White Willow Therapies

04/19/2026

Hey, All (White Willow clients),

I hope you all are coming through the weather last week, the on-going mud, and the temperature whiplash we keep getting decently and with the proper application of blue language.

General announcement: session fees are going up a bit beginning in May, 2026.

Horse: $160
Person: $100

I appreciate and have much love for all of you, and I did not come to the decision to bump the rates lightly.

Second general announcement: I’m seeing clients on weekends and have added a couple of days after work so long as they are in the A2/Brighton/S Lyon/Pinckney-ish/Chelsea-ish areas for the next few months.

Third general announcement: I’m taking another crack at my Boards late summer/early autumn. We passes before I turn 50! (Yes, this youthful visage and overall ridiculousness is going to be 50 in October. I do not know how this happened.)

Fourth general announcement: …. Well, I thought I had one and it appears the noggin requires more input of caffeine before it will participate.

I hope to see you all as the year progresses and hear how everything has been going, the ups and downs and sideways-crab skitters.

Thank you, so many times over, for being all of you and being a part of my life.

Much love,
Erin, Kaia, and the Clowder of Doom
Aka White Willow Therapies, LLC.

(Kaia’s winter mustache sez: there be space for cookies and kisses here)

09/03/2022

Hello, hello!

I hope everyone is doing well.

White Willow Therapies is on a bit of a hiatus as I’m in grad school. I’ll be on this adventure for the next two years, so I won’t be seeing clients individually, at barns, or at shows for the foreseeable future. Once I’m done with the program, I aim to get back to some manual therapy again.

I will not be setting up or seeing clients at Region 2 Regional Championships in Sept 2022 at Waterloo Hunt Club in Grass Lake, MI. Robin Clinton will be onsite for human and equine, Shivering Cactus Riding Services.

I’ll miss seeing you all and I know it will be an excellent show at our home grounds.

Cheers and best wishes!
Erin 💜❤️💜

03/19/2020

Hey, All,

Here is the official post: White Willow Therapies, LLC is on hiatus until further notice. I’m sorry, I think people need bodywork more than ever during times of stress like this, but in the interest of safety, and the health and wellbeing of us all it’s the best choice.

I’ve been letting clients know individually that my human manual therapy was on hold, but it’s time for a public post. I was hoping to be able to do equine manual therapy as I can keep a good distance from people. However, my asthma is putting the lid on that. I just had my follow-up post-ED visit earlier this week and my primary care doesn’t want me to be out in the cold air as this is my trigger until the weather warms up and my respiratory system calms down. She is also advising that due to the asthma, the virus, and the very recent exacerbation that I self-isolate as much as possible.

Thank you, all of you, for being the wonderful and amazing people and clients that you are. I miss you all terribly and I know this will pass. Hopefully the warm weather will halt this and we can see each other soon.

All the love to you,
Erin

09/30/2019

THE FRONTAL LOBE OF THE HORSE’S BRAIN IS NEARLY NON-EXISTENT.

How does this apply to schooling/training? Frontal lobes are involved in higher mental functions such as reasoning. This means that horses cannot reason or plan to be naughty. They cannot be blamed for bad behaviour or poor performance. They cannot recognise future consequences. Horses simply react to the situation. They learn through conditioning and memory.

I see and hear so many riders anthropomorphize their horses instead of finding better training tools. Phrases such as, ‘he just likes to be difficult’ or ‘this pony is so naughty’ or ‘he understands or knows what I want, but won’t do it’, or ‘he moves his hindquarters at every halt just to irritate me’. Horses do not know what we want unless we explain it in a manner that they can understand immediately.

A few months ago a rider told me how her horse ‘just does not want to co-operate’. It started with overt flight behaviour and then became a subtle ‘snatchy’ movement of the nose. I asked her whether it could be due to discomfort. She answered, ‘no, she is just naughty’. It turned out that the horse was suffering from laminitis and was in severe discomfort! It made me want to cry.

At the moment I am training a young horse from scratch. I also used phrases such as, ‘she has a short fuse’ and ‘she challenges me every step of the way’. Then I realised that everything I was doing on this horse was completely new to her. I realised how frightening that must be for an animal with no reasoning ability. She was actually trying hard to understand me, but when new instructions were a tad confusing, she showed me in no uncertain terms that she did not understand it. The horse’s reactions to learning new skills all depends on personality. This particular horse is extremely sensitive and an introvert. Utopia, my older horse, is less sensitive and a complete extrovert. She can deal with much more pressure than the youngster. The message for me is that I must train each horse with the kind of pressure which they can deal with. Each horse has a different tolerance for pressure. Us riders have to be adaptable to each horse’s ability to deal with pressure. Personally I find that most behavioural problems stem from confusion, discomfort and too much pressure.

If you enjoyed this post, please like the page The Zen Racehorse for more!

Photo one: the equine brain. Photo two: the human brain.

Thanks to Karin Blignault for the info!!

09/29/2019

https://www.atlasbalans.com/fascia/ What is Fascia? New research changes the way we look at pain

09/19/2019

11/20/2013

"A horse’s tolerance for discomfort from a less-than-ideal saddle isn’t proof that they aren’t paying a long-term price for it."

A good and thought provoking article.

Saddle fit is an issue near and dear to my heart, and that is entirely due to my long-time friendship with Colleen Meyer of Advanced Saddle Fit. Upon reading Catherine Haddad's recent blog, Colleen wanted to write her own response, and I thought you all would like to read it. Take it away, Colleen!

11/19/2013

Going Blind Only the blind can see. Only the deaf can hear. Only the hungry are fed. Touch this world. Only the blind can see. Listen to yourself not thinking. Only the deaf can hear. Empty y...