Equine Bodyworx by Toni Horsley in Mittagong, New South Wales | Professional service

Equine Bodyworx by Toni Horsley

Locality: Mittagong, New South Wales

Phone: +61 414 595 666

Address: Colo Street 2575 Mittagong, NSW, Australia

Website: http://www.equinebodyworx.com.au/

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• Massage therapist
• Professional service
• Pet service

25.01.2022 Highly recommended

25.01.2022 Watch out for these nasties

25.01.2022 This is too beautiful not to share

23.01.2022 Congratulations to sponsored rider Tanisha Ryan on a wonderful result at Willinga Park. I’m excited to be a part of their journey.

23.01.2022 And his bodyworker’s!

23.01.2022 New year, new artwork.

22.01.2022 What is the longest a horse can safely go without food? More and more I see horses and ponies stood for long periods of time with no hay or haylage. Usually un...der the guise of a weight control diet. So how long can a horse be without food before damage is done? And what damage is done? For those with a short attention span, I’ll give you the answer to begin with - 4 hours, maximum. Why? Horses are grazers. They are designed to eat constantly. They have no way of storing their acids and digestive enzymes, they’ve never needed to. They have no gall bladder to store bile and their stomachs release acid constantly, whether or not there is food in the stomach and intestines. A horses stomach only holds approximately 8-15 litres. Depending on the substance eaten, it takes on average 4-6 hours for the stomach to completely empty. After this, the acids and enzymes start to digest the inside of the horses stomach and then the intestines. This causes both gastric and intestinal ulceration. It has been estimated that 25-50% of foals and 60-90% of adult horses suffer from ulceration. But I won’t go into detail about this, there is a lot of information around about ulcers. So is that it? Are ulcers the only concern? No, having an empty stomach is a stress situation for a horse. The longer they are starved, the more they release stress hormones, cortisol predominantly. Cortisol blocks insulin and causes a constantly high blood glucose level. This stimulates the body to release even more insulin, and in turn this causes fat tissue to be deposited and leptin resistance. Over time this causes insulin resistance (Equine Metabolic Syndrome). All of these mechanisms are well known risk factors for laminitis and are caused by short term starvation (starting roughly 3-4 hours after the stomach empties). Starving a laminitic is literally the worst thing you can do. Over longer periods, this also starts to affect muscle and can cause weakness, and a lack of stamina so performance horses also need a constant supply of hay/haylage to function optimally. Let’s not forget horses are living, breathing and feeling animals. We talk about this stress reaction like it’s just internal but the horse is well aware of this stress. Door kicking, box walking, barging and many other stable vices and poor behaviour can be explained by a very stressed horse due to food deprivation (we all have that Hangry friend to explain this reaction). Next time you shout or hit a horse that dives for their net, remember their body is genuinely telling them they are going to starve to death. They know no different. But surely they spend the night asleep so they wouldn’t eat anyway? Not true. Horses only need 20mins REM sleep every 24 hours (jealous? I am!). They may spend a further hour or so dozing but up to 22-23 hours a day are spent eating. So if you leave your horse a net at 5pm and it’s gone by 8pm, then by 12am their stomach is empty. By 4am they are entering starvation mode. By their next feed at 8am, they are extremely stressed, physically and mentally. Now I know the cob owners are reading this mortified. I can almost hear you shouting at your screen if I feed my horse ad lib hay he won’t fit out the stable door in a week!! I will say that a horse with a constant supply of hay/haylage will eat far less then the same horse that is intermittently starved. They don’t eat in a frenzy, reducing the chance of colic from both ulcers and over eating. Cobs included. However I’m not suggesting you sit your cob in front of a bale of haylage and say have at it! There is a difference between ad lib and a constant supply. There is much we can do to reduce calorie intake and control weight whilst feeding a constant supply. The easiest is small holes nets. There are many. Trickle nets, greedy feeders, nibbleze, trawler nets etc. My personal favourite is the Shires Soft Mesh 1. They don’t cost the Earth, they are easy to fill and they don’t have knots so are much gentler to the teeth. Now often I suggest these types of nets to owners and the owner tells me Oh no, *** won’t eat out of those this is nonsense. If he was left it, he would. Remember, you can give a normal net and one of these for them to nibble at after. Better than leaving them with nothing at all. A few other tricks, hang the net from the ceiling/rafters, it’s harder to eat out of a net that swings. Soak the hay, a minimum of 4 hours to be effective. Mix with straw but be sure to introduce the straw slowly and make sure it’s top quality and a palatable type eg Barley or Oat, otherwise they won’t eat it. Don’t forget exercise. The best way to get weight off a horse is exercise. Enough exercise and they can eat what they want! And lay off the bucket feed and treats! Horses on a diet require a vit/min supplement in the form of a balancer but that’s it. The odd slice of carrot or suede won’t do any harm but no licks, treats, treacle, molasses, cereal based rubbish. Even if it says low sugar or the marvellously misleading No added sugar! Your horse would rather have a constant supply of hay, I promise. Written by Vikki Fowler BVetMed BAEDT MRCVS A few edits for the critics- Firstly, feeding a constant supply does not mean ad lib feeding. It means use some ingenuity and spread the recommended amount of daily forage so the horse is never stood with out food for more than 4 hours. I am not promoting obesity, quite the opposite, feeding like this reduces obesity and IR. This can be done whilst feeding your horse twice a day as most horse owners do. Just think outside the box for your own situation. Secondly I am in the UK and this post is UK specific, use some common sense when reading. Yes in warmer climates, soaking hay for 4 hours is dangerous and studies show 1 hour is plenty in hot weather but in the UK’s arctic climate, a minimum of 4 hours is required. Equally the UK feed exclusively grass hay. I can not comment on other types. Thirdly, yes every horse/pony and situation is different, but this is a law of nature and all horses have this anatomy and metabolism. How you achieve this constant supply is individual, the need for it is not. Fourthly, the use of hay nets in the UK is very very high. I’d estimate 95% of horses I see are fed this way and very very few have incisor wear or neck/back issues as a result. Yes, feeding from the ground is ideal, but a constant supply, I feel trumps this. Again with ingenuity both can be safely achieved. Finally, straw can be fed to horses safely, introduced very slowly, with fresh water always available, plus a palatable and digestible type of straw which will depend on your area. Again many horses in the UK are bedded on straw and most of them eat it. This is not a new concept to us.

21.01.2022 I can highly recommend this product!

20.01.2022 Congratulations to sponsored riders Jess and Rhys for smashing it out of the park with their incredible team of jumpers.

20.01.2022 Huge congratulations to sponsored rider Thea Horsley on this outstanding achievement. So excited for their future together!

19.01.2022 The art of seeing your horse. Do you know the orientation of your horses pelvis? Here is just over 3 minutes to help you see SOME of the things that would be affected by pelvis postion

19.01.2022 I am thrilled to now offer the use of a Bemer PEMF rug and boots in my practice. Treatment goes for 15 minutes and greatly enhances circulation and tissue repair. Treatment with Bemer Horse set... Notes stimulate the horse's microcirculation. The task of microcirculation is, on the one hand, to add oxygen, vitamins and nutrients to cells and, on the other hand, to transport waste from cells. Positive effect when using bemer: Promoting recovery Promotes regeneration of muscle and tissue Reduces stress (during transport or competitions) Is relaxing on psyche and musculature (before riding) Preventing damage Supports the horse's own healing processes after injuries Promoting hydration Bemer has shown very good results in the treatment and prevention of Pain and disease of muscles, joints and spine Disruptions in blood circulation Digestive issues / constipation Paralysis Nervousness before events / competitions Dehydration Stress when transporting Acute and chronic tendon inflammation Late damage, fracture, sprain Collections of blood (haematoms) Healing of wounds

19.01.2022 Just because I haven’t spammed for awhile, here is my girl

18.01.2022 Merry Christmas to all my wonderful clients. Thankyou once again for your support this year and for overall helping to make my job so very enjoyable. Wishing you all safe and happy holiday season and looking forward to doing it all again in 2021 xxx

17.01.2022 A quick simple checkup to see if your horse is restricted in the poll.

16.01.2022 How much should you feed your horse? I find these visuals very helpful.

16.01.2022 The day is beyond glorious, as is the scenery. Excited for a weekend of treating horses at the Dressage by the Sea. PM if you would like to book a session.

12.01.2022 Somebody is loving the new PEMF rug... and the little doggies love it too.

09.01.2022 Most horses pass from one human to another - some horsemen and women are patient and forgiving, others are rigorous and demanding, others are cruel, others are ...ignorant. Horses have to learn how to, at the minimum, walk, trot, canter, gallop, go on trails and maybe jump, to be treated by the vet, all with sense and good manners. Talented Thoroughbreds must learn how to win races, and if they can't do that, they must learn how to negotiate courses and jump over strange obstacles without touching them, or do complicated dance like movements or control cattle or accommodate severely handicapped children and adults in therapy work. Many horses learn all of these things in the course of a single lifetime. Besides this, they learn to understand and fit into the successive social systems of other horses they meet along the way. A horse's life is rather like twenty years in foster care, or in and out of prison, while at the same time changing schools over and over and discovering that not only do the other students already have their own social groups, but that what you learned at the old school hasn't much application at the new one. We do not require as much of any other species, including humans. That horses frequently excel, that they exceed the expectations of their owners and trainers in such circumstances, is as much a testament to their intelligence and adaptability as to their relationship skills or their natural generosity or their inborn nature. That they sometimes manifest the same symptoms as abandoned orphans - distress, strange behaviors, anger, fear - is less surprising than that they usually don't. No one expects a child, or even a dog to develop its intellectual capacities living in a box 23 hours a day and then doing controlled exercises the remaining one. Mammal minds develop through social interaction and stimulation. A horse that seems "stupid", "slow", "stubborn", etc. might just have not gotten the chance to learn! Take care of your horses and treasure them. Written by Jane Smiley

05.01.2022 "He's got his thinking cat on" : Francis Dumouchel

05.01.2022 Am I a Chiropractor? This is a question I get asked all the time. The simple answer is no, I am not trained as an equine chiropractor. In Australia only vets and human chiropractors can study to be an equine chiropractor. So what exactly do I do, you may ask? My main modality is the Tucker Biokinetic Technique or TBT is the short version. I have also studied extensively with Jim Masterson and was his main instructor in Australia for 5 years. Prior to that I have taken ...a multitude of courses including equine biomechanics, myofascial release, laser and red light therapy.... the list goes on and on. And prior to all of that I conducted a successful remedial and sports massage therapy practise in Sydney for 20 years. So, back to TBT. After working with horses for several years I was getting frustrated when I kept coming across the same restrictions again and again. I found I was able to help horses tremendously in a session, they would relax beautifully and have huge releases but often when I returned for a follow up visit, the original issues would have re-appeared. So I knew I was helping them, but I wasn’t FIXING them. This frustration led me to the USA to attend a course with Dr Renee Tucker in 2016 to learn TBT. This was a level 1 course, where we learned skeletal alignment. Dr Tucker is an Equine Veterinarian, Equine Chiropractor and Equine Acupuncturist. Over the course of 20 years, she developed the technique that aligns the entire body, emotions and mind of the horse. This course was a life changer for me. I will never forget feeling for the first time being able to release the lumbar spine, when it simply ‘let go’ under my hand, it brought tears to my eyes, literally. This is an area of tension that so many horses suffer from and that I had continually struggled to release, and there it was, re-aligning and all tension dissolving under my touch. We learned how to align the entire skeleton of the horse. It is different from chiropractic work. It is subtle, it is gentle, it is energetic, it is relaxing. And the horses love it. It looks like nothing, it requires very little pressure and above all it works. It takes 48 hours for the horse’s body to fully re-align and sometimes there are primary causes that need to be addressed before this completely happens. However, in most cases, the results are instant and horses literally change before our eyes. Since that first course, I have travelled again to the USA and have studied extensively with Dr Tucker and assisted her on several courses. I am proud to call myself a TBT Master Practitioner, currently the only one in Australia. So no, I am not a chiropractor. I am many things, a bodyworker, a therapist, a healer.

02.01.2022 Just so all are aware racing nsw has made an exclusion list WE ARE NOT TO SELL TO THESE PEOPLE ( please bare in mind some confusion over the last name on this list it’s being delt with and shouldn’t be on here )

02.01.2022 Sponsored rider Tanisha Ryan did a super job at Willinga Park. It’s great to see these two in action and to see Rickson showing us what he has in the tank, and there is plenty! I’m excited for their journey. Rickson enjoyed his bodywork sessions at WP as well as a Bemer PEMF rug warm up prior to his test. A session with the rug takes only 15 minutes . The horses really relax as their cells oxygenate and regenerate. It certainly worked for this boy.. #dressagehorsesofinstagram #bemer #equinebodyworker #horsemassagetherapy

01.01.2022 My day started with 2 x alpacas. Jitterbug has gone from a horribly crooked neck after getting caught up in a fence - to straight in one session. (Wish I had the before photo). Joelene’s back is so much better and she is enjoying life with the herd again. Drove 400+kms, cockatoos, sunshine, 8 horses treated, lightning storm followed by a breathtaking rainbow. Think I deserve that Pinot Gris

01.01.2022 Sponsored rider Thea Horsley in fabulous form at Camden in the weekend. This is Charlie’s second event and already he is proving to be a superstar.