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Which stretches should I do with my horse?

By Sue Palmer on March 13, 2024

In terms of which body parts to stretch, you might be guided by where you feel your horse is stiff, tight, sore or restricted. It might be that your physical therapist has suggested that you stretch a particular muscle group or that your horse has a specific movement restriction that could be eased with stretching. Your instructor may have told you that your horse needs to be looser or more flexible in his ridden work, or they may have pinpointed a specific area for you to work on. In these cases, you may focus more on some of the exercises in my online course "Stretching Your Horse: A Guide to Keeping Your Equine Friend Happy and Healthy" than others. There is no right or wrong. Every horse is an individual. Trust your instinct; you know your horse.

Beginners mind and horse physiotherapy

By Sue Palmer on March 7, 2024

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few” Shunryu Suzuki In meditation, we are often reminded of ‘beginners mind’, the act of approaching something as though it’s the first time you’ve ever seen it / done it / felt it / been there, etc. As a Chartered Physiotherapist, I’m aware of the ‘curse of knowledge’, the assumption that everyone else knows the same things I do. As a non-tech person, that ‘curse of knowledge’ becomes very obvious to me when a tech person is trying to explain to me how to do something that I’m struggling with but they find easy. Approaching a situation with a beginner’s mind helps me to maintain a sense of wonder, and I love that feeling. Listening recently to a meditation, it occurred to me that I don’t need even to try to have a beginners mind when it comes to my work (and yes, I’m well aware that means that my mind was drifting - that’s ok, one of the aims of meditation is to be able to notice the mind drifting off and gently bring it back to the moment, so I’m not beating myself up for that!).

How do I do fascial stretches with my horse?

By Sue Palmer on March 6, 2024

To stretch the fascia, we need to be slow and gentle. That’s one reason I’ve chosen to share fascial stretches in the course "Stretching Your Horse: A Guide to Keeping Your Equine Friend Happy and Healthy". I think that slow and gentle works well with horses. A blog by Amanda Oswald on the Pain Care Clinic website states, “We know that trying to force fascia to stretch is not going to get us anywhere. However, the viscoelastic properties of fascia also mean that it responds well to heat and gentle sustained pressure. This combination creates a physical change in the tissue, making it more fluid, in the same way that the combination of heating and stirring treacle makes it more runny.”. Allow the soft tissues of the body time to release tension. Think of how your body feels when doing a stretch (for example, a calf stretch or a hamstring stretch), and imagine that perhaps your horse is feeling similar sensations. With these stretches, slow and steady wins the race.

Why should I do stretches with my horse?

By Sue Palmer on February 25, 2024

As a horse owner, you understand the importance of keeping your equine friend comfortable and happy. Tight muscles can often lead to soreness. A 15-minute stretching session can make a significant improvement in easing tension and alleviating discomfort in your horse. The stretching routine doesn’t have to be complicated. Just getting your horse moving can make all the difference. Similar to how you feel after a 15-minute yoga session, your horse can feel looser and more comfortable after he has stretched. With regular stretching, you can help ensure your horse stays happy and healthy.

What is a stretch?

By Sue Palmer on February 21, 2024

The word "stretch" can function as both a verb and a noun. As a verb, it refers to something soft or elastic that is capable of being made longer or wider without tearing or breaking. For example, "my sweater stretched in the wash." It can also mean straightening or extending one's body or a part of one's body to its full length, typically to tighten one's muscles or reach something. For instance, "the cat yawned and stretched." As a noun, it can refer to an act of stretching one's limbs or body, such as "I got up and had a stretch," or a continuous area or expanse of land or water, like "a treacherous stretch of road."

Help me to help 100 horses (or more)

By Sue Palmer on February 8, 2024

Do you live in an area where it's challenging to get access to physio for your horse? Does the cost of physio mean that you can't have your horse treated as often as you'd like? Would you like to be able to do more for your horse? Would you happen to know someone who any of the above applies to? Please help me reach these people and their horses by sharing this blog. I'd love to help 100 horses this month; perhaps it's your horse I can help? If not your horse, wouldn't it feel wonderful knowing that you have made a difference by passing on the information someone needs to support their horse? I'm on a mission to help those who can't get the horse physio assessment and treatment they would like to offer their horse. I've carefully and lovingly created an online course, "Stretching Your Horse: A Guide to Keeping Your Equine Friend Happy and Healthy". There are ten stretching exercises (video included) and lots of information about how, where, when, why and what to stretch.

Clear and consistent communication eases uncertainty

By Sue Palmer on January 30, 2024

“The mistake is thinking that there can be an antidote to the uncertainty.” David Levithan I like to be in control of what’s going on in my life. Don’t we all? Uncertainty makes me anxious, and I fight harder to take back control. It turns out that horses don’t respond well to uncertainty, either. As Intelligent Horsemanship Recommended Trainer Carley O’Callaghan (Considerate Horsemanship) said in a FB post, “When we are not consistent and clear, the horse doesn't understand what's expected. Quickly, you'll find yourself in a situation that's not enjoyable/dangerous with a horse that doesn't understand. When we are being clear with horses, we will quickly find our need to correct the horse becomes less and less. If you feel you’re correcting the same thing over and over, it's time to change the approach and question.”

Have you heard of JOMO?

By Sue Palmer on January 29, 2024

Your friends are meeting up for an all-you-can-eat breakfast at your favourite cafe, but you’ve entered your horse in a show that day. You were really looking forward to the show until you knew that there was the option of meeting your friends instead. You can only do one activity or the other, but you want to do both. You’re suffering from FOMO, the Fear Of Missing Out. We know from scientific studies that too many options make us less happy. Even buying a pint of milk isn’t a simple decision anymore - do you buy skimmed, semi-skimmed, full fat, oat, coconut, soya, almond, or something different?! Can you be sure you’ve made the right choice, or could you be missing out on something better?

What are you doing next?

By Sue Palmer on January 29, 2024

Have you ever found yourself so busy thinking about what’s coming next that you haven’t got any brain space to think about what’s going on right now? I find my head in that place (usually the future) without knowing how I got there. I’m working on a task, and the next thing I know, I’m doing that task automatically and stressing about something that might or might not happen in a week’s time (or a month’s time, or a year’s time, or when I’m 88 years old… my brain doesn’t seem to mind where in the future it takes me!). I tell myself that it’s ‘this one thing’ that I’m worried about, and when ‘this one thing’ is over and done with, then I’ll find calm and contentment once more.

Have you decided your future?

By Sue Palmer on January 29, 2024

“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.” —F. M. Alexander” This quote really hit home for me. I’ve never got on well with long-term planning. Sorry - I can hear some of my clients laughing there because I plan ahead more than most, with next year’s diary organised in November for the following January to December. What I mean is, I’ve never managed, for example, to work out where I want to be in 5 years or what income I’m going to achieve, the kind of thing the ‘planning’ books tell you to do.

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