his 2026 debut yesterday at Blackdyke for a pre-Areas training session / run out 💪🏼😅

He won and topped his overall Novice 4 class at 69%, with a couple of 8’s 🤩 AND a massive spook 🤦🏻‍♀️ that cost us a few marks, but a very forward and happy chap on the whole, and then a consistent and respectable 68% in his Novice 5 for 2nd ✨

…thinking ahead for next weekend now, and hoping we can deliver two consistent and positive tests at Alnwick Ford 🤞🏻💚💛💚💛