05/05/2026
This little dude š„°
Todayās most memorable massage moment!
In my work, I heavily rely on communication. With the horse, our shared energy, and the tissues Iām working on. Dudley has always been good at communicating, and today we had a pretty cool conversation.
Particularly tight in his left lumbar and psoas today, Dudley began exhibiting an odd behavior which myself and his owner hadnāt experienced in his body work sessions before. Shortly after working the trigger point for the psoas, and beginning to offer a gentle stretch to the area, he began placing his left fore hoof on the mounting block infront of him and gently thought about applying pressure to lift himself up on to it. But only when I would gently offer the stretch for him.
His owner had noted that his newest trick (they enjoy doing lots of liberty training) was to step up on a platform. Which then gave me the AHA moment.
I questioned whether or not he wanted to go to his platform to lift his fore hand and stretch his pelvis, releasing the psoas himself. So, we entertained him and brought him over.
As soon as Dudley stepped up onto his platform he took a nice cleansing breath and released through his whole lumbar and pelvic region. Once I gave him a moment to process that, I went back in to offer a gentle psoas stretch and was met with receptive tissue and much happier fascia in the lumbosacral region.
Some signs of a tight lumbar region is lower back tension, lack of push from the hind, cross firing/counter canter/and reluctance to pick up one or both leads. How can you help your horse release this area!? Dudley will show you!
Hill/Incline Stretches: With their hind limbs slightly tracking behind them, encourage them to reach forward without taking a step. Or just allow them to stand in this position, very much like Dudley has positioned himself here. In by doing so, this allows the pelvis to release and the soft tissue structures surrounding it to stretch.
Most often, the horse knows best, we just need to listen!