Synergy and Freedom

Synergy and Freedom Facilitating equine well-being and performance. I've ridden and produced horses to the elite levels, being named on squads, placing at Adelaide 5*****.

Horses are not simply a collection of moving parts, they are living beings with individual traits and minds of their own. It is for this reason that addressing each horse holistically - physically, mentally and emotionally is often necessary for true healing to occur or for them to reach their true potential, whatever that may be! This doesn't always mean endless bodywork sessions, nor does it necessarily mean a complete overhaul of your lifestyle and training. Sometimes (often!) it is the small, targeted changes that lead to transformational results; improved performance, a more balanced mindset, improved training, improved quality of life, more joy... whatever the desired result may be. Offerings:

Done-For-You equine rehabilitation, prehabilitation and conditioning

Done-With-You equine rehabilitation, prehabilitation and conditioning

Private sessions including equine bodywork, human-horse relationship work (on the ground or under saddle), equine or human biomechanics, equine or human mindset/emotional regulation.

3 and 6 month tailored rider mentorship programmes

Online courses for riders


About Me:

My journey with horses has been a varied and exciting one. To get there, I learned as much as I could by working in top yards ; performance, racing, polo, etc. I wanted to learn how to look after my own horses' injuries, rather than being reliant on someone else, so became a human chiropractor with the goal of becoming an equine chiropractor. I have also learned a range of other equine modalities including evidence based equine rehabilitation, CST, equine acupuncture and acupressure, massage, hoof rehabilitation and others. My aim is to prove that competition/racing and equine wellbeing can and do complement each other and to change the way we approach equine health and performance.

04/04/2026

Hello NSW! It’s been too long 😍

Does anyone else find the post-drink tongue poke adorable? Or just me?!It makes me smile every time 🥰
02/04/2026

Does anyone else find the post-drink tongue poke adorable? Or just me?!

It makes me smile every time 🥰

31/03/2026

One of the best things equine reiki has taught me (there are so many “best things” 😂) is to let go of expectations when it comes to horses’ reactions to the work I do.

I remind myself daily that it is not the horse’s responsibility to stroke my ego, or pat me on the back. I am there to be of service of them, and without expectation.

And while I do use facial expression, posture, breath etc to gauge how the horse feels about what is happening, I do not (or try to not!) derive ego from that. It is feedback, nothing more, and they may offer that feedback, or not, if they wish.

Because there is nothing relaxing, or generous in a service that comes with a practitioner in need of constant validation. Just as some humans do their processing quietly, or even later when they are in private, so to do horses. One of the greatest gifts we can give our horses is allowing them to be where and how they are… and not let that affect our own sense of self-worth.

Sometimes that takes a lot of inner work, to untie your worth from the validation provided by others (even your horse!)… in fact I would say most times!

But the payoff is worth it. A horse that is able to just be, and a human who can just be present with them as they are.

AND, I still thought this reaction was pretty awesome 😂

27/03/2026

I realised last week that I have made a mistake. I have too often been critical of lunging, and it has come across that I don’t believe in it ever.

I do lunge horses. Certainly not all the time, quite rarely in fact, but I’m not totally against it.

The reason I so often speak against it is because I see people doing it for reasons that are at best a waste of time, and at worst harmful.

So here is what I DON’T believe lunging achieves:

🐴 Lunging with gear (side reins, Pessoa, bands, etc) to “build topline” and “teach the horse to work correctly.
I could go on for days about why this makes no biomechanical sense, but to save time essentially you are achieving the exact opposite of what you want. You are, for a number of reasons, strengthening the very muscles you are trying to deter your horse from using. If you want the background to this, let me know and I’ll share a post on that soon…

🐴 Great cardiovascular or musculoskeletal fitness. In order for it to make meaningful change in this area you would need to be lunging a lot, and you would be putting your horse’s body under immense strain (horses are not designed to go in circles) to achieve an outcome that could be better achieved in other ways.

🐴 “Lunging down”. The idea that you can truly tire a horse is somewhat ridiculous. Most of the time you are simply over lunging and/or using gear (as above) and so having all the negative consequences without achieving your actual aim. And if you do manage to reach fatigue, you are simply creating a horse that is more likely to be cranky when you then do work them (wouldn’t you?!), and also more open to injuries, given that fatigue and overuse are some of the most common causes of injuries.

Now, having said all that, here is what I DO use lunging for:

🐴 An occasional form of exercise without the time factor of saddling/unsaddling or when I want my horse to have a “mental health day” and be allowed to leap and play

🐴 To assess a horse’s movement. This can be during rehab or following injury, to see how they are moving as I can’t trot them up for myself, and also to assess movement on a circle. But also just to assess how they are using their bodies at various paces.

🐴 To assess how the horse may be to ride. I will often pop a new horse on the lunge because it can tell me about possible asymmetries, difficulties with transitions, response to aids, trainability, general response to work etc. It can give me some insight into how the horse may be to ride.

🐴 To work on posture and movement without the weight of a saddle, rider etc. Note: I do this WITHOUT GEAR, like the last horse in this clip. You can reach a horse to reach, stretch, lift through the back, and all those other things we aim to achieve with gear, better, with nothing on them except potentially a headcollar or bridle and a rope (and no, you don’t even really need those).

So, I do apologise if it has come across to you that I am against lunging as a whole. I’m not. I just think it is more often than not done on the basis of flawed logic.

Let me know what you think!

24/03/2026

Sometimes my life choices make no sense, even to me.

Today is feeling that way. Sick as a dog, re-learning neuroanatomy yet again and questioning my own sanity.

But hey, at least I can identify where in my brain the insanity originates and what signs I would show if I was a dog and the lesion grew exponentially .. so that’s something 😂

19/03/2026

Sometimes (most of the time) we do the best by our horses by doing our work when we’re not with them.

So we come to them clearer, kinder, softer and more open to a two-way dialogue.

We come to them without our day to day frustrations, or past triggers, or extra wonky bodies.

And to me then it’s like taking the tape off your mouth and the plugs out of your ears. You can see, hear and feel them, and speak to them, in a way that’s not possible when you expect your time with them to be the thing that helps you.

Sure, it still can help you, but it will help you better if you come having done the pre-work, and you’ll be in a better place to help them too.

19/03/2026

Confession time… I don’t bother with carrot stretches, and other than one particular technique, my clients will never hear me prescribe them.

And it seems that the world is full of advocates for carrot stretches, so if you are one of them, and have reasons why you believe them to be worth doing, please do tell me! I am always open to learning new things and seeing new perspectives.. but for the moment, here is mine:

🥕 They seem pointless to me. They are a natural movement anyway that your horse does countless times on their own - to scratch an itch, get rid of a fly, etc. And yet we as humans think our 30 second routine has any effect greater than what they are already doing on their own? 🤷‍♀️

🥕 They are non-specific, if horses really do have a restriction in lateral flexion or rotation, they will simply use whatever compensations they have to get around it. Not enough lateral flexion? Just use more rotation. And vice the versa (we do the same, by the way). The neck is conveniently adept at both movements. So rather than improving the restricted movement, you are simply giving the horse one more opportunity to over use the other, already overdone movement.

🥕 I have met one horse in my life that couldn’t bend around and touch their girth, belly, flank, knees or hooves. And no amount of stretching would have made that possible for her. Because she physically couldn’t do it, no matter how much motivation could have been provided.

Video is of a 20+ year old, arthritic gelding having zero issue reaching all the way around to his sheath, while on three legs, on uneven ground… and he was doing it long enough for me to get my phone out of my pocket and start filming. He can even do it both ways if he likes.

So, as someone who believes in specificity when it comes to prescribing exercises, and who also is too busy to do things that don’t provide definite value… carrot stretches are a no from me.

If your horse enjoys them, great, just give them a carrot 😅🤷‍♀️

(And for those of you who have learned the rolling stretch from me, yep, that is the single exception and I’ve probably explained the many reasons and benefits when I suggested it 😉)

16/03/2026

(Also I couldn’t see a thing whilst recording this 😂 really need my eyes to stop reacting to contacts!!

13/03/2026

When one of the world leaders shares the same information and training that you are… it’s kind of exciting!

So… I guess I’m just saving you hundreds by hearing it from me?! 😂 you’re welcome 😇

12/03/2026

Did you know that mutual grooming actually has a physiological effect?

It increases parasympathetic input, which essentially sends calming signals through the horse’s body. These signals lower heart rate, cortisol, etc.

And here’s the great thing; knowing that means that we have a way of activating the parasympathetics too. By mimicking this behaviour (ie scratching the wither) we can “trick” the nervous system into calming.

One of the many things we’ll discuss on Monday in How To Teach Your Horse to Self-Regulate!

* edit to add… I shared this just before walking into a talk with with the world’s leading behavioural vet, and to be specific, their heart rate can be lowered by 10 bpm by doing this 🤩

11/03/2026

Years ago my psychologist said this to me, and over a decade later, it’s something I still live by.

With every decision we are either making our circle bigger, or we are making it smaller. And by circle, I kind of mean comfort zone.

Every time you shy away from that thing outside your comfort zone, you reinforce that line around yourself. But soon it gets scary to even approach that edge, the edge itself starts feeling like the original scary “thing” on the other side.

Think of agoraphobia- it never starts with being trapped in your own house, it starts with fear of crowds, public places, main roads etc etc until the front door becomes the limit.

So every time we choose to stay in the round yard, or arena, because we worry what might happen in a big open space, we make it harder to venture out. Do that long enough, and we start to make our horse’s comfort zone match ours. Now we have a horse that is also worried about leaving the arena. We no longer go on trails, go out to ride with friends, ride in that nice paddock that we once set up for ourselves.

This goes for anything (go back to the video of the horse in the stable).

Now I’m not saying this will happen if just for a few rides you go back to something that makes you feel braver. I’m also not saying you have failed if this is making you a bit uncomfortable (god it shone a light on my choices when I first heard it!!!). But I’m sharing this to give you an opportunity. To make a tiny, bite-sized choice that will make your circle just a tiny bit bigger.

And maybe to do that you need some support, great, go get it! Make that your first step!

But you’ve got this. You and your horse can begin those baby steps to a bigger circle together, and if you stick at it, it’ll be so freeing that I can almost promise you won’t want to go back!

10/03/2026

Just uploaded a new podcast episode, all about the various states a horse’s nervous system might me through, or to, as a result of stress.

Enjoy!

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Our Story

Synergy and Freedom was born out of a love of inspiring connection to bring together a whole which is capable of continuous expansion, reflection and growth. This whole, by nature is greater than the sum of its parts and is therefore more resilient in the face of stress, more courageous in new discovery and able to experience more bliss. Synergy and Freedom is thus a holistic approach to life. It is mentoring and coaching that improves the cohesiveness of body, mind and spirit, for humans, horses, and human-horse relationships. Pulling from a range of modalities and life experiences, all sessions are tailored to individual needs and goals on any given day. This is not a fixed formula, but a fluid approach to creating a more synergistic and free experience of life. If you want to know more about me, or what I do, I would invite you to text me on 0421313863, drop me an email at keira.byrnes88@gmail.com, or take a look at my website www.synergyandfreedom.net . I would love to find out what I can do for you!

“Tell me your story, show me your wounds I’ll show you what Love sees when Love looks at you. Hand me your pieces, broken and bruised I’ll show you what Love sees when Love sees you.”