Horsempower

24/04/2026

21/04/2026

Somatic is a buzz word at the moment and for good reason! it just comes from the greek word soma meaning body. Somatic can simply be referred to as bodily sensations within, Osteopathy is designed to address somatic dysfunction and reset neural or afferent input/ messages from the body.

Many horses require gradual unwinding from compensatory or somatic dysfunction patterns. These compensation patterns provide stability and protection, and the longer the horse has been compensating, the more time it takes to unwind and release whilst maintaining some stability.

The tissue tells me, the horse tells me how far to go and this is where I can alternative between modalities from Osteopathy to Bowen. This is also where high velocity moves ( not chiro) using the limbs as levers or quick adjustments can be so helpful and lasting especially in resetting the neural input. I can take the limb or neck to tissue bind/ as far as the horse is comfortable and then a quick short move past tissue bind will readjust and reset, it’s like tricking the brain to over ride the conditioned response. I like then the horse to move to integrate that in movement.
It’s the neural input and output that dictates the muscles and fascia to maintain these compensatory patterns. Therefore, altering the input and resetting it is crucial.

Osteopathic mobilizations or to be more precise articular/joint balancing ( OAB) and adjustments provide the nervous system with a new paradigm for movement acceptance. The limb returns to its resting state particularly after an adjustment when a limb is physically let go of! Sometimes I see it like all of a sudden the horse is feeling like “wow I have two hind legs back there” it’s like the brain is flooded with this new input!

One horse I treated recently wouldn’t put full weight back on her leg after trimmer had it stretched back for a while then when she moved forward she would stumble. After.OAB she now returns leg with full weight and walks off normally again, that is more to do with altering the neural input from the mechanoreceptors within the joints, ligaments and tendons, the muscle release is the outcome. I find a lot that horses will offer and return the limbs differently post OAB. The processsing can be on another level, so cool to witness! I receive so much great positive feedback so I am doing something right, it’s very much a somatic response!

These photos are from a few years ago from my first submissions earlier in my Osteopathic training.
And sadly sometimes we can’t help all horses! This is lovely Lena who had already some treatment from an Osteopathic vet after my referral, she suspected that she had some advanced kissing spine.

The following is an excerpt from Yogi Sharps ( The equine documentilist) post that reminded me that altering the neural input has many access points! So keeping hooves balanced, maintaining parasympathetic/ rest and digest tone and internal health all support how the horse responds and maintains the effects from treatments.
A somatic approach!

You can enter the system through the hoof. You can change loading, alter proprioceptive input, and allow the system to reorganise around a different mechanical signal.

You can enter through the autonomic system. You can reduce stress, improve regulation, and allow tone and posture to normalise.

You can enter through the visceral system. You can improve internal health and change the baseline state of the organism.

You can enter through training and behaviour. You can reshape expectation and movement patterns.

In practice, the most effective outcomes often come from addressing multiple layers simultaneously! This includes the brain and cognitive processes!

18/04/2026

Many of my clients know I’m always banging on about hoof balance. My advice is if your horse’s feet are due or overdue get that sorted first before you call your body worker. It will support the treatment!
Yogi is worth following, one of the best!

You cannot force posture onto a horse when the hoof is telling the body to stand differently!?

One of the biggest misunderstandings in modern equine therapy is the belief that posture can simply be “corrected” by manually placing the horse into a new shape. I see it all the time, body work and veterinary treatment being done to a horse while I look at its feet and just sigh.

Stretch it.
Massage it.
Mobilise it.
Strengthen it.
Train it into position.
Jab it with steroids.

And whilst all of those things may have value, there is a fundamental truth people keep missing.

You cannot sustainably change posture if the horse’s proprioceptive system is still demanding the original compensation.

Why?

Because posture is not something the horse consciously chooses.

Posture is the visible output of the nervous system’s constant attempt to organise the body in response to incoming information.

That information comes from everywhere, but one of the richest and most mechanically important sensory inputs in the entire horse is the hoof.

The hoof is not just a block of horn at the bottom of the limb. It is packed with mechanoreceptors, proprioceptive structures, vascular structures, and deformable tissues that continuously feed information into the nervous system regarding load, pressure, deformation, balance, and orientation. 

Every time the hoof meets the floor, it tells the horse’s nervous system something about where the body is in space.

It tells the horse whether the limb feels stable.
It tells the horse whether the load is symmetrical.
It tells the horse whether one side feels overloaded.
It tells the horse whether the system feels comfortable under compression. And this information can be distorted by imbalance.

And the nervous system uses that information to organise posture accordingly.

This means posture is not simply muscular habit. It is an adaptive response to sensory input.

Let me put that another way.

If the hoof is repeatedly telling the nervous system that a certain position reduces discomfort, improves balance, or better distributes force, the body will organise around that signal. In a webinar with Dr Gellman we discussed the horses understanding of upright..

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/proandpos

The horse will stand in the way the nervous system believes is safest.

So if you manually straighten the horse, stretch the horse, or try to train the horse into a new posture without changing the proprioceptive and mechanical signals that caused the compensation in the first place, what happens?

The horse simply returns to the original posture.

Because from the nervous system’s perspective, nothing meaningful changed.

You altered the output temporarily.
You did not alter the input.

This is precisely why so many practitioners see temporary changes after treatment, only for the horse to revert days later.

Because unless the underlying sensory and mechanical drivers are addressed, the nervous system will keep returning to the same solution.

My upcoming book discusses this as a closed loop.

Hoof mechanics alter proprioceptive input.
That proprioceptive input alters muscle tone and fascial loading.
That altered tone changes posture.
That posture changes limb orientation and movement.
That movement then changes loading back into the hoof. 

It is a self-reinforcing system.

Once established, it will continue feeding itself until the dominant driver is changed.

This is why I have repeatedly said hoof balance and posture cannot be viewed in isolation.

If the hoof is imbalanced enough to create altered loading, altered proprioceptive feedback, or altered comfort under load, then the body will compensate around that.

And until that signal is reduced, you are asking the horse to ignore its own nervous system.

That is not rehabilitation.
That is fighting biology.

Imagine trying to stand perfectly upright whilst one foot is on a slope and one foot is on flat ground.

Could you force yourself straight for a moment? Yes.

Would your body naturally stay there? No.

Why?

Because your nervous system would constantly reorganise your body to accommodate the information coming from the feet.

The horse is no different.

This is why I often say, you cannot expect to change the architecture upstairs whilst the foundations downstairs are still crooked.

Now to be clear, this does not mean every postural issue is hoof derived.

Far from it.

The relationship is bi directional.

Higher limb pain, saddle fit, rider asymmetry, visceral tension, autonomic stress, trauma, and pathology can all alter posture first, which then changes loading into the hoof. The hoof may then adapt secondarily. In the same vane, farriers can struggle with the same perpetuations when higher postural drivers are not addressed!

But the principle remains the same.

Once the hoof becomes part of the compensatory loop, it becomes one of the drivers maintaining that loop.

And if you ignore that, you will struggle to create lasting change.

This is why multidisciplinary work matters.

The farrier cannot always fix posture alone. Or hoof balance for that matter!
The physio cannot always fix posture alone.
The vet cannot always fix pain alone.

Because the horse is an integrated system.

But equally, anyone trying to change posture whilst ignoring hoof proprioception is working with one hand tied behind their back.

Because no matter how good your treatment is, the horse will always listen to the signals coming from the ground.

The hoof is the horse’s interface with reality.

And reality always wins.

Something discussed in depth in both my webinars with Celeste-Leilani Lazaris

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/bundles/yogi-sharp-and-celeste-lazaris-webinar-bundle

16/04/2026

This one got a bit of traction and brought a smile to many well over 23,000 to be precise😳
But after my last post many of you might guess why my girl is doing this which may elicit more of a sympathetic response. 😢

Her poor old hamstrings are working over time compensating for her damaged hip and are always tight, so this would give her a lovely release/relief! She is literally taking weight off her feet! This is the perfect height tree stump!

Maybe I should have done more when she was younger. I feel I have let her down somewhat.😢And now I am just trying to make her feel more comfortable.

However atm this is the best i have seen her move in 6 mths 🤷‍♀️ so something is working and there was an improvement with daily red light therapy but I think even more so after first two osteopathic mobilisations focussing on the fetlock to work on improving the mobility of the sesamoids ( which I def felt) and her knee which are the two more obvious issues ,smaller joints will cop it more!
This requires very gentle manipulation and as much as the joint and Aggy can take! I should have videod the before! But documenting is not my strength, always forget 🙄

15/04/2026

Looking for the person from Ballan who recently made an enquiry for a treatment, I do apologise but I seem to have lost/erased your message 🥴Can you please contact me 🙂

15/04/2026

There is always a legitimate reason behind any behaviour!! Why might my girl be pulling her leg back ?

13/04/2026

Some days you just need to take the weight off your feet!

06/04/2026

Take what you will from this, but I will never let anyone twitch my horses !

🔗: https://equimanagement.com/research-medical/research/researchers-assess-horses-responses-to-lip-twitching/

Veterinarians often need to restrain horses during procedures to prevent injuries to both humans and horses. In a recent study, researchers examined 10 horses’ responses to a twisted rope lip twitch and analyzed how the horses’ individual personalities impacted that response.

05/04/2026

Wishing you all a very happy easter❤️ 🐇🐣
I am cooking some sourdough cinnamon apple buns ( first time) and pizzas, carbing out today 🤪Sometimes I play mum 😉 and spend time with my human family, lots of apple scraps and carrots for the ponies though!
Anyone doing horsey stuff today?

31/03/2026

Interesting! I only feed a scoop of lucerne chaff when i havent got lucerne hay. Also chaff can bulk out feed too much and we risk over feeding. The horses stomach is relatively small for the size of its body ( approx 10% of the total digestive system, rugby ball size )and is designed for continuous grazing not large meals. If overfed the food the stomach acids don't get a chance to break it down efficiently and undigested food can cause tummy upsets such as colic.

Chaff has long been a standard ingredient in Australian horse feeds, but it is much less common in other parts of the world.

Why we went the way of chaff and the rest of the world didn't, I'm not sure, but I do know that unfortunately on this one we didn't get it right!

Chaff is simply short chopped hay, so while yes, it does provide the same nutrients and fibre content of that hay, it does not provide the same chewing or physical buffering benefits that long stemmed hay does.

Chewing produces saliva, which helps buffer gastric acid, and irregularly chewed up hay that's all stuck together with saliva (lovely!) makes a better "raft" in the stomach to suppress acid splash during exercise. Hay is a clear winner for both of these reasons.

There is also some research that suggests that some chaff can actually be so sharp it injures the stomach lining.

Hay is generally cheaper per kilo, and IMO less laborious to feed out - one biscuit of hay will weigh around 2kg, which is equivalent to about 6-7 scoops of chaff.

Now, I do use a very small amount of chaff myself (as do most of my clients) as I need something to mix supplements with, but that's all it is - a mixer. It can also be useful to help increase forage intake in horses that are starting to have problems chewing due to dental problems - but once the teeth are really gone, even chaff will become problematic.