#20 Phys-phys-physio
Yesterday, Flora had her first ever physio appointment. This was to make sure that the tension she carries during schooling is more... well, attitude, and not pain.
At 12:30pm, we welcomed Lee Clark-Physio to the yard and introduced him to Flora, her background and her problems.
Flora is a grumpy old goat. She’s not interested in you unless you know her well already, or you are brandishing a carrot. But she seemed at ease with Lee immediately, and stood quietly while he began to check her over.
It became apparent very quickly that she had soreness and tension in the base of her neck, across her back and her sacroiliac region. Lee was a very good teacher, advising us to ignore her behaviour when being touched, and to watch the reaction of the muscles themselves instead.
Sure enough, there was visible, involuntary spasming. And why wouldn’t there be? Make anyone do any kind of workout, particularly holding themselves in a certain position for a length of time, and there will be tension. I, for one, spend my life trying to negotiate ‘neck knot rubs’ from my husband with varying degrees of success, and now it seems Flora is in need of the exact same thing.
Using the flat of his fingers, Lee worked on Flora’s neck muscles first. To begin with, she pulled the strangest face; part enjoyment, part ‘what the hell is this?’ (image 1), but by pressing down on the knotted tissue until the tension broke down and could be smoothed away, Lee caused Flora to let out a great big sigh of relief. I can’t even imagine how good that must have felt, and in all honestly, her little face made me feel a bit choked up.
😢
Next, Lee asked to see her in her saddle (which was fine, thank God, considering it’s new!) and to see me walk and trot her up, and stand her square as part of her physical exam. The result of this is that she is slightly lower and weaker on the right hand side of her pelvis... undoubtedly an old injury from when she was being trained to race - and a possible reason why she never made it to the track itself. Her left hind is stiffer than her right too, but her breed, age and history mean that this is to be expected. The weaker right hand side of her pelvis also explains why she struggles with right lead canter sometimes...everything was falling into place.
The conclusion was that there were no serious issues. That the old injury was so old it was beyond help, but that the soreness could
be alleviated right then and there, and the correct schooling, work and stretching, which he would teach us, would help Flora improve. A Bute trial was also recommended if any problems persisted.
So Flora’s neck knots were worked out, her back muscles were ‘popped’ back to reset mode, using a technique not unlike a human’s knee reflex test, and her pelvis, back legs and neck were helped to stretch. My absolute favourite stretch is the one for her pelvis, which involves putting pressure on a particular part of her quarters to cause a kind
of cat-stretch yoga pose and some audible cracks... cue licking and chewing and another
big sigh.
Afterwards, an in-hand walk and some grass was the order of the day, followed by some serious dozing off and 48 hours of saddle freeness. Tomorrow, we’ll be doing more stretches and lunging before our next lesson, and hopefully we will make it to the dressage on Sunday... if our lift can still take us
At 12:30pm, we welcomed Lee Clark-Physio to the yard and introduced him to Flora, her background and her problems.
Flora is a grumpy old goat. She’s not interested in you unless you know her well already, or you are brandishing a carrot. But she seemed at ease with Lee immediately, and stood quietly while he began to check her over.
It became apparent very quickly that she had soreness and tension in the base of her neck, across her back and her sacroiliac region. Lee was a very good teacher, advising us to ignore her behaviour when being touched, and to watch the reaction of the muscles themselves instead.
Sure enough, there was visible, involuntary spasming. And why wouldn’t there be? Make anyone do any kind of workout, particularly holding themselves in a certain position for a length of time, and there will be tension. I, for one, spend my life trying to negotiate ‘neck knot rubs’ from my husband with varying degrees of success, and now it seems Flora is in need of the exact same thing.
Using the flat of his fingers, Lee worked on Flora’s neck muscles first. To begin with, she pulled the strangest face; part enjoyment, part ‘what the hell is this?’ (image 1), but by pressing down on the knotted tissue until the tension broke down and could be smoothed away, Lee caused Flora to let out a great big sigh of relief. I can’t even imagine how good that must have felt, and in all honestly, her little face made me feel a bit choked up.
😢Next, Lee asked to see her in her saddle (which was fine, thank God, considering it’s new!) and to see me walk and trot her up, and stand her square as part of her physical exam. The result of this is that she is slightly lower and weaker on the right hand side of her pelvis... undoubtedly an old injury from when she was being trained to race - and a possible reason why she never made it to the track itself. Her left hind is stiffer than her right too, but her breed, age and history mean that this is to be expected. The weaker right hand side of her pelvis also explains why she struggles with right lead canter sometimes...everything was falling into place.
The conclusion was that there were no serious issues. That the old injury was so old it was beyond help, but that the soreness could
be alleviated right then and there, and the correct schooling, work and stretching, which he would teach us, would help Flora improve. A Bute trial was also recommended if any problems persisted.
So Flora’s neck knots were worked out, her back muscles were ‘popped’ back to reset mode, using a technique not unlike a human’s knee reflex test, and her pelvis, back legs and neck were helped to stretch. My absolute favourite stretch is the one for her pelvis, which involves putting pressure on a particular part of her quarters to cause a kind
of cat-stretch yoga pose and some audible cracks... cue licking and chewing and another
big sigh.
Afterwards, an in-hand walk and some grass was the order of the day, followed by some serious dozing off and 48 hours of saddle freeness. Tomorrow, we’ll be doing more stretches and lunging before our next lesson, and hopefully we will make it to the dressage on Sunday... if our lift can still take us
What a relief! I'm so glad that everything is improvable and no new injuries.
ReplyDeleteFantastic to see her so relaxed and snoozy afterwards too!
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