canter | Beverly Jacobs Equine Massage
Are You Getting Your Best Scores at the Extended Gaits?
The brachiocephalicus is the prime muscle for forward movement. This muscle starts at the top of the head and travels down the neck to the top of the front leg. When the horse is ridden correctly from behind, this very long muscle can do its job freely. However, if the rider has a death grip on the horses’ face, lengthenings, circles, and canter departs will all be hampered. The jaw and neck will be stiff. The horse becomes exhausted more quickly as it tries to move its legs without the help of the rest of the body. You can see the horse flicking his toes instead of lengthening his frame. I also see this in school horses who have inexperienced riders using the reins to balance.
Even when the rider is soft, the neck can still become stiff, especially after a lot of collected work. Sports massage can provide relief, allowing energy to flow through the entire body.
This entry was posted in Equine, Equine Massage, Performance Enhancing Massage, Sports Massage, Stress Point Therapy, Structural Integration, Trigger Point Therapy and tagged canter, circles, collection, extension, gaits, jaw, neck on March 19, 2013 by Beverly Jacobs.	
How Can My Horse Pass the Jog?
At 3 day events, I often see people practicing the jog repeatedly. The horse gets more and more stiff, gets held, and sometimes fails to pass. For many horses, I think there is a better way to prepare, and pass the jog:
Step One would be a thorough sports massage before the jog. I often combine this with cold laser in spots that are especially tight. The cold laser also helps release calming endorphins when used on strategic points on the head and face.
Step Two would entail a long walk. The walk uses all muscles without using momentum, so it is an excellent warm up. Walking also reinforces the body balancing work that was done during the massage.
Step Three would be to skip the trot and go directly to canter. This could be done on the longe line. Just a few circles in each direction would make a huge difference, as canter is the gait that lengthens all the muscles. (Trot is the gait that shortens the muscles, so continuing to practice the jog will make the horse appear more and more choppy.) Canter lengthens the back muscles, which is so important for every breed, but especially thoroughbreds that tend to shorten up when excited.
I hope these ideas are helpful to all of you this show season. Let me know how it goes!
This entry was posted in Cold Laser, Equine, Equine Massage, Performance Enhancing Massage, Sports Massage and tagged canter, eventing, jog, muscles, trot on March 4, 2013 by Beverly Jacobs.	