Untethered Souls

Rebranding happening by Jan, 1/2025

Stay tuned for the change's, this will include a new business name.

🚨"Announcement"🚨
I'm going pro bono for any rescue horse's in the GTA and northern Ontario and free Equine Massage service's for Newstart Standardbreds foster horse's (Newmarket) will consider other area's too. Also offering End of life services, I am a death doula certified in animal end of life care.
My business name will also be changing soon as I am going in the direction of a personal sanctuary and rehabilitation.

Building a bond in equine massage..🐴

I always allow horses to dictate how long the massage lasts. It comes down to learning their gestures, cues, especially when it comes to pain point's.

I have found the two biggest problems requiring equine massage are people giving the wrong amounts of pressure to the horse's head, pulling too hard, too fast , etc and staying on their backs too long with improper fitting saddles.

Aside from relieving pain and stiffness, massage can really improve a horse’s well-being. Stretches within a horse's individual range of motion can make a big difference too, especially for those horse's with sore arthritic joints.

Horse's trust us as leaders if we do things right. We are our horse's friends, part of the herd, not disciplinarians or authoritarians! Their quality of life and wellbeing is utmost important to me.

Wishing Everyone and their loved ones a fabulous Christmas ⛄🎁

Equine Massage can assist with pain relief in horse's with laminitis..🐴

The coffin bone is joined to the flexor tendon. This helps the flexor muscles in getting further attached to the horse’s leg. When a horse suffers from laminitis, the muscles of neck and shoulder become stiff and so do the muscles down the back of the legs. This is the reason why the feet of the horses hurt. The stiffness of the muscles makes them contract even more which put some more tension on the coffin bone. The equine massage is usually practiced on the flexor muscles to the backside of the legs, which not only helps in relieving the coffin bone’s tension, but also helps in getting rid of stiffness from the shoulder and neck which were the primary characteristics of the condition.

Let's talk about outdoor turnout and why it's best for our horse's muscles and joints

• Generally, the more time your horse spends in a pasture the better. 🌳🐴💖

Better Leg muscles, joints and Hoof Health!

Bucking 🐎, trotting, and walking all day keep the joints and muscles in your horse's legs strong and limber. According to a study published in the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science in August 2013, allowing horses access to a large pasture offers important fitness benefits. Horses in the full-time turnout group in the study had greater bone density than other groups. Turnout also improves blood circulation, a crucial aspect of hoof health. No hoof, no horse!

Movement is important, MOTION IS LOTION, especially for those horse's with arthritis. Continuous exercise horses experience during turnout keeps their joints flexible, builds strength in their bones, all muscle groups and heart!

Of course, it's important to consider the weather conditions and your horse's health and age when creating a turnout schedule. 12+ hours outdoors is best!

Another bonus to predominantly outdoor turnout *Improved Digestion*: Left to their own devices, horses prefer to eat small amounts during the day. In fact, their small stomach size makes grazing the ideal way to eat. When horses are constantly on the move, food passes through their gastrointestinal systems much more easily.

This is great/ pertinent information.

Before backing your young horse, please read!!
A horse ages roughly 3 times faster than a human.
So a 90 year old human is a 30 year old horse. Both very old, usually arthritic, don’t have many of their original teeth left, and very likely retired and enjoying the finer things in life.
A 25 year old horse is a 75 year old human. Some are still happily working but some prefer retirement and an easier life. Often depending on just how hard a life they’ve lived.
A 20 year old horse is a 60 year old human. At that point where the body doesn’t work like it use to but the brain is all there and wants to be active.
A 13 year old horse is a 39 year old human. Middle aged, prime of their life where their knowledge and physical ability are about equal.
So let’s get down to the babies and work our way up.
A 1-1.5 year old horse is getting their first adult tooth, this happens at 6 years old in a human child.
A 3 year old horse is a 9 year old child. A child. Not ready for work by a long stretch. We have moved past sending children down the mines.
A 4 year old horse is a 12 year old child. Often will do odd jobs for pocket money, maybe a paper round, mowing lawns etc. Basically a 4 year old horse can start a bit of light work experience to learn the ropes.
A 5 year old horse is a 15 year old teenager. Think they know it all, cocky, and ready to up their work and responsibilities. Still quite weak and not fully developed so shouldn’t be at their physical limit but can start building strength.
A 5.5 year old horse has just cut their final adult tooth, this happens at 17 years of age in a human.
A 6 year old horse is an 18 year old human. An adult. Ready to work.
An 8 year old horse has achieved full fusion of their final growth plates. This happens at 24 years of age in a human. This is the age it is safe to push a horse for their optimal performance.
Pushing your youngster too hard too young will result in the failure of many body parts. Joints, spine, tendons, ligaments as well as their brains. Waiting another year or two at the beginning could give your horse an extra 10 years of useful working life. Be patient with your pride and joy!
Written by Vikki Fowler BVetMed BAEDT MRCVS
Graphic credit to Naomi Tavian , check her out on Pinterest

Are your Equine family members or friends in need of some extra TLC? Please contact me via PM. Service area is Sudbury and area, Muskoka and Simcoe County.

Equine Massage is the manipulation of soft tissue in order to achieve relaxation or stimulation, while working on various trigger points in the body. Simply put, massage is an effective tool! Some of the benefits to equine massage treatment include increased and improved performance due to the release of endorphins, and increased relaxation and reduction in stress, all of which lead to a much more content and relaxed animal.

Massage has been proven useful to help with relaxation.

As seasoned riders know, a stressed horse will not perform to its greatest ability. Through equine massage, the anxiety level of a stressed horse is decreased and it enjoys greater overall freedom of movement. That is evident in the resulting confidence displayed by the horse after a massage therapy treatment.

Massage can increase blood flow circulation, which expedites the elimination of wastes and toxic build-up from sore and fatigued muscles.

Massage is also an integral way to increase overall mobility and range of motion of a horse, which can assist in the improvement of jumping and turning, thus helping the horse reach its maximum performance potential.

Additionally, studies have shown that massaging a horse before competition can result in as much as 20 per cent increase in the animal’s efficiency.

🐴❤️ Letting everyone know that things will be changing for my business in the next while, including the name. I will be going in a different direction.

Hoof care is essential to quality of life for horse's! Just like massage can be.

The blood circulation of the horse's foot is OVERLOOKED.

A warning not heeded ⚠️ In November 2005 an article was posted in the American Farriers Journal, entitled "What a farrier should know about blood flow to the hoof"

In said article they quoted a vet called Anderson, who was a member of the International Equine Veterinarian Hall of Fame.

He said the following:

“The most important thing that a farrier ought to be aware of is the circulation as it curves around the edge of the coffin bone through the circumflex artery of the foot. That’s the area that farriers can impact.

The farrier really doesn’t affect the blood flow through the digital vessels coming down the limb, but trimming and shoeing can certainly impact the circumflex artery.

If you trim the wall too short, or if you get the sole pressure between the sole and the shoe, you can actually compress the vasculature and reduce the blood flow to that area.

And if you reduce the blood flow to an area enough, you get ischemic necrosis, in which the tissue actually dies from lack of blood supply.”

That was in 2005! Seems that incredibly sound advice fell on deaf ears.

Just one example of how the equine world likes to do its own thing and ignore biology.

We teach our students the importance of the circumflex artery - and how incorrect trimming and shoeing can damage it.

Shame no-one else teaches that.

HM.

Illustration of this uniquely clever vascular structure of the arterial system in the horse's hoof by Inky Mouse Studios.

Studies suggest that massage - as well as being a pleasant, relaxing experience - can actually help damaged muscles regenerate!

Massage enhances the process of muscle regeneration in horse's, apparently making damaged muscle heal faster and stronger, by pushing unhelpful molecules involved in the immune response out of the damaged tissue.

So give me a call and let's get your Equine friend/family member healing on the right track..🐴

Horse snacks, do's and don'ts! What are your horses favorites?

Great facts from Equus magazine..🐴

Importance of stretches and massage for aging horses! 🐴👐 All horses 😊

Just like a cat stretches after it wakes up or a dog, we humans should be as well, it's also important for a horse. Stretching encourages blood flow, and that's an important start to the day.

Also by accessing a wide range of motions with our body first thing in the morning we won't feel as tight or locked up. This is another reason why massage is so crucial, especially for aging horses who may not have the same mobility or flexibility. We can offer them a massage to help with tight and locked up muscles.

There is a saying, if you don't use it, you lose it! I cannot stress enough the importance of stretches, conditioning exercises and massage.

Kneading is my favorite 'unlock' the muscles massage to utilize:
- similar technique to that of which a cat uses to make biscuits on us. It's done by lifting, shifting the skin with your fingers, pressing into the muscle, rolling and squeezing the muscle. It can be done with knuckles, fingertips or with your fingers like pincers.

My favorite stretches for aging horses are carrot stretches, please see the graphic below for an example.

Great read everybody! Really stresses the importance of Equine Massage.

Equissage Texas: The Importance of Horse Massage Equissage Texas: Top-Rated, Best Equine Massage School with best reviews, offering courses in Equine Sports Massage Therapy. Also Equine Massage, Canine Massage, Bodywork, & Symmetria Therapy Services. Huge health and dispositional benefits of Horse Massage.

EQUINE MASSAGE VS EQUINE CHIROPRACTIC
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DOES MY HORSE NEED BOTH

Equine massage - Focuses on muscles and soft tissue. Reduces muscle soreness, improves muscle flexibility and performance. Tools can be included in equine massage therapy such as GuaSha or cupping.

Equine Chiropractor - Focuses on spine and joint adjustment, below the skin. Reduces muscle tension, corrects posture, relieves back and neck pain.

The risks with Equine massage are generally lower compared to chiropractic.

It can cause temporary muscle soreness but so can chiropractic.

Equine chiropractic must be done by a professional. Please do not try to adjust your horse yourself. A professional equine chiropractor is necessary to reduce the risk of lameness or potential misalignment or worsening if the horse is already dealing with misalignment (if not done properly).

💥Not all horses require both equine massage therapy and chiropractic but they should be assessed regularly to see which would be more suited or if they do need the two together.

Never hesitate to reach out-👍

Pain in horse's, do you know the signs?

Massage can definitely help with pain reduction for both acute and chronic pain. Give me a call.

Some signs of pain (subtle):

The horse doesn’t want to flex when you ask because that movement hurts, rather than ‘being stubborn’.

The horse doesn’t want to go forward or faster because the muscles in his/her shoulders are sore, rather than because he/she is ‘lazy’.

The horse with a bridle that is pressing on a sore poll may become head-shy rather than trying to ‘avoid being ridden’.

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome in the horse world is the industry’s lack of ability to properly identify horse discomfort.

I often choose photos that have blatantly apparent discomfort on purpose because the more subtle ones tend to go unnoticed and have masses of horse people denying there is any apparent stress simply because it is not obvious to them — even when they have means of accurately learning how to identify the more subtle signs using pain ethograms such as the Equine Grimace Scale (EGS).

I’m disheartened to say that even in this photo where I feel the discomfort and stress is OVERTLY apparent, especially when it’s accompanied by a CLEARLY far too tight noseband, people still argued that I couldn’t possibly know if this horse was in discomfort or not without seeing a video of the horse moving.

I think that as an industry, we need to learn to accept the fact that our personally inability to identify something doesn’t equate to its lack of existence.

We have an industry full of thousands of people who are so used to seeing stressed and uncomfortable horses that they don’t know what a healthy normal looks like.

The fact that many people cannot see what should be glaringly obvious issues in this photo is why so many problems within the industry can be shrugged off and ignored.

We sincerely need to start opening our eyes and doing the uncomfortable work that is undoing biases that have been created due to so many of us being surrounded by perpetually stressed horses and accept the fact that commonality and normal are two different things.

Stress is so common in the sport that it FEELS unbelievable that behaviours that we see rampantly everywhere could be associated with stress, but the reason these behaviours persist in such high quantities is because of the inability on the part of the humans to properly identify them.

We cannot fix issues that we fail to see and identify.

We cannot fix issues that we blatantly deny the existence of them.

If you cannot see the problems in this photo, it is a sign that you have a lot of education and inner work to engage in, not a sign that the problems aren’t apparent simply because cannot or choose not to see them.

Sign the petition to help us with the Alliance For Horse Welfare In Sport enact welfare reform in horse sports: https://www.change.org/p/enforce-welfare-rules-for-horses-paris-olympics-2024

The importance of body condition scoring is that it assesses a horses overall health based on the degree of fat cover!

Advantages of the body condition score are:

Integration of all body areas
Easy to perform
Allows for classification of horses into underweight, overweight, or obese categories
Cutoff values available to imply risk for disease

Disadvantages of the body condition score are:

The method only assesses subcutaneous fat
Bias between evaluators may influence results
The score can be influenced by coat length, gut fill, muscle mass, pregnancy, etc.

The score may not be comparable between different breeds or body types..🐴

Horses average 205 bones and humans 206. While we both have a pelvis, only humans have collar bones.

Similarities:

Axial and appendicular divisions

Mandible is the only freely movable bone/joint in the skull

7 cervical vertebrae each

5 sacral vertebrae each

Horses and humans have 3 types of rib - sternal (true), asternal (false) and floating

Same bone structure in arms/forelimbs and legs/hindlimbs, however the bones have developed differently in the horse and human to be relative to size/weight carried etc.

Differences:

Horse's skull is elongated due to difference in facial bones

Horse's eyes positioned higher up to see predators whilst grazing

Horses possess guttural pouches at the caudal end of the skull.

Apart from sacral and cervical vertebrae, the horse has considerably more vertebrae than the human in other vertebral regions.

Horse has 26-38 ribs (18-19 pairs) whereas the human has 24 (12 pairs).

Horse has only 1 metacarpal bone

Horse has no clavicle (collar bone), instead the forelimbs are attached to the backbone via a sling of muscles and tendons.