Vandlen Equine Massage and Bodywork

11/19/2025

Attention California Friends!

I will be in Sonoma County spending time with my parents for the holidays, but I will be offering a select few appointments! I am in the area fairly regularly, as I consider it one of my home bases, so I would love to connect with some horse people in the area!

11/15/2025

I ❤️ my job.

11/14/2025

Fascia, Fascia, Fascia: The Updated Map of the Body’s Connective Network

There is a newer, more formal classification of the fascial system that is becoming increasingly recognized in equine anatomy.

Here’s the clear summary of the most current view:

The New Classification of the Fascial System

The Fascia Research Society (FRS) and the Federative International Programme for Anatomical Terminology (FIPAT) have outlined a modern, unified classification that moves far beyond the older “superficial vs. deep fascia” model.

The contemporary definition sees fascia as a body-wide, three-dimensional, continuous connective-tissue network, and the system is divided into four major categories:

1. Superficial Fascia
• Located just under the skin
• Highly hydrated, rich in nerves
• Houses adipose tissue
• Major role in sensory input, thermoregulation, glide, and fluid dynamics

2. Deep/Muscular Fascia
• Dense connective tissue around muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments
• Includes epimysium, perimysium, endomysium
• Responsible for force transmission (including epimuscular force transmission)
• Major role in proprioception and muscle coordination

3. Visceral Fascia (Splanchnic Fascia)
• Connective tissue surrounding and suspending organs
• Includes mesentery, pleura, pericardium, mediastinum
• Involved in visceral mobility, stability, motility, and visceral–somatic pain patterns

4. Neural Fascia (Meningeal Fascia)
• Envelops and supports the nervous system
• Includes dura mater, epineurium, perineurium, and endoneurium
• Critical for neural glide, tension regulation, and mechanosensory input

The Most Important Shift

The new classification is based on the concept of the “fascial continuum” — meaning:

Fascia is not a collection of separate sheets but a continuous organ system with regional specializations.

This reclassification also aligns with the concept of fascia as an organ of communication, integrating:
• mechanical sensing
• proprioception
• nociception
• autonomic regulation
• fluid dynamics
• force transmission
• inflammatory responses

Relevance to Equine Science, Massage & Bodywork

For horses, this classification is extremely helpful because:
• The visceral fascia explains referred pain patterns (as in ulcer-induced movement changes).
• The deep fascial system explains global force transmission and compensatory patterns.
• The neural fascia helps explain vagal tone, autonomic responses, and tension patterns.
• The superficial fascia relates heavily to sensation, bracing, coat changes, edema, and swelling.

This is why equine movement, posture, and pain can reflect problems far from the apparent site.

https://koperequine.com/there-are-4-categories-of-fascia/

11/13/2025

How often should your horse see me?

The answer is of course: it depends.

Many of my horses are on a monthly schedule, which can work really well for maintenance. However, there are times when makes sense for the frequency of sessions to go up or down. If the horse has a specific issue, or a major change in training, or have large performance goals, it may make sense to up frequency. If your horse is maintaining fitness and you’re willing to do a few stretches to maintain their body through training, monthly is often enough to keep them. If your horse is maintaining their sessions super well, don’t have any large goals coming up, don’t have a large work load and you’re willing to invest in some time doing your own maintenance work on them, often times we can find a sweet spot in the schedule of every 2-3 months.

11/13/2025

This!

Posture is very important. Reading into and discovering pain signals is important too

But I’m finding the current climate is so unsure, so tentative, backing off for every potential signal of discomfort either physical or emotional, that horses are actually worse off for it.
If you never put the horse straight, they will BECOME painful. If you back off EVERY time the horse has a question, often interpreted as resistance, the horse WILL break down.

Why? Because without some guidance, some straightening, some questions and answers, horses and people will never get anywhere.

Imagine going to a fitness coach. Imagine he backs off every single time you’re remotely uncomfortable, a little sore, a little unsure, not perfectly comfortable. Imagine you need this for PT to recover from an injury.

Not only will you never get fit, you’ll actually become more anxious and more lame. Why? Because you have no guidance through and forward. Your coach will be feeding into, and building anxiety and weakness.

This is what I see in the world at large now- a well meaning attempt to create comfort in horses is actually building more lameness, more body pain, more anxiety.
Of course we need to address and solve sources of pain and discomfort.

Get good fitting tack, learn to sit WELL, and learn to ride straight. I’m not saying don’t listen to the horse - but don’t become so tentative you’re no help.

A lot of people are capitalizing on people’s good intentions to create confusion, dependence, and mystique. This stuff isn’t new - it’s been around for ages. We’ve known how to straighten horses and keep them sound for a long, long time, but suddenly it’s like the Tower of Babel out there and nobody knows what to do.

Calm; forward, and straight. Soundness is actually quite simple. Get your seat right, your tack right, and then ride them forward and put them straight.
—obviously there are some horses with lameness or congenital issues that this will not apply to. But a qualified vet or other professional will be the best help, not every Facebook post or forum you can find

Almost all of my horses came to me unsound. At a certain point I decided they were either going to be ridden to soundness or retired. And wouldn't you know it, they are all sound now. Sometimes you just gotta go for it.

11/11/2025

Intentionality

In my Task app, I have a note that says, “post about intentionality.” I now have no clue what inspired me to write this note, but here goes:

One thing that my practice has taught me is the power of intention. Horses read our intentions like a book. Their survival depends on it. As a LAMT, I am always checking in with mine, and from what place it is coming from. It’s only human to want to get to a problem and fix it, but sometimes that’s too much for the particular horse. When I am working on a horse sometimes all it takes is a shift in my intention to put them at ease. A dial back, a broader view, a softer eye. They are paying SO much attention to us, more than we realize most of the time.

Having clear intentions also extends to handling and riding on many levels. There’s a saying (although I am not sure who said it) that “you’re either training or un-training your horse at all times.” Coming into sessions with an intention can help you bring the leadership to your horse that they require to understand our human world, or it can help you to step back and see the situation differently. In my experience (both in bodywork and in other jobs in the equine industry), horses appreciate clear expectations. This may seem harsh, but if you don’t have a reason for doing something with a horse, it might be a good idea to examine why you are taking a particular action, and what they may be reading from the situation.

Another side of bringing intentionality to our horses can help greatly with developing condition or fitness. Pre- planning each ride, even a little bit, will help maintain continuity, and progressive changes. You will be more likely to be consistent in something if you see the benefits over time, but without some intentional choices to have some repetition in your relationship with your horse, you wont be seeing those changes, which is very demotivating.

On a personal level, my winter goal is to bring another level of intentionality to my weekly sessions with the horses I ride/ handle. I have been pretty terrible about applying my bodywork to my ridden work. This winter, I am going to create plans to include massage, stretching and other modalities to my riding, and make it a priority. A little bit I more “practicing what I preach” if you will.

If you’ve made it this far, now you know a little bit more about how the inside of my brain works, and thank you for reading this stream of consciousness this morning!

11/09/2025

*UPDATE*
The date of this workshop has changed to December 15! Please reach out to me if you’d like to secure a spot!

🧲 Anatomical Grooming Workshop! 🧲

I am super excited to announce that I will be doing my Anitomical Grooming Workshop at Jeneration Horseworks on November 10th in Eatonville! The workshop consists of a short presentation where I go over how functional anatomy and how basic understanding of your horse’s movement can help you to use your grooming routine more intentionally, as well as a demonstration and some hands on time! Feel free to PM me for more information!

11/09/2025

FREE webinar about why and how to exercise senior horses in ways that enable them to age gracefully.- Re...

11/05/2025

🧲 Anatomical Grooming Workshop! 🧲

I am super excited to announce that I will be doing my Anitomical Grooming Workshop at Jeneration Horseworks on November 10th in Eatonville! The workshop consists of a short presentation where I go over how functional anatomy and how basic understanding of your horse’s movement can help you to use your grooming routine more intentionally, as well as a demonstration and some hands on time! Feel free to PM me for more information!

11/04/2025

Acupressure for Horses, Hands- On Techniques to Solve Performance Problems and Ease Pain and Discomfort by Dr. med vet. Ina Gosmeier is an overview of the modality of acupressure. It covers how acupressure works, when to apply it and different protocols for various situations.
The book describes the theory and history behind Chinese medicine, and describes the meridians as well as all of their connections. As a modality, it is very gentle, but has deep affects. I personally have been interested in learning more for awhile, and this book only got me more interested. I was especially interested in the overall Yin and Yang balancing points, as well as some of the more distal points that connect to important points deeper within the body.
On thing that stood out to me was the similarities between the meridians and the myofascial lines that have been discovered in horses. Many of them run through the exact same structures of the body! As a LAMT, I was really excited about new ways to affect the same areas, as some horses require different approaches for me to be “let in.” I think an acupressure course is on the horizon for me, for sure.
Overall, this is a pretty high level overview, and I am sure just scratches the surface of what the modality can be. It was a good read, but had lots of procedural sections in it, so unless you’re a nerd like me, it may be one you want to take out to the barn as reference rather than a bedtime read.

11/04/2025

This is off your regularly scheduled horse posts, but my husband is putting on a benefit show on November 14th. If you are around Tacoma, come on out!