Latest Articles
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50 Most Fascinating and Important Properties of Joints in Horses
Why Joints Matter Joints are far more than hinges and levers. They are living sensory hubs that connect every system in the horse’s body. Each joint functions as a responsive organ of perception, movement, and communication. Through joint capsules, ligaments, cartilage, and synovial linings, mechanical forces are translated into chemical, electrical, and neurological signals that Read more
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DOMS and Fascial Recoil in Horses: Why Their “Spring” Disappears After Hard Work and Massage Therapy’s Role in Recovery
Horse owners often notice that after a very challenging ride — hill work, gallops, or intense schooling — their horse can feel “flat” in their movement. The natural spring, or myofascial recoil, seems depleted. This is essentially the equine version of what humans experience as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), including the temporary reduction in Read more
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Force Without Boundaries: How Fascia and Myofascial Therapy Shape Epimuscular Flow
What Is Epimuscular Myofascial Force Transmission (EMFT)? Epimuscular myofascial force transmission — often shortened to EMFT — describes how muscles transmit mechanical force not only through their tendons to bones, but also laterally through the surrounding fascial network. Instead of force moving in a single straight line, fascia allows tension to spread across nearby muscles, Read more
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How Muscles Change: The Short-Term, Mid-Term, and Long-Term Timeline for Massage and Conditioning
Understanding how and when a horse’s muscles change is one of the most useful concepts for trainers, riders, and bodyworkers. Muscles can change in a single week — negatively through tension, positively through massage — but true structural development takes time. Massage and exercise work together, each influencing different stages of the adaptation process. Below Read more
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From Poll to Sacrum: The Dural Sleeve and Dural Fascial Kinetic Chain
The dura mater and its fascial extensions make up one of the most influential — yet most overlooked — systems in the horse’s body. While riders and trainers often focus on muscles, joints, or hooves, the dura forms a deeper structural and neurological foundation. It connects the poll to the sacrum, transmits tension throughout the Read more
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The Interplay Between the Thoracic Sling and the Fascial Sleeve of the Forelimb
The horse’s forehand is a marvel of suspension and flow — a dynamic system that relies on the thoracic sling and the fascial sleeve of the forelimb working together as one continuous, responsive unit. The efficiency, elasticity, and comfort of the horse’s entire front end depend on how these two systems share load, tension, and Read more
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Protein Timing for Performance: How When You Feed Matters as Much as What You Feed
Muscle development and recovery aren’t just about how much protein a horse gets — they’re also about when that protein arrives. For years, equine nutrition focused on total daily intake. But emerging research shows that the timing of protein feeding around exercise can make a real difference in how well horses build, repair, and maintain Read more
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The Muscle–Tendon Junction (MTJ):
The muscle–tendon junction (MTJ) is where contractile muscle fibers gradually transition into dense, collagen-rich tendon.This area is small, but it is one of the most influential zones in the entire musculoskeletal system. From a Western anatomy standpoint, MTJs are sensor-dense, load-sensitive, and critically involved in regulating muscle tone and movement. From a Traditional Chinese Medicine Read more
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The Thoracic Sling–Axial Skeleton Interplay
The thoracic sling–axial skeleton interplay to the “corset theory” of the core—this is where things get really interesting biomechanically. Let’s unpack it carefully. The corset theory refers to the idea that the deep core muscles and fascia act like a corset around the trunk, stabilizing the spine while allowing dynamic movement. In horses, the key Read more