Hands High Equine Bodywork LLC

12/06/2025

🚨 🐴 🚨 RED LIGHT THERAPY 🚨 🐴 🚨

Now offered in addition to your horse's regularly scheduled bodywork sessions‼️

After struggling personally with debilitating idiopathic vertigo 😵‍💫 for months, doctors had ruled out the "big scaries" but I was ultimately unable to find answers through traditional medicine and diagnostics. I turned to bodywork and photobiomodulation (PBM) for relief from my symptoms and was more than pleasantly surprised to find my symptoms subside substantially after a few treatments.

This got me thinking increasingly about the addition of alternative therapies and their positive implications for the animals I work with. I'm excited to now have another tool in my toolbox 🧰 so...

🚨 What is "Red Light" anyways?
It is a form of noninvasive PBM therapy used in both humans and animals. Photo (light) Bio (living organism) Modulation (to modify). We are using light waves to modify the cells in the body.

Red light therapeutic devices deliver specific wavelengths of light: 630nm (visible light) for surface irritations, scarring, hair loss, or bruising; 850nm (near-infrared) for pe*******on to deeper structures such as tendons, ligaments, muscles, or joints.

🚨 How does it work?
Using both wavelengths, we can pe*****te the surface of the skin to underlying tissues and structures. Light waves stimulate the cell's mitochondria 🦠 to increase ATP production, the cell's primary energy source. By stimulating ATP, cells are kick-started into a cascade of healing and repair.

🚨 How can Red Light Therapy help my horse?

Current evidence supports that Red Light Therapy may:
✅ Promote faster healing and recovery time for soft tissue damage and strain.
✅ Decrease inflammation and pain associated with both acute and chronic conditions such as OA.
✅ Increase blood flow and help support joint function and mobility to promote better quality of life.
✅ Increase collagen production for healing superficial cuts/scrapes and to reduce scarring.

Windy and Baby were happy to take our new Red Light Therapy wrap on it's maiden voyage this morning and rate it 5/5 stars

They loved the warm light on a chilly morning and, since it is wire and hands free, they can move about during their 15-30min sessions.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

***Red light is used in sports rehabilitation regularly and has supportive evidence for it's healing powers. That being said, I am not a vet and therefore I am not YOUR horse's vet. Always ask your veterinarian if complimentary therapies are appropriate for your horse.

11/25/2025

Again, as of 11/24/25, this thing is thankfully *nowhere* near Virginia. My heart goes out to the horses and families impacted out west 💜

11/21/2025

⛔ EHV-1 outbreak ⛔

While highly contagious, there are fortunately 0️⃣ confirmed cases in Virginia.

🏡 If you haven't been out West with your horse, you're likely 99.99% in the clear. But if you're still worried, then just keep your horses at home.

🫧 If truly and reasonably concerned about exposure... clean and sanitize if you contact horses off farm. Wash your hands, change your clothes +/- shower, change and clean your boots, wash possible contaminated surfaces (1:10 diluted bleach works wonders). Insist that these protocols are followed by visitors to your barn.

🐴 Unless your horse is truly showing symptoms, DO NOT blow up your vet's phone.

Symptoms may include: fever, nasal and ocular discharge, swollen lymph nodes, lethargy, loss of appetite.

Neurological signs may include: ataxia, stumbling, and weakness.

😮‍💨 This one is important.... Breath! Just be smart and this too shall pass.

ℹ️ Get information on the outbreak from reputable sources:

National governing body for equestrian sport in the United States. Uniting the equestrian community by ensuring fairness, safety, and enjoyment.

08/09/2025

We can't toss our horses out in a field for retirement and say they're having the time of their life.

It is a constant eb and flow, what works today might not work next week. As involved horse owners we ask ourselves - Do we need to change their feed? Do they need it soaked? More forage? More feed? Will they eat that supplement? Or would an injectable med help those stiff joints? Do they need more movement? More bodywork? Change their feeding position? Is the herd too large? Is the grass too green? What is their metabolic status? How are their feet? Is their skin too sensitive for that fly spray now? Why is it so hard for them to stand for the farrier? Are they declining cognitively?

Windy is still working on the "gentleness" portion of her golden years. She is often high stress - tented eye, a neck taught with stress lines, a pinched mouth. As an OTTB, poll trauma that predates our meeting is coming to bite us in the butt now. When she has a bad day, I'm constantly searching for the reason why. Making small adjustments here and there to suit her needs. "How can I make you more comfortable in mind and body?" Is a question I bring to the table for her daily. Sometimes she just wants to be left to her own devices, and I respect that. One day when the bad days out number the good, we will make a decision together. Up until and including that final day, her needs are my needs. Her bad days are my bad days. But, dating back to 2002, we also share all those good days together 💜

What a privilege it is…

…to watch the first few white hairs appear around a horse’s eyes, the face you’ve known for years. Maybe since they were a gangly youngster, or perhaps only in more recent seasons. Either way, you’ve become their constant.

One day, as you run your hand up along their face and brush aside their forelock, you notice something different. A few grey hairs, soft yet stubborn, threaded through the colour you’ve always known. Just a smattering, almost as if they were dabbed on with a brush when your back was turned.
And they stop you in your tracks.
Because there it is.

The first, quiet whisper of time.

There’s a particular kind of privilege in caring for an older horse. Not just the honour of fulfilling their everyday needs. But the deeper, quieter privilege… being the one who will walk beside them as they soften with age. The one whose hands they will come to rely on completely. The one who will know them for the rest of their life.

They won’t be passed along. They won’t be asked to start over with someone new. They’ll only ever know your care, your routine, your way of doing things. Until the day they take their last breath. That’s something profound.

Not everyone gets to be the person who holds space for a horse’s entire arc. You see the wonder of youth, the steadiness of middle age, and the gentleness that so often comes with time. Not everyone chooses it. Not everyone can. But for those of us who do…

…what a privilege it is.

To know them, not just when they were strong and sound and “useful,” but when they slow down and ask for a little more patience. A little more help. A little more softness. To be their person, not just for the ride, but also for the parts of the journey where you walk side by side, even for the times you carry the most weight for them instead.

Because even as their bodies change, their hearts don’t. The bond grows stronger and deeper and even more familiar.

What a privilege it is.

—————————————
©️Lauren Johnson Graveney Equine: Horse Track System - dedicated to Jasper who has graced us with the first few grey hairs this year. With us forever 💚

07/26/2025

Class with Dr. Raquel Butler was absolutely eye opening 🤩 I keep taking classes because you never have to question the education you'll receive - the instructors are always spot on and present quality, hands on, individualized education - every single time. I'm truly looking forward to sitting with this information and integrating it into sessions with your horses. Never stop learning, the ceiling is an illusion ✨️

07/14/2025

At it again! See you guys next week 👋.....

**Enhance Equine Health Through Functional Posture!**
REGISTRATION CLOSES MAY 23rd!

Join us this summer in Maryland - open to equine professionals and dedicated horse owners. Learn to assess postural imbalances, identify compensatory patterns, and apply targeted techniques to support long-term health and performance.

Choose to take Level 1 on its own, or dive deeper by enrolling in both Levels 1 & 2 back-to-back for a comprehensive learning experience.

*EQ1900: Equine Functional Posture – Level 1 (July 14th - 16th)

Students will learn how to:

- Evaluate static and dynamic posture
- Identify compensation patterns
- Apply hands-on techniques to restore functional alignment (mobilizations vs activations vs lengthenings)
- Change the horse's environment to improve posture (variable feeding positions, proprioception exercises, etc)
- Understand factors that influence posture (scars, ulcers, laminitis, iliopsoas dysfunction, etc)

*EQ1910: Equine Functional Posture – Level 2 (July 18th-21st)

Students will learn how to:

- Create a training plan to improve/maintain good posture
- Implement training modifications to address imbalances (proper use of pole work, long and low, value of in-hand work, etc)
- Recognize and develop core strength
- Learn the signs of good and poor thoracic sling health and function
- Apply advanced static and dynamic observation skills

REGISTRATION CLOSES MAY 23rd!
https://www.eli-us.com/product/eq1900-equine-functional-posture-level-1/

About the Instructor:
Dr. Raquel Butler is a veterinarian specializing in Equine Muscle Release Therapy and animal biomechanics, with advanced training in chiropractic, osteopathic, and rehabilitation techniques. She holds a Graduate Diploma in Animal Biomechanical Medicine and is currently pursuing a Graduate Diploma in Animal Acupuncture.
A passionate educator, Dr. Butler has taught equine health, rehabilitation, and biomechanics at Charles Sturt University and now leads clinics worldwide on anatomy, posture, and performance. As President of the Animal Biomechanical Professionals Association and an instructor in the Animal Biomechanical Medicine program, she is committed to advancing equine well-being through education and integrative care.

06/01/2025

.
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜Happy Pride💜💙💚💛🧡❤️

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AmFxSKVPK/

For trans equestrian rider, his horses ‘were the one thing that never asked me any questions’ - https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/05/for-trans-equestrian-rider-his-horses-were-the-one-thing-that-never-asked-me-any-questions/

05/16/2025

Come dive deeper into functional posture with me in another superb course by Equilearn!

**Enhance Equine Health Through Functional Posture!**
REGISTRATION CLOSES MAY 23rd!

Join us this summer in Maryland - open to equine professionals and dedicated horse owners. Learn to assess postural imbalances, identify compensatory patterns, and apply targeted techniques to support long-term health and performance.

Choose to take Level 1 on its own, or dive deeper by enrolling in both Levels 1 & 2 back-to-back for a comprehensive learning experience.

*EQ1900: Equine Functional Posture – Level 1 (July 14th - 16th)

Students will learn how to:

- Evaluate static and dynamic posture
- Identify compensation patterns
- Apply hands-on techniques to restore functional alignment (mobilizations vs activations vs lengthenings)
- Change the horse's environment to improve posture (variable feeding positions, proprioception exercises, etc)
- Understand factors that influence posture (scars, ulcers, laminitis, iliopsoas dysfunction, etc)

*EQ1910: Equine Functional Posture – Level 2 (July 18th-21st)

Students will learn how to:

- Create a training plan to improve/maintain good posture
- Implement training modifications to address imbalances (proper use of pole work, long and low, value of in-hand work, etc)
- Recognize and develop core strength
- Learn the signs of good and poor thoracic sling health and function
- Apply advanced static and dynamic observation skills

REGISTRATION CLOSES MAY 23rd!
https://www.eli-us.com/product/eq1900-equine-functional-posture-level-1/

About the Instructor:
Dr. Raquel Butler is a veterinarian specializing in Equine Muscle Release Therapy and animal biomechanics, with advanced training in chiropractic, osteopathic, and rehabilitation techniques. She holds a Graduate Diploma in Animal Biomechanical Medicine and is currently pursuing a Graduate Diploma in Animal Acupuncture.
A passionate educator, Dr. Butler has taught equine health, rehabilitation, and biomechanics at Charles Sturt University and now leads clinics worldwide on anatomy, posture, and performance. As President of the Animal Biomechanical Professionals Association and an instructor in the Animal Biomechanical Medicine program, she is committed to advancing equine well-being through education and integrative care.

05/11/2025

Today is a day to recognize and thank all the incredible, multitasking, resilient, beautiful, selfless women who grow, nurture, and care for others. Simply put - you keep the world spinning!

Moms with 2 leggeds, 4 leggeds (or 3 leggeds 🤷🏼‍♀️). Mothers to be, grieving mothers, moms who didn't have to be but stepped up and filled the role with grace...

🌻Happy Mother's Day 🌻

04/27/2025

Penn State Extension has a ton of excellent resources for those seeking to expand their knowledge of horses. They just recently put out a three part lecture series on Healing the Equine Athlete: Treating Injuries, Supporting Recovery which was only $10! I highly recommend signing up. There is an upcoming lecture on managing horses in the heat which is absolutely free to watch live, I've linked it below!

They also offer other online classes on farm management, forestry, and many other interesting topics. Definitely worth checking them out.