Flash

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of presenting alongside Steve Boyles at his Natural Horsemanship Clinic at the Best Little Horse Ranch in Lakeview Terrace, CA. For anyone in SoCal, if you have the chance, I recommend checking out one of Steve's Clinics. He has a great energy about him and the horses really respond to his quiet manner.

This clinic focused on stretching techniques and Equine Structural Integration - yay! I had the opportunity to present my work to a rapt audience, working with a fabulously responsive client - Flash. Flash is 24 and has lived one crazy life. First belonging to Randy Travis, he was later sold and had a succession of owners, some of whom were less than attentive. At some point, he was involved in an accident where his right front hoof got wrapped in a barbed wire fence. This has caused him some pretty severe physical trauma and compensations.

When Flash first walked off at the beginning of the session, his right hip was much higher than his left and he slammed his right hind hoof into the ground. This was just the beginning, but seeing as the hind end is the motor of a horse, I started here. After an hour of diligent work, Flash's entire hind end had changed. His hips were rounded, the gluteus muscles relaxed. He almost had trouble walking he was so calm!

Later that evening, I received an email from Flash's owner: " I wanted to thank you SO much for the time and energy you put into him – he came home and cantered around his pen and pranced with his head held high for the first time in months."

I'm always thrilled to hear such positive feedback. It seems that the vets had told Flash's mom that all she could do for him was to give him pain medication and keep him comfortable for the rest of his days, but after this, we all have hope for so much more!

Equine Rapport

I have always believed that creating rapport is of primary importance when doing bodywork of any kind, be it with horses or people. After all, you're meeting someone and within ten minutes you're accessing some of the most painful places on that individual's body. For the client - equine or otherwise - to be able to let go, he's got to trust you.

Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend a clinic with Cynthia and Tony Royal of Imagine - Discover the Magic. They demonstrated some of the best techniques I have ever seen for establishing a bond with a horse. Their techniques are particularly effective for equine bodyworkers because of their simplicity.

They have several videos on YouTube like the one above:

Clinic Preview
NBC Television Interview

Also, visit their website for more information and to purchase full length instructional DVDs:

www.imagine-discoverthemagic.com

This is the first time I have seen a training protocol that I would specifically recommend for equine bodywork professionals.

The Injured Horse

When I am discussing Equine Structural Integration, people frequently ask me if I work on injured horses exclusively. I find this a surprising prospect. I do work on horses who have sustained injuries, depending on the nature of it. Horses that are on rest or undergoing treatment for tendon and ligament issues respond very well to Equine Structural Integration. It helps to keep them balanced and avoid the compensatory patterns that can result from favoring a sore leg. I have also worked on many horses who have fallen down either on a lunge line or flipped over in the cross ties or getting on a trailer, horses who have slightly dislocated hips, and even one horse who had, at some point, fractured his pelvis so badly that his legs didn't even connect with the ground at a straight angle. All of these horses benefited tremendously from this work, but why wait until the horse is in serious pain to give him some relief?

Ideally, Equine Structural Integration can be used to help a horse with minor problems achieve a balanced body and maintain it with minor tune ups. This will help the horse live a long, healthy life with a vibrant career in his athletic field, be it endurance, reining, dressage, eventing, etc. It will also help to prevent future injury because a horse with a resilient structure will be much more able to adapt to the concussions he will experience in high level equestrian sports.

Basically, it comes down to the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Dedicated to the balance, health, and well-being of the horse

Many of our beautiful horses are more than just pets. We ask them to perform incredible athletic feats everyday, strapping on almost 200lbs of gear and rider weight and requesting that they climb mountains, launch themselves over jumps, or dance with grace and beauty, all the while bearing this weight. Add into that the fact that I've never met a perfectly balanced human, and it's pretty incredible that our horses are able to do the things they do.

Just like human athletes have habits, neuromuscular patterns, strengths, and weaknesses, and receive skillfully applied bodywork to help minimize their effects on performance and the health of their bodies, equine athletes need specialized attention as well. Keeping the horse in balance throughout his training and showing career helps to prevent serious injury to tendons, ligaments, and joints.

This blog is dedicated to the balance of the horse through Equine Structural Integration. I provide ESI services to horses on location, practitioner education workshops, Rolfing Structural Integration services for riders, and rider movement education. More information is available at www.healingthehorse.com.