Pacific Equine Integrative Bodywork and Massage

02/20/2026

This!!! I could not agree more. Great read.

Still lunging as a primary form of exercise?

This movement research helps explain why repetitive circling is strongly associated with strain patterns in the equine spine.

The horse’s vertebral column is regionally specialized:

• The cervical spine is the most mobile region and absorbs a large proportion of flexion, extension, lateral bending, and rotation.

• The thoracic spine is comparatively restricted due to rib attachments and its role in trunk stability and force transmission.

• The lumbar spine functions primarily in load transfer and propulsion rather than large segmental motion.

When a horse is worked repeatedly on small circles, the majority of available motion is forced into the cervical region while the more stable thoracic and lumbar regions contribute less.

Over time, this concentration of movement can increase mechanical stress on cervical joints and surrounding soft tissues, which helps explain the high prevalence of neck pain and arthritic change observed clinically.

Although this biomechanical research is not new, it is still frequently overlooked in conventional training systems.

The key takeaway is simple:

The horse is anatomically designed for forward locomotion and large, variable curves across terrain, not continuous tight circling.

If we want soundness and longevity, exercise selection must reflect biology, not tradition.

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02/06/2026

12/06/2025

09/13/2025

SO important to learn what is normal muscling and what is not, it's a huge clue to understanding performance and behavior issues.

06/16/2025

The nervous system doesn’t separate physical imbalance from behaviour.

Postural instability isn’t just a structural issue — it’s a neurological one.

When a horse feels unsafe or braced in their body, their behaviour reflects that. It might look like:
⚠️ Over-reactivity
⚠️ Spooking
⚠️ General anxiety

I had a beautiful pony once who, at first, felt like I was riding a little bullet.

The moment I picked up the reins, her whole body would brace - neck tight, back rigid, head locked straight - while scanning the horizon for “boogey monsters.” And if she saw one, we’d leap a few metres sideways (thankfully she always took me with her, even if half my body felt like it stayed behind!).

But here’s what changed everything:

As her body became more stable and comfortable, her nervous system began to process the world differently.

✔︎ She could move and look around without losing balance.
✔︎ The brace disappeared.
✔︎ The spooking stopped.
✔︎ And the tension melted into trust.

She taught me just how deeply posture, proprioception, and behaviour are linked - and how powerful it is to create new, supportive patterns in motion.

In the Free Live Posture & Behaviour Masterclass, we’ll explore how pain, proprioception, postural control, and the nervous system shape behaviour - and what you can do to support a horse more effectively.

Tune into the science behind the signs - join the Free Live masterclass:
📅 June 24th at 7pm AEST
Register now: www.integratedvettherapeutics.com/pbmc

05/31/2025

“Isn’t massaging a horse just common sense? You just find where they’re sore and rub it — why would anyone need a certification for that?”

The difference between someone giving their horse a nice rubdown and being a trained equine bodywork practitioner is pretty vast—like the difference between casually playing catch and being a professional athlete. Both involve physical touch, but only one is really informed, targeted and discerning. Education and certification transforms a “rubdown” from comforting to an intentional, evidence-based practice that effectively and safely supports the horse's health and performance. This is transformative!

We equine bodyworkers do not randomly place our hands on a horse’s body! We observe, assess, and tailor our techniques for a specific outcome. We have a detailed understanding of the horse’s underlying musculoskeletal system including bones, joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. We understand how muscles contract, how joints articulate, and how fascia influences movement. We also understand how the equine body is supposed to move or respond which helps us spot abnormalities, subtle imbalances, compensations, or early signs of injury. From this we can draw on our educational toolbox of appropriate massage techniques and bodywork modalities for a specific and targeted approach to support healing, restore balance, and enhance performance for each horse.

This knowledge and skill require in-depth education in:
 Equine anatomy and physiology
 Pathology (understanding disease processes)
 Kinesiology (how the body moves)
 Massage and bodywork techniques for specific outcomes
 Safety and contraindications (when NOT to massage!)
 Intuition, energy, and feel

What is feel? We read the horses body, mind, and emotions. We are constantly in quiet communication with the horse from the very first meeting to the end of the session. We are always scanning for feedback, looking for (often subtle) signs of relaxation, release, contentment, as well as discomfort, pain or anxiety. These signals can easily be missed unless we are tuned into the energy of the moment. We are highly tuned into the energy of the body and it’s physical presentation. And although we might have an initial goal that we are working toward in an equine bodywork session, we often don’t know what the end result will look like until it happens. So, we stay open, we notice and then attend to what we notice as various imbalances continue to present themselves. We “follow the feel and follow the moment.”



Equine bodywork is an art AND a science. SchooAIT embodies this fully in our Certified Practitioner in Equine Bodywork and Massage program and all of our courses.

ENROLL NOW! Spring enrollment ends May 31, spaces are limited!

04/10/2025

Quality education in equine bodywork makes all the difference! Proud to be a School of Applied Integrative Therapy Equine Grad! And also a member of the SchoolAIT team! 🥰

04/06/2025

Hahaha so true!

I have never yet in all my career have met a horse who's behaviour did not reflect some issue wether mental or physical past or present, can we stop labelling horses with names that gives us a get out clause to do further investigation

04/03/2025

This is an excellent program and I could not recommend it more!

Spring Enrollment is NOW OPEN! Let's DO THIS!!!

And for the month of April, we are offering a $500 discount on tuition for our Certified Practitioner in Equine Bodywork and Massage! Enter code SPRING2025 at checkout!

We are a school for equine bodywork that values quality education, offering a rigorous and thorough science backed curriculum. Our program is also rooted in teaching the “art” of equine bodywork, a much more subtle and nuanced aspect of this work that requires learning to connect deeply, find "feel", follow intuition, and read the horse's body/mind/emotions. We believe these two fundamental aspects, science and intuition, are equally important and necessary. Academic knowledge gives us understanding of the structure, function and dynamics of the physical body and intuition gives us the ability and confidence to set aside judgement to be open to any and all information that may be uncovered in a session. We don’t have to know the answers, but rather notice and then attend to what we notice as various imbalances continue to present themselves. In the words of Jonas Salk, “Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.” We teach our students to develop an academic and intuitive toolkit that reflects high standards and consistency in education, training, and practice and the refinement of our inherent intuitive abilities needed for this work.

If you are ready to dive deep into the world of equine bodywork and our Certified Practitioner in Equine Bodywork and Massage program, visit us at www.schoolait.com.

09/28/2024

THIS!!

Why do biomechanics matter?

No one uttered this term to me, in all my years of riding and lesson-taking, until I was well into my 20's. I heard lots of other words: contact, responsiveness, connection, rhythm, impulsion, suppleness. All of them felt like these ethereal concepts that had multiple meanings depending on who you talked to. They also had varying degrees of importance or ranking in terms of what you need first before the horse can offer the next thing, depending on who you talked to. I still see this all the time, and hear about how frustrating it is from other horsepeople trying to do the best they can.

Biomechanics are the physical relationships and structural laws that govern how living things move. Biomechanics are the HOW in all of those aforementioned ethereal terms. They are vital in understanding how to correctly develop a horse for riding. This is the first reason why biomechanics matter.

The second reason is because horses weren't designed to be ridden. I cannot overstate how important this is to understand if you want to ride horses and ride them well: horses were NEVER designed to be sat on. The horse is born with a specific set of biomechanical tools available to him, and they serve him very well...when they are needed.

The thing is, those tools were designed for maximum efficiency if the horse's life is in danger: used for brief moments, blips in between long stretches of calm. Those exact tools can cause injury, unsoundness, and degeneration if used every day, day in and day out, for years.
. . . . . . . .

I want you to look at these two photos.

The top horse is using what nature gave him (and what work with humans helped him turn into long-standing patterns in movement). The bottom horse has been given new tools and taught how to use them to move in ways that preserve soundness, not encourage degeneration.

The top horse is moving in a way that directly ties into the same sympathetic nervous system responses that kick in when a horse is in danger. The bottom horse is demonstrating all of the power potential the nervous system makes available when the horse is in danger, but accessing it through relaxation and completely different biomechanics.

The top horse is using the ground to support his weight in movement, putting a lot of pressure on his joints. The bottom horse is doing a lot of that supporting himself by virtue of his posture, putting significantly less strain on his joints.

You may have already figured out this is the same horse. These photos were taken approximately two years apart.

I guess what I'm getting at is this: the way to develop the bottom horse isn't to simply take the top horse and add contact, impulsion, responsiveness, ride circle after circle, do pole and hill work, etc. Whatever you apply to the ridden horse will only reinforce what is already in him.

You must teach him, literally from the ground up, a new way of moving, a different biomechanical perspective. Some horses will come by this easier than others, but not a one is born knowing how to put all of these things together on their own when the human asks it. Not a one.

We have to show them how.

PC: Mandy Helwege. Thank you for permitting me to share your lovely boy.

09/18/2024

I hear this phrase ALL the time and every time I do my heart breaks for the horse in question.

It is a very big misconception in the industry that pain can be ruled out in the horse.

What leads to this statement can also vary drastically from person to person.

The horse might have had a quick muscle palpation, they might have just been scoped for ulcers, or they might have had a very extensive (and expensive!) veterinary work up over days or months.

Regardless, you cannot rule out pain. You might not be able to find a source, but you cannot rule out pain.

Ask any human who has not received an immediate diagnosis for their pain or not been listened to regarding their own health concerns.

Pain does not have a blood test or a specific color or feel.

Pain can be obvious, it can be concealed, it can be complex, it can be poorly understood.

There are certain things, like gastric ulcers, that can be definitively ruled in or out as a SOURCE of pain with a gastroscopy.

But it is the horse’s behavior that says whether pain is or isn’t present. And unfortunately, very often pain in the horse is not a simple thing to diagnose and cure.

When a trainer, owner, rider, or vet says “we have ruled out pain” it is often an invitation to train the horse with harsher methods to overcome performance or behavioral problems.

If the horse refuses to do something, doesn’t cooperate, struggles with tasks, has a change in behavior, or exhibits behaviors that have been scientifically studied to indicate pain in the horse (such as the equine discomfort ethogram and ridden horse pain ethogram)….ALWAYS keep in mind that just because it can’t be located, DOES NOT mean a horse is not in pain.