New ideas and material coming soon

I have just placed an order for some lovely postcard sized business card / leaflet things! Got told by the business link they might be a good addition since they do two jobs. And duly I have followed their advice!

It was quite interesting designing them myself, since never done anything similar, so will be interesting to see how they look like when they arrive in a few days time.

Also I am making a video with Wiola from the Aspire Equestrian riding academy http://www.aspire-equestrian.com/. We have an outline of what we want to do and will hopefully get the first part filmed tomorrow. We have been kindly given the lovely horses of Craig Nicolai (NZ international eventer) and her partner Abby (based in Cane End outside Reading http://caneendstud.weebly.com/) to play with. They come in different shapes and sizes, so should be few interesting videos coming out soon!! Looking forward to them already.

Here is my regular ride, Vatican at Cane End, he belongs to Abby. He is a big boy between 17hh and 18hh and has his moments of being... hmm... rather wild I think to put it mildly. :D But regardless of how he is, he is my special boy and I love him to bits. We go on nice hacks (and yes he is scared of everything most days, particularly the bins) and I school him when I get a burst of motivation. He is not keen on schooling or the school, he had an accident few years ago and broke his pelvis and never really got back to his former glory. But when you get his head in gear (this is where you need a patience of a saint) he is amazing to ride, real schoolmaster and super duper sensitive.

Vatican looking pretty - luckily big grass belly well hidden in this photo!!

I will have a busy two weeks ahead since have 3 dogs in the house. A lovely Jack Russell Finn, who we fostered for a charity little while back, has come to stay here while his owners are on holiday. So two terriers and one collie in the house are sure to keep me on my toes!!

Benji with blue eyes, black Lucy with big ears and visitor Finn at the back

Last day with the lovely polo ponies

Lovely polo ponies of Sulham

For the last two months I have spent my early mornings with these lovely creatures. this has also been my first attempt of 2-4-1 riding!! Ie ride one and lead one. Luckily they only made me take two of them, not three or four as they do at big professional polo yards. Two has been plenty to manage! But it is suprising how quickly one gets used to it and the polo ponies are brought up this way, they really understand what is going on and just very calmly jog along the other horse - never try to change direction, barge, kick, bite each other or anything or such. So it really is as straightforward as hacking out one horse that can be a bit of a handful. (And dont we all know a few of those :D)

Toastie waiting to be taken to the field

These four ponies are the gentlest and calmest creatures on the planet. (as you can see from the photo!!). It has made a change from overexcitable professional competition horses - mind you not that these guys arent pro - they just are a bit older 'been there seen that' type. Nothing bothers them - apart from the naughty three young bulls that like to follow us along the fence line whilst doing excitable moo's and little charging attempts. Toastie in particular finds them rather fun!

The wild Toastie - raring to go!! (or about to fall asleep..)

Flo also falling asleep before a ride

The yard is the quietest and calmest place in the world, situated in Sulham, between the villages of Tidmarsh and Pangbourne. I have spent most mornings totally alone, just me, the ponies and my iPod! Very very lovely. I think all horses should have such a calm place to live. (and us people too, to that matter!)

As mentioned in the title of this post, it was my last day with these lovely horses last week. Im onto expanding my business and also working few hours in the morning somewhere else now for a classical dressage rider who also owns a kennel. So busy animal filled mornings ahead! Will miss them lots, but will keep you updated on my progress at the other yard and how my massages go this week :)

Susanna

Welcome and a massive HELLO to all of you!!

Hi to you all


And you are very very welcome to my blog! I am still getting used to using this website, so you will probably see a lot of change on how it looks over the coming months.

Me massaging at Hatch Farm, just outside
M4 in Reading!

I am a professional Equine Body Worker (EBW) which means I have qualified to give horses sports massage. I am based in Reading, Berkshire UK, but will travel for appointments albeit most of my customers are reasonably close by. I only address issues that arise from the soft tissue (exactly as a human sports masseur would) and as much as you would consult your GP for anything more serious, you MUST consult your VET as a first point of call and chat to him/her about you considering having me to massage your horse. I am also fully insured, so if you get the vets referral, you are likely to be able to claim the money back from your insurance company.

I absolutely love what I do, I find it very relaxing and it really takes me to a focused state of being whereby I almost 'listen' to the horse through my hands. The more different horses I see, the more I learn. It is all about feel, I think. And as you as horsey people know, the horses really do let you know where they are tight or sore. I move slowly, keep watching their eyes and the expression on their face, apply a bit more pressure, depending on the horses treshold and to some deeper work on areas that I feel need addressing.

Massaging TeePee and Wokingham
Equestrian Centre
many years ago

Please do have a look at my website www.susannashorsetherapy.com

Hope to see you here again soon - I hope to make this channel educational too, not just full of my blobber :DD Even there is bound to be some of that too. But I beleive things tend to organically mold themselves, so I havent got an agenda in place, I will just let myself to quide me!!

Take care and many happy rides!!

Susanna