It’s been a fairly quiet week, again. I’ve not been doing too well with work and other stuff and haven’t really had the energy for Dino too much. I enjoyed last weeks’ Masterson practice and need to put aside a day each week to do this properly with him. This week we did some lunging, which was ok, rode a couple of times which wasn’t particularly good as he still felt very very stiff behind and we did a session of ST.

The underfluff which is the last bit to go with the saddle turned up! Pure sheepskin to go under any numnah/saddle cloth. It’s lush. I’m not certain he really appreciates it but he has stopped planting on the way to the arena at least.

Lovely sunny day today, here he is:

Better view of the underfluff:

I really need to get into a better routine. I’m hoping to get out for a hack next weekend with Jamie and some others. Really need to get out in the fresh air!!

This was the final day of our trying out Masterson techniques! I can understand why they should be done all together at the same time and I don’t feel like we got much release doing it in bits but I do feel like we had a good go at all the techniques without it being too much for my brain (or his brain) to handle.

Hind end:
Working from the top
We did get some release here. I like the search and stay technique and I think I managed to find the right points. He seemed to chill out but not as much as I might have hoped

Working from the bottom – down and back
This was easier than the equivalent on the front side and much more even. He wasn’t much worse with one leg than the other. He didn’t want to wait with the leg resting though

Working from the bottom – down and forward
Similarly this was easier than the front but no resting was offered.

Towards the middle:
Lateral rocking
This was nice and I think he liked it. Was a bit tricky to find the knack to get going but I think I got it! Again not as much release as hoped but I think it would have been better to do it as part of the whole set. Sunday was also quite busy in the yard so there were a lot of distractions going on outside his box.

In general he seems more chilled this week. He’s still off the medowsweet and cleavers but into the other herbs. He’s not taking as much chamomile though which I think is a good sign. We did go up and look at the traffic on the road and he didn’t seem too stressed. Anxious when large vehicles came past but not trying to run or escape. I’ve asked Jamie to accompany us on 2 April so hopefully we can find out mojo again. The new pony that’s moved in also likes a plod and owner says she can be flexible about hacking times so perhaps we’ve found a new hacking partner? We shall see!

Day 3 brings us to the neck/shoulder/wither junction and four new techniques. He was a bit fussy about all of these and I’m not sure we really did them properly but I think from the previous experience we can see that practice makes perfect!

Scapula release: down and back
This seemed to be ok on the left side although he didn’t yawn much he did give the leg fairly easily. He was much less happy on the right side though and snatched the leg back several times. He didn’t rest the leg for long on either side.

Scapula release: down and forward
Similarly this was ok on the left and snatchy on the right and not much waiting time either way. Hard to keep his weight back and on the other shoulder.

Under the scapula
I found this very confusing and I’m not sure I did it right!!! Consequently he was also a bit bewildered. Not sure there was much release either way but generally he was less fussy on the left isde.

Withers check and release
He seemed to like this and there were some small releases on some of the wiggle points. At least it was easy!!

Dino was helping me check I was doing stuff right today:

So I’ve declared a Masterson week! I’ve never managed to get all the way through all trying all the techniques for two reasons: firstly it’s quite a lot of stuff for me to try out at once and secondly Dino finds the release a bit unsettling and weird at first so doing lots at once is a bit much. So I’ve declared this week Masterson Week. The Masterson Method is a very gentle way of encouraging the horse to release accumulated tension is the major joints and muscles of the body. It’s pretty easy to give it a go armed with the book and DVD guide so it’s something general horse owners can try although there are also accredited practitioners around if you need help. You can find out more at https://www.mastersonmethod.com/

The whole workout splits neatly into several sections so yesterday we did the Bladder Meridian Technique and today we did the ‘front end’ techniques: lateral cervical flexion, head up and head down.

Bladder Meridian
We’re a little familiar with this technique but it’s a very general look all over the horses body to find points of tension and discomfort that need release. He was super super fussy and fidgety about the right hand side of his neck and also his right hip and hind leg, but we did get some release in all these points. The left side seemed more comfortable for him and he properly dozed off whilst I was doing it.

Lateral Cervical Flexion
We find this hard! He was very fidgety to begin with although we did get some licking and chewing in the end. He’s not that happy about the hand on the nose and tries to bring his head all the way round at first rather than waiting to be moved. I think he finds this a bit unsettling but I felt like it went better today than when we’ve tried it before so a bit of familiarity is helping.

Head down
We’ve never done this before. He was a bit resistant to putting his head down and wouldn’t really relax into it. There was a *lot* of licking and chewing and mouthing and stuff when he did relax a little though, but he clearly found it weird and unsettling. A bit of familiarity for both of us should help but we certainly need to do more of this!

Head up
He found this even more unnerving but got a lot of release from what little I could do! Again a lot of licking and chewing, and shaking his tongue about but also a bit of eye rolling and clear signs he found it weird. Again we need to do more of this as we certainly didn’t get all the tension out but I do think we’ve begun to clear it a little.

Trust Technique
After we’d done this I spent a few minutes trying to be present with him and I think he was beginning to come down and be with me. Hard to tell though. I need more practice at it!!

I promised a ‘seven days of Dino’! I hadn’t forgotten. From yesterday here he is looking pretty:

And today here he is making sure I was doing that Masteron stuff correctly:

…for me anyway.

He’s still on the herb train. He’s given up the meadow sweet and the cleavers though, so that’s probably good. Whatever was causing his to really crave them is fixed I hope? Still with everything else though.

We’ve not done much this week. A bit of riding, a bit of ST. I’m feeling quite unfocussed and like we’re not really making progress with anything because we’re trying to do too many things but I’m worried if we focus down on one thing he’ll get bored. I’m thinking about taking next week to ‘just breathe’ and do Masterson and maybe some Trust Technique but nothing else. I would like to start him looking at traffic again and try to calm him so that we can restart hacking. that would really help us I think.

I feel like we need some measurable goals! But this probably reflects other stress in my life right now. I can’t actually do many of the things I really want to as, ever, I don’t have transport. Maybe I’ll buy a lottery ticket!

No pictures of the pony this week (which is remiss of me! We’ll have a seven days of Dino this week I think) but have RJ trying to convince Woody to come to the correct side of the fence! They are so cute:

I feel like it’s been a more chilled week, in some ways. He continued wolfing down all the herbs he could get in his face although he’s not felt like he’s needed the oils so hopefully that’s good. We’ve received more supplies now and he’s taking a bit of meadowsweet but not so much. Everything else he’s keeping up with happily! Spoke to Dena about which herbs to do what and this is the summary:

Herbs he’s having:
Meadowsweet – good for the mucus lining of the stomach but also relaxing the muscles of the stomach if you’re holding them tightly because of anxiety. Quite a strong gastro-support herb
Cleavers – his favourite thing. Great for the lymphatic system and detoxifying generally.
Dandelion – also detoxifying but focuses on the liver and kidneys.
Nettle – also detoxifying but focuses on blood and liver
Chamomile – good for stress and anxiety, and gastric tension caused by stress or anxiety (for the same reason we might drink chamomile tea if we had anxious butterflies. We I might. You might not, lol!)

Oils:
Also been offering him two oils – these are few drops of essential oil in a carrier (she usually uses calendula for a carrier)
Peppermint – strong action on the stomch for gastric complaints, muscle spasms
German Chamomile – similar to chamomile flowers but the oils are much stronger

He is suddenly very girthy and tense about the right caecum/gut area again though. Nothing has changed so I’m not sure what this is about. He is moulting heavily now so I wonder if it’s that? I think he’s been worse with this in the past. We shall see. As he’s not taking the meadowsweet I’m taking him off the acid ease and putting him on the gut balancer (as the acid ease is specifically for stomach ulcers and I don’t actually think that’s the issue). Need to try and bring the cost down, lol!

In work terms: we rode three times this week. Focussing on transitions and I think he’s moving better behind but he’s still sticky although sticky now like he was with the gut problems not like he was with the hind limb problems so maybe that’s progress? Not sure I can tell.

I have this week been exploring Trust Technique (http://trust-technique.com/). It’s super interesting and although I don’t want to spend the money at the moment I am very curious about it and trying to learn the technique a bit. Watch this space?

It’s hard for me to know if he’s been any better since we started with the herbs and stuff. I feel like he’s been more expressive but that’s been showing itself in being hard to get him to settle and being more fidgety. I guess if that means he’s less shut down that’s good but it’s also a bit more challenging to deal with. Ho hum.