08/06/2025
Way back when, I used to ride race horses. And then I became a PT. And then I became an Equine Massage Therapist. And then I became a Pelvic PT (for humans!)
It's all always coming together. If you know horses, mares, like female humans, get a bad rap for their #$&. As if their behavior is something wrong with their brain.
Instead, what if the extra(males of both species don't have to deal with the repercussions of a uterus and ovaries) organs of their reproductive systems could be causing some of this?
What if we can improve freedom in this area and improved comfort as we bounce around on their backs for our own pleasure and entertainment?
Horses are athletes just as the people who ride them are. One of my favorite things used to be the opportunity to do PT on a rider and bodywork on a horse. Phenomenal results.
Pelvic PT for humans can change pain patterns, balance, posture, digestion, and reproductive capacity, along with so many other things.
Not surprising it can do the same for horses.
I’ve waited two months before writing of Lyric’s visit to the equine vet and osteopath for her pelvic room exam.
This marks the fourth of my horses since January, who have had internal procedures done. Two, to address geld scar adhesions for Cinnabar and Credo; another was to deal with the internal trauma Flint had suffered, after his great fall.
This last session was for Lyric because females have trouble internally, too. I don’t know why this comes as such a surprise, for we women aren’t always given an easy path through life. We learn to ‘suck it up, princess’, to grit our teeth, dig deep and get the job done... even when we feel awful inside.
Why would our mares be any different? Turns out, it was a good thing this treatment option was available to Lyric, for she needed help and I found out rather a lot in the process.
No doubt due to being exposed to a draft horse stallion as a filly—in the months before I purchased her—the pony has had a lot of trauma to her reproductive tract. Here are the vet’s findings.
“Upon ultrasound, the lumbosacral junction was found to be healthy and balanced, as well as the caudal aspects of both SI joints. The right o***y had a follicle that would not ovulate but was causing inflammation. The right o***y was torsed cranial (forward) and there was a very tight band of fascia in front of the o***y.
The left kidney was twisted, so the end of the kidney was pointing towards midline. The fascia along the right o***y was very tight and there were scars and adhesions from what appears to be haemorrhaging…”
After an internal procedure to replace organs and loosen adhesions, our pony was ordered five days’ rest, a schedule of in-hand exercises for at least two weeks before resuming regular riding, along with a follow-up osteo visit in one month. I could only hope that we had peeled off yet another layer to this complex ‘onion’ that has been Lyric.
I watched the process in silent wonder, that she had let me ride her, at all. Rather than troubled, she’s really been remarkably generous…
After a few days’ off, turned out to pasture with the larger herd, Lyric came back in to do in-hand exercises as per the osteopath’s instructions: things like walking and reining back, stepping over low ground poles quite slowly with sustained balance and carriage… before we moved on to trotting over ground poles, as well.
***
There is a picture I’ll post in the comments, of the pony’s v***a, before and after treatment. It’s a bit explicit, but also of interest, I think. The fascia and systems within and outside the horse are all interconnected… we’re told this, over and over and yet, it always comes as a surprise.
Lyric’s rest and therapy have been straightforward, for she is young and her body wants to heal. It makes such a difference when we can catch these things early, when they haven’t become chronic issues that really come home to roost, once the horse is in old age.
Her ridden work has uneventfully gone on, as planned.
Is it my imagination, or is she less spooky, less brittle around the edges, somehow? Is she not as ready to leap ahead, or buck? Is she picking up her canter leads more easily, without that left lead disunited 'cross-firing' constantly showing up? Is she able to go calmly and quietly into the canter, without her trademark rocketing ahead? Does she feel less like a powder keg ready to go up at any moment, now?
I’d honestly have to say yes to all.
Photo: Mike McLean.
