Flourish Equine Bodywork

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United States
Rome, GA
Flourish Equine Bodywork

Performance • Wellness • Recovery
Equine & Canine
Massage • PEMF • Thermal Imaging • In Hand Polework
Serving the Northwest GA & Atlanta Areas

02/18/2026

If you want to be able to ride for extended periods of time without your horse being fatigued (such as a long trail ride), then this ground pole progression will help build MUSCLE ENDURANCE:

1️⃣ Start with 1-3 poles on the ground at a walk for 3 reps each direction
2️⃣ Increase the number of poles
3️⃣ Increase the number reps in each direction to 4-6
4️⃣ Repeat 1 at a trot
5️⃣ Repeat 2 at a trot
6️⃣ Repeat 3 at a trot
7️⃣ Repeat 1 at a canter
8️⃣ Repeat 2 at a canter
9️⃣ Repeat 3 at a canter

Hit the follow button for more ground pole exercises tailored to your specific goals! 🐴

02/14/2026

Let’s show some hardworking rescue horses LOVE this Valentine’s Day! ❤️❤️❤️

02/13/2026

✨FRONT LIMB MOBILITY STRETCH ✨

➡️ WHO: Horses with short strides or tight shoulders.

➡️ WHEN: After warmup, ground work or riding

➡️ WHY: Improves stride length, releases constricted shoulder muscles, supports movements like jumping/dressage

➡️ HOW:
1. Lift the front leg gently and place one hand behind the knee joint and one behind the fetlock.
2. Slowly & gently extend the leg forward until you feel restriction or resistance from your horse. Keep the leg low and never pull or force.
3. Hold for 3-5 seconds.

02/12/2026

I am back with another post on whether trot poles actually **lengthen** a horse’s stride. 🤔

In case you missed it, there’s been significant discussion & debate on my social media about the use of trot poles. Do they actually lengthen a horse’s stride or are they used for other goals? My horse Artie was a perfect experiment.

Here’s my take, I feel these photos show a bit more reach with the hind end, but not the front. In the front, Artie’s hooves actually land in the exact same spot, despite the pole spacing increasing. He does, however, increase his range of motion in his front joints.

From a bodywork perspective, what do you think this tell us? 👇

02/11/2026

There has been significant conversation about the purpose of trot poles recently and people seem to fall into two groups:

1️⃣ The only goal of trot poles is to lengthen a horse’s stride.
2️⃣ Trot poles don’t lengthen a horse’s stride and the point in using them is a multitude of other reasons.

Without sharing which camp I fall into (although if you’ve been around long enough, you can easily guess), I set out to test the theory that trot poles lengthen a horse’s stride.

But first, here’s what the Google-ator says about this: “ground poles encourage a horse to reach farther forward, cover more ground per step, and push more from behind without speeding up or rushing.”

The poles in my test were spaced accordingly:

➡️ 1st pass: spaced exactly to Artie’s hoof prints at a working trot (32”, 37”, 33”, 31”).
➡️ 2nd pass: Equally spaced at 38” apart (just shy of the industry standard for his size).
➡️ 3rd pass: Equally spaced at 42” apart (lowest end of the industry standard for his size).

I purposely stayed on the lower end of the range because he is so short strided and these were PVC poles and I didn’t want to risk him stepping on one wrong. However, 42” is still a stretch for him at about 6” further than his natural stride.

Now tell me what YOU see! Did he reach further forward, cover more ground, or push more from behind? Or did his hooves hit the exact same spot each time? 🤔

02/09/2026

If this is anything like my reel on “perfectly spaced ground poles at a walk”, I might need a drink before I tackle the comment section each day.

Cheers! 🍷

02/06/2026

I’m really considering removing my Google Maps listing! 😂

02/05/2026

I’m getting this comment over and over again in my DMs and comment section of the reels that I post. And I get it. In an ideal world, we would never have to remove ANY autonomy from our horse’s lives.

But also, never using cross ties does not work for every horse in every situation. 🤷‍♀️

And before anybody says anything, my horse is very well-trained, and this sped up clip of me grooming him does not show the multiple moments of positive reinforcement he received when he was standing quietly. He’s simply just bored and curious.

Despite that, this clip does perfectly illustrate my point that sometimes you do need to use tools like cross ties in order to accomplish goals like grooming and picking out their hooves so that they don’t get abscesses. And ::gasp::, yes sometimes cross ties are needed during bodywork.

As long as the cross ties do not hold the horse’s head in a fixed position, allow for some movement, and include quick release clips (which is the case in every single one of my videos), they are definitely NOT abusive and in my opinion, no different than straight tying.

So, thank you to all the “never cross tiers”. I got your point and if you keep commenting on EVERY SINGLE post on this topic, you are just feeding the algorithm and ensuring more people see it. 😘

02/04/2026

I see it often as an equine bodyworker. A trail of dust behind a horse or telltale marks in the sand.

And many times I hear riders brush it off as “laziness”, but toe dragging is often the first warning sign of tightness, weakness, or restriction in the back. (Especially if it’s one sided like my “pig pen” in the video). 🐷

Left unchecked, toe dragging can turn into bigger issues such as:

‼️ Chronic soreness
‼️ Compensation patterns
‼️ Lameness
‼️ Acute injuries

One way to know if your horse drags its toes is to check the sand of your arena after you ride. If you notice drag marks in the sand consistently, it might be worth investigating further to avoid bigger issues down the road.

02/03/2026

That groundhog must have a death wish because I can’t take six more weeks of this cold! 😂

01/31/2026

A fascia scraper (aka muscle scraper or IASTM tool) is one of my go-to tools in equine bodywork—for good reason.

It helps with:

✔️ Releasing fascial adhesions
✔️ Breaking down scar tissue
✔️ Prepping fascia for treatment
✔️ Increasing blood flow

In my practice, I reach for this often—especially with sport horses when I find scars, knots, or tight, shortened muscles (like the glutes in this video). It saves my hands and allows me to work deeper and longer without fatigue. 🙌

For my senior horses, I use long, gentle strokes to lift restricted fascia off the muscle belly—often along the back and hind end—to restore better movement and comfort. 💛

And for every client, I love using this tool to prep the body by following myofascial lines with short, gentle strokes—especially the limb protraction and retraction lines. This is easily one of my clients’ favorite parts of a session!

Side note: These tools are commonly used in human sports massage too—your horse gets the ✨star athlete ✨ treatment too!

01/30/2026

The jaw is a major tension holder for our equine partners and often overlooked.

Every horse owner should know how to check their horse’s jaw for tension, especially if your horse is mouthy, resistant in the bridle, cribbing, or windsucking!

To do this, lightly trace the following with your fingertips, watching for behaviors such as flinching or closing of eyes, along with feeling for heat or tightness:

➡️ The jawline
➡️ The masseter (chewing muscle)
➡️ The TMJ

Need a visual of these three areas? Just comment JAW below and I’ll send you one! 🤍

Address

Rome, GA
30165

Telephone

+17065918835

Website

https://linktr.ee/Flourishequinebodywork

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