Flourish Equine Bodywork

What do you think? Should I add aqua therapy to my services? 😂

Just sayin.

I don’t know why no one books these? 🤷‍♀️

Belly lifts (AKA thoracic sling activations) should be an important part of your horse’s weekly routine.

As an equine bodyworker, I’m often asked how to do these exercises correctly and what to look for.

Here’s some tips:

👉 Try “zippering” your hands together under the ribcage. Start one hand on each side and meet in the middle while gently scratching with your fingertips. This is a sensitive area, so be gentle!
👉 Look for a slight lift in your horse’s withers and a slight drop of the head to counter balance (as shown in this video). The movement doesn’t have to be big!
👉 Aim to hold the lift for 5-6 seconds. If they can’t do that at the beginning, work your way up to it!
👉 Let your horse fully relax back into its natural posture in between lifts.

There are so many benefits to these exercises, but my top two are: helping your horse maintain a good posture and mobility as they age and aiding hind end engagement during riding.

As an equine bodyworker, I use lots of different tools day-to-day to help horses with mobility. In my opinion, some of these tools are a lot more effective than others and I’ve rated them here for you to see!

Questions about any of these tools? Leave ‘em below! ⬇️

So blessed this is my life! ❤️

As an equine bodyworker, my clients are often shocked to find out that their homework exercises do not include riding, polework, or even stretching.

Instead, I often point them to what I consider to be the most important exercise for musculoskeletal longevity: a relaxed, neutral posture.

In this clip, my horse, Artie, is in a pretty noisy and chaotic environment. And all I’m doing here is asking him to find relaxation in his neck, while he is in my presence. Once he can do that, we can move onto all the fun exercises. Until then, doing polework or riding will only result in incorrect muscle development or poor compensation patterns.

Can your horse find a relaxed, neutral posture in your presence? Try it and report back! ❤️

If you guessed activating the thoracic sling, you are correct!

As an equine bodyworker, I’m often tasked with assessing horses through “static” or non-moving assessments. During this time I look for many things such as:

➡️ Posture
➡️ Over/underdeveloped muscles
➡️ Body symmetry
➡️ Tight lines between muscles
➡️ Ribcage alignment

The list is endless!

This sweet hardworking therapy horse at Bearfoot Ranch was an easy assessment. Right off the bat, I could tell she struggles with activating her thoracic sling (core muscles) and this could have caused a cascading effect on her body.

Did you guess the same?

It’s what’s on the inside that matters most y’all. 🫶

Artie sure loves Pulse PEMF! But, he definitely tries to hide it. 🤪

I’ve been working on him for over a year and a half now and this is the first big release he’s given. But wow, what a release! Check out that sideways jaw! ❤️

Good boy, Artie. Now it’s time to get back to work!