Back in Balance Osteopathy

04/06/2025

Admin catch up....

The forecast is diabolical till I go to the Uk, but if you have shelter and want to book in before I go, I have some space on Tuesday next week. I'll then be back at the helm from 30th June.

On my return I will sort out

CAMBRIDGE date- likely 1st week after school hols (but message if you want including on this trip)

AUCKLAND I havent forgotten you guys just been chasing my tail a bit.... Would you like me to sort out a trip up end of August, or sometime in September- I will await your response

FAIRLIE peeps... I guess it hinges on how much snow you are going to throw at me???! Open to ideas and suggestions.

Im happy to sort other destinations too if theres a wee group.... jut let me know who is keen!

Right, that's pretty much me done till I head off to the other hemisphere. Im going to try and tee some stuff up while im back over there too, so watch this space for anything of interest that comes my way!!!

Stay safe with the weather warning around the country...... 😊

30/05/2025

Wolfhound vs Jack Russell??!

As all horse people know, the smaller the beast, the more terrifying!!!! Poor Shadow (Wolfhound) totally put in his place by his tiny friend!!!!!

I've treated Little n Large this week. A gorgeous wee mini who had a hefty dental surgery recently and needed some help calming down her very sore poll and TMJ/facial muscles after 5 hours with the dentist! Almost could have sat her on my lap to treat her!

And biggest of the bunch was a gorgeous mare who I did a follow up visit on thursday evening. WISH I'd taken before photos as her standing posture is TOTALLY different now. She'd had a vet work up and was being treated and rehabbed for right sided neck and forelimb issues but I was quite sure there was a hind end problem too. Wonderful owner re vetted and yes, needed hock injections and boy what a different horse!

It really is like being a body detective... Listening to the horses body can point out issues we might otherwise not "see"

I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend. Good luck (and omg you are all crazy) to those running the Selwyn Marathon on Sunday... Remember you can book online for human appointments after if you need rebuilding 🤣🤣

26/05/2025

Drum roll…….

My website is finally live. Only required 16 meetings with 62 different satellites, 8762662 new passwords as I kept forgetting them, some head scratching, a bit of a toddler tantrum and a lot of coffee!!

But, it’s done!

Please go check it out and share around.

www.backinbalance.org.nz

Info on the horsey and hound side, but contact me directly for bookings 😃

Experienced trusted osteopathy services in Lincoln.

20/05/2025

Another blinking STUNNING day down here in the South Island! Was back to beautiful Fairlie today for a selection of horsey and human patients!

Here's wee Credence Aka Giraffe having a wonderful post treatment moment!

One of my favorite parts is to watch the horse "process" what I have asked his body to do, and to allow the feelings to kind of wash over then. This wee dude had one heck of a jammed poll and upper neck. He was very blocked and wouldn't really let me bend him side to side. His nuchal ligament was very sore and reactive and his whole upper neck was just a block. Both shoulders were tight and his right Sacro iliac joint was a bit funky too (all highly Osteopathic terms!!!!!)

He had some really big releases, I got his poll mobilized pretty much asap as I knew it would just open him up and allow me to really work in all the places he needed.

Heaps of yawning and big deep belly breaths throughout his session and then this wonderful relaxed moment after. Gentle big nostril breaths, soft and relaxed upper neck, gently feeling the fascial and muscular releases... one happy ponio!! 😊

14/05/2025

Can osteopathy help the more elderly of the equine world??

Without a DOUBT! Some of the most rewarding sessions I have are on our elder “folk”both horse and human. Restoring as much mobility as possible, easing tight and tired muscles, mobilising areas that otherwise don’t get much movement…..

This wee gentleman certainly responded well!! We all got a good look at his tonsils!! After his session he had a good roll and then snoozed in the sun while i worked on his buddy!! Perfect 👌🏻

It’s often not about finding a “cure”. Often there isnt one. It’s about optimising what we can and offering the body as much balance and freedom to move as we can.

Sermon over….

20/04/2025

I had the pleasure of my first visit to Maclean’s island on Thursday to treat these 2 beautiful ponies!!! Feel like a proud mother hen with them both taking out the win in their respective classes!!!!! Sooooo good to see the familiar faces of Tessa and Benicio taking out the 1* and so wonderful to meet Jude and Charm who took out the 80 open.

I didn’t have my portable table but managed a makeshift treatment session for “head of operations” Maree on Jude’s truck couch!!!! Where there’s a will there’s a way….. well done ladies 🤩🥳👌🏻

13/04/2025

Hurtling towards Easter now! Last week was a rip roaring stunner, some utterly glorious South Island days. Heaps of interesting new cases, and the portable table got a good few outings too!!

PLEASE NOTE MY NEW WORK PHONE NUMBER!…. Texting is always an easy easy way to get hold of me, and I try to be super quick to respond. Or message on here, or call, but I don’t often answer as I’m often upside down under a horse! (Number is at the top of the page with all my other blurb!)

I will be at Macleans Island on Thursday this week if anyone needs a pre comp tune up, and week following Easter I have spaces for anywhere else!
Happy Monday 🙂

31/03/2025

Well, today has become an unexpected admin day due to my car playing April Fools and is now awaiting the tow truck. So sorry to those people I’ve had to rearrange today…

So. What did I get up to yesterday?

Lovely day out doing horses, dogs n people yesterday. Whole bunch of new faces, a lot of laughs and good chats were had! The lovely Quinn was an interesting case… she’s an 11 year old Heeler who needed emergency spaying last year. She’s been pretty grumpy and hunched over since before the surgery. She also was struggling to jump on the bed and her owner commented that she didn’t seem to be able to sit square anymore.

For an older girl she was in great condition, but there was a LOT of tension through her diaphragm, abdominals and adhesions around her surgery scar. Her lumbar spine was very tight and her hip flexors had shortened too. You can see in the first standing pic how close her front and back legs are and how tight she looks over her back. Her lovely owner Lucy had said she doesn’t love being treated and can be a bit of a grumpy old girl, but after a few mins you can see she really got into the treatment and was a model patient! She was asleep by the end 😂
Afterwards her posture was a lot more relaxed and she was a lot happier being around the other dogs. Once I got her diaphragm to unwind she just melted!
Lucy’s reported back today to say she’s been much happier since and even jumped up on the bed last night with no hesitations and is breathing deeper now.
And, she can sit square!

Yay

(Pony photos just to remind everyone I do still treat horses 🤣🤣)

25/03/2025

Let’s talk about posture!

I’m going to delve a bit deeper into individual areas and what it might tell us over the next few posts, but today I’m going to start with a general overview of looking at your horse side on….

I’ve chosen 2 pics here both of TBs and coincidentally both from the same stud 😂. I hope you can see there’s quite a difference in how these horses stand, and how they use their bodies- the muscle distribution and shape of their body will tell you how well they are working!

Assessing posture is assessing how you horse “holds” himself. It’s not about conformation it’s about how he chooses to place his own body at that time. Comfort is the main thing influencing this…. He will stand in a way that is most comfortable for him, regardless of whether we consider it to be the ideal.

If you want to take a photo to assess posture, you have to let the horse hold himself. If you “stand him up” you will not be getting a true picture of what’s going on.

You can see in the top photos I hope that there’s some pretty obvious signs this horse is not comfortable or able to use his body well. He stands with his hind legs splayed and his back braced. His bum looks more like as shelf than the pic below which shows a much softer and rounded shape. His hind feet are “under” him and there’s a heck of a lot of strain going on up the back of his hind legs into his hamstrings. He’s putting a lot of pressure through his hind heels.

Contrast with the chestnut who is standing much more square and his posture just looks so much more relaxed.

The bay also is bracing through his forelimbs and back of his shoulder and has very little topline through his wither and neck. The angle of his shoulder is more horizontal as he is bracing through his chest. The chestnut has a much nicer shoulder angle and much more muscle through the base of his neck, thoracic traps and through the whole back of the shoulder and wither.

I’ve chosen these 2 pics to just highlight obvious things we can see when we observe our horse standing. You can see a LOT if you step back and look!

Taking regular posture shots and saving them in an album will give you a great idea of how your riding and training is going and will highlight areas that maybe need adjusting or working on…. I find it really interesting to look back and see the differences!

18/03/2025

Some faces from the last few days!!!
Big ones and small ones- treated them all over the past week!!

It’s so great getting out and about and meeting new faces around the South Island. Hunt season is about to kick off so had quite a few pre season check ups done. Always good to prevent rather than cure!!!

While the hunt season is starting, the season is coming to a close for many others. I’m looking forwards to watching the xc at Eventing Nationals in May. Now is a good time to start planning for winter. Giving your horse a good break is so good for his body and his brain…

And then careful prep to get him up and ready for next season- fitness, strength, condition and flexibility are all so important and all need considering!!

I’m heading back up north this weekend and looking forwards to getting my hands on some familiar ponies!!! I’m aiming to do another trip in May- so Auckland/Cambridge people yell out if you are interested!!

I’ll do some regular blogs over winter too which I hope you will find useful- if anyone has any topic requests just message me!!!

16/03/2025

What a flipping beautiful spot!!!!! 9 horses lined up in stunning Fairlie today 🤩🤩

23/02/2025

So so proud of Ollie and Rico for taking out the Gold Tour win at Takapoto Estate Show Jumping yesterday. Sadly I wasn’t ringside this year but watched it all in clipmyhorse!!! A Team 🤩🤩🤩