Massage and a straight horse - why is this important?

As I mentioned in the end of my last blog post ,  I have spent a bit of time thinking and studying what crookedness / straightness in horses actually is and how as a massage therapist I can be part of the team helping the horse be more straight and hence carry itself and the rider better. I have read several great articles and websites by different people who have done some great in depth study in the subject. Some are indeed coming from a bit different angles, but the message across them appers to be exactly the same:

If your horse is not supple it cannot be truly straight.

A stiff horse is not a straight horse.

Only if your horse is supple it can be straight.

So, to understand this, one needs to

1.) Understand what is a not-straight ie crooked horse

2.) Have at least a basic idea on how to make this crooked horse straight and supple

First of all, all horses, and people to that matter are naturally crooked / one handed. Most horses are what Marijke De Jong (Academic Art of Riding) calls "right bended". An image of a banana on a table with the bulging side on the right and a hollow side on the left, gives you and idea what this means. What happens in a horse like this is some of the following

• Right Fore (RF) has a much better coordination and leads the movement. This shoulder often appears, a bit bigger and more muscled. When on a right bended circle horse often "falls" inside on this shoulder. Left Fore (LF) will then be the opposite, worse coordination, appear smaller and weaker. When on a left bended circle, the horse prefers to make the circle bigger.
• Left Hind (LH) Is the stronger and more pushing of the hind legs. It is often stiffer in the musculature and less bendy. As in the front, the opposite is true for the Right hind (RH)
• Saddle sometimes falls to the "inside of the banana" ie to the left in this case, and causes a rub on the right side of the back.
• As a whole the muscles on the left side are shorter and weaker and the opposite on the right.
• Horse will find working on the right rein a bit harder.

This video explains the above very clearly

What I see as a massage therapist, is a picture that is not often quite this clear, but will always have elements of it in the horses body, and I can normally tell which rein the horse is much stiffer and more willing. The whole picture is obviously complicated by many things such as the riders own balance and crookedness, how well or badly the tack fits the horse, previous or current injuries, shoeing etc.

It is obviously up to the rider to educate themselves to ride the horse better. But massage can be used as a great help in making the horse more comfortable during this process and as a tool in relieving all those tight areas that have resulted from the crooked way of going. It can give really good result when carefully used hand in hand with the correct schooling methods.

Again, Marijke de Jong talks about what are the building blocks of straighter horse.

• The horse needs to be able to stretch laterally on circle on both sides, starting with in hand work and building up to lunging and finally riding.
•  
• The horse must have relaxed back muscles in order to get forward and down movement.

These two points are interconnected to each other and cannot exist without one another. This really highlights the importance of keeping your horses back muscles supple!

• Thirdly, the horses must be able to step under on a circle. This is needed to shift weight from the naturally heavier front end, to the stronger back end. The both hind legs need to be equally strong and balanced to be able to carry the weight of the rider in a straight line.

See the video above for a very clear explanation!

As I mentioned above, the picture is never this clear in the horses body and hence I think it is important to always massage the whole horse very thoroughly. It is also a very well known fact that pain or an injury can show up in a very different way in each horses body. So it is not always very clear where the problem lies, even the horses, say, left shoulder is very tight or he is unable to pick the left canter. Very often when horses have soreness on say on the right fore, they prefer to take the weight off that leg and hence make the left shoulder/neck/leg area very tight and sore, with the actual right side having little or no muscle stiffness.

For anyone wanting to know more, below are some great resources you can read. the Equinestudies website has a great forum where anyone can ask questions and read about problems other people have encountered!

http://www.equinestudies.org/

http://www.scienceofmotion.com/

http://academicartofriding.com/

http://www.classicaldressage.co.uk/Straightness/straightness.html

I look forward to hearing your comments and I hope to be able to meet some of you on day in person!

Susanna

Interesting research - Barefoot rehab at Rockley Farm

Those of you who are my friends on Facebook already know that I have followed Nic Barker's blog

 http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/

for a while. The blog includes updates on hoof rehabilitation and information about barefoot performance, very interesting!

It is very easy to be stuck in the world of your "own modality" of rehab, type of riding or style of horsemanship and thinking that it is the only way (dare I say,  some people think the best way..) to help or be with a horse. It does us SO much good to look outside the box and see how other people deal with issues we all are bound to encounter with our horses - and then make an informed decison based on this new knowledge we have aqcuired.

I knew nothing about barefoot trimming and its use in rehab until one of my customer's horse Kingley was sent to Rockley Farm in Devon, UK. You can read all about young Kingsley and his struggle with navicular disease here

Blog about Kingsley's rehab - click here. 

Here is a video of me massaging Kingsley after he came back from Rockley Farm

As you know,  I feel it is our responsibility as owners and riders to find the best information available and put it in practice. Wiola and Pauline - Kinglsey's owners, certainly did that. They did their homework and Kingsley is now on a road to recovery.

One think in particular made me think - kind of one of those paradigm shifts that really makes perfect sense once you hear it - was when I read one of the latest blogs Nic published about hoof balance and landing

Hoof balance and landing -click here

 Nic starts by talking about how asymmetric hooves land and how horses, particularly with lamenes issues need to be allowed to compensate this way. On the blog there is also a great video where this is shown in slow motion. Nic goes to say: "Here's something to think about - all the horses in these clips grow asymmetric hooves but those hooves load evenly. If you try to trim the hooves to make them appear more symmetrical, you will adversely affect how the hooves load and these horses will become much less capable - or will even go lame."

I do hope it makes you think as much it has made me think :)

Here is another interesting post from Nic relating to the same subject

Hooves and symmetry - click here

In this post you can clearly see the difference in the shape of the hoof when the horse is allowed to grow such hoof shape that supports and reflects the current "need" the horse has for that particular shape of hoof.

That relates nicely to other issues with horses crookedness... Why are they crooked in the first place? How to help them become balanced? How to teach horse to move in balance with a straight body? Please do read this article by Dr Deb Bennett

Teaching your horse how to carry himself straight - click here

 It gives some amazing insight into the issue of crookedness as well as a theory why do horses move crooked.

More about that later!!

"Alternative" therapies - my view of this world.

Since I am stuck inside my house due to UK not able to handle even the slightest amount of snow, I thought I add my humble opinion on this sometimes sensitive subject. (Well, I can't really blame the country for the fact that my Volvo is far too heavy to manage to climb up our road without sliding backwards or dangerously close to other cars parked on it)

As you can see I say "alternative" instead of alternative. I anyway much prefer the word Complimentary. Even I do agree, some (maybe most??) of these therapies have got little scientific backing, my firm belief is that if something has been around for as long or longer (for example TCM - Traditional Chinese Medicine) than our western science or what we bracket under it, it has held the test of time. We device these testing situations with our current and possibly limited human knowledge and cannot measure something we don't yet understand. I know it is a bit cheesy and overused pop culture example, but before people knew anything about electricity, it could not be measured with the equipment and knowledge they had at the time.

I believe that even if the effect is what we like to call "placebo" - it does not really matter as long as it helps the individual in question. Our minds have an enormous power to heal us as well as also to make us ill and we should not underestimate it. It is a dangerous territory when we totally separate our mind from our bodies and treat our body as nothing more than a highly sophisticated machine that can be mechanically fixed often only focusing on a very small part of the whole body. This, in my mind, also applies to our animals. What I mean by that is that even it is VERY important to get a proper diagnosis with a vet / doctor, the rehab and also the examination process should go beyond the immediate site of the problem. As we all know a uneven musculature developed over the years in our / horses back can over load one of the legs which then causes a problem with one of the tendons.

On the same token I do think that our "busy lifestyles" (yes more pop culture!!) and the way we live has given a rise to these alternative ways of treating ourselves and our animals. When we lose touch with what is really important, kind of lose touch with the mother earth, and just plough through our day to day life in stress and hurry we tend to eventually feel a bit empty. And there are several options to choose from that promise you an instant fix or at least instant relief (and many of them indeed do).

As a person who has always had a great interest and respect in science and I indeed even have a MSci, I still retain a HEALTHY dose of scepticism to everything new. I say HEALTHY since I think a true scientist may be firm in their beliefs, but very flexible in their approach to them. One's beliefs need to have a degree of fluidity and an innate openness to anything and everything new. After all, discovery is the core of science and the reason I initially joined the ranks too. But people like to take sides and, years ago,I indeed got told by a girl who was a medical student how disappointed she was in me, fresh from my science degree, that I took the "wrong path" and got into massage, Reiki and suchlike. I think there is a time and place for everything and us people (and our animals) are very different and respond to very different kinds of approaches. Otherwise we would have no one wanting to join the SAS!!!

So what do you do when you feel like one of these alternative therapies might be the right thing for you or your horses? Again it depends on what you are looking for, but most people would say ask your vet / doctor or your friends. And it is certainlyy a very good starting point. But as I mentioned above, do retain a healthy dose of scepticism on what people say. I am a self confessed hater of "hear-say". The kind of "blind leading the blind" kind of information you tend to get a lot in the horse world (and no doubt in any other sphere as well). Whilst it is great to go with recommendations, and yes we all get influenced by other peoples opinions, I think the most important thing is that you do your own research thoroughly.

I'm hoping to help you at least a bit in the next post or two and I try to shed a little light on the different therapies available to our horses. (And yes I still expect you to question my views too!!)

Until next time!! Stay safe in the cold!

Conditioning sportshorses for optimum fitness

Few weeks ago I had an interesting "lecture" from Dr Jeremy on conditioning horses to reach their optimum performance. There has been a lot of scientific research on the optimum performance on horses and on excercise physiology in the recent years and there is a great deal more knowledge around than there was even say 20 years ago. Even still fairly uncommon practice in the racing world Jeremy trains his horses using this information combining practicality and science.

I have added a link to his YouTube channel where he explains more on two short videos filmed for 'At The Races' programme

Dr Jeremy's YouTube channel

He also sells heart rate monitoring systems and sets up the very practical software you can see in the videos. Do get in touch with him directly if you are interested, it's use is certainly not limited to the racehorses, but applies to any discipline where your horse needs to be fit! There is also much more to the software than is shown on the videos.

Will be very interesting to see how the muscles of the horses I have massaged for the last months react now when they are pretty much racing fit and ready to go! They have all done so well so far, so I will be placing my bets when they go :) They are such lovely characters too. I had this silly idea in my head about racehorses and how they behave (or don't behave!) and I must say they are no different from any other horses that I regularly see. Maybe even nicer to handle since they dont end up too pampered and are not allowed to walk all over you and barge like many of our "pet horses" these days seem to do. (Yes guys you know who you are ;D ;D)

A properly designed conditioning program prevents this from happening!!!!

I have also come across an interesting course at Harper Adams University in Shropshire. It is a 3 year MSc degree in Veterinary Physiotherapy. Nothing new in itself, but this is the first degree of its kind whereby they take people in without having already qualified in human physiotherapy. You still need a very strong degree with a good grade and preferebly some kind of experience, but everyone is considered on their individual merit. So I have been considering sending my application in! It does though carry the cost of normal thought postgraduate degree - £9000 so that might be a small challenge, but I have quite a long time to think about the moneyside of things, it wouldnt start until mid 2011.

Picture from Harper Adams University

I have also since last post had two new foster doggies in the house. First one was Mitzy, a crossbreed, sort of Boxer/Staffi type. Lazy, sloppy, cuddly and my own dogs were petrified of her due to her tough looks. :D I think they found her a bit hard to read and she could get a bit of a bull-in-the-china-shop boisterous at times. Currently we are fostering a lovely Lakeland terrier Charlie. Such an easy sweetheart!!! If you know anyone who is looking, do get in touch with Rescue Remedies Dog Rescue. On their website he is known as "Crosby" and he has his own thread in the forum.

My lovely Benji collie in the front and Mitzy Staffi cross on the right



Lovely Charlie!!! At the time of writing, still waiting for his forever home at our house!



More research on massage therapy + racehorse massage

Since meeting Dr Jeremy, I have spent extra time researching the science behind massage therapy and trying to find scientific publications on both human and horse massage. There are not that many published papers on horse massage, but there are some human equivalents that are comparable. The theory behind it should really be the same since physiologically we are the same. I have found interesting papers that are very sciency (yes, Im a nerd, I quite like them) and will be talking about them in later posts and trying to break them down to more understandable level.

Research-y work

One paper, actually the one on which we tried to base our research using the ultrasound, can be found here in a PDF format: http://www.sportsmassageinc.com/EffectsOfSportsMassage.pdf

In Short: The research results in that article say that massage increased the transverse diameter (ie width) of all measured muscles (average being 16%) and increased the stride lenght (average 3in) and reduced the stride frequency (average 3%).

We tried to emulate parts of the experiment to compare the increase in the width pre and post massage in a muscle (longissimus dorsi on the back) using the ultrasound, but found it very hard to measure. (And not very wisely used an uncooperative horse who was petrified of the UV machine!). Maybe the machine didnt have the right frequency range to use or maybe one needs to be very experienced to use it and read the results, but we found that even when the horse shifted his weight, there was a 25% change in the width of the muscle, or more accurately on the view of the muscle we saw on the screen. So this plan was scrapped for the time being. Im going to get in touch with the publishers and see if they can shed any light on how they went about measuring the muscles.

New ideas on how to do this are being formulated so (again) watch this space!

Massage Work

On top of my reading I have been working hard the last few weeks and loved getting my hands on all those racehorses at Jeremy's yard. So far I have massaged only three of them 4 weeks in a row with great results. For obvious reasons I cant discuss them in great detail, but it has been interesting how similar their tightness spots are and how clearly their training level shows up in their body. And even more interesting how well they have responded to massage. I suppose we always go through times of self doubts, particularly if what we believe in is challenged, so it has been lovely once again to have a confirmation of the efficacy of massage.

Am having a really busy week ahead again and will be getting my hands on few more racehorses. I wont get paid for all of them, but will be given full medical history, racing and training schedule etc etc by Dr Jeremy as a payment! I see it as a one to one tuition from a Vet specialised in excercise physiology. I'd say it is better than going back to University!!

Work with Dr Jeremy Naylor and a Dressage Competition

I have been using my science brain again and have been planning an experiment with Dr Jeremy Naylor (http://www.jeremynaylor.co.uk/) to quantify some the effects of massage the massage work I do.

Jeremy is a Veterinarian who specialises in horse excercise physiology and uses his methods to train racehorses at his own stables very close to Stonehenge in Wiltshire. The Cleeve stables are the only U.K. training stable run by a veterinary qualified exercise physiologist.

We had a preliminary meeting last week whereby he just wanted to see me and how I work and we have been disucssin this week over the email how best to conduct this mini experiment. I am going over again tomorrow to follow up, so will write more after tomorrow!

We are planning to use an Ultrasound Scanner on a chosen muscle (group) before and after massage to determine the difference in the tissue. (And yes, I really do hope there is some!!!)

I have spent the whole week glued to latest scientific papers finding information on how massage ACTUALLY works. I mean on the real nitty gritty biological level, not on the "it relaxes and lenghtens the muscle" level :D Not that there is anything work with it, but it is rather difficult to convince a Veterinarian with those type of arguments!

So I have been also trying to understand the workings of ultrasound, very detailed molecular biology and cell biochemistry, read a bit about the racing world and plough through the various massage publications on human massage and excercise physiology. 

AND most importantly did my first dressage test for more than 15 years!!! Vatican was great, I was focused (for a change) and I hope the judges liked it. It was done for Dressage Anywhere (http://www.dressageanywhere.com/) so will not find out my placing until the end of September. I am very excited about this all, not the least because I nearly chickened out since he is so unpredictable and I thought I have not schooled him enough. but he proved me wrong, behaved himself beautifully, was really calm and soft and rode like a feather. When he moves the way he did on Friday, all those mad days when he is so tense it feels almost like riding on a live bomb are made worthwile.

Vatican behaving himself @ our Dressage Anywhere
competiton at Cane End Stud

Little bit of trot - and yes I know Im not sitting great :D
I blame the fact that Im sitting in a jumping saddle!

So more details to follow about our work at Cleeve stables with Jeremy and I will most certainly post our result from the dressage test (well... only if we get over 80%!!! hehe)

Hope you are all well and lovong the Autumn weather as much  as me!!

Hello again,

I have been meaning to write about my little 'adventure' with some horse legs seen in pictures below (warning to those of you who do not like graphic details)!

Thanks to a lovely friend Hannah Brooks from the yard who worked at hunt kennels, I had an opportunity to do a mini autopsy on two separate horse legs and see and feel some of the tendons with my own hands.

It was an interesting experience not to say the least because the legs were rather... hmmm.. smelly I think is a too weak work to describe them and I was swamped with flies and over keen terrier right from the start. But regardless it was super interesting.

I must say - I am not an expert in anatomy and this was the first time I did this excercise, so do double check the accuracy on the names of the tendons before quoting me!!

Suspensory

Superficial digital flexor tendon - thick and very tough!

Comparison - see if you can spot the tendons!

Very high tech - in my garden and trying to shoo off the terrier :D
She would've loved a good gnaw of the bones and tendons

Note to self , or anyone else attempting this, do attempt it on a day where youre unlike to have this many flies, or do it in a garage or a shed (smell warning) and try to get the legs as fresh as possible so the smell issues are minimised. Also the horses skin is unbelievably touch, I had an old kitchen knife and it was almost impossible to cut through, so get a serously sharp and touch knife. Also for health and safety - keep keen terriers inside the house !!!! :D :D :D

It is very very interesting and really worth doing!

I have also just recieved some new posters, leaflets and such material and I have a great offer runing for the next 5 weeks whereby you get £10 off my normal price. Check out my website and facebook page!

And as always, please pass this blog on to anyone you think might be interested!!

Happy riding everyone!!