Resilient Equine

10/20/2025

This one is for anyone who has the audacity to hang off their horse's head and call it "training".

You know the ones - plus or minus a rope halter, flailing the end of the longline - the horse is spinning circles around them.

"Disrespectful"

"Dangerous"

Frantic.

Terrified.

Waiting for the moment a human is going to haul on the rope, dragging them to a stop.

Only to send them in the other direction.

"Asserting their dominance"

"Moving their feet"

Abuse under the guise of "horsemanship"

Rinse and repeat until the horse complies.

To "teach them a lesson"

"Be the boss"

You're not actually doing the thing you think you are doing.

(Not that you would have the insight to recognise this.)

Want to know what you are achieving, though?

Pain. Think like whiplash -

Generalised deep muscle ache around their neck, back and hindquarters. Which is magnified every time you hang on the rope. Provoked with the centrifugal force of the circle and the increasing cranial pressure.

A chronic headache. Referred TMJ pain.

That beautiful region where the fascial system meets the central nervous system, the myodural bridge, rich with mechanoreceptors and proprioceptors, ragged around like a tuggy toy. Lit on fire.

Hurting the horse.

Traumatising the horse.

Teaching the horse that humans are not safe.

Defending your actions with the horse is "dangerous"

Thinly veiled abuse justified as "If I don't fix them, they'll be put down."

Here is your invitation to do better.

https://www.yasminstuartequinephysio.com/the-horse-posture-blueprint

09/01/2025

Is your horse afraid of the chiro? Try an osteopathic approach instead.

Many owners have shared with me that their horses, who are anxious about the chiro and don't respond well to the forceful 'thrusting' involved, are much more relaxed and comfortable with osteopathic techniques. In my experience, the gentle yet powerful osteopathic approach is very effective for all horses, but especially for those who are prone to being more sensitive or nervous.

This is likely because an osteopathic approach to treatment uses a wider range of techniques to improve mobility and function in joints, bones and vertebrae, the nerves, the internal organs, the muscles, fascia, ligaments and tendons, and bodily systems — all without the ‘need’ for forceful adjustments. There is no hammer or rubber mallet involved, so if your horse is sensitive to the more intense chiropractic techniques and tools involved, they might find the application of osteopathic techniques to be a far more comfortable and positive experience.

Some horses can have trouble tolerating the short-lever HVLA (high-velocity, low amplitude) techniques that chiros use. HVLAs can be utilised in an osteopathic treatment session too to engage the restrictive barrier, but if your horse does not tolerate this technique well, there are many other osteopathic techniques that can be employed such as LVHA (low velocity, high amplitude) techniques; long lever techniques; Balanced Ligamentous Tension; Functional Method Technique; Fascial Unwinding, cranial osteopathy; craniosacral; pumping techniques and lymphatic pump; vibratory force techniques; soft tissue manipulation, visceral manipulation – all aimed at restoring overall whole-body balance, mobility and functionality, and to reduce any pain and discomfort.

After a thorough case history and assessment, I take into account not only what your horse needs physically, but also what will work mentally and emotionally for your horse too. If your horse has been afraid of the chiropractic techniques, I will take that into account and choose a technique that will deliver the desired results while also keeping your horse calm. I work with your horse and want them to have a great experience.

An osteopathic approach to treatment also has a broader scope and focuses on the whole body and the interconnectedness of the systems; and in helping to restore the horse's natural ability to self-heal and self-regulate towards homeostasis (by removing the barriers to health, mobility and function). While the practice of chiropractics stems from the early beginnings of osteopathy (the founder of chiropractic, Daniel David Palmer was a student of osteopathy's founder, Dr Andrew Taylor Still), osteopathy differs in its philosophy to that of chiropractic. To put it in very simplified terms, chiros tend to centre around the alignment of the spine, and how it affects the nervous system while in osteopathy, the guiding principles acknowledge that the body functions as an integrated whole, and disturbances in one area (local) can affect overall (global) health. How the muscles, joints, joint capsules, tendons, ligaments, bones and vertebrae, nerves, fascia, viscera, fluids and systems of the body all inter-relate and communicate is of importance. Osteopaths understand that structure and function are reciprocally interrelated and that a change in one will affect change in others. Mobility and function are important, as is the body’s innate ability to heal itself if the barriers to health are removed. The practitioner trained in osteopathy is that ally to help identify and facilitate the removal of those barriers.

So, if your horse doesn’t respond well to chiro treatments (and if you find yourself having to have the chiro out very regularly to make adjustments), and you're looking for a gentler way to help your horse feel their best for longer, let's chat. Send me an email at: majestichorse@outlook.com.au or text me on: 0466077561. You can also contact me through my website: majestichorse.com.au 💙

08/29/2025

Blessed to learn from Janek!

In this episode of Echoes & Embers, we sit down with internationally recognized osteopath Janek Vluggen to explore the deep science, philosophy, and practice...

07/18/2025

✌🏼

There’s an old world dying out right now, and they are mad about it.

Hating change, they know how to brand anyone whom are not cut from their cloth, as ridiculous, incompetent, untrustworthy. It’s not the truth. It’s their way of comforting themselves as they experience the disintegration of unsustainable horsemanship, in real time.

You know, these crusty posts going around moaning and bitter about modern horse people and attempting to frame us as the enemy? Give me a break. Get a grip guys!

What they are actually saying is:

1. I’m scared
2. The world is different now than the world I first saw, and I don’t like change
3. I don’t know how to keep up
4. I’m angry that I might be irrelevant
5. Anyone not like me, is bad

Meanwhile, what’s really happening is that a new faction, a new era of horse people have emerged from the shadows. You see, we have always been here. We have always been questioning tradition, we have always been waiting for change, we have always been doing our thing… but usually disguised from or hidden away from folks we deem unsafe.

But recently, we emerged from the shadows.

Social media gave us a chance to find our people, because we are literally hundreds of thousands strong and we are everywhere, but we are not That Horse Trainer Down The Street (unless we are). So we needed a time in history where a tool helps us connect with others like us.

So this is our time for our voice to be heard. And there are people who are mad, so mad. Because we were often glimpsed at but never heard before. Now we are loud. Now we are reaching critical mass. Where we could effect widespread change.

Change such as using different language to describe how we work with horses… because how we work with horses is different, and requires different words to describe it. This doesn’t make us ridiculous. It makes us different.

Change such as redefining the role horses play in a human world, our oldest animal partnership besides perhaps dogs and hair lice, horses have been long overdue for a HR overhaul and we are the ones putting in the leg work. Not our fault that many traditionalists have been asleep at the wheel for literally centuries, still using steel and lashes to harm horses into our forms and calling that resilience and art. Wacky stuff. So our legwork, our boots on the ground, our labour don’t look the same as some of our compatriots not because we are desperate to sound lofty or superior… but because we are literally trying to raise what is a pretty low and crappy standard of medieval practices that we believe should not be considered normal. So our work looks different. And we are working that with weird tools that only recently were invented. Because we were waiting for this time.

Dinosaurs gotta die and that’s fine. Not everyone is coming to the future.

07/15/2025

He wasn’t naughty
He wasn’t an a**hole
He wasn’t “just being difficult”

He was however so skeletally compromised that a comfortable ridden life was never going to happen and time was against him. Not every horse is suitable to be ridden just the same as not every human is compatible with being an athlete. We need to normalise that behaviour is communication. We need to accept that there are many things in a horses body that make riding super hard for them.

This horse went through two breakers before his owner very diligently persisted with positive reinforcement training. He did make excellent progress, that is to be commended! But here’s my issue, positive reinforcement sometimes still masks these issues. It became obvious to his owner that he was becoming more internalised and less happy even in the paddock. Horses will try harder if you ask them nicely and there’s rewards for good behaviour. I’m not saying positive reinforcement is bad, it’s a great tool….im just saying it can mask serious issues. The biggest give away was how seriously assymetric he was. This is something I have felt many times while ridng these types. Asymmetry is normal but riding a horse that has wildly different left and right reins is not normal.

This is so complex on so many levels, so many.

Ever met a horse that was odd from birth? I believe inherited trauma is also a real factor, if you haven’t read the study on mice and how it took many generations to stop passing along, I suggest you do. It’s now well documented in humans too. Link below.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fearful-memories-passed-down/

This guys story is available on patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/collection/1606429in