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Savage Equine Services, Virginia Beach, VA (2025)

09/16/2025

I work almost exclusively with performance horses - I get it. That’s why I won’t ask you to take tons of time out of the saddle, add an hour to your already rushed barn trip, or incorporate 15 complicated new exercises.

Like Dwight Schrute says: K.I.S.S. - keep it simple, stupid. My clients are busy, goal oriented, and while they love their horses, they have s**t to do. It’s my job to make it as easy as possible for them to help their horses feel, move, and perform better.

If you don’t want to sacrifice time in the saddle, you CAN still make BIG changes for your horse, I promise 😘

09/08/2025

❌ Avoid making these mistakes when stretching your horse…

Stretching cold muscles - ouch!!??! Warm your horse up BEFORE stretching!

Forcing the stretch - if your horse resists, there’s a reason, figure it out and go from there. Be gentle and patient.

Pulling/pushing too hard - we don’t need to put our entire body weight into stretching our horses… allow them to adjust their weight accordingly, and don’t force them into things.

Not doing them - 😒 stretching is important AF!! It aids in recovery, improves range of motion, increases flexibility, prevents injury, and reduces muscle tension. Why would you want to skip on that?

08/19/2025

⭐️ Some unsurprising news: Rhonda and I are official, and this entire bodywork experience only solidified what I do and recommend as an equine bodyworker.
⭐️ Your horse has tension.
⭐️ Your horse has compensatory patterns.
⭐️ Your horse NEEDS to be on a bodywork schedule.
⭐️ Your horse is absolutely allowed to move during sessions.
Schedule them a session with a bodyworker, listen to their recommendations, implement changes, give your horse grace.

07/31/2025

“Idk, my trainer said to use it”
“I’ve always used one”
“He won’t keep his head down”
“He keeps chomping the bit”
“I need him to pick his head up”

Womp womp womp.

I can feel how these things are affecting your horse’s body. Literally nose to tail is affected by something as simple as a bit. Every piece of tack should be taken seriously, understood, and properly fitted. If your horse doesn’t need it, if you can’t tell me what it’s doing, if you can’t explain how it’s working, if it’s not fitted, why are we using it????

Ask the why, how, and what’s going on. Ask how to PROPERLY fit it. And if the point of the piece of tack is to force a headset or mouth closure, throw it out.

06/30/2025

As a bodyworker whose main goal is helping your horse use their body freely and correctly, I am a *true* hater of “training aids” and the Pessoa system especially.

Here’s the thing. If your horse is physically capable of working in a training aid without adverse effects, they don’t need the training aid. If they are unable to use their body correctly without the training aid, they are not physically capable of working in the training aid without adverse effects. You see where I’m going with this????

There are no quick fixes. There is no sense to any argument for draw reins, Pessoa systems, side reins, etc.

The Pessoa system specifically has been proven to negatively affect the body, and yet I still see it being recommended by vets for REHAB or KISSING SPINES! The nature of this system is collection. If your horse is rehabbing or has kissing spines, collection is the most ass backwards recommendation.

Anyway, as a bodyworker, I’ve spent years working with 150+ horses, many of which have been worked in training aids and the Pessoa system regularly. Through movement assessment and hands-on work, this is what I’ve found to be most common in those horses. Regardless of discipline or age.

If you want your horse to move correctly, be comfortable, and have a long career, there is only one option: do the tedious, boring, basic s**t in the right way and often. That’s it. That’s the secret. Sorry 🤷🏻‍♀️

06/27/2025

As a bodyworker, it’s my job to help your horse. However, I can’t do it all! One session every few weeks isn’t enough to make real changes for your horse unless you’re doing the work behind the scenes as well… That’s why I’ll often recommend certain exercises, stretches, mobilizations, or tweaks to your routine.

Often times, I’ll arrive for a follow-up appointment, and when I ask how things have been going, the owner’s answer will also include something about how they “just haven’t had the time to do the homework.” This really makes me sad!!! Not just because I know the homework is beneficial for the horse, but also because I put a lot of consideration into my recommendations *because* I know that most owners/riders are rushing to be places, and “don’t have much time.”

I keep my recommendations to minor tweaks, 5 minute additions (MAX), and things they can do under saddle or on the ground that fit seamlessly into routines. I take the guesswork out of every step, and keep things as simple as possible TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR MY OWNERS. Unfortunately, the one thing I can’t afford to do is show up multiple times a week to do it for you.

You have to want change and improvement for your horse as much as I want it for them. I’ve said it 503038 times, and I’ll say it again; I cannot care about your horse’s wellness more than you do. Well, I can, but I shouldn’t!

No matter how busy you are in reality or your perception, if you mapped out your entire day, you’ll realize you absolutely can spare 5 minutes somewhere. The issue isn’t time, it’s priorities. If you can’t spare just 5 extra minutes with your horse, why have one?

I won’t be arguing this point,

06/13/2025

Because I have to still create content, here’s something for everyone. A little spicy, a little sweet, a little *drives off a cliff while screaming into the void* 😘

05/21/2025

Things that I’d do differently with my next horse:

Image feet and work with a farrier who could do the right work to address dysfunction.

Implement a training plan that included cyclical training and addressed each aspect of fitness for my horse based on discipline needs.

Work with a nutritionist to make sure all feed and forage met their independent needs and supported training.

Integrate postural work and not ignore things like them consistently resting one foot, stepping out with one front, standing camped out, etc.

Keep them on a bodywork schedule that fits their needs to mitigate the tension caused by their specific discipline training.

Work on myself *outside* of the saddle because I know now how much our riding styles and weaknesses affect our horses.

As a bodyworker, when any of these things *could* be affecting your horse, I will mention possible correlations. I will NOT diagnose or even definitively say “his hoof angles are s**t, and that’s why his hamstrings are tight.” I will point out possible correlations like “hoof angles can potentially affect the hamstrings this way, but you’d have to talk to your farrier about that, or image the feet with your vet to see if something needs to be tweaked.”

I might ask you when your farrier was out last, or if you noticed your horse standing a certain way, or point out postural issues, or *gently* talk to you about how you’ve mentioned having a L leg injury and that your horse “doesn’t ride the same L to R”…

As an owner, we WANT to trust our farriers and vet and everyone in between. But, again, as an owner, it’s our responsibility to advocate for our horses by looking for answers (despite what professionals may say), doing necessary imaging, working with specialists like nutritionists for feeding, and working on ourselves out of the saddle. For the love of the horse, always.

*you can absolutely expect a more in-depth blog post on all of this later…

05/06/2025

“But chiropractor said he felt great…”

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that one after giving owners reports on sessions… but I promise there’s a reason for it!

While the goals and some results often align between chiro and bodywork, the process isn’t the same. Chiropractors are manipulating joints within the body, while bodyworkers are targeting soft tissue exclusively.

We share common goals and results, like:
Improving biomechanics
Improving symmetry
Increasing/restoring ROM
Reducing stiffness
Breaking the pain cycle
Improving flexibility and mobility
Addressing compensations

But not every soft tissue issue will be affecting the skeleton so much that a chiropractor will need to make an adjustment there. Just like not every chiropractic adjustment will have affected the soft tissues of that area so much that your bodyworker has big notes on the area.

Why is this?
Say your horse needed a “big adjustment” in the hind end. You expect your bodyworker to report lots of tension back there. However, your bodyworker might find that your horse had lots of tension throughout the forehand and poll instead! This is because horses will compensate immediately for discomfort. So if they’re feeling stuck in the SI for example, they may compensate by overloading the forehand.

So, while your chiro noted big adjustments behind, and your bodyworker noted lots of tension up front - neither is wrong! They’ve got different focuses, and one affects the other.

If you want to read more in-depth about chiro and bodywork and how they work together and separately - head to the blog: linked in my bio 🖤

05/01/2025

Love On the Spectrum - Bodyworker’s edition 😂🫶🏼

04/21/2025

So your horse has arthritis - can massage help?
ABSOLUTELY!

Arthritic joints, even when being supported through injections, require more than “routine injections” to stay healthy and continue supporting a horse. In fact, the more you do with management and exercise to support the joints, the longer those injections will last, and the better your horse will feel overall.

One way you can support your horse’s arthritic joints is with massage. That sounds wild, I know, but stick with me. When a horse has arthritis in a joint, it is NOT solely the joint that’s affected, but the entire musculoskeletal system - another major reason that having your arthritic horse on a massage schedule is important!

Massage can help you manage equine arthritis in a few ways:
Increasing circulation
Improving ROM
Easing muscular tension
Improving lymphatic drainage
Impacting the nervous system
Decreasing joint stiffness

Maintaining the health, and strength of these muscular systems will not only keep your horse more comfortable overall, but will allow them to move with less stiffness and compensation, and properly use the arthritic joints. This means that not only is massage helping to maintain your horse in the bigger picture, but also maintain the arthritic joint and prolong any injections administered by your horse’s vet.

Stiff joints will always lead to defensive, tense muscles and compensation patterns. Always. And what helps ease and soften tension while helping to improve symmetry? Massage.

So, if you’re trying your best to manage your arthritic 4-legged bestie, find them a bodyworker. I promise they’ll benefit!

04/15/2025

What role does bodywork play in early lameness detection?

Horses are prey animals, which means that they don’t want to be limited in motion or appear “off” if at all possible. As a result, they’re *amazing* at compensation. Horses will adapt as long as they can in order to function under less-than-ideal circumstances.

Because they’re masters of compensation, we often think “the horse is fine” until a *sudden* lameness appears and there is obviously something “off” in work. In reality, the issue was there for weeks or months before getting to that point.

Compensations can look like:
Improper posture
Inability to stand square
Bucking or bunny hopping for lead changes
A hard mouth
Differences in bending left vs right
Swapping at the canter
Bracing
& more

So, what can we do about it? Bring in the professionals!

In early detection of lameness, bodyworkers play a KEY role, by monitoring and maintaining soft tissues, often with the goal of pinpointing and addressing compensatory patterns. While you may not be able to initially feel a compensation under saddle or see it in the cross ties, bodyworkers are trained to feel and observe these things each time they’re with your horse.

Having a bodyworker on your horse’s wellness team allows you to maintain a baseline of your horse’s “normal” with a professional. Because they’re able to stay current on how they’re feeling and holding tension within the body, it also means that when the horses start with imperceptible compensation, someone will be able to feel/see it and keep you informed so that you, as the owner, can make decisions for your horse going forward.

Savage Equine Services

09/16/2025

09/08/2025

08/19/2025

07/31/2025

06/30/2025

06/27/2025

06/13/2025

05/21/2025

05/06/2025

05/01/2025

04/21/2025

04/15/2025

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