Magic Hands Equine

10/30/2025

10/30/2025

BOO! 👻

10/18/2025

Couldn't have said it better myself!

10/13/2025

Why I've stopped chasing "correct" movement as an ideology for horse health -

"The stress of trying to be perfect will kill you more quickly than your imperfections" Chris Williamson

I referenced recently that I used to be of the mindset that everything could be fixed with the right sort of training - and what I mean by that is training which fosters the idea that a horse should be in a specific sort of frame for them to be moving in healthy biomechanics.

Moving in the correct frame was synonymous with happiness. If your horse was in the correct frame, they were healthy and happy, and everything was just fine.

Within that, I would suggest that there was a fair amount of micromanaging occuring - a lot of "correction", albeit light - not big kicks and rein jabs - just gentle persistence.

"Could you please put your ribcage over here? No, not like that, like this. Yes! That's it! Okay, now lets move a bit more over there. Not like that. No, no not like that either. Yes okay, we're a bit more how I want you to be..."

Very little flow -

Definitely no autonomy.

Possibly a bit degrading for the horse?

I appear to have tumbled into quite a few watering holes over the past few years, for which I am immensely grateful to everyone who has contributed to my learning and professional development so far, and here is a conclusion that I have come to:

We all take s**t way, way too seriously.

Many of us are out here chasing ideals of the perfect body, and the perfect movement, and the only way to do this is with schooling - as detailed in literature that's hundreds of years old, based on horses who were being trained for very different purposes back then, compared to today.

At a time when we weren't asking questions about sentience and consent because these horses were going to war. They had a job to do - whether you agree with the premise of that or not.

I've come to the conclusion now that balance, and as such, health, is a variation between extremes and I dont think it should be micromanaged.

I also don't think it takes years of study to create a basic healthy posture for the average horse to go out hacking or do some light schooling - which is from my experience what a lot of people want to do.

I think it's this exact narrative that it takes years of study is very disempowering to a lot of people.

And I also think the repetition of movements and shapes in a confined space on the same surface with very little autonomy and creative expression is the antithesis of training for soundness.

To me, training for soundness to me is literally can the horse oscillate around neutral - in front of the vertical, neutral spine-ish, depending on the locomotor need.

To me, training for soundness includes variation in your horse's "work" which biases towards horse-centred activities which suppport your horse's behavioural needs:

Enrichment activities which target the sensory system
The ability to practice problem solving skills
Exercises which promote agency

And what I find to be absolutely wild is that, by setting up activities that promote more of the above, many postural niggles and just fall away?

And the horse has a really nice time doing it.

Yet I find resistance from the human side of the equation because it feels so abstract to the social norm.

So to counter this, here are some ethical questions that I ask myself regularly, because apparently I can't shut my brain up and I can't unsee a single thing:

Are we creating more or less emotional stress when we are chasing correctness of a movement pattern?

At what point does the level of focus/stress/discomfort of pursuing the nuance in a movement outweigh the physical benefits of said movement?

Even if the horse's posture improves as a result?

In chasing perfection, I have genuine concerns for the horse's wellbeing.

Whilst I recognise that facial expressions are complex, I still can't reconcile the idea that a horse that's grimacing is purely doing it for concentration... especially when we have so much research around the pain face and indicators of ridden horses in pain.

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

📸 the change in posture after x3 treat scatters over the space of 1 hour.

Because if we can create that posture by doing something so easy, surely the task is no longer training the posture but instead making sure we dont screw it up?

10/13/2025

Today I felt a wave of reflection… about the horses who lived through my learning curve.

They didn’t stay with me because they had the choice.
There were ropes, bridles, halters and fences—expectations.
There were times I led them without asking, touched them without listening,
and taught them what I had been taught.

They didn’t get to walk away when I did harmful things.
And that’s what humbles me the most.

I used to believe I was being kind.
And in many ways, I was doing my best.
But now I see how often doing my best still meant asking too much…
still meant silencing what they were trying to show me.

Most stood through it.
They bore it quietly.
They adapted—not because it was easy, but because it was safer to comply.

And still, they gave moments of softness.
A look. A breath. A leaning in.
Moments that taught me more than any lesson I ever tried to teach them.

I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
But now that I do… everything has changed.

I listen more now.
I question more.
And I honor every horse I meet as a being with their own life—not an extension of mine.

So this is for those horses, past and present.
You endured more than I saw at the time.
You lived through my becoming.

I owe you everything.

And I hope that now, in this quieter chapter,
I am someone worthy of standing beside you—without asking you to carry me.

With reverence,
🌿 Stormy

10/08/2025

Itchy horses everywhere….

More than anywhere else I ever lived, I see itchy horses in Florida, some with severe skin problems. Also more often than anywhere else I hear owners say “and I tried everything”. What do all of these owners have in common? They didn’t consider their horses’ metabolism and (no matter how often you tell them not to) feed industrial grain, sugar, oil, etc.

Let's take a closer look at the horse's metabolism: The horse - like any other mammal - disposes of waste materials via various excretory organs:
The intestines essentially excrete indigestible waste, but also waste that is disposed of by the liver. Gaseous waste, such as CO2, is excreted through breathing.
The kidney is responsible for excreting all water-soluble substances that are passed into the bloodstream by the liver, the detoxification organ. However, the kidney only has a limited disposal capacity and also has a whole range of other, more important tasks; it ensures that the acid-base balance, the mineral and water balance and also the blood pressure are kept constant.
If the kidneys are overloaded, the body is able to dispose of waste products through the skin if necessary. Studies have shown that the sweat glands function in a similar way to the renal tubules and use the same mechanism to transport waste to the outside with sweat.

This waste, some of which is very aggressive, ends up on the surface of the skin that is not designed to deal with toxins like these. Slight skin irritation occurs. These lead to inflammatory reactions of the immune system, which then concentrates in the skin to ward off bacteria, fungi and other pests that invade the inflamed skin. If the saliva of blood-sucking insects is added, the immune system overreacts and thus leads to allergic behavior. Scratching causes small injuries in the skin, through which more germs can pe*****te and stress the immune system. In addition, the skin will of course continue to be irritated by the waste that is excreted through the skin.

In some horses, the metabolism is so overloaded that the skin becomes the main excretory organ. These horses scratch their entire bodies and even itch in the winter. In addition, in many cases there is a chronically inflamed intestine. Its mucous membrane cells release large amounts of histamine, which increases susceptibility to allergies, especially in the skin. In affected horses, the acid-base balance in the connective tissue is often disturbed, the liver is overloaded by the many circulating waste products that cannot be excreted, and the body is only able to maintain metabolic processes with difficulty. What begins as a harmless tail rub can end dramatically and have a huge impact on your horse’s performance.

The problem with the underlying causes of sweet itch is that they cannot be seen in blood work. Values that indicate renal insufficiency, i.e. poor kidney performance, only become noticeable when 70% of the kidney has already been destroyed - far too late. The acidification of the tissue cannot be seen either because the body keeps the blood pH value strictly constant.
Only the values that indicate an allergic process are noticeable, as the allergic reaction of the overloaded immune system becomes visible in the skin. However, the allergy is not a cause, it’s just a symptom, an effect of the disturbed metabolism. Many horses with eczema develop additional symptoms such as chronic cough, f***l water, colic, poor hoof growth, poor shedding and even metabolic syndrome or Cushing's, plus they are often tired and weak.

Most eczema cases have a disturbed (large) intestine flora. Therefore, therapy should always begin with optimizing the feed and cleaning the digestive tract. The main focus here is to reduce sugar and acids. If possible, concentrated feed (that is any form of grain, balancers, beet pulp, treats etc) should be completely eliminated for six months and then switched to crushed barley or oats, depending on the horse.
Please also read the article on KPU and consider a kidney and liver cleanse for 6 weeks in the fall and spring when horses begin to shed.
I'm happy to give you more information during your next appointment.

10/06/2025

I used to be of the mindset that everything could be fixed with the right kind of training.

Every postural abnormality, every little bit of tension, every unwanted behaviour -

All of it could be fixed with the right exercises, applied in the right way.

The inverse of that meant that, if people had horses presenting with the above, who weren't getting better with the "right training", then clearly they were doing it wrong.

It wasn't that the exercises weren't appropriate, it was that they had a skill issue.

And it's this sort of belief system that gaslights people into thinking they're inept, that they just need to try harder, they just need to practice it more -

They just need to do MORE.

And if the horse was still having a hard time, in the hands of a really good rider (whatever that means) then it wasn't an issue with the training, it was the horse's flaw:

"Oh, they just find that exercise hard."

"Oh, it's because they have bad conformation."

"Oh, this horse likes to be hollow."

Because obviously, as humans with our superior cognitive ability, we definitely have the right to make assumptions about an animal's lived experience -

How they feel in their body.

What's challenging from a coordination perspective vs what is actually really darn painful(!)

And it's this sort of belief system that really, REALLY hurts horses.

At no point during the application of the "right training" was there ever a pause to think -

If we've been fairly consistent, why isn't the horse putting on muscle mass?

If we've been doing the right combination of stretchy trot and sideways, why does the horse still want to move like an inverted banana?

If we really are so superior with our training skills, why isn't the horse improving?

Because maybe, just maybe, the horse that's hollow and can't put on muscle mass, actually has kissing spines,

Perhaps the horse with the upright hindlegs, that braces and runs everywhere but doesn't have any "push" from behind, actually has suspensory ligament desmitis,

What if the horse that finds shifting weight to their hindquarters really hard, despite all the best classical training, actually has sacroiliac disease?

I'd just like to take a minute to say - trying to shove and kick and pull and to be frank, even gently coerce a horse nicely into a posture that hurts is a massive welfare problem.

Even if you have the best intentions.

So please, I beg you, think. With every exercise you introduce to your horse, THINK.

Is this appropriate?

Could there be more happening under the surface and my horse is just trying to tell me?

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

09/20/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GCmdLzod9/

🧩 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝘆𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 & 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 🐎

An anatomical structure that is far more clinically relevant than many realise.‼️

🔍 𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆:
Myo = muscle
Dural = dura mater, the protective membrane surrounding the spinal cord
This bridge represents a direct anatomical connection between the re**us capitis posterior minor muscle and the dura mater of the spinal cord, occurring in the spaces between the atlas (C1) and axis (C2), and between the atlas and the occiput.

Importantly, this region is one of the very few places in the body where the spinal cord is not fully protected by bone.

Alongside this muscular-dural connection, the greater occipital nerve (arising from the dorsal ramus of C1) traverses this region, making it particularly vulnerable to mechanical irritation, strain, or compression.

⚡ 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:
Because of the proximity to the brainstem, dysfunction at the cranio-occipital (CO) junction and the myodural bridge can create widespread neurological consequences.
The brainstem governs essential autonomic and sensory functions — including auditory processing, swallowing, extraocular muscle control (vision), and muscle tone regulation.

⚠️ Chronic irritation here can therefore manifest as heightened hypersensitivity (sound sensitivity, light sensitivity, swallowing difficulties, abnormal muscle responses).
This partly explains why horses with poll trauma or pull-back injuries can present with long-term behavioural and physical signs that appear disproportionate to the initial event.

⚠️⛔️ PLEASE PLEASE TAKE NOTE
IF YOUR HORSE OR YOUR YOUNG HORSE PULLS BACK AND SHAKES THEIR HEAD IMMEDIATELY, get a qualified equine osteopath to see the horse within a week or 2 if possible.
Young horses 🐎 ❌️❌️ DO NOT TEACH TO TIE UP VIA A SOLID ANYTHING! ❌️❌️

💥 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲:

𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺: horses that spook excessively or become intolerant to normal environmental noises after poll injury, likely due to altered brainstem auditory processing.

𝘖𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴: difficulty with tracking, changes in blink reflexes, or a horse appearing “head shy” around the eyes

𝘚𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦: horses that suddenly resist the bit, choke more easily, or develop tongue thrusting behaviours — often linked to brainstem-mediated swallowing reflex disruption.

𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨: persistent bracing of cervical and poll musculature, even at rest, due to ongoing nerve irritation.

𝘜𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴: anxiety, head tossing, or hypersensitivity to light touch around the poll.

⚠️ 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:
This is precisely the region over which a halter or bridle headpiece lies. A single pull-back incident can cause profound trauma, not just to the soft tissues, but directly to the spinal cord and brainstem integration. These injuries often require years of careful management to recover, if at all. It also explains why palpation of the poll can elicit exaggerated responses — the tissue here is not just “muscular” but deeply neurological.

In practice, I have also observed training techniques in dressage where riders pursue the so-called “nuchal ligament flip.” This is not a desirable training adaptation — it is an induced strain on the nuchal ligament and supporting suboccipital musculature. Deliberately training a dysfunction in this region risks perpetuating cycles of instability, pain, and neurological irritation.

🚫 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆:
Any disturbance of the CO junction and myodural bridge is not an isolated lesion. It can trigger an ongoing cycle of neurological stress, pain amplification, and compromised sensory integration — in other words, an unrelenting loop of agony.❗️

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻, 𝗜 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗶𝗱𝘀.

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗹, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰.

𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: https://helenthornton.com/contact