Equine Anatomy
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The Remarkable Lubrication System Inside Your Horse’s Joints
Did you know that healthy cartilage is more slippery than ice on ice? Articular cartilage is one of the slipperiest naturally occurring surfaces known—often described as being about five times more slippery than ice on ice. That extraordinarily low friction allows…
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Desmin: The Tiny Protein That Helps Hold Muscle Together
When we think about myofascial health, we tend to think about muscles, fascia, tension, movement, circulation, and perhaps trigger points. Underneath all of that is a microscopic structural system that helps muscle withstand and adapt to the forces placed upon it.…
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Built to Perform: 14 Reasons Horses Are Among Nature’s Greatest Athletes
Horses are among the most highly adapted athletes on Earth. Millions of years of evolution have produced an animal capable of extraordinary speed, endurHorses are among the most highly adapted athletes on Earth. Millions of years of evolution have produced an…
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Better Muscle Balance Supports Better Tendon Health
When people think about tendon injuries, they often focus on the tendon itself. Yet tendons never work in isolation. Every tendon is influenced by the muscles attached to it, the joints it crosses, the surrounding fascia, and the movement patterns occurring…
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The GRF Effect: Fascia Tells the Story
Ground Reaction Force (GRF) is the force the ground sends back into the horse’s body in response to the force the horse applies downward.It’s Newton’s third law in action: for every push into the ground, there is an equal push back…
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The 3 Layers of the Equine Movement System: How Massage and Fascial Therapy Influence Each One
The Three Layers of Movement: How Massage and Fascial Therapy Support the Whole Horse Movement is far more than muscles pulling on bones. Every stride, transition, and adjustment in balance depends on continuous communication between the horse’s structural tissues, nervous system,…
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The Emerging Science of Fascia and Expanding Our Understanding
Modern research is rapidly changing how we understand fascia. This continuous, body-wide connective tissue network is now recognized as playing important roles in sensation, force transmission, elastic energy storage, movement, and adaptation. In the horse, these properties make fascia an important…
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The Glymphatic System in Horses and Its Relevance to Massage Therapy
The glymphatic system is the brain’s waste-clearance system. Although it has been studied most extensively in humans and laboratory animals, current evidence suggests that horses possess a similar system that likely functions in much the same way. Equine-specific research is still…
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🐎 The Most Overlooked Fluid System in The Horse: Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF)
When equine neurological health is discussed, attention usually focuses on nerves, coordination, proprioception, and neurological disorders. Yet an equally important system quietly supports how the nervous system functions: cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF is often described simply as cushioning for the brain…
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The Equine Hoof as a Fascial Organ
The equine hoof is often described in terms of horn, bone, and mechanics, but this view misses its deeper organization. Functionally, the hoof is a highly specialized fascial organ—a complex integration of dense, elastic, sensory, and fluid-based connective tissues that suspend…