Equusfeed Italia

23/03/2026

L'importanza delle cure tempestive e professionali è questione di vita. Nel dubbio, veterinario subito!

21/03/2026

In primavera, la maggiore frequentazione dei paddock riporta un argomento fondamentale per la salute dei cavalli

21/03/2026

Alimentazione e gestione al centro della salute e del benessere del cavallo 🌱🐴

20/03/2026

Una coda non è solo una coda 🐴😉

An old post but I think very important to keep in mind its never just the tail, the tail is connected to the body and its a guide to what may be going on further forward.

Some things happen to horses and we are completely unaware of the change that may be going on, like a slip in a field, or the horse doing the splits and its why when we see things years later we may not be able to drastically change the scenario but we can help advise where to find improvement

I kept my old pictures in because I still like this one 😆

Tails tell a story

I thought I would add a little more in

Often tails are forgotten when we look at the horse we may pull them, or use them as an access point for other parts of the horse but often tails and how they sit in line with the rest of the body can indicate other things which may be happening

Anatomy

The tailbones are called the COCCYGEAL and on average there are 15-18 bones which begin at the end of the sacral bone, the first two are located internally and often the little triangle above the tail will indicate where these are or by moving the tail up and down you can usually feel where the sacrum begins as this is not as mobile as the tailbones
The tail can move up and down and side to side, it has muscles which can help with posture (slow twitch) and movement (fast twitch).
Even though there is no spinal cord here it still contains many nerves and also many soft tissue connections which reach further forward along the horse
Tails are great for communication we can tell alot by the tails movement and not just when riding, fly swatting and balance
If we look at the connection between the big ligaments that are effective between the tail and sacroiliac joints then we often find restriction in either will have an effect on the other and also a more global effect

A tail should feel like there is some resistance then relax when we work on it a bit like goldilocks and the three bears it should not feel to rigid nor to relaxed it should be just right 😁

I think of the tail as a rudder of the ship its used for balance, can indicate how your horse is feeling and we often only think of diagonals with a compensation pattern a straight line from right to left or vice versa when often when we look its usually a zig zag pattern as the horse tries to find a more normal pattern throughout the body sort of trying to right itself at each junction and more often than not if we have a tail off to one side the zig zag pattern of compensation will end up with the head favouring the same side that the tail is sat

Tail off to one side

Often this usually happens way before your therapist comes to work with your horse and its already a deep established pattern throughout your horses body, remember the tail and sacrum are interlinked so usually I come across this if the horse has had some strain around the pelvic area, maybe the horse had a slip or a fall as a youngster and that is why it is so hard to correct it as its usually been a long standing issue and a pattern is ingrained into the body, it's now the horses normal crooked tails are still not well documented as to the whys
So it's important if you see your youngster slip in the field to get it checked, often the bony landmarks hit the ground and you can see its all connected and mostly what I see is the Tuber Coxae that is most affected is the nearside and most tails I see are always favouring to the left side

Tail rigid and stiff

Again for me this may be an indicator that the horse is trying not to move things too much in this area think of the rudder of the ship if it is stuck in one position often intricate movements are hard, the horse is usually ok in straight lines but may struggle with schooling moves, again do not just think of the tail as a single entity you have to think of the connections and muscles in the tail can have connections further up the back

Clamped down tail

This is usually the polar opposite of the rigid tail but again is the horse trying to keep the area as still as possible often the engine is switched off in these horses so they often struggle to power their hind end as the easiest way I explain it to clients is pull your knickers up your bum and then try to run, it's not so easy

Different breeds will have different tail carriages, and different personalities will have different tail carriages as well but we must remember the tail is an indicator of the mobility of your horses spine, and the health of the soft tissue, a non-moving tail is trying to protect an area and like I say we come in much later so there may be no pain but a restriction and it's important we do the work in small parts to allow the horse to adjust and reset

We also have to think of the huge fascial sheets across the horse and the effects of fascial restrictions and patterns throughout the body remember we have to work on the whole horse even if we think it’s a hind end or front end or middle part of the horse for the connections of the tail go much further than the tail bones, think of the top of the tail in a little fascial pop sock

We often only think of steering is a front-end issue but if the rudder fails then the steering will never be right the tail should be able to move with the body counterbalancing the body and we have to work with what we have in front of us, often the owners have done all the vet checks and we are just trying to bring more balance to the body without it having to work so hard

08/03/2026

Oggi è l’8 marzo, una giornata che parla di , e . È il promemoria di un impegno che riguarda ogni giorno il modo in cui lavoriamo, collaboriamo e cresciamo insieme.

Abbiamo ottenuto la Certificazione per la Parità di Genere ma certo per noi il valore non è nel "bollino" in sé ma in ciò che rappresenta. La volontà concreta di costruire un ambiente dove , e ambizioni possano trovare spazio. Naturalmente nel segno del dei cavalli.
Perché le uniche barriere che accettiamo sono quelle sopra le quali i nostri cavalli volano!



Circolo Ippico Boscovivo Valeria Ferrari Lau Piras Karola Cappelletti Scuola di equitazione Allevamento delle Schiave Alessandra Ridoli Allevamento delle Schiave Noemi Antonelli Paola Ollie Circolo Ippico Boscovivo Giulia Candotti

27/02/2026

Una ricerca estremamente interessante ⤵️

How horses whinny has long been a mystery. The sound is quite distinct from any other in the animal kingdom. And now scientists think they’ve discovered why: horses whinny by producing sounds at two frequencies at the same time—much like singing and whistling simultaneously.

The findings, which were published on Monday in Current Biology, suggest horses produce sounds at two frequencies in two distinct ways in their larynx, or voice box. A low-frequency sound of about 200 hertz is produced by vibrating the vocal cords, just as we do while singing. And a high-frequency sound of more than 1,000 hertz is produced by whistling within the larynx.

In general, the larger an animal—and its larynx—is, the lower the frequency of sound it produces. Meanwhile smaller critters, such as mice, produce high-frequency whistles. But this study suggests that horses are unique in their ability to whistle and vibrate their vocal cords at the same time, the authors write. http://spklr.io/6042DIxVw

✍: Jackie Flynn Mogensen
📸: martin gallagher/Getty Images

26/02/2026

Per gli amici milanesi ⤵️

21/02/2026

Promemoria per le ultime bordate dell'inverno ❄️

How Horses Keep Warm in the Winter

Image courtesy of World Horse Welfare

Please note, donkeys are different than horses.

12/02/2026

L'importanza del foraggio in parole semplici 🌱☘️

09/02/2026

L'umiltà di sapere di non sapere mai tutto. In particolare riguardo ai cavalli 🐴

Changing your mind about your horse’s needs is not a failure. It is evolution.

There is courage in looking at your horse, really looking, and admitting that what you once believed may no longer be true. It takes humility to soften your grip on certainty, to let go of old stories, methods, or labels, and to listen again with fresh eyes and an open heart.

We are all learning as we go. Our understanding of horses grows as our own awareness grows. What you knew yesterday was shaped by your experience, your influences, your nervous system, and the information available to you at the time. When you know better, you are allowed to think differently. You are allowed to change.

Sometimes that change looks like rethinking their feed, their living environment, their training, or how much choice you give them. Sometimes it is as simple as slowing down, noticing more, and trusting what your horse is showing you instead of what you were taught they should show.

Your horse does not need you to be perfect. They need you to be present, curious, and willing to adjust. Every time you shift, reflect, and evolve, you create more space for them to feel seen and safe.

Growth in horsemanship is not a straight line. It is a series of gentle course corrections, deepening layers of understanding, and a growing sensitivity to the living being in front of you.

When you change your mind in their favour, you are not abandoning your principles. You are refining them.

And in that evolution, your horse feels it. They feel the difference in your energy, your patience, your listening, and your respect. They feel that you are learning with them, not over them.

That is not failure. That is the heart of conscious horsemanship.

07/02/2026

✅ Da leggere per saperne di più sul benessere e la salute dei nostri cavalli 🐴

30/10/2025

🎉🇮🇹 FORZA NOEMI E IDEAL 🇮🇹🎉
La junior Noemi Antonelli e Ideal de Alcame sono stati selezionati per rappresentare l'Italia a squadre in Francia al Campionato europeo del Cavallo iberico 🐴 dal 12 al 16 novembre. Scenderanno nel rettangolo di Le Mans, nelle riprese Carmencita (Kur) e Golegà (Livello F), il 13 e il 14.

La loro storia è davvero speciale ❤️. Ideal ha 12 anni, ed è un Pura razza lusitana. Il severo addestramento prematuro cui è stato sottoposto in Portogallo gli aveva causato un forte stress fisico e mentale ma poi ha incontrato Noemi, allieva del Circolo Ippico Boscovivo di Sarroch, in Sardegna, che ha saputo guadagnarsi la sua fiducia intraprendendo un percorso lunghissimo ripartendo dalle basi.

“Ora Idy e io siamo insieme da quattro anni e abbiamo raggiunto traguardi che inizialmente sembravano impossibili. La nostra è una storia di amore, dedizione e passione”, racconta Noemi. 💪✨
Da tre anni Ideal è sostenuto dai nostri integratori Equusfeed e ne siamo molto orgogliosi 🌟

Tutto lo staff Equusfeed augura a Noemi e Ideal un buon viaggio dalla Sardegna e un grande in bocca al lupo 🍀 per la trasferta internazionale, che seguiremo tifando Italia 🇮🇹👏

Valeria Ferrari Candotti