Willow Creek Equine

09/14/2025

07/10/2025

05/11/2025

Happy Mother's Day to all the kid Mom's and 4 legged critter Mom's!! Enjoy your day 💖

08/14/2024

Somewhere I read the phrase "one is a treat, more is a treatment" and it really stuck with me.

There isn't anything wrong with booking a single bodywork session for your horse, as long as you understand the difference between a single appointment and ongoing care with an equine wellness professional.

The real benefits come when an equine therapist can see your horse regularly, or at least for several sessions in a row. The length between appointments can vary quite a bit, based on the therapist and the individual case. Having an open conversation with the therapist about goals, expectations, and budgets is the best way to determine what fits you and your horses' needs.

My first session with a horse can be quite lengthy, often two hours, because I spend a lot of time observing, palpating, connecting with the horse and their human, and asking questions about their histories. Bodywork is included in these sessions (if deemed appropriate for the horse), but we need to build slowly upon what we start in these first-time sessions - especially when working with modalities like craniosacral, myofascial therapy, and nerve release work. These are very deep, profound techniques for the nervous system. Doing too much, too fast, is absolutely possible.

While I want to see every horse that is brought to me (because even a single session can be beneficial) I am hesitant when someone says they want to book one appointment as a treat for their horse. It is definitely possible to have a relaxing, feel-good massage session with a horse, without all of the observations and palpations and deeper work. Unfortunately for me, that idea of "you can't unsee it" definitely applies here. Once I feel it, I can't unfeel it, and I can't turn off my inner therapist to give a one-off, simply feel-good session anymore.

It's the same reason why an athlete wouldn't book a hot stone massage before a big game - sports massage exists for a reason! A therapeutic massage likely isn't the vibe you're going for on a spa day, and you wouldn't call the spa to help you with a muscle injury. Many, many kinds of therapies exist to meet all of our needs.

By the way, I LOVE hot stone massages. 😉

Thank you Julia for the photo of me and Willow!

07/27/2024

Vitamin E is so important and often forgotten about!
Omega Alpha's Vantiox is my go-to for vitamin E supplementation. It contains vitamin C,E, zinc, beta-carotene, and antioxidants. It supports muscle function, antioxidants (immune health and anti inflammatory). It is great for any horse- especially the ones that are fed a hay diet and do not get to graze on pasture. Contact me for more info or to place an order.

Fresh pasture provides an abundance of vitamin E but hay is devoid of vitamins after harvesting.

My horses have always been on VE supplementation during the winter & since moving to Arizona they have been on it full time.

However as of late I’m learning it’s not enough. 😖

The NRC recommends a daily intake of about 1000 IU per day for the average horse in light work, although many experts insist this should be higher.

I typically provide 2-3000 IU to my horses depending on their workload however after my best boy Prowler displaying odd and unusual behavior, off to the vet we went.

Over the last few months he has been becoming unpredictable, overreacting at the smallest thing, feeling out of control even at a trot & exploding for no reason (the latter resulted in bucking me off very badly).

After cervical xrays, ultrasounds, THO & hyoid scopes, the vet came up with nothing. But she agreed something was “wrong” as Prowler seemed to have vision impairment & failed his baseline neuro exam.

We started with running blood work for EPM which came back negative, so her next idea was testing for Vitamin E through which we uncovered he is dangerously low in this essential piece of nutrition. 🏥

Symptoms of VE deficiency that look like other common problems:
🩺Eye & vision changes aka: becoming spooky, reactive or nervous
🩺Muscle pain & stiffness: we often reach for the magnesium here
🩺Dry/damaged coat: more omegas are typically toted as the answer
🩺Neurological problems: often we reach for trial treatment of EPM & Lyme.

Untreated - vitamin E deficiency can cause severe issues including permanent vision problems as well as equine motor neuron disease and equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (this is fatal).

Although we finally have a direction of Prowler’s problems, now begs the question if we found it soon enough. For me, as the ever advocate of prehab & prevention, it feels like I’ve failed my horses once again by having to learn the hard way.

He’s now on 10,000IU of natural VE per day and we will retest in 3 months 🙏 Natural VE is also the key, with liquid form being more bioavailable than powder, but both are better than synthetic. If you do feed a powder it is essential to feed an oil alongside it for optimal absorption.

Running testing for vitamin E will become a regular part of my veterinary workups for all my horses - how about you?

05/16/2024

06/10/2023

We are all set up today at Trackside Barrel Race to work on horses and provide some quality products to the horses.
Find me in between the announcer stand and third barrel!

05/25/2023

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲?

𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘩, 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴

Here is how Dressage and In-Hand expert Manolo Mendez explained how a healthy horse felt under his hands to his students:

"A well horse's flesh looks and feel like a round and full orange with fresh pulp bursting with juice and energy. It is plump and elastic and it has a shine that comes from within, a healthy glow."

What did he mean?

If a horse's body looks and feel like an old orange, greyed and shrunken by dehydration and time, the juice long evaporated, leaving behind dried up fiber, the muscles are no longer getting good blood flow, oxygen and energy.

These muscles wont work very well, they will tire and tear more easily, and when you touch them, they will be lackluster, dull, dry, flatish or hard and the horse will avoid being touched or stand stoically, waiting for the hand to move away.

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗲, 𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲. 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘆, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆.

Horses want to please us and if a horse refuses to work for us, we have to consider that he may be in pain, does not understand what is asked of him, or is physically not able to deliver.

Manolo stated that he has ridden thousands of horses over sixty five + years, and I can count on the fingers of one hand the times he met a horse who truly did not want to work because of his character.

However, he could count many times over the horses who he found to be in pain, sore, or confused.

The more we work with horses the more we learn that muscles and bones do not lie and neither does the horse.

In the past, we have talked on this page about how "Touch Means You are Not Alone" and what touch communicates to our horses, how it can:

💠 Soothe
💠 Calm
💠 Reassure
💠 Encourage
💠 Welcome
💠 Shelter

but also:

💠 Reward
💠 Vitalize

𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗕𝗢𝗡𝗗 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿.

By the same token, when you touch your horse carefully and pay attention to how the muscles feel under your hand:

💠 Soft
💠 Knotty
💠 Stringy
💠 Hot
💠 Cold
💠 Clammy
💠 Jelly-like
💠 Wood-like
💠 Alive/Present
💠 Dead/Dull

you get all kinds of clues about how his body and mind feels.

💠 Does your horse flinch?
💠 Pin his ears?
💠 Turn to look at you with curiosity?
💠 Lean into or away from you?
💠 Does his eye soften, dulls or winces?
💠 Does his breath catch or deepen
💠 Does he refuse the bit and move away from the saddle?
💠 Does he move around the mounting block even after years of training?
💠 Does he look around with interest or is he shut down?

Do you enjoy touching him? or are you wary and worried you are about to be bitten or kicked? A part of you always on the lookout.

Are there parts of your horse that are routinely not easy for you to touch?

💠 His poll for example or girth area?
💠 Is there a leg he wont give you?
💠 Does his back drop sharply to his ribs or is it lined with plump long and round muscles?
💠 Does he let you lift and move his tail around or clamps it down sharply?

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲'𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗮𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁?

What does how much or little he/she allows you to handle him/her mean?

𝗔 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲. 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱.

To learn how to develop a well muscled, supple and balanced horse you can purchase a streaming version of Manolo Mendez three hour introduction to in-hand work DVD and start watching now.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/inhandlessonswithmanolo

PS: This handsome horse belongs to Robin and Stefan who did a phenomenal job of bringing him back into wellness and trust.

© Caroline Larrouilh, ProudHorse Connections 2013

05/19/2023

Looking forward to seeing my cowhorse clients tomorrow!!

05/14/2023

Happy Mothers Day to all the 2 and 4 legged Mothers out there. I hope you have a wonderful day 💖