Talking a little bit about philosophy, and the importance of having a supple horse and
a horse that feels comfortable, and confident in their body, um, I think when they feel good
in their body, I always say you want your horse to have a really good ego, and I think confidence
just translates into better movement, better movement, translates into confidence, and that
helps you just optimize performance. Hey you guys! I'm super super excited about today's
video where I'm working with Jody Heaston. She is a professional equine body worker, she does a lot
of work on my horses, and she's so knowledgeable. So, what happened. A few weeks ago, she came to my
barn, she drew the shoulder and neck muscles on Natasha, which was super super cool, and then in
this video she is going to give you guys two simple activation stretch exercises that you
can do with your horse to help their neck before you get on. So, I hope you enjoy this video, and
don't forget to give my channel a thumbs up and subscribe! Click the bell. I post a new video every
single Wednesday about riding, about dressage, and it would really help me out if you could subscribe.
So, without further ado let's get to the video, and I really hope you enjoy hearing from Jodi!
Um, so now we're going to do some unmounted, uh, what is traditionally known as stretching.
I like to expand upon that just a little bit. Um, my stretching, what I do with the horses and
bodywork, and what the homework I give my own clients, uh, involves activations. I'm really glad that
wiggle jiggle song came out last summer, because there's a lot of wiggling and jiggling, and uh
some mobilizations. I get a lot of my inspiration, uh, just watching horses on their own. When they're
out they roll, the first thing they do when they get up is they have a really good shake, which is
a form of vibration, so it must feel good to them. When they're rolling, their legs are kicking in
the air, so that's a little bit of a jiggle. So, I kind of go with the own horse's behavior of what
feels good to them what will they choose to do on their own, and then I try to replicate it, and then
obviously back it a lot by science. So, but, I want it to be super easy, the things that I'm also going
to give my clients to do. A lot of what I'm going to show you you're going to feel like you're not
doing anything, but that's also the best riding, and when horses can feel flies land on them, you
just need to go super light. So when in doubt, go lighter don't go deeper. I'm going to show you a
Wither Wiggle, which is going to help activate the multifidi, which are deep muscles underneath here.
We're going to do a sternum mandibular... Okay, so the first thing that I'm going to have you
do, and these are so easy you can incorporate them into your grooming with them. Even just when you're
hanging out talking with them, you can do wigger withle wither wiggles that's very hard
to say. The first thing I'm going to show you is sternum mandibular, and it is a muscle, the people
that name the anatomy, very smart, Sterno: starts at the sternum, which is a bone here, comes up to the
mandible. Sternum mandibular. So it's origin and insertion, you just take your hand like a C- shape,
like this, and I just start up here, and it's just a very gentle shake. This is your sternum mandibular
shake, and it just relaxes those muscles, kind of activates also the smaller muscles that cover
stabilize the cervical vertebrae. Super, and then as she reacts, she's stretching on her neck. So this is
super easy, again, you're going to feel like you're not doing anything, but you are relaxing that
muscle. And then, I kind of finish it off either just like a nice rest of a palm on the sternum,
and then that's your sternum mandibular shake! So, the next one to do, and again I call this you're
standing around talking to your friend's exercise, because you can do it with them. Good girl, Natasha.
Um, it activates the multifidi that cover or stabilize cervical vertebrae six and seven.
Vertebrae six and seven are underneath the scapula, they are a bit of a challenge to get to from a
chiropractic point of view, from a bodywork point of view, even though they they are bones, but you
want to activate the muscles, and you'll see when I do the wither wiggle, this little area
in here, very imperceptible little movement, a little twitch, that way I know it's it's it's
activating. This is something you would do before... activations are done before, to wake up the muscle
to prepare them to work, the multifidi are highly innervated, meaning there's a lot of nerve input
there, so to do the wither wiggle, and again I need to give credit to Jim Masterson, Masterson Method,
this is an exercise that he has introduced, and it's requires very minimal movement, but
I think it's highly effective especially to get horses to kind of drop through their neck.
So, one hand goes here, just, and if you find, like the end of the mane, just go about a hand
distance like three fingers, just up there, very gentle, and then you're going to take
two fingers, peace sign. These vertebrae are going to feel like little Legos at the top, and you're,
just it's going to be this pushing and pulling motion, like this, very, very gentle. I'm doing it
way more as an exaggeration than what you will do. So here, and then I'm just going to activate,
and you can see a little bit of a twitch, and if you look at her eye. Somebody walked by.
But, the goal is for them to also drop their head, and again, this is one of those things
people are going to think, "What are they doing?" But it's a really, really good, there she goes.
Super. And some of these exercises, like riding, the best riding should look invisible, the you you
do the least to get the most, and this is one of those exercises. And there she goes. See, she shakes.
Horses feel flies land on them, we just need to do very little, so in the in doing these, the execution
of them, when in doubt, go less than more. I find that will be a little bit more helpful. [Music]
Thank you!