April Bodywork Clinic Report!!!

[schwung]

First of all, I want to thank Dr. Hannah Evergreen for donating her time and services to us! It was a fabulous day and we all learned so much! Thank you also to all the participants who came with such passion and enthusiasm and desire to learn! And to our volunteers, without whom the event would not have been such a wonderful success - Jacqueline (high school student doing a job shadow with me as her senior project), Kelsey and Lisa Dobbin, Jenny (Cardicorgi, who drove up from Portland!), Peri (pdevlieg, who made lunch for us and also dinner for the Board of Directors after the event), and of course, my wonderful boyfriend Mike, who manned the BBQ and made emergency fence repairs (more on that later!).

There is so much to report and so many incredible photos to share! The goal of Dr. Hannah's clinic, first and foremost, was to create an opportunity for us to strengthen the bond we have with our horses and to play an active role in their health and well-being. I think you will see from the photos, that we all love our horses very much and definately those bonds were enhanced yesterday. Each horse that participated came with a past and, in several cases, significant physical or emotional scars, and I think the exercises we learned and the treatments each horse received was greatly beneficial to each one.

I will start the clinic report off with an amazing set of photos and video of our most memorable success story - Redmond! The clinic started a little late, so while we were waiting to begin, Redmond and Valerie's other matching chestnut Chewy were let loose in the arena to blow off some steam. Boy did they! Get a load of these two amazingly beautiful creatures...and that hunk of a horse with the big beautiful neck and the 3 white socks is none other than our Redmond! Sorry I went a bit overboard with the photos, I am just so enamored with this horse!









No longer a stub of a tail, Redmond shows his pretty new tail by arching it over his back while he played:










Redmond enjoying a roll:


And last but not least, a video clip of them running around. Look how sound this boy is! And how beautiful a mover as well!

[schwung]

Finally we started the clinic. We all gathered in a circle around Hannah and she passed out some materials and went over the basic fundamentals of stretching, barefoot trims, acupuncture, and chiropractic. There was plenty of time to share our own experiences with chiropractic and acupuncture and to ask questions. Photos of the group, listening to Hannah:

Juliane and Dandy, Chelsea and Toad, and Dr. Hannah:


Rowena and Bella, Bonnie and Jay:


Valerie and Chewy, Kelsey and Redmond:


Wendy, Monica, and Sparkle:

[schwung]

Next we divided the horses into two groups and the group without horses were handlers so that the owners got a chance to practice each of the stretching exercises. First Hannah gave a brief anatomy lesson.

Rowena practicing finding Belle's axis:


Hannah making friends with Raina:


Hannah demonstrating where the horses spine goes on Raina:


Next we started the stretches. Here Belle and Sparkle demonstrate the "Leg Forward Stretch":




Chewy and Sparkle demonstrates the "Knee Lift Stretch":

[schwung]

Have to take a break on the report, more later!

[cat67]

So cool! Wow, every one of those horses looks great. It is so good to see those former rescues in such excellent condition. Redmond looks like a $10,000 horse these days!

[huskiesnhorses]

cat67 said:

So cool! Wow, every one of those horses looks great. It is so good to see those former rescues in such excellent condition. Redmond looks like a $10,000 horse these days!

Ahhhhhh......but to me.....priceless.

[schwung]

Here Hannah demonstrates the "Front Leg Back Stretch" with Sparkle and Belle:




Raina did exceptionally well with the "Hamstring Stretch":


Sparkle has some issues with her hind feet and had a harder time with it, and Hannah helped work her through the issue:


Here Hannah demonstrates the "Hind Leg Back Stretch":


and Valerie gives it a try with Chewy:


Now Hannah demonstrates the butt tuck on Chewy. Note how his back has lifted:


Sparkle showing impressive lift:


And the "Belly Lift Stretch" which works similarly to get them to lift the back:


Raina doing a wonderful belly lift:


Hannah demonstrating how to do a "Telescoping Neck" stretch on Belle:


And Sparkle showing the proper results with an arched neck:


Rowena practicing the Nuchial Lift stretch:


And a few candids, pretty, loved horses:
Mara and Raina:


A kiss from mom to Chewy:


Redmond gives Kelsey one of his famous head hugs:

[schwung]

Next we broke for lunch, and when we came back, we did the same series of stretches on the horses from the next batch (Vanna, Dandy, Toad, Redmond, Jay). I didn't get any photos as I was busy doing the stretches on Vanna myself. Then Hannah walked us through several of the key acupuncture trigger points, which we practiced doing acupressure on ourselves, watching carefully for when our horses would lower their heads, blow, lick or chew to indicate they had released. Then each horse was examined by Hannah and she did acupuncture and chiropractic treatments on each horse, depending on what they needed. I can't speak for each horses' treatments, but I can tell you about Vanna. The first thing that Hannah did was palpate her poll/axis area:



She had Rowena feel for herself how Vanna's axis was tilted to the side, and then adjusted her:





Vanna enjoying her neck palpation:


Vanna has some significant back soreness due to years of having babies. Hannah did a lot of work on her lumbar spine and her pelvic area, and she also got an acupuncture treatment:






While Vanna was "cooking" with her treatment, she fell briefly in love with The Toad:


Rowena and Belle have a very special horse-human relationship, as Rowena is 98% blind!

[schwung]

Some photos that Jenny took while I was working with Vanna:

Bonnie and Jay doing butt tucks:


and sharing a moment:


Chelsea and Toad doing belly lifts:


Juliane and Dandy:


Valerie and Redmond:


Jay and Bonnie doing Nuchial lifts:


Vanna and me:




Juliane and Dandy:




Chelsea and Toad:


Jay getting adjusted:


Monica and Wendy, hanging out:


Hannah playing "Hide-a-Head" with Jay.


How is this for a Kodak moment? Bonnie and Jay:


Wendy and Sparkle:




Mara and Raina:




Valerie and Kelsey:


Sparkle getting an adjustment:


Dandy, Toad, Raina:

[schwung]

Finally, we moved on to the riding portion of the clinic. Hannah gave a brief talk on the importance of saddle fit, and then we all mounted up and Hannah showed us some basic stretches you can do under saddle, and we worked on getting our horses to stretch long and low, and suppling their neck by getting them to bend to the inside and then to the outside. After that we just played for a while. Here are some random riding photos that were taken either when I was wasn't riding or with Jenny's camera:

Bonnie and Jay:


Mara and Raina:


Juliane and Dandy:




Wendy and Sparkle:


Mara/Raina, Me/Slam, Bonnie/Jay:


Slam and Raina sniff noses:


The Three TBs - Slam, Jay, Raina:


Then Peri got on Slam and Jenny got on Jay as everyone else was packing up:








It was a great clinic!! We are DEFINATELY doing another one, so let me know if you are interested in the next one!!

[cutiepiepmu]

I would like to do the next one for sure! Please let me know when and where!

Sara in WA

[kahluacowgirl]

I'm going too... now that my van is fixed it should be fine for another 4 months now

[cat67]

I don't think I've ever seen pictures of Jay before...gorgeous horse! What a face!

I should have brought Sunline, she would have been in love.

[pdevlieg]

Slam was such a good boy for me even though he knew I had no idea what I was doing in a dressage saddle - where is the horn on that thing!

Afterwards I was telling my daughter about this "HUGE" horse I rode. We talked about how tall he was (17.3) and I said Slam's back is as tall as my husbands head.

Then out of the mouth of babes - my daughter said - then mom, you should mount dad.

[schwung]

OMG Peri! That is too funny! ;D