Connected Bodywork

12/18/2025

12/18/2025

I posted yesterday about how you can't "carb load" horses effectively. And more than that, a lot of horses, even performance horses simply don't need as many "carbs" (ie starchy grain) as has traditionally been thought. The cons really outweigh the pros in a LOT of cases.

New research adds more fuel to that fire.

A new metabolomics study looked at what actually changes in a horse’s bloodstream when you feed a high-starch concentrate compared to a forage-only diet. Six race-trained Standardbreds did both diets for 29 days each (forage haylage only, then haylage plus a high-starch oat-based mix, in a crossover design). After the adaptation period, the researchers measured 52 different blood metabolites.

The difference between diets was surprisingly clear. The forage-only diet produced a much more distinct metabolic profile, mostly driven by hindgut fermentation. Horses on forage had higher levels of hippurate (a classic marker of fibre fermentation), dimethyl sulfone or MSM (a microbial metabolite often linked with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity), and higher levels of acetate, propionate and 3-hydroxybutyrate. These are all fuels the horse can use for steady aerobic work. They also had increases in things like citrate, myo-inositol, methionine and proline, which tie into energy pathways and general tissue metabolism.

On the high-starch diet, far fewer metabolites changed. Glycine was the main one that increased, but overall the metabolic “signature” was much flatter, with fewer indicators of active hindgut fermentation and fewer alternative energy substrates circulating.

The overall takeaway is pretty consistent with what many of us see in real horses: forage doesn’t just “meet roughage requirements”. It drives a very different metabolic engine. A fibre-first diet supports stronger microbial fermentation and produces a broader range of fuels that the horse can use during work. High-starch feeds definitely have a place when calories need to be pushed up, but they don’t create the same metabolic activity we see on forage.

It’s also worth noting that this study didn’t measure performance at all. There were no exercise tests or workload outcomes - the horses were in race training, but the researchers were only looking at changes in the bloodstream. So while the forage-only diet produced some interesting shifts in fermentation-derived fuels, this study doesn’t tell us whether that translates into better or worse performance. However there IS previous research comparing forage-based diets and more traditional grain-heavy racehorse diets that has shown either no negative impact on performance or, in some cases, slight improvements in things like recovery or behavioural steadiness. So this new paper fits neatly into that broader picture: forage changes how the horse fuels itself, and it doesn’t seem to come with the performance drawbacks people have often assumed.

It’s another nice reminder that forage-first isn’t just a wishy washy philospohy!

12/18/2025

One of the trickiest parts of learning theory is that horses are always learning whether we mean to teach them something or not. That means our timing, body language, and choices can accidentally reinforce or punish behaviors we didn’t intend. Now isn't that fun?

❓ What is Unintentional Reinforcement?
Reinforcement means a behavior becomes more likely to happen again. Sometimes we accidentally strengthen behaviors we don’t want.

Example 1: Your horse starts to nudge you for treats, and because they're just so cute you give them just one this time. You've reinforced the mugging and they'll be more likely to do it again in the future.

Example 2: Your horse kicks the stall door during feeding time, eventually as they kick their grain gets dumped into their bucket. They've been rewarded for kicking at the stall and are more likely to do it again in the future.

❓ What is Unintentional Punishment?
Punishment means a behavior becomes less likely to happen again. Sometimes we discourage behaviors we actually want.

Example 1: A horse offers a try at a new behavior, but the handler accidentally applies pressure at the same moment. The horse may associate trying with discomfort and are less likely to want to do it in the future.

Example 2: A horse in an ill-fitting saddle feels it pinch more strongly when they move forward into the canter. Moving forward becomes uncomfortable and they are less likely to want to do the transition in the future.

‼️ Why It Matters

Horses don’t separate “training time” from “life.” Every interaction teaches something. We hear this from the time we start handling until the end of time - actions and behaviors are constantly being reinforced, punished, or solidified into stronger habits whether we notice and understand or not.

Unintentional reinforcement or punishment can shape habits just as strongly as intentional training. We can even be accidentally reinforcing something we thought we were punishing and vice versa! This is why a strong awareness of timing, consistency, and emotional state helps us avoid accidentally conditioning what we don't want to teach and keeps things fair and clear for the horse. Can you think of some examples where you've seen unintentionally reinforced or punished behavior?

12/18/2025

12/18/2025

Connection is not something you create by holding or shaping the front.

It starts from behind, with activity, balance, and a horse that truly carries himself.

When the hind legs step under the body correctly, the energy can flow forward into a soft, honest connection.

The hand doesn’t create connection, it receives it.

That’s where real harmony in riding begins.

12/17/2025

How Clarity Does Not Kill the Magic for me:

I do not believe that focusing on observable behavior takes away the myth or the magic of horses. I believe it relocates it.

What people often call magic arises, imo, when gaps are filled with projection. I have seen when we attribute intention, wisdom, healing power, or moral meaning to a horse without grounding those attributions in what the horse is actually doing, we are no longer in relationship. We are in a story. That kind of magic depends on distance. It requires the horse to remain partly unknowable so that human longing, hope, and unmet need can be placed onto him or her.

My work moves in the opposite direction. I pursue clarity because clarity brings us closer.

When I focus on observable behavior, how a horse shifts weight, how he orients his body, how she regulates distance, how approach and withdrawal unfold over time, I am not reducing the horse to mechanics. I am meeting a living being as he or she actually exists in the moment. True observation does not flatten experience. It sharpens it. It demands attention, humility, and restraint.

What falls away through observation is not magic. It is fantasy.

Fantasy is comfortable. It allows people to feel chosen, mirrored, or healed without asking whether the horse consented to the interaction or whether the human presence altered the horse’s behavior in a measurable way. Fantasy collapses the moment a horse refuses contact, disengages, or responds in a way that does not fit the preferred narrative.

What remains after fantasy dissolves is a quieter and far more durable form of wonder.

I see it when a horse regulates distance without force. When she maintains clarity under pressure. When he adapts to subtle environmental changes without dramatization or collapse. None of this requires mystical language. In fact, mystical language often obscures it. It replaces seeing with believing.

Focusing on observable behavior also restores ethical weight.

When I stop saying “the horse knew” or “the horse healed,” responsibility returns to the human. The horse is no longer positioned as a tool, a symbol, or a carrier of human transformation. He or she becomes a participant whose signals matter, whose limits matter, and whose wellbeing cannot be overridden by a good story.

This shift is sometimes experienced as disenchantment. I see it as sobriety. And sobriety is frequently mistaken for loss.

For me, wonder deepens when it is earned.

There is something profoundly moving about recognizing that a horse does not need to be magical to be extraordinary. His nervous system, her social intelligence, their capacity to remain present without narrative or justification, these are real. They are observable. They hold up across contexts. They do not disappear when the story is removed.

The myth says the horse gives us something.

What I see, when I am willing to look closely, is that the horse IS somebody.

And that recognition does not diminish mystery. It replaces a romantic projection with a living reality that is more demanding, more honest, and ultimately more respectful - in my opinion.

12/17/2025

Truly some of the best education in fascial science from this panel!

On Sunday 25th January we are very happy that Surgeon, Dr Jean Claude Guimberteau, and Clinical Anatomist John Sharkey will be joining us to discuss one of Jean Claude’s most remarkable films – Homofasciaticus.

As an inspirational explorer of the world of fascia via intra-tissue endoscopy, Jean Claude has also co-authored a recent paper: "New Perspectives on the Organization of Living Tissue and the Ongoing Connective Tissue/Fascia Nomenclature Debate, as Revealed by Intra-Tissue Endoscopy That Provides Real-Time Images During Surgical Procedures". To those of you who want to understand more about fascia we highly recommend you read this paper. It will also be the perfect complement to our January webinar.

Read the article in full here - https://bit.ly/TFH-NPoO, and if you feel inspired to know more, why not join us on the 25th January? First class education for a fair price; that's what we offer at The Fascia Hub. Booking available here - https://bit.ly/TFH-HOM. We look forward to seeing you there!

John Sharkey Events Endovivo Productions

12/17/2025

Garrett Ford we would love to do a side by side analysis of your product of easy care verses nail on shoes. We could do it for as long as a year and see the cause and effect of glue on appliances verse nail on appliances. Totally documented for the hoof care world to see and learn from. Let's find a terrible environment to do it in. What do you say?