Dynamic Equine Therapy

27/09/2026

26/09/2026

Happy weekend all!!

25/09/2026

One word to think about…

25/09/2026

When we’re trying to build muscle in a horse, it’s easy to look at the exercise first. More work, more strength building, more poles, more transitions — if you do MORE surely the body will respond?

And generally, yes. More exercise does build muscle.

But topline is often not quite as straight forward as that because we are not just looking at one muscle.

The visible topline is the result of several muscle groups working together as part of the horse’s movement.

So when we ask, “Why isn’t my horse developing the way I thought he would?”, we can’t always jump straight to “He needs more work.”

Sometimes he does but don’t forget, exercise isn’t happening to a blank canvas.

Every horse brings a different body to the exercise. The way that body is moving affects which muscles are being recruited, how the work is distributed, and ultimately how the horse adapts to it.

There’s some good research around this regarding how the horse’s back responds to exercise. The dimensions of the horse’s back can change measurably, but that isn’t simply a reflection of the fact that the horse is working. The quality of the work, saddle fit and rider skill all have an influence. Gait abnormalities and back asymmetry can also affect how those changes develop over time.

That doesn’t mean any one of these things can be pointed at and called the “cause of poor topline.” Rather that the body doing the exercise determines the outcome.

This means we actually have to look at what the horse’s body is doing with the exercises we have given it, and that will give the answer to how it’s developing.

24/09/2026

Most horse owners, riders — and even practitioners — probably don’t think about the spleen very often. In fact, when we think about horse biology, the spleen is probably one of the last organs that comes to mind.

It sits quietly under the ribs, getting on with its everyday jobs.

But in the horse, it has a rather extraordinary role.

The spleen is part of the immune system, but it also acts as a large reservoir for red blood cells.

Your horse doesn’t make a fresh supply of red blood cells when it starts working. Those cells are already there, held within the spleen and ready to be released when the body needs them.

And there is a good reason for having them available.

Working muscles need energy, and the harder they work, the more energy they require. For sustained exercise, much of that energy comes from aerobic metabolism, which depends on a steady supply of oxygen.

Red blood cells carry oxygen through the body using haemoglobin. So putting more red blood cells into circulation increases the amount of haemoglobin available to transport oxygen to the tissues that are working.

The mechanism behind this is beautifully simple.

As the horse becomes more active, the sympathetic nervous system responds and adrenaline and noradrenaline rise. The spleen contracts, squeezing its stored red blood cells into the bloodstream.

And the equine spleen has quite a reserve.

Depending on the conditions and how strongly the system is stimulated, a horse can mobilise a very substantial proportion of its stored red blood cells — in some studies, around half of the circulating red-cell volume.

That gives the horse a rapid, temporary increase in its oxygen-carrying capacity without having to produce new cells.

When the work is over and the sympathetic response settles, the spleen relaxes again. The red blood cells are gradually redistributed, and the blood returns towards its resting concentration.

Nothing has been magically created or removed. The horse has simply moved its own resources to where they are needed, and then put them back again.

And the spleen has plenty of other work to do while all of this is happening.

It filters the blood, helps remove old or damaged red blood cells, recycles useful components such as iron, and plays an important role in immune function.

So that rather unassuming organ tucked away under the ribs is doing quite a lot.

An extraordinary organ — with a particularly clever trick up its sleeve.

23/09/2026

MAINTENANCE MATTERS

One good bodywork session can make a horse feel and move better. But one session isn’t a magical reset button that immediately switches the horse from dysfunction to function.

Restricted movement can be addressed. Muscle tension may be reduced, and joints may have more freedom to move. The horse may feel softer, freer and more comfortable.

But that doesn’t mean the body has immediately built the strength and coordination needed to maintain that change.

When a horse has spent time moving around a restriction or using an adapted movement pattern, the nervous system and muscles can become accustomed to that way of moving. Some muscles may be doing more work, while others are recruited less effectively. In some situations, muscles may also remain chronically overactive as the body tries to stabilise an area.

So when we create more freedom of movement, the body still has to learn how to use it.

That means supporting the new movement through appropriate ridden and ground work that builds strength, coordination and postural control.

When restriction is associated with postural weakness, habitual movement patterns or the way the horse is currently being worked, bodywork needs to be paired with work that specifically addresses those weaknesses.

Adding appropriate strength-building, balance and core-conditioning work gives the horse more opportunity to develop the capacity to maintain better function.

It’s no good having a bodywork session, releasing tension and creating more freedom of movement, only to continue working the horse in exactly the same way without addressing the weakness or movement pattern that contributed to the restriction.

The body needs a reason to keep the change.

Bodywork shouldn’t be viewed as a single event, but as part of an ongoing cycle:

Address the restriction → move & strengthen → body adapts → reassess → repeat.

The aim isn’t to keep “fixing” the same problem every few months.

The aim is to give the horse the opportunity to build a stronger, more functional body that can maintain better movement for longer.

And that’s where maintenance becomes important.

Maintenance isn’t simply having your horse booked for a bodywork session twice a year. It’s a tailored approach to supporting the horse as it adapts, strengthens and continues to work.

The appropriate interval will depend on what is found initially, how the horse responds, its workload and what is being done between sessions. For some horses, this may mean shorter intervals while changes are being established. For others, the interval may increase as strength and capacity improve.

The point is to catch changes while they are still small and support the body through the process of adapting and strengthening, rather than waiting until an old movement pattern has become firmly established again.

For horses with longstanding restrictions or established movement patterns, that process may take considerably longer.

Maintenance isn’t about keeping a horse in constant bodywork. It’s about supporting the transition from:

“feels better”

to

“moves better because the body has developed the capacity to sustain it.”

22/09/2026

“You lunged the freshness out of him… or did you?”

“He was too fresh.” Is a phrase we often hear.

But what are we actually putting under that label?

A horse can be full of physical energy.
He can be excited.
He can be environmentally aroused.
He can be anxious or uncertain.
He can be anticipating what’s coming next.

And sometimes, there may be something physical influencing how he behaves — muscle soreness, stiffness, discomfort, pain, fatigue, digestive discomfort or even physical restriction in how he moves.

The words — “he’s fresh” — can describe very different things going on beneath the surface.

I find the difference between fatigue and nervous system regulation particularly interesting.
Is he calm -or is he tired?

Lunging may absolutely use up physical energy. The horse may become quieter simply because the physical demand has taken the edge off his energy levels.

But physical fatigue doesn’t necessarily mean the nervous system has become regulated.

If the reason for the behaviour is excitement, uncertainty or heightened arousal, adding more work may change how the horse behaves — but it may also increase the very arousal we’re trying to reduce.

Are we calming the horse down, or adding more stress to an already heightened state?

And that’s not an argument for or against lunging.

It’s an invitation to look a little more closely at what we mean when we say “fresh.”

Because the answer may change what we choose to do next.

Sometimes the answer really is:

“He has a lot of energy today.”

And sometimes… it’s worth looking a little deeper.

Let’s discuss…

How often do you label your horse as “fresh” — and how do you handle it?

21/09/2026

At some point, every horse owner will hear a few medical terms while their horse is being examined — after an unexpected injury, or simply during a routine investigation.

Medical terms can sometimes sound like a foreign language. Here are some common ones, and their translations.

21/09/2026

“Don’t exercise straight after feeding.”
We all know the rule. But do we know why?

A little look at the biology behind it. 🐴