Regular bodywork has played an important role in my sport horse’s mental and physical well-being. It helps me understand what areas of her body need strengthening to prevent injury and stay on top of overall trends in her body. Since we started working with Laurie, my horse has been less fussy and more relaxed under saddle.
Jamie Dunn
Photo Credit: Josa Comstock
Laurel's work helped improve Letty's gait and unidentifiable lameness in her front right. It also improved her body alignment from her face all the way to her tail.
Tamara Mellon
Gus has been my good trail buddy for many years. When he came up very ill and tested with a slightly positive for EPM, and positive for Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis. Laurel's Craniosacral Care and Kinesiology Taping helped him regain his feet, gain needed weight, and become more balanced and mobile. He is back to being the boss in the pasture again, which feels good!
This is the second horse Laurel has helped for us and had good results.
Leslie Parr
My gelding had Head Shaking Syndrome for 3 very long years. I was at the point of having to have "quality of life" discussions. Knowing the amount of pain he was enduring was heartbreaking. After trying supplements, face masks, bodywork, and feed changes, I found Laurie, who was willing to treat him frequently enough to make real progress! Cranial-sacral treatments saved my horse! After just 3 treatments, he stopped shaking, and maintenance treatments have kept him that way. It is rare to get complete remission in a Head Shaker and I am eternally grateful to Laurie for making that happen!
AK
I was initially interested in craniosacral therapy because it’s one of the few treatments with positive results for Equine Headshaking Syndrome. Sonic is a 9yr old Hanoverian who showed signs of headshaking since age 4. He's been on antihistamines and melatonin to control seasonal symptoms. The sun, allergies, stress and any stiffness from his rider would trigger his head flipping. There was a marked improvement after the first session. After several more I felt comfortable taking him off the antihistamines and melatonin. Even with the stress of changing stables he has not had a relapse. I am thrilled to say he no longer suffers from headshaking. What I didn’t expect was all of the other changes that occurred.
I didn’t realize how locked up my horse had been from poor saddle fit. He now has much better engagement from behind. His natural one sidedness has also resolved. He used to struggle with carrying a left bend in his lateral work but no longer tries to pop out his left shoulder to avoid bending. His saddle fitter was shocked by how much his body had improved in the 8 weeks between fittings. The changes to his posture and balance have allowed better muscle development, so overall he just looks much more athletic. His breathing used to be labored from his allergies, but now the inflammation that cause him to struggle is gone. He used to sweat heavily on trailer rides, even in December. When we changed stables in August, he came off the trailer dry.
Laurie works on the horses with a calm energy on which they thrive. My horse immediately let his guard down and allowed her do what was needed. Laurie is great listening to feedback not just from the horse as she works on him but also from the owner. I explain what changed since the last session and she incorporates that feedback into the new session. For Sonic, this treatment is not about fixing a problem, having it regress between treatments, then fixing it again. Each session has established a new baseline, building on the prior session. Working with Laurie has improved the quality of Sonic's life. I'm enjoying all the benefits of riding a horse who's more relaxed under saddle because his body is functioning better. I can't recommend Laurie enough.
Tammy Leighton
I have a 21 years old quarter horse who was diagnosed with ringbone about 9 years ago. I was pretty aggressive in trying to eliminate inflammation and, over time, tried several different strategies to manage it. He developed a hitch in his step, especially tracking right. I found myself doing less cantering and trotting and accepted that we might trail ride occasionally to keep him comfortable.
I tried different strategies over the years to manage his condition—steroid injections until he could no longer receive those as he developed Cushings. We tried acupuncture, platelet-rich plasma injections, chiropractic treatments, chondroitin supplements, Equioxx, and most recently, Gel injections. (I probably will continue with the gel injections as they did seem to make him more comfortable, but he hasn’t had any injections for about 6 months). He became weaker as time passed: exercise became limited to turn out and pretty much just walking, maybe a little trotting if he felt good. As he became more out of shape, he lost his inability to pick up correct leads when asked to lope.
My riding had dwindled to maybe just a few times during the year because I didn’t want to add my weight and a western saddle if he was uncomfortable. A friend from the barn where I board told me that she was having craniosacral therapy for her horse to treat headshaking initially, but she had experienced many other positive results with his movement. She was confident that it would help my horse, and since I tend to try anything, I gave it a whirl. Laurel came to our barn. I had her look at Sherman to see if she thought craniosacral therapy would help, and we got started.
I observed this technique and immediately thought, ‘Ok, this is a waste of money; there is no way this is doing anything.’ I wondered what the heck my friend who recommended this was talking about. How could this possibly do squat? I already had in my mind I most likely would not do another treatment.
Laurel gave me a few exercises to do with Sherman during the next 30 days. My barn is not real close to home, and I only get out there twice a week, so I wasn’t able to do this with great consistency, but when I could, I did the exercises on the ground with him. I have a friend who rides him three or four times a month. She understands his limitations (she barely weighs 100 lbs soaking wet). She also did some of the exercises under saddle when she came out. I explained the treatment we were trying and asked her to let me know if she noticed anything different about their rides. Within 3 weeks, she said that she noticed that he was using his hind end better and seemed to be a bit smoother at the trot. Laurel was due to come out again in another week. Since he had improved, I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll give this another month’. Laurel mentioned that she felt a noticeable change in his 2nd treatment. I stuck with the program. My rider friend continued to give me good reports over the next several weeks, saying that he felt much more comfortable and smoother at the trot and continued to engage his hindquarters.
My skepticism turned towards hope. After the third treatment, still continuing with the exercises once or twice a week, I wanted to see his gaits on a lunge line. His trot looked smoother, and he wasn’t using his head and neck as much. I asked him to lope, and he picked up leads correctly in both directions. I asked my friend the next time she came out to ride to ask him to lope under saddle. For the past several years, he had difficulty, which became progressively worse, and she didn’t push him. If he did pick up correctly in front, he would often be incorrect behind.
After the third treatment, he picked up both directions correctly when asked under saddle and could do 2 laps in each direction. We will continue to build on this slowly to help increase his strength. I hopped on him, and he felt great!
I started to research this a bit more and have learned that this technique is used on people as well at some reputable medical facilities. So, I found it to be a legitimate modality. We just did our fourth treatment, and I am very encouraged by his progress. I still don’t understand how and why this works, but as long as I see improvement, I’ll stick with it!
Linda Sabo
Copyright © 2024 Spot On Equine Bodywork - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy Website Builder