Latest Articles
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Building Balance and Core Strength: The Benefits of Backing Up for Horses
Backing up is an exercise that engages the horse’s muscles in an eccentric manner. By asking the horse to back up slowly and in a controlled manner, the muscles responsible for decelerating and controlling the backward movement experience eccentric contractions which can lead to increased muscle activation, strength gains, and adaptations. This exercise can help Read more
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7 Things I Learned About Caring For Horses In Alaska
Today, I met a lady who’s been raising and riding Morgans and Welsh ponies in rural Alaska for the past 30 years. She told me about some of differences she’d noticed, between caring for horses in horse country, South Carolina vs caring for them in rural Alaska. 1. Some horses are kept far out in Read more
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Expectation vs. Communication
It can take a few sessions for a massage therapist to build up a good rapport with your horse and get the best results. It can also take a few sessions for your massage therapist to understand what you the owner is expecting from a massage session. Depending on where each of you are coming Read more
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Training Over Zig Zag Poles
Walk is an important part of any warm up with your horse. It’s generally recommended that we spend 10-20 minutes at the beginning of a ride letting the horse slowly start moving. Walk increases circulation bringing oxygen and nutrients to muscles, flushing wastes, stimulating synovial fluids and heating all the tissues. As tissues warm they Read more
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If Your Horse Is Body Sore, It Needs A Massage
Definitely have your vet out, have the chiropractor out, do pemf, red light, theraplate, micro-current, KT tape; your horse will still also need a massage to work out its tight, sore muscles. All those other therapies are valid and have their own benefits to contribute but none of them do what can massage do. Up Read more
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What Are Extracellular Fluids?
Extracellular fluid (ECF) refers to the fluid that exists outside of cells in the body’s tissues and compartments. It includes various fluids like interstitial fluid, plasma (found in blood vessels), and other specialized fluids like cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, and more. ECF provides a medium for the exchange of nutrients, oxygen, waste products, and other Read more
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What is Muscular Kinetics?
Muscular kinetics refers to the study of the movement and forces produced by muscles. It is a branch of biomechanics that focuses on understanding the mechanics and interactions of muscles during various movements and activities. Muscular kinetics involves analyzing the forces, torque, joint angles, and muscle activations that occur during different muscular contractions and movements. Read more
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Lead Your Horse From Both Sides
One relatively simple way to work on your horse’s straightness and ambidexterity is to lead your horse from both sides. Most horses have a side they prefer to be handled from, and a preferred way to turn when ridden. When you lead your horse from the left, your horse has to focus its attention on Read more
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The Therapeutic Power of Skin Rolling to Release Muscle Knots & Enhance Tissue Mobility
Skin rolling is a technique used to release muscle knots and fascial adhesions near the skin. Skin rolling uses the thumb and fingers to gently lift the skin from the muscle below. You can then roll the lifted skin forwards along the direction of the muscle fibers or move to a new spot and lift Read more