Equine Massage WA

Rehab doesn’t have to mean endless circles on the lunge!

Here Sophie is riding Brennan while ponying Homer around the cross-country course. This allows Homer to work without the additional weight of a rider while still encouraging him to move forward at a more purposeful pace. Many horses naturally walk with better rhythm and freedom alongside another horse than they do beside a person, and travelling in straight lines also avoids the repetitive loading and strain created by constant circles.

We’re incredibly lucky to have this setup, and today we were able to make use of:

🐴 The hills — gentle inclines and declines help develop core stability, hindquarter strength, balance and control while naturally varying the workload.

💦 The shallow water jump — the water walker is currently too deep for this stage of Homer’s rehabilitation, but walking through shallow water provides light resistance without dramatically changing his natural gait. It encourages deliberate foot placement, increased hind-limb flexion and activation of the abdominal, back and pelvic stabilising muscles—making it particularly useful for back, SI, core and hindquarter rehabilitation.

🚶 Straight-line walk and trot work — ponying allows Homer to move at a better rhythm and work a little faster and more freely, without carrying a rider and without relying on repetitive lunging circles.

🪵 Raised poles — these encourage controlled limb flexion, coordination, proprioception and core engagement. Homer decided it was easier to jump them today rather than carefully step over each pole! While enthusiastic, this also suggests that slow, controlled hind-end strength and coordination are areas that still need further development.

⚖️ Balance pads afterwards — these provide a quiet, low-impact way to practise weight shifting, postural control and activation of the small stabilising muscles once the movement session is complete.

Not everyone has access to a cross-country course, water jump or a suitable horse for ponying—and ponying should only be attempted with safe, experienced horses and handlers—but the principle remains the same: learn to use what you have.

A gentle hill, a few poles, varied surfaces and carefully planned straight-line work can all become incredibly useful rehabilitation tools when used appropriately for the individual horse and their current stage of recovery.

It was a truly beautiful Sunday at our polework for muscular development clinic with horses and ponies of all ages, shapes, sizes and disciplines. It was a true celebration of the oldies with 2 over 25 3 over 20 ( 2 of them tbs) and another 4 in thier late teens proving you are never too old to work on your strength and mobility. I don’t know about all the participants but I had the best time teaching and spent the entire day grinning at each of your amazing horses and ponies.
Next one in September will be going up for booking this afternoon just waiting to confirm dates