I also should post, that I will be getting more consistent with blog posts later this year. (Not to mention the somewhat neglected Facebook page!) But for the next few months I need to focus on getting my current on-line classes fully developed, and delivered to my earliest students. (New students always welcome of course. Lessons are all recorded, so you can begin anytime.)

The courses are Equine Back Pain and Helping Your Dog’s Hips. I hope you’ll check them out if you haven’t already.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Now here’s another Horse Tip Daily podcast where I talk about them.

(I will also be making a free video sometime this year teaching these very important techniques. They are fantastic for helping your horse’s body, and also for monitoring how they’re doing. And they’re so easy, if you do them right!)

This is about one of the techniques taught in the free webinar, Natural Healing Secrets for Rescued and Adopted Animals, which you can get by joining my e-mail members here.

I have the DVD myself, “Strolling Under the Skin,” and am thrilled to see at least a little of it available on YouTube to share with you.

You may be fascinated by what the narrator is saying, or totally overwhelmed, but just please enjoy the “wow” factor of the visual images, and don’t let the speed and complexity of the narration put you off the overall impression, that fascia is cool! (And so is Myofascial Release!)

1. Blog author, Dawn Anderson, is totally passionate about her own learning and training on this topic. She’s already pursued some of the highest quality education available, and isn’t slowing down one bit. In the years to come, I have no doubt she will be one of the top experts in the field.

2. Thanks to the integrity of both Dawn and her employer, Olson’s Tack owner Mike Akers, Dawn’s income is strictly salary, with no perks from commissions on saddle sales. This means that when helping clients assess saddle fit, Dawn can be completely unbiased toward which saddle to recommend, or even whether to sell you a saddle at all.

So be sure to check out Dawn’s Blog!

Go to www.RescueHorseMassage.com to register for the event.

It’s a 1 hr free webinar. Just click on the link and it will take you step-by-step through the process of registering and attending. You can attend live, or listen to a recording later anytime. You’ll automatically be e-mailed a link to the recording later if you register.

But before you can register, you’ll have to confirm your request for the subscription, so be sure to watch your e-mails!

The information in the webinar will apply extremely well to horses, as well as to dogs and cats and many other species. Very soon I’ll have a more in-depth, on-line class dedicated especially to rescue horses (and different classes for dogs and cats).

I look forward to sharing lots of information with you in the webinar!

I didn’t mention yet another reason I’m happy to promote info on the RP saddles. Here’s the policy of the company, they won’t sell you a saddle without you spending two weeks trying it out. This trial period is free, but you do need to pay for shipping if necessary. (You can lease it for longer if you need more time.)

I believe more companies are taking this or a similar approach these days, as more people are learning more about the science and art of saddle fitting. Never buy a saddle without a trial period, unless you’re willing to accept the risk that you may be stuck with a saddle that doesn’t fit, and have to resell it yourself. And remember, very importantly, that your horse may not tell you the first few days if it doesn’t fit. If the pressure spots aren’t too severe, if your horse is stoic, or if the pressure points are in different spots than the previous saddle, it may take a week or two of riding for soreness to show up.

So this post is to highlight a series of YouTube videos from the RP company, and the one I suggest you start with even if you have no interest in RP saddles, is the one looking at a horse’s conformation through the eyes of a saddle-fitter….
(Note: At the end of the video, across the bottom of the screen you’ll see additional RP videos you can click on to watch.)

I had ridden Prince sporadically over the last couple of years since his saddle was fit for him. (It’s an adjustable saddle, custom-fit but not custom-made.) He had changed, and I had made some adjustments myself to the saddle, so I was thrilled to get a chance to have the owner of the RP saddle company check it out in person when she was in town recently. I knew I also wanted to have a test ride with a Port Lewis Impression Pad (see next paragraph) at the same appointment. I’m happy to report that the fit looked good, so we went right to testing it with the impression pad, and the results were essentially perfect, zero see-through spots and only one small area of slightly thinner orange-red goo. Yay!

I did not take my camera with me to photograph Prince’s results, but you can go to this site to see a photo (scroll down for it) of an impression pad result from a random test with another horse/saddle. It shows you how the red goo inside the pad squishes away from the areas of higher pressure, leaving some clear areas. With less serious pressure points, you see areas where more light shines through thinner goo when held up to the light. This is a wonderful tool to use to really know what your horse’s back is experiencing when you ride. Because you do test it with a ride, not just standing in the aisle way as saddle fit is so often checked. (And my suggestion is that if you’re part of a group such as a club or a boarding facility, you look into having everyone pitch in a few bucks and buy one to share!)

Since a well-fitting saddle is so critical to the health of any riding horse’s back (no matter how often they get massaged), I will do the next couple posts on the same topic, so stay tuned….