Equine Massage WA

I love a good visual 👀🐴

This video is three minutes long and, let’s be honest, it may look a little boring at first! There is nothing particularly dramatic to see—but that is exactly the point. Good postural control should look quiet, subtle and controlled.

So, if you’re willing to give me three minutes, watch this with me.

At the beginning, young Fiz performs her dynamic mobilisation exercises (DMEs) on balance pads for the very first time.

Watch closely around the base of her neck, shoulders, chest and abdominal wall. Each time Fiz changes her head and neck position, her centre of mass shifts. Because the balance pads create a gently unstable surface, the muscles responsible for supporting and stabilising her trunk—the thoracic sling musculature, including the serratus ventralis and pectoral groups, together with the abdominal wall and deep spinal stabilisers—must make continual, tiny postural adjustments to keep her balanced and organised.

You can see these small adjustments even while she is simply standing square on the pads.

Now compare this with Fiz performing the same exercises on firm ground. She is noticeably quieter and more stable, showing really good strength, mobility and control throughout each movement. She has been practising her DMEs daily for the past couple of months and has established those foundations on a stable surface first.

This is why progression matters.

Balance pads do not automatically make an exercise “better”—they make it more challenging. Before adding an unstable surface, a horse should be able to stand square and perform each exercise correctly, confidently and with good control on solid ground. Otherwise, we may add difficulty before the horse has developed the strength, coordination and understanding required to maintain good form.

More is not always better without adequate preparation.

Fiz is now showing that she is ready for this next step. Used thoughtfully, the balance pads add another challenge to her proprioception—or body awareness—and postural control, encouraging increasingly refined stability through her thoracic sling and trunk as she continues to strengthen.

I love a good visual, and I hope you enjoyed watching this as much as I did. 💛

Rehab doesn’t have to mean endless circles on the lunge!

Here Sophie is riding Brennan while ponying Homer around the cross-country course. This allows Homer to work without the additional weight of a rider while still encouraging him to move forward at a more purposeful pace. Many horses naturally walk with better rhythm and freedom alongside another horse than they do beside a person, and travelling in straight lines also avoids the repetitive loading and strain created by constant circles.

We’re incredibly lucky to have this setup, and today we were able to make use of:

🐴 The hills — gentle inclines and declines help develop core stability, hindquarter strength, balance and control while naturally varying the workload.

💦 The shallow water jump — the water walker is currently too deep for this stage of Homer’s rehabilitation, but walking through shallow water provides light resistance without dramatically changing his natural gait. It encourages deliberate foot placement, increased hind-limb flexion and activation of the abdominal, back and pelvic stabilising muscles—making it particularly useful for back, SI, core and hindquarter rehabilitation.

🚶 Straight-line walk and trot work — ponying allows Homer to move at a better rhythm and work a little faster and more freely, without carrying a rider and without relying on repetitive lunging circles.

🪵 Raised poles — these encourage controlled limb flexion, coordination, proprioception and core engagement. Homer decided it was easier to jump them today rather than carefully step over each pole! While enthusiastic, this also suggests that slow, controlled hind-end strength and coordination are areas that still need further development.

⚖️ Balance pads afterwards — these provide a quiet, low-impact way to practise weight shifting, postural control and activation of the small stabilising muscles once the movement session is complete.

Not everyone has access to a cross-country course, water jump or a suitable horse for ponying—and ponying should only be attempted with safe, experienced horses and handlers—but the principle remains the same: learn to use what you have.

A gentle hill, a few poles, varied surfaces and carefully planned straight-line work can all become incredibly useful rehabilitation tools when used appropriately for the individual horse and their current stage of recovery.

It was a truly beautiful Sunday at our polework for muscular development clinic with horses and ponies of all ages, shapes, sizes and disciplines. It was a true celebration of the oldies with 2 over 25 3 over 20 ( 2 of them tbs) and another 4 in thier late teens proving you are never too old to work on your strength and mobility. I don’t know about all the participants but I had the best time teaching and spent the entire day grinning at each of your amazing horses and ponies.
Next one in September will be going up for booking this afternoon just waiting to confirm dates