We had our horse Osteopath, Dusty, come over and have a look at Filly about 2 weeks ago to check over her general condition. It was not a good diagnosis. Nearly every muscle in her body is tight, no wonder she couldn't race. Still if she was in perfect condition I would never have been able to buy her and Dusty assures me it is all fixable given time.
The main areas of tension were the top of her left hind quarters and all the muscles in her chest. What caused this we have no idea, but she tends to be a tense little Filly at the best of times so I guess the tension just became chronic.
Dusty showed me how to massage and stretch her, which I have been doing every day I have been able to. The massage was basically along either side of the spine, for which I used a vibrating hand massager. She was suspicious until she found how nice it felt. Also the chest area, and the shoulders. Basically if was a muscle it got massaged :)
Dusty also showed me how to stretch her legs, easing the hind legs backwards and lowering them to the ground and her front legs both backwards and forwards keeping the knee straight. Filly was not keen on this to start with and so for all our safety I used a 22 foot rope wrapped around her leg just above her hoof to achieve this. She was already used to this feeling as I had long ago taught her to lead by the leg, snag was I now needed her to stand still and just give the leg not her whole body to the tension on the rope. In effect this was friendly game and that is how I treated it with no intention of motion in my body.
Using the rope was much less stressful for all, Dusty even remarked she might use the idea in future on difficult horses.
James has also taught me how to open a horses back up and give it a stretch whilst circling it. The idea is to just drive the hind quarters out on the circle a little so that she is travelling on 3 or even 4 tracks with her feet instead of the usual 2 tracks. In effect she is going slightly sideways. This helps her bend her back laterally a little which in turn helps the vertical flexion of her back. Again this is an exercise I taught her a long time ago so it didn't take long to get it re-established. This is another example of the power of Parelli over traditional horsemanship. With all the yields on the ground we can perform we have the chance to help not only the horses mind, but its' physical body as well. How a traditional trainer would achieve this lateral flexion without forcing it with side-reins etc I have no idea.
Dusty paid another visit on Monday and was very very pleased with the progress Filly had made. The muscles had softened considerably, though still tense. At least now they don't feel like rock and can actually be manipulated properly.
We are all going to James Roberts tomorrow. Filly is going to be re-started by James over the next 3 weeks and I am taking Bonitao for an experience week. Can't wait to see what James makes of Filly, but slightly nervous about it as well. Will report back when I can. Time is rather tight at James' yard and I may not have time to blog until I get home.
The main areas of tension were the top of her left hind quarters and all the muscles in her chest. What caused this we have no idea, but she tends to be a tense little Filly at the best of times so I guess the tension just became chronic.
Dusty showed me how to massage and stretch her, which I have been doing every day I have been able to. The massage was basically along either side of the spine, for which I used a vibrating hand massager. She was suspicious until she found how nice it felt. Also the chest area, and the shoulders. Basically if was a muscle it got massaged :)
Dusty also showed me how to stretch her legs, easing the hind legs backwards and lowering them to the ground and her front legs both backwards and forwards keeping the knee straight. Filly was not keen on this to start with and so for all our safety I used a 22 foot rope wrapped around her leg just above her hoof to achieve this. She was already used to this feeling as I had long ago taught her to lead by the leg, snag was I now needed her to stand still and just give the leg not her whole body to the tension on the rope. In effect this was friendly game and that is how I treated it with no intention of motion in my body.
Using the rope was much less stressful for all, Dusty even remarked she might use the idea in future on difficult horses.
James has also taught me how to open a horses back up and give it a stretch whilst circling it. The idea is to just drive the hind quarters out on the circle a little so that she is travelling on 3 or even 4 tracks with her feet instead of the usual 2 tracks. In effect she is going slightly sideways. This helps her bend her back laterally a little which in turn helps the vertical flexion of her back. Again this is an exercise I taught her a long time ago so it didn't take long to get it re-established. This is another example of the power of Parelli over traditional horsemanship. With all the yields on the ground we can perform we have the chance to help not only the horses mind, but its' physical body as well. How a traditional trainer would achieve this lateral flexion without forcing it with side-reins etc I have no idea.
Dusty paid another visit on Monday and was very very pleased with the progress Filly had made. The muscles had softened considerably, though still tense. At least now they don't feel like rock and can actually be manipulated properly.
We are all going to James Roberts tomorrow. Filly is going to be re-started by James over the next 3 weeks and I am taking Bonitao for an experience week. Can't wait to see what James makes of Filly, but slightly nervous about it as well. Will report back when I can. Time is rather tight at James' yard and I may not have time to blog until I get home.
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