01/01/2026
There’s no better feeling than coming out to work on your horse and they are significantly improved from the last session due to the changes you make based on my assessments!
Making Bodywork Stick
There are many types of bodyworkers in the equine industry—chiropractors, myofascial therapists, massage therapists, PEMF, MagnaWave, and more. When done correctly, all of these modalities can be beneficial to the horse. However, it is important to understand that you are the most important bodyworker of all.
You are the primary physiotherapist for your horse. You spend the most time with them, and because you are the one riding the horse, you have the greatest ability to either improve or hinder your horse’s physical development.
When you receive feedback from your bodyworker, it is essential that you make subtle—or sometimes significant—changes in how you work your horse. If a bodyworker identifies a troubled area and relieves it, but you continue to ride in the same way that created the issue, the horse will return to that state within a ride or two. At that point, both the time and money invested in bodywork are wasted.
If you are a rider who does not adjust your work based on what you feel in your horse—or ignores what your bodyworker tells you—then the problem is rarely just the sore spot itself. More often than not, you are the source of the issue.
Be mindful of how your horse feels and moves. Use the feedback your bodyworker gives you; they may feel things you cannot yet feel from the saddle. Developing a horse is a constant process of listening, adjusting, and riding in ways that meet the horse’s changing needs.
Bodywork can help—but correct riding is what makes it last.