Sacred Equine - Balance, Strengthen, Heal. Whole Body Integration - for your horse.   Allison Wetter - Structural Integration Practioner
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December 05th, 2014

12/5/2014

 

Squaring your horse - just pretty or purposeful?

12/2/2014

 
It seems like such a minor thing but yet has huge ramifications. Following your horse’s body realignment, the creation of new neuropathways in the brain and new neuromuscular memory, it is critical to reinforce these through squaring and stretching. The old adage if you don’t use it you will lose it holds true here. Old habits of incorrect alignment and movement will take over.

Asking your horse to square up and stretch reinforces how they will stand and carry themselves in balance and alignment throughout the day, rather than in the compensation patterns that they have made habit. This work is truly retooling how they stand and move in the pasture and in their stalls. Try starting up those stairs with the opposite foot than you usually do or crossing your arms with the opposite arm on top. Feel odd? Now you can understand how the horse feels when he/she has been placed in different alignment and then asked to walk, trot and canter.

The squaring and stretches reinforce correct movement in your horse until it becomes habit. It will benefit your horse to do these for the rest of its life. I would like to share with you an incident a client shared with me recently. Her horse took a misstep out of a horse trailer and got herself a little unraveled. The horse on its own squared up, put its head down and started to yawn. Sort of the equivalent of the human yoga down dog position which allows us to self correct spinal alignment in our spine (assuming it is flexible enough to do so). Once your horse has been aligned and the spine, along with muscles and tendons have reached a point of flexibility they can self adjust also. Think of the comparison of a board and a Gumby horse figure. Which is more flexible? Always making time to square and stretch whenever you spend time with your horse, be it every day or just weekly is of paramount importance in maintenance of health.

This is an excerpt from Dr. Suzan Seelye, DVM

Misty

12/2/2014

 
Misty, a rescue from Equine Outreach in Bend relaxes deeply as I work her injured leg. The cause of the injury is unknown, but the build up of scar tissue has cut off the circulation around her lower extremity causing very poor blood flow to flow up the limb and  back down to the hoof. Her owner has diligently been working on the scar picking away old tissue, keeping it soft, and making sure she gets adequate movement throughout the day. It has reduced by 50%! Continuing to work on the scar will send signals to the nervous system and bring awareness to this area creating more blood flow. The tissue solidified years ago and was solid,  but slow work releasing and patiently applying cross-fiber strokes to break up the sticky adhesion's has proven to be a big success. She also throws her leg as she walks, I believe she is unaware of it’s proximity to the ground, although I’ve seen her canter across the paddock which is big progress!  Since the injury is old, Misty has developed many areas of compensation throughout her body.  
Picture
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Before treatment
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After treatment, a work in progress

December 02nd, 2014

12/2/2014

 

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    Allison Wetter

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