Sls equine massage

24/11/2025

Good read 🥰

🐴 Are You Truly Recognizing When Your Horse Is Having a Positive Experience?

It’s one of the most important questions in horsemanship — and one that’s too often overlooked.

For generations, much of what we consider “good horsemanship” has been shaped by opinions, tradition, and convenience, rather than a real understanding of how horses feel in their bodies and minds.

We’ve accepted certain behaviors as “normal,” even when they’re signs of pain, confusion, fear, or quiet resignation.

And because culturally embedded dominance-based methods have long been the default, many riders and professionals were taught to see unwanted behavior as a horse being “difficult”… rather than a horse communicating.

But what if:

✨ The horse wasn’t resisting — but hurting?

✨ The horse wasn’t being “stubborn” — but overwhelmed?

✨ The horse wasn’t “testing you” — but anxious and trying their best?

✨ And what if we’ve ignored the signs simply because we weren’t taught to look for them?

Dominance theories have offered convenience — a quick explanation, a simple label, and often, a justification to push on without questioning.

But convenience is not the same as welfare.

And burying our heads in tradition doesn’t make the horse’s experience any less real.

Imagine how much better our partnerships could be if we chose curiosity over ego and evidence over outdated beliefs.

🌱 What if we questioned more?

🌱 What if we considered our horse’s emotional experience as much as their physical one?

🌱 What if our training and care were driven by research, science, and compassion instead of habit?

The result would be transformative:

✔️ Better welfare

✔️ Better educational standards

✔️ Better training protocols

✔️ Better performance

✔️ Better safety for horses and riders

✔️ And most importantly — a better experience for the horse

The future of horsemanship requires us to evolve. To observe more deeply. To listen more honestly. And to honor the horse’s experience as much as our own goals.

If you’re ready to be part of that future — where welfare, evidence, and ethical practice guide everything we do — we invite you to join us.

👉 Become part of the movement toward better horsemanship:

www.equitopiacenter.com

24/11/2025

Well the planned day off didn’t end up been a day off, ended up dipping sheep 🐑🐑

21/11/2025

20/11/2025

Turn out or leave in? That’s seems to be a big question today we’ll all mine are out even the baby’s all have rugs on and a bale of hay in the field they have seen me pottering about all morning and not once come to the gate and they do if they want to be in. So who’s horses are out and who’s have stayed in for the day? No right or wrong answer just curious 🥰

19/11/2025

Well these girls and 1 boy wasn’t bothered at all by the rubbish weather 🥶

18/11/2025

So many different reasons to book a session for your 4 legged friend

17/11/2025

This one is from a while ago, extreme wear on the outside of both hind feet creating a knock on affect throughout his body, working together with the farrier and chiropractor to keep him happy 🥰🐴

24/10/2025

💡 Different outlines isolate component sections of your horse’s back.

Here’s how to school with strategy:

Forward Down & Out: The stretch that resets posture, aligns the spine & releases tension in the Longissimus and Spinalis.

Long & Low: Build your horse’s core into a relaxed back, activating Abdominals and Multifidus.

Competition Outline: Engagement and connection to assemble the now activated sections of the body, strengthening the Psoas, Abdominals and Epaxial/Hypaxial sets.

🎯 Want to learn when (and how) to use these for rehab, posture and peak performance?

The Core Conditioning Ridden Audio Warm-Ups walk you through this step by step while you ride.
📲 Listen, ride, and retrain your horse’s body the smart way.

Explore the series at coreconditioningforhorses.com

22/10/2025

⚖️🐎 “Sound” doesn’t always mean symmetric.

A 2024 study by Zetterberg et al., Prevalence of Movement Asymmetries in High-Performing Riding Horses Perceived as Free from Lameness, shook up what we thought we knew about performance horse biomechanics - revealing that over 70% of elite dressage and showjumping horses without any clinical signs of lameness showed measurable vertical movement asymmetries.

📊 Here’s what they found:
Using objective motion analysis, the researchers discovered that most of these “sound” horses displayed head and pelvic movement asymmetries that were similar in magnitude to those seen in lame horses.

These asymmetries were consistent across different gaits and persisted even when horses were warmed up and performing at their usual level.

In many cases, riders and trainers did not perceive any abnormality - the horses were competing and training at a high level without ever being flagged as “unsound.”

💡 What this means for us as vetrehabbers:
👉 Movement asymmetry is not always lameness - but it is information. It tells us about underlying muscular imbalance, compensation strategies, pain history, or functional adaptations that may increase injury risk over time.
👉 Subtle asymmetries can affect saddle fit, rider balance, joint loading, and long-term soundness - even if the horse never “looks” lame.
👉 Objective assessment tools, slow-motion video, and systematic groundwork can reveal these patterns before they evolve into pathology.

📆 Join us at the Vet Rehab Summit on 8 November, where Kevin Haussler will discuss Redefining Laterality in Horses, Maria Teresa Engell dives into The Rider’s Influence on Equine Biomechanics and the Role of Off-Horse Training for Technical Riding Skills, and Gillian Higgins shares the anatomy of dressage and show jumping.

In this image, we can see a pelvic drop together with muscle atrophy of the left hind gluteals which may point us towards instability or core weakness. Or it may not - because a still image in an asymmetric gait does not give us enough information.

21/10/2025

📢 A saddle that fits well today might not fit correctly in a few months time, making regular checks is crucial for your horse's welfare. 📢

🗝️ Some key points about regular saddle checks: 🗝️

🔹Muscle changes:
Horses can gain or lose muscle depending on their workload and training, altering their back shape and requiring saddle adjustments.

🔹Seasonal variations:
Weather and grazing can impact a horse's weight, influencing saddle fit.

🔹Young horses:
Young horses develop rapidly, making more frequent saddle checks necessary.

🔹Early detection:
Regular checks allow for early identification of potential fit issues before they become significant problems for the horse.

🔹Improved performance:
A well-fitting saddle can enhance your horse's comfort and movement, leading to better performance