Equine Massage WA

13/03/2026

Tony’s Travel Tip 🐴🧘‍♂️

Morning yoga isn’t just for riders… performance horses benefit from it too.

Because Tony is yarded overnight (sadly not enough paddock space to live out 24/7), he can get a little stiff before travelling to an event. So before loading on the truck, we do a quick “morning yoga” routine to wake up his body and switch on the right muscles.

Just like I stretch when I get out of bed… so does Tony.

Walk poles – long and low stretch
Walking over poles with a low neck encourages the horse to stretch through the topline and thoracic sling, gently activating the abdominal muscles and lifting the back. It helps release overnight stiffness and encourages the ribcage to start moving again before work.

Straddle pole exercise
Standing with a pole between the front legs asks the horse to stabilise through the shoulder girdle, pectorals and thoracic sling. It encourages subtle core engagement and helps the horse organise their posture before travelling or training.

Backing up on an incline
One of my favourite exercises for Tony. Backing uphill activates the abdominals, hip flexors and hindquarter stabilisers, encouraging the horse to lift through the sternum and engage the core.

This is particularly useful for Tony because he windsucks, which makes true belly and sternum lifts harder for him. The incline helps the body find that engagement more naturally without forcing it.

And here’s something many riders don’t realise…

Travelling in a truck or float is actually a constant balance workout.
Every corner, brake and acceleration requires the horse to stabilise through the core, pectorals, thoracic sling and hindquarter stabilisers to stay upright.

So a few minutes of “morning yoga” helps prepare those muscles before the journey even begins.

Happy horse.
Supple body.
Better performance.

Now if only I got a carrot ( or even better chocolate 🍫) every time I did my morning yoga… I’d be a lot more consistent. 🥕🍫

28/02/2026

You know your horse’s hindquarter symmetry and muscle development are on point when your morning coffee balances perfectly… even with the massage gun firing through the glutes ☕️🐴💪

Gluteal tone ✔️
Pelvic stability ✔️
Barista-approved biomechanics ✔️

How do you have your coffee on a Saturday morning… kitchen bench, saddle rack, or a beautifully developed hind end? 😏

26/02/2026

How cool is this! 🤩
Synchronised stretching goals from Team Highfield 👏🐴

You’ll also notice Charlie is standing on balance pads with his front feet, while Ollie isn’t.
Charlie, being the older campaigner, is using the pads to challenge stability, proprioception, and core engagement during his stretches — a great way to gently activate postural muscles while he mobilises through the neck and topline. The pads also provide a little cushioning and protection on firm surfaces, which can be helpful for older horses or those prone to minor foot sensitivity, scuffs, or scratches.

Ollie, being the younger horse, is doing the same stretch without pads as he continues to build his baseline strength and coordination first. Progression matters ✔️

Beautiful example of meeting each horse where they’re at in their strength and stability journey.

✨ Weekend Challenge ✨
Set aside just 5 minutes for gentle stretching with your horse:
• Nose to girth
• Nose to stifle
• Belly lifts
• Relaxed, slow mobility stretches

Reward the try, not perfection, and let them stretch within their comfort zone.

Heading into the weekend… show me your best stretch photos below 👇🐴
— Equine Massage WA 💙

New sport alert…synchronised stretching 😂🤩

25/02/2026

Shared from my Canine Massage WA page because the same biology and theory applies to our horses 👇

Symmetrical doesn’t always mean sound… and sound doesn’t always mean perfectly symmetrical.

Just like dogs, horses often show small, consistent left–right differences in how they load, stabilise, and push through the body. That doesn’t automatically indicate lameness — but it does highlight why targeted strength and stability work is so important for long-term soundness and performance.

We’re not chasing perfect mirror-image movement; we’re building stronger, more resilient athletes who can share the workload more evenly between sides.

Now… if only I could get Tony Pony to do proper sit-to-stands, that would be ideal 😂
To be fair, he’s absolutely nailed his three-legged stands and weight shifts though — so we’ll call that a win! 🐴💪 https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1343375264484599&id=100064364131349

Ever looked closely at your dog’s footprints on the beach? 🐾

This dog is completely sound — no lameness, happy, comfortable, and moving freely. But like many dogs (and people!), there is a small degree of natural muscular asymmetry.

At a walk, dogs use a lateral sequence gait, so each hind foot follows the forefoot on the same side. What’s interesting here is that across the trackway you can see a consistent pattern:
one side’s hind foot lands very close to the fore print (“stacked”), while the opposite side follows through slightly further (“spaced”).

This doesn’t mean the dog is lame — it simply reflects a subtle difference in propulsion and pelvic stability between sides, which is incredibly common even in athletic, sound dogs.

This is exactly why we use targeted strengthening exercises such as:
• Sit-to-stands – to improve symmetrical push power through both hind limbs
• Three-legged stands – to challenge single-limb stability and pelvic control
• Slow controlled weight shifts – to build awareness and equal loading between sides

The goal isn’t perfection or identical stride patterns (biology isn’t perfectly symmetrical!), but improving strength, balance, and confidence so both hind limbs can share the workload more evenly.

Sometimes the sand gives us a lovely visual reminder: sound doesn’t always mean symmetrical, and that’s where thoughtful conditioning work can make a real difference. 🐕‍🦺

14/02/2026

Great morning with super riders and ponies in the poles for muscle development classes in gidgegannup this morning. 💕

09/02/2026

Tony’s Tuesday Tip 🐴 | The Walk Is the Work 💪

Most riders tell me the same thing:
“I just don’t have time to add more exercises.”

But here’s the reality — you probably already do.

If you lead your horse in from the paddock every day, you’re already walking, halting, turning, and transitioning. The difference between wasted time and productive training time isn’t adding more to your day — it’s how intentionally you use the moments you already have.

Those everyday movements can become powerful postural work when done with purpose.

Backing up, when straight and controlled, encourages postural engagement, body awareness, and organisation before moving forward.

An active walk isn’t about speed. It’s about posture, balance, and impulsion — the horse stepping forward with intention, lifting through the body, and moving in a way that supports soundness rather than reinforcing compensation.

A square halt gives you information. It shows balance, straightness, and attention. And the walk-off from halt is where posture is either reinforced… or lost. A prompt, organised transition builds coordination and strength. A shuffle does not.

None of this is extra work.
These are things you already do.

The difference is intention. 💥

Same exercise.
One does something.
One does nothing.

🧬Fun fact (with actual science behind it):
Walk is the gait that allows the greatest spinal coordination and lateral movement, with the lowest impact. That’s why it’s so valuable for posture, balance, and rehabilitation work.

It’s also where the nervous system learns and refines coordination. Slow, organised movement gives the brain time to process balance, body position, and control — which is why posture and movement quality are built at walk before speed is added.

✨You don’t need more time.
You just need to use the time you already have better.✨

03/02/2026

Tony’s Tuesday Tip 🐴

Be great friends with your vet.

A pre-season check-up isn’t just about ticking boxes or chasing soundness — it’s about setting the horse up for the season before problems show up. It’s a chance to look at how the horse is coping, what’s changing under load, and whether the plan moving forward is actually supporting long-term function.

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you also get handed a genuinely exciting research paper.

Not exciting in a “new miracle fix” way — but exciting in a this changes how we think way.

So here’s the plain-English reason I’m sharing this one.
( because I think is really cool!)

This paper looked at horses with early osteoarthritis and compared two different joint treatments:
• a standard cortisone (steroid) joint injection, and
• a new low-dose drug combination designed to improve how joint tissues behave, not just how the horse feels.

Instead of only asking “does the horse look sound?”, the researchers also measured what was happening inside the joint — specifically:
• whether the bone under the cartilage was actively breaking down, and
• whether cartilage damage was increasing.

What they found was really interesting.

Both treatments improved how the horses moved.
But only the new treatment reduced markers of ongoing joint damage, particularly in the bone, without increasing cartilage breakdown. In contrast, the steroid-treated horses often looked better too — but showed signs that cartilage damage was still progressing underneath.

And that’s the real shift.

🙌Soundness is no longer the endgame — it’s just a checkpoint.
Sound today means nothing without function tomorrow.🙌

What makes this paper exciting isn’t just a potential new treatment option — it’s the change in mindset it represents. We’re starting to move away from simply asking “is the horse sound?” and toward “is the joint actually healthier, more resilient, and better able to cope with the job long-term?”

That matters for vets, rehab professionals, trainers, and owners alike.

Because it reinforces what good rehab and prehab have always aimed for:
• strength
• stability
• consistency
• controlled load
• better movement patterns
• better biology

✨Prehab is better than rehab 💫

Pain relief still has an important place — but hiding pain alone is no longer enough if we want longevity. Building horses strong enough to stay sound is the real goal.

Tony’s thoughts on this ?

“I’m always happy to feel good today… but I’d quite like my joints to still like me tomorrow too.”

Huge thanks to the team at Ascot equine vets for always putting the horse first and for sharing thought-provoking science like this.
Tony hopes not to see you too much through the season… but Mum says keep sending the cool science 🧬

If you’d like to read more:
A randomized, triple-blinded clinical study with a novel disease-modifying drug combination in equine lameness-associated osteoarthritis
Published in Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Open
👉 www.elsevier.com/journals/osteoarthritis-and-cartilage-open/2665-9131

30/01/2026

Feeling spoilt with this lovely shady arena at the top of a hill with a delightfully cool breeze ready for a great morning of poles

21/01/2026

Tony’s Thoughtful Thursday

One thing I’m seeing more and more in the horse industry is this uncomfortable truth:

Mastery does not overcome biology.

As therapists, we’re trained to believe that with the right knowledge, skill, and consistency, things should improve — and often, they do.
But genetics and progressive degeneration place real limits on what bodies can sustain.

When effort doesn’t equal outcome, it creates a quiet kind of moral fatigue.
That feeling of “we’re doing everything right… so why isn’t this getting better?”

If you’re feeling that — as an owner or a professional — you’re not alone.
I’m feeling it too.

I’ve been doing some work lately on reframing this, because sometimes success isn’t about fixing.
Sometimes it’s about working honestly within reality — supporting comfort, function, and quality of life, even when improvement has boundaries.

Care still matters, even when outcomes have limits. 💕💕