Equine Kinection

An injury may have healed, but that doesn’t always mean its effects have disappeared.

A Quarter Horse mare that Brandi worked with, sustained a puncture wound in her pelvic region a couple of years ago. Since recovering from the injury, she had been agitated under saddle, with a lot of head tossing.

Initially, she was very guarded, with strong compensation patterns that we worked to unravel through sessions every couple of weeks over a six-week period.

Since then, she has seemed more comfortable under saddle, and at her most recent session, her demeanour was noticeably brighter and more open.

Her owner also shared that she had been easy to catch the last few times, something particularly meaningful given that she had historically been difficult to catch, even before her injury.

An important reminder that recovery from an injury isn't always the end of the story. Changes in how a horse moves, feels and behaves can be worth paying attention to, even long after the initial injury has healed.

What you do after the competition season is just as important as what you did to prepare for it.

This is one of our favourite times of the year to work with clients.

Once the pressure of competing has eased, we have the space to really look at your horse. We can reflect on how they’ve performed throughout the season, what their body has needed, what they’ve coped well with and where there may be areas that need more support.

It’s also a chance to look into their training and their routine.

What’s actually working? What have we been doing that no longer serves the horse? What could we change, remove or fine-tune to better support this individual horse?

Then we look ahead.

Not just the competition goals, but what your horse will need from their body, their training and their support team to get there.

From that, we can start putting a plan together.

For us, this is where good preparation really happens. Not by rushing into the next training block, but by taking the time to understand what the last season has taught us and using that information to make better decisions moving forward.

Recovery gives us the space to reflect. Good planning gives us a way forward whilst using what we’ve learned.

For more information on how we can support your horse’s off season, DM us the word “WINTER PLAN”.

Your horse can only perform to the level their body is capable of supporting, and that’s something we can’t afford to overlook when we’re asking horses to progress through the levels.

As the demands of training increase, so do the physical demands placed on your horse. More collection requires strength and control. More advanced movements require greater mobility, coordination and stability. And when the body can’t meet those demands efficiently, compensation can start to appear.

It can look like a horse taking longer to warm up, feeling different on one rein, finding a movement harder than usual or simply not feeling quite like themselves.

Those changes give us an opportunity to ask why something has changed rather than simply asking the horse to work through it.

That’s the foundation of our approach.

We’re not interested in making every horse move in the same way or chasing a particular aesthetic. We want to understand the individual horse, identify where restrictions or compensations may be influencing their movement and consider what their body needs to meet the demands of their training.

Brandi’s progression from Training Level to Grand Prix is a great example of why this matters.

That progression wasn’t created overnight. It has been built through consistently supporting her horse’s body, responding to what they needs at each stage and addressing the smaller things before they have the opportunity to become bigger limitations.

Performance-focused bodywork shouldn’t be about chasing problems. It should be about understanding the horse behind the performance and giving their body the support it needs to keep progressing.

If you’re interested in understanding where your horse could benefit from additional support, DM the word “PERFORMANCE”and let’s talk.

Have you ever heard riders talk about flying change hell? 🙋🏼‍♀️

It is something I am all too familiar with. Getting a clean change consistently when I started them with Junior seemed like it was never going to happen, we started out getting it like 25 percent of the time, then a bit more often and more.

We just kept chipping away with the training, supporting his body that was working hard, with massage to make sure there were no restrictions holding him back. And finally one day they were there.

The last couple of years we have received comments from multiple judges about how his changes were his highlight or party trick. Those comments mean the world because for a little while a handful of years ago, I struggled to think we were ever going to get a single clean change consistently. But with consistent bodywork and working with the rest of his team (vet, farrier, chiropractor) we were able to make sure his body was feeling good, so that we could keep building the proper strength, suppleness, and straightness with his training.

Meet our client Kjirsten and her two, very different, mares. We started working together to relieve any areas of restriction, and to make sure they both can perform their best.

Kjirsten is incredibly diligent about her homework which helps to support the changes we make in the bodywork sessions. This improves each horses’ strength, suppleness, and straightness, and in turn improves their overall performance.

Working with such amazing owners is one of the things that makes our work an absolute joy.

If you’d like to talk through how we can support you and your horse, DM us the word “SUPPORT”.

Wow what a weekend our founder Brandi had at the Regional Championships last weekend!

The weather meant that the weekend started out a little rocky… It rained a lot and meant that Brandi’s horse was very unsure about the footing the first day.

But they then went on to have their best ride yet at I2 on Saturday, despite the rain!

It was so much fun and we’re loving supporting clients for those final few championships over the next couple of weeks.

Three horses. Three very different needs.

Addisen has trusted Brandi with her horses over many years, and hearing how bodywork has had impacted them physically, mentally and in their performance, means so much.

From recovery and relaxation to confidence, willingness and development, this is why we do what we do.

Swipe through to read about Addisen’s three horses: Klaas, Zeckra and Sovvy!

For more information, DM us the word “TEAM” to find out more about working together.