Elite Performance Horse Therapies

22/12/2024

🤎🤍🤎

20/12/2024

More fun pole inspo….

Clever fitness training for horses with an easy setup! 🐴💪 Keep your horse in top shape with simple, effective exercises that require minimal equipment. Get started today and watch your equine partner thrive!

www.sonovettherapy.com.au

21/10/2024

This is a MUST READ for all horse owners! Are there hocus pocus professionals that have endless clients on endless natural therapies, with the vast majority of horses having serious issues to be ‘fixed’. Are they qualified to practice their modality?

Ask questions! Ask for evidence! Be empowered! Your horse needs YOU to be their voice! 🙏

One of the more common questions that’s been posed to me over the years involves what I think an owner should do about pressure coming from other horse owners regarding the treatment that an owner has given to his or her own horse.  For some reason, it seems that when one person’s horse has a p...

15/07/2024

21/05/2024

2024 Equine Studies Students, always a great afternoon discussing anatomy and the benefits of massage 🙌👏🐴

03/04/2024

FITNESS 🏇

Ahhhh, this is a complex and deep topic, with a million variables and has taken some contemplation to work out how to simplify the topic, while keeping it informative.

In a nutshell.

Before fitness work commences it is important to tick all of the boxes:

✔️ Hoof balance
✔️ Tack fit
✔️ Dentist
✔️ Nutrition
✔️ Bodywork

🔹The body condition of your horse will have an effect on your horses fitness; too low or too high a body score will impair cardiovascular performance. A fitness program will assist in weight loss, however, if you have a horse needing to gain condition; it would be beneficial to work on weight gain and strengthening prior to commencing a fitness program.

🔹 All fitness work should be programmed, tailored to your specific goals and horse, and be gradual in their implementation to avoid injury. Cannot stress enough to keep a diary/record of your horse’s work.

🔹 Surface (riding on a variety of surfaces) will contribute an increase in fitness.

🔹 Your horse will plateau if ridden the same way, on the same surface, at the same distance week in/week out.

🔹 If you try to keep your horse at its ‘peak’ fitness wise, for a long duration; you drastically increase the risk of injury. Spelling/letting down a horse is important, especially racehorses and horses actively competing.

🔹 Horses will lose fitness if left idle for a length of time. It is unfair to ask your horse to jump 1.15m showjumping round if you’ve left it in the paddock for 6 months; and no it doesn’t matter that it could jump 1.15m easily 6 months ago. Yes. This actually happens.

CONTINUED IN COMMENTS…

13/03/2024

Mobility by definition is the ability to move freely.

This freedom of movement includes athletic ability, length of stride, range of motion, and lateral flexion throughout the body (including neck, head, pelvis, back and limbs).

❗️LACK OF MOBILITY MAY PRESENT AS ❗️
🔴 An overall feeling of stiffness.
🔴 Bracing.
🔴 Feeling too straight, unable to bend on one rein, or both - jokingly saying your horse ‘turns like a bus’, when ridden.
🔴 Consistent crookedness.
🔴 Short behind, or shuffling in front.
🔴 Lack of reach.
🔴 Consistently knocking rails.
🔴 Unable to lengthen stride (in walk, trot, or canter)
🔴 Leaning on one rein, or being generally heavy in the contact.
🔴 Unable to perform lateral movements.
🔴 Disuniting in canter.
🔴 Rushing transitions.
🔴 Throwing the quarters out on a circle.
🔴 Being straight on a circle.
🔴 Unable to flex to the inside on a circle under saddle, or in hand.
🔴 Horse resisting moving forward off the leg.

The thing to keep in mind is that a lack of mobility will present as movement being restricted involuntarily.

Excluding joint related issues (including arthritis), a lack of mobility may occur due to muscular tension. I often find different breeds and disciplines will have a predisposition to muscular tension.

Mobilities best friend is, you guessed it! Movement!!! Motion is lotion!! 🙌🙌🙌

✅ Lateral movements, gentle bending, serpentines, spirals, shoulder-fore, shoulder-in, travers, leg-yields, true-flexion to counter-flexion, long and low, gentle pole work focusing on slowly increasing the length of stride, are all EXERCISES you can perform UNDER SADDLE 🏇

✅ IN HAND gentle lunging, spirals in and out at a walk and trot (without restricting the neck), moving the shoulders, disengaging the hindquarters are all easy ways to work on your horse’s mobility.

✅ STRETCHES are your horses best friend when it comes to increasing range of motion, easing restrictions in muscles and fascia, ‘resetting’ muscle memory via the Golgi Tendon Organ in the muscle.
There are countless stretches of the body, limbs, and neck you can do, and these can be demonstrated by your chosen bodyworker.

24/02/2024

Just wanted to take a quick moment to share this on my page!

An exercise I often recommend to help with both strength, and suppling (especially ribcage and back); for horses of all abilities, in all disciplines 👌

FREE Dressage Rider Assessment QuizHttps://quiz.amelianewcombdressage.com Sign up for my e-mail list:https://bit.ly/3kfI1oXJoin Amelia’s Dressage Club on Fac...

04/02/2024

If you have ever had me out to treat your horse; you will have most likely heard me talk about these three components in relation to your horse and its athleticism.

Different horses will have strengths and weakness in these components; and a horse will move in between these three factors depending on where it is in its training, workload, injury, and the task required of them.

I consider each of these to be part of the ‘THREE PILLARS’ to the equine athlete, and I will be delving further into each component in the coming weeks, with some information that will hopefully be of use, wherever you are in your training 🙏

19/11/2023

Great read! And there are specific exercises you can perform target the thoracic trapezius. Once the saddle is fitted correctly of course 🙌🙌🙌

05/11/2023

Biggest congratulations!!!! What a win!!! 🍀