Bristol Equine Therapy LLC

10/15/2025

Food for thought today: Never underestimate the power of the walk. 🐎

So many riders overlook the walk when it comes to training — but it’s actually one of the most valuable tools we have, especially in rehab and topline development. It’s my favorite gait for building strength, balance, and connection without putting unnecessary strain on the horse.

Because the walk is low-intensity, it allows us to focus on proper movement patterns, alignment, and muscle activation. It also gives the horse time to process what we’re asking — mentally and physically.

One of the biggest benefits? Hind end engagement. At the walk, it’s much easier to isolate and encourage correct use of the hindquarters, helping the horse learn to push from behind and carry more weight evenly. This creates a strong foundation that transfers into every other gait.

So next time you ride, don’t rush through the walk — use it with intention. Your horse's body will thank you.

10/13/2025

Updated tongue picture xx

The Equine Tongue

So, I am slightly obsessed about the equine tongue, how it functions the relationship between the mind and how the position of the tongue is dictated by the emotional side of the horse and the mechanics of the relationship of the tongue and the rest of the body

Now we have many generic posts about connections throughout the body, but I am going to cover in a slightly unique way, we know of the connection through the body right through to the hind end, I personally tried to move the hindlimb and could feel the restriction and wether bitted or bitless they all have their own unique restriction

The tongue is made up of 12 muscles and that can conjure an image of one tongue made up of 12 parts and while the tongue does have specific muscles within it when we look at the 12 pairs this is the tongue and its connecting muscles, I will be honest I am the type of person that is not satisfied by just saying there are 12 I want to know what are they and what they do in relationship to the tongue, for we need to know right especially when thinking of how much we influence the tongue

So first of all I apologise to all the people I have messaged and bugged asking do they know every muscle because I knew of 8 but and only four of them originate and insert within the tongue the rest do not have both origin and insertion within it so (and I may be wrong) for me saying it's made up of 12 muscles could be misleading the layman to thinking they are 12 parts to the tongue, and I am not saying I am right and if anyone knows more then please educate me so I cannot wake up at 2am thinking about it lol, I want to thank Sharon May Davies for taking the time to answer my message and it prompted me to share this post again

So, with that I will tell you what I know about the tongue's anatomy

Although it is a muscle it is not like say a biceps think it more of a muscle that continually works but does not grow in size the more it is worked (for we know to build muscle we cause micro tears and movement does not do this in the tongue) its job is to aid in digestion, taste perception, respiratory function, the intrinsic muscles are within the tongue and the extrinsic muscles are connected via muscles to the hyoid, mandible, soft palate, pharynx, it has a healthy blood supply and is innervated by nerves such as the Hypoglossal, Vagus, Facial and Trigeminal

INTRINSIC MUSCLES

There are four pairs of intrinsic muscles which originate and insert back into the tongue, intrinsic means closer to the body and these muscles help with the shape of the tongue and positioning the tip of the tongue and work together with the extrinsic muscles for things like eating, swallowing etc

These four pairs are named the same just the directional term changes, so we have the SUPERIOR (shortens, widens, and curls the tongue upwards), INFERIOR (shortens, widens, and curls it downwards), TRANSVERSE (elongates) and VERITCAL (flattens) longitudinal muscles, they originate and insert into the structures within the tongue

EXTRINSIC MUSCLES

Extrinsic means further away from the main body and often the origin will be from outside the tongue, and they will insert into the tongue they are associated with more of the mechanical movement of the tongue (protruding, elevating, depressing, retracting), just a side note both intrinsic and extrinsic act together for correct function

STYLOGLOSSUS origin stylohyoid bone of the hyoid, action retracts and elevates the tongue

GENIOGLOSSUS origin incisive part of the mandible, action protrudes and depresses the tongue

HYOGLOSSUS origin basihyoid of the hyoid, action retracts and depresses the tongue

PALATOGLOSSAL, (GLOSSOPHARYNGEAL) This is a muscle of the soft palate and pharynx it assists in elevating the back portion of the tongue



MUSLCES AFFECTING THE FUNCTION OF THE TONGUE

THYROIDHYODEUS, this muscle will draw the tongue caudally by the attachments from the basihyoid

MYLOHYOID, this is a muscle which forms part of the floor of the mouth and the tongue sits in it like a cradle, with its links to the hyoid it affects movement with the tongue

GENIOHYOIDEUS, origin incisive part of the mandible, now even though this does not insert into the tongue it lies below it and inserts into the hyoid so when the hyoid comes forward it also affects the tongue and brings the tongue forward

OMOHYOIDEUS, origin subscapular fascia and even though it inserts onto the basihyoid bone that has a direct action on the tongue

STYLOHYOID the action of this results in the elevation of the base of the tongue

STERNOHYOID like the omohyoid it links the shoulder to the hyoid but also, we have the link between the hyoid and tongue

So, as you can see these are only a handful of muscles either in or surrounding or connecting the tongue to other structures

So why bother to know is not just easier to say there are 12 muscles of the tongue well like any muscle to know the action and how we may help or even how we may hinder we need to know the anatomy, for we may wiggle jiggle and do all sorts without knowing what we are influencing

We often talk about the connection of the tongue to the hind end or front end through lines, chains or any of the other connectins but it’s the freedom of choice for the horse as we know the tongue has a relationship with posture but it’s the brain which dictates the position of the tongue due to how the horse is feeling, we all know in humans we will place our tongue for helping maybe TMJ dysfunction but for anyone like me who suffers with TMJ pain or dysfunction trying to make it better with tongue exercises can actually cause us short term discomfort for the long term gain as dysfunction is our comfort zone, we often use the tongue as an avenue to effect something else without considering how important the tongue is in its own right

For me personally a happy horse has a still tongue, take a look at when we are working on horses the horses that are curling, fidgeting, or gurning with their tongue often tells us that there is pain or discomfort somewhere else yet we are often encouraged to see horses do all this with a bit in their mouth shouldn't an accepting mouth be a quiet mouth, we shut their mouths up to put a plaster over the issue and I cannot think of anything worse than when the horse is trying to find comfort in movement we then address the issue by shutting it up rather than asking why, when we think of respiration the tongue plays a crucial role, and where the tongue sits is so important so we have to be careful that we do not have an action that may affect this

In summary the mental well being of the horse affects the tongue which affects posture so as always we have to think of brain and body when approaching whole horse health

And if you are one of those people who want to know why and not just because it is then please if you know more muscles that I may of missed out I have no issue with being educated lol and you can join the long list of people I bug with weird questions about the horses body

We must always remember not just to manipulate a tongue or head position to get a "release" we need to ask was the horse simply avoiding pressure and because then the horse was simply releasing stress that our hands caused

I also apologise it for being so long this is the shortened version

10/08/2025

My girl got some love today 💆‍♀️🐴

Even my own mare gets regular massages—she works hard and deserves to feel her best! Just like every horse, she benefits from staying loose, relaxed, and comfortable.

09/30/2025

💁‍♀️ Let's Talk.... Secondary Issues vs. Primary Problem
▪️Pt.1

If we think of the body like it's the tree in this picture, I think it gives good imagery to understand the difference in secondary issues and "getting to the root" aka the primary problem. It's easy to realize that something is wrong with a tree if the leaves are discolored or fall off in early summer or if it makes minimal fruit... The problem is that when there is an issue in the root system it may take weeks to years before it is reflected in the part of the tree you can see. So by the time you notice the leaves are discolored, the system has been out of balance for a long time.

In my experience as a therapist, I find that secondary issues and compensatory pain tend to be the factors that bring people into the office to get worked on. When the body has run out of ways to compensate without you realizing, then you come in looking for a solution. The body has to get louder for you to listen.
👉 Same thing with horses. I find that those secondary issues and compensatory pain patterns cause a really LOUD response that will demand attention. Examples: Bucking, Rearing, Refusal, Performance Anxiety, Aggression... The body has to get loud enough that you will listen.

As a rehab therapist, it's part of my job to "pull back the lens" until I can look at the whole horse and start connecting the dots of compensation until it forms a pattern I recognize. Once I have a pattern, then we can start to create solutions.

Solutions might look like:
- Working with your vet, farrier, dentist
- Environmental or social changes
- Diet or exercise changes
- Tack or training aid changes ... Just to name a few things....

At the expense of making this post kind of a long read, I thought it would make a great multi-part series where I break down some common things that I see with some of the issues listed below.

❓ Would you be interested in a look through the lens of a biomechanics, bodywork, and eastern medicine explanation to common issues?
❓ Would it also be helpful if I did a TLDR (too long didn't read) video to accompany each post?

09/29/2025

We’re Live! 🐴✨
Our brand-new website is officially up and running! Discover how Bristol Equine is dedicated to helping horses feel their best—through expert care, personalized service, and a true passion for equine well-being.

🌐 Explore our services: bristolequine.com

Thank you for being part of the journey—we can’t wait to show you what’s ahead!

09/23/2025

How are you different from another modality ???

Often the question I get asked the most is what do you do different from a, b or c??

First I can't answer what others do as I don't do that modality but also the other most important thing is wether you are a physio, massage therapist, chiro, bodyworker or any of the other many methods that are out there the judgement should never be made because of the modality because who ever is trained in whatever they do will bring a certain individuality to each one

We can often hear someone say oh I will never use a chiro again or that bodyworker was rubbish yet often its not the modality you should be disregarding as that is just one person who did that modality who was just not very good. Its not a right to work with horses it has to be earned with their approval

I am a masterson practitioner but I am unique in the skill I bring to that modalityi learned fasical work within a year of qualifying and melded that skill into my qualification, i attended a whole horse dissection just after qualifying and brought the discovvery of the truth inside the horse to finesse my work on the outside, I havent done the bladder meridian in over 9 years yet someone else qualified in the same modality may do it everytime, I have worked everyday for over 10 years my work would be completely different from someone who qualified the same time as me yet maybe never did it as a job or never attended the same classes as me or simply apply their hands in the way I do, it doesn't mean I am better it just means I am not the same masterson practitioner in application as anyone else with the same qualification.
We are all unique in our application of the skillset we have learned.

A newly qualified physio will differ vastly from an experienced one, a chiro who has spent years training will differ vastly than some who added it on top of their main modality

Someone who spent years learning cranial sacral work will differ vastly than someone who did a CPD day course

Each modality has its own validity yet each person who qualifies in that modality will bring their own personal touch and uniqueness to it

We all do things slightly differently yet we all I hope have the same goal in mind, which is to make the horse feel and perform at its best.

Of course like anything there will be bad in any profession they choose, but try not to throw out a whole modality because of one bad apple

I have friends who differ vastly from the way I work yet I meet them on CPDS, I see them on webinars, we buy the same books because we are all passionate about seeking more education to help us have a full toolbox to help the horse

The best discussions I have are those that have different views from me yet are willing to listen my point of view and me theirs.

The most important part of who you choose is how did your horse feel ??? And did they get better?? Those are the most important questions we should ask
For if we can get results without causing distress to the horse then it doesn't matter who you choose you have chosen the best person for your horse.

09/16/2025

Love seeing my client horses thriving and performing at there best!! 😍 💪💪

09/16/2025

Massage vs. Mobility Work

Why do they work so well together?

In my sessions, I combine both massage and mobility work to achieve better, longer-lasting results.

Massage targets the muscles and myofascial layers, releasing immediate tension. It helps improve circulation, muscle texture, and overall wellness.

Mobility work addresses larger muscle groups and involves multiple systems in the body. A common example is stretching. Stretching can often reach deeper layers of tension that massage alone may not access, especially in stability muscles.

Mobility exercises also focus on improving proprioception (body awareness) and the horse’s overall movement.

Together, massage and mobility work create a more balanced, effective approach to equine wellness.

09/10/2025

Yes 100%. Lets be curious rather than demanding. Ask the why instead of assuming defiance!

🙏 Behaviour is communication, not defiance. When a horse resists, spooks, refuses, or “acts up,” it’s so easy to label them as naughty or difficult. But what if instead we paused and asked why?

👉 Is there pain?
👉 Is there confusion?
👉 Is there fear or overwhelm?

Every reaction has a reason. Our job isn’t to correct the “bad” behaviour, but to understand the message behind it. When we shift from discipline to curiosity, we don’t just fix a problem, we build trust, partnership and a deeper connection ❤️

Career in Professional Equine Massage for 2026, just visit 🎓 www.woldsequinemassage.co.uk
L4 Equivalent Diploma
For an informal chat 💬 just call Olivia on 07583411990