Intro to Masterson Method bodywork for horses

I’ll be posting a lot about this, in pieces, over the next week or so. I’d recommend buying the book/dvd package as, for the price ($57.65), you are getting a LOT! For example, a horse riding lesson easily runs between $30-60 nowadays and most horse books are at least $30 alone. The book is extremely dense, packed with info, and the nicely filmed dvd gives step by step how to do it.

I’d like to commend whoever designed this book. Kudos to them! There are several design features that make it really useful as a field reference guide:

1.) The book is spiral bound so it can be laid flat and remain open. Since you may be using this at the stable, this is great.

2.) Each chapter shows a 2 page spread, step by step, of the technique in photos with brief text. Again, this is great as you can lay it open and see it all instead of having to turn pages or read through.

3.) After the 2 page photo explanation, you get in-depth analysis of the muscles and skeletal system of the horses’ region being discussed and another series of photos showing the technique, with deeper information. The end of the chapter wraps up with common questions and problems you may encounter and their solutions.

I REALLY wish that the Connected Groundwork book had been put together like this one. This makes so much more sense and is able to be used in the stable so much more easily!

I’d recommend watching the dvd about twice before approaching the book. The first night I tried the book first and there is so much info that it’s overwhelming. By having the book and the dvd, you can approach the learning in two different directions. Some people do best watching videos (me) and other people prefer text reading (husband).

Like Tellington-Jones TEAM method for horses, Masterson has developed a scale of pressure that is even easier to understand: Air Gap (almost no pressure), Egg Yolk (indenting an egg yolk without breaking it), Grape, Lemon and Lime. What I’d like to point out here is how little pressure he uses. Wow! I really, REALLY need to back off and use less pressure. This hit home in watching the dvd.

You may ask how can I get results without pressure? Early on in husband’s Reiki work (energy work), some horse friends asked him to work on a horse that had been severely damaged, both emotionally and physically. He ended up using what Masterson would describe as Air Gap, as lightly as touching the hairs on your arm, and the response from this horse was the most amazing I’ve seen in the work he has done then and since. The horse’s muscles literally started trembling and shaking without him touching and the horse gave huge releases and husband was NOT touching her!

The Masterson Method (MM) is an interactive method which means you watch for the horses’ responses and work in concert with what he has given…this has some correlation with Dorrances’ True Horsemanship Through Feel which encourages the horse person to follow the horses’ lead and learn how to give as well as guide without a lot of pressure.

This interaction that Masterson uses with his touchpoints of Search Response Stay Release  also allows it to be what I call Horse-Led as the horse can determine the pace of interaction. This builds upon the relationship end as opposed to the master-servant interaction we often have with horses. It also makes this a very gentle method to use with your horse.

I also see that I need to do this work before doing Peggy Cummings Connected Groundwork (CG). Z was so sore that touching or working the right side of the neck put her into fits. The chin rest made her twist her head (Masterson calls this corkscrewing) which is indicative that she simply can’t move sideways in the vertrebrae in order to release.

I can see where the MM (Masterson Method) can help me get that released and working right, and the CG can help her relearn how to use her neck better. In physical therapy, sometimes the body has to relearn the proper muscle pattern and I can see how CG would do that.

This is what I meant when I wrote about puzzle pieces… these two groundwork systems dovetail beautifully into each other. I can see where some of my TTouch work (from Linda Tellington-Jones TTEAM system) could expand the rehabilitation such as doing hoof circles after the scapula releases (MM) or the bodywrap (TTEAM) help give a better sense of back to front connectedness  after you did the total MM bodywork from front to back.

Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a weekend clinic of MM, bodywork the horses all week, and then have a weekend clinic of CG and do connected work the horses for a week? Then a 7 day clinic of TTEAM, including bodywork and riding and culminating in a clinic by Mark Russell about riding in lightness????

WOW!! I think my brain would explode!

Puzzle Pieces

Since I know I’ll be attending the May Masterson Method clinic, I ordered his video/book combo. I don’t remember where I heard about his bodywork for horses – probably some Youtube videos which blew me away.

As my regular readers know, I’m a cynical hmmm *person*. I’m a scoffer with no role models. But all I have to say after scanning through the book and watching the video last night is …WOW….I mean WOW…

I feel like I’m in freefall…scared witless and in awe at the same time.

This work is like the missing puzzle piece, fitting into TTEAM (Linda Tellington-Jones), Connected Groundwork (Peggy Cummings) and Mark Russell (Riding into Lightness). I mean… WOW….

 

My way of helping

I’ve given Z the week off due to her injury but will be starting her back this week to her life under saddle. It’s one reason I’ve been so quiet on the blog – the other being we were in the middle of the kids bathroom remodel (just laid a new tile floor and put in a new sink counter – still to finish the closet and walls).

I’ve also been enjoying the company of hubby who has been given an extra two days (in addition to the weekend) to be here in town by working from his laptop. Tuesday evening he leaves for Dallas to meet up with one of his bosses, returns home Friday, and will have a WHOLE WEEK! to be home for Thanksgiving, as they have given him permission to work remotely M-W on the laptop since Thursday and Friday are holidays. I am spoiled!

In preparation for Z getting back I’ve been reading and pondering more of Mark Russell’s Riding in Lightness book. I’ve been wanting to post some thoughts about my working with my horses, but have hesitated because while I understand what I’m thinking, it might come out in a confused jumble to you.

In the horse world, we all want to tell another what to do. It’s our natural “training” inclination, and I have to write, that in all honesty, I have no interest in telling you what to do! That may come across as disingenous since I have videos and explanations on the blog, but let me explain: those posts, photos and videos are for you to use, IF YOU WANT TOO, but in no ways criticizes others about what they are doing wrong or should be doing.

I don’t post photos of others riding and then make cruel remarks about their skills; I don’t link to video and say: this person sucks! I leave that to all the other experts on the Internet, most of which are so dumb (notice I don’t say who! LOL!) that they wouldn’t know a relationship with a horse if that said horse came and bit them on the ass.

I do not go to other blogs and post: “you need to sit up, leg back, blah blah blah” to anyone. I did that when I taught lessons and some students saw my wisdom and other students stabbed me in the back with a deep shank that left emotional and spiritual wounds for years due to their betrayal.

There is two ways my personality behaves when faced with opposition: I either annihilate that obstacle and completely overcome that roadblock, or I walk away. After what happened to me at the end of my lesson business, I decided to walk away from directly helping people ever again. I was manipulated and played – I could exact revenge (and trust me I had it in my power to do so), or wash my hands of it. I decided that for my own mental health washing hands of other people’s power trips was better.

About two summers ago, Molly told me I wouldn’t be able to keep to that. That I had a deep need to help people. Yes, I do have a need to teach and help others. I am not sure why but I have had that for most of my life. However, I also have a strong sense of survival and self-preservation and never again will I let outsiders get that close to me.

I simply have no interest in directly helping people ever again.

The videos, blog posts, and photos are here to help those who are interested; those who don’t find it helpful will wander away. In that way, the Internet has been a great teaching tool that allows me to preach and for those who hear something that helps, for them to walk away with that help with little inconvenience to me. Especially, now that I’ve turned off comments and voting on the Youtube videos! ROFLMAO!

So what has that all have to do with what I started with in this post? It’s about the purpose of the blog, my thought processes in why I post here, and how I intereact with my readers… You’ll see why I preface this information when I put up the next post….

Connected groundwork

The weather here today is wonderful! It’s in the 60′s, overcast with a very slight breeze on the cool side. If only we had more days like that here but I imagine by Halloween we will be cold with freezing rain. So I’m taking it and running with it.

Hubby is home so after taking care of home errands and getting daughter by the bookstore, we headed out to Z. Hubby did a little work on her front feet as they were starting to chip and I wanted him to get a nicer roll on the front. For the first time, she looks like she has HORSE feet and not little baby hooves.

Her head also seems to have matured over the last few months and I’ve had to change settings on the sidepull to accomodate a larger throatlatch and longer nose. Her hips have gotten a bit higher then her front, so I think she may even gain some more height (withers will rise up after hips). Fingers crossed on every quarter inch I can get.

I hand grazed her for a bit while we talked. I spent a lot of time with Dear One when it was just us two, but the years of owning multiple horses meant less one on one for each horse. Now I have some time back to spend with Z.

Afterwards, we did some of Peggy Cummings Connected Groundwork exercises. Peggy comes from a background of Centered Riding (Sally Swift) and TTeam (Linda Tellington-Jones) so I’ve been interested in some time in trying out some of her exercises. Her work of relaxing the horse downward and throughout the body is also work that would synch well with the exercises by Mark Russell. If you are familiar with Wendy Murdoch’s riders’ body work, this would also be compatible.

Unfortunately, since she is not scheduled for a clinic anywhere close to me, I have to make due with videos and her book. I did buy her speciality halter as it has different adjustments on the throatlatch, poll and noseband then a regular halter. Since Z’s head was still growing, this was also helpful to have something that could adjust. BTW Z is wearing a medium and she is on the first hole.

Here is a very good video of how to put on the lines in the Connected Groundwork way:

I wanted to do the exercises with hubby giving me direction from the book, and providing any coaching and correction. I have to say that it was far more difficult then I was expecting but that’s okay. What I notice with the above is that because I am used to working with a completely slack line, it’s hard to remember to keep the tension! Okay duh! keep tension! Just a bit more practice and I can tell what my right hand is doing with my left! LOL!

The first 2 exercises are leading exercises done with both hands and using the line over the nose:

Starting on: It’s a step forward, step back with a slide in/out on the inside line before starting;

Slide in and slide out: It’s a one hand slide up to the noseband, pause with a bit of tension (Pulling the Bow) and slide out.

The second part with the bodywork I felt more assured and comfortable with having done much of it with the TTouch (part of TTeam).

Cheek Press: Very hard on Z to do because it requires release in the poll where she holds tension.

Cheek Delineation: Z liked this exercise a lot. We were doing it at standstill but eventually when I get coordinated we will try during the walking work.

Caterpiller: A little more concentration but very similar to a TTouch exercise such as Zig-Zag TTouch.

Chin Rest: letting the horse relax their chin into your supporting hand.

I took her over to the spooky area of the lawn where panthers worked and was able to get her to walk around- not fully connected but that was okay. We are both learning and I deliberately put her in a challenging situation.

These will be some fun things to do with Z when we are off from riding. Also, it should help with her bracing on the right side in her neck and provide some release from her poll.

transition old into new learning

Even with the lightning show last night, brisk wind and a fall from 90 degrees to 50, as well as entering her heat cycle – we still got a lot done today! woohoo! This is the type of day I definitely would not have ridden due to all the factors involved, but with Rugby Player I can just go ahead and get her worked.

In these short few days I’m already feeling better and motivated about Z. It’s good to work with someone because it keeps me to a schedule instead of being distracted away with errands and other projects.

I did spend a bit more time free lunging her at canter. I wanted her to work out any hijinks before we rode but all she gave were two half hearted bucks that didn’t amount to much and settled far more quickly then I was expecting.

Under saddle, I started him with some bending exercises at walk which helped her I think get her focus back on what he was doing. At trot she gave a few great, relaxed transitions and then went to a “eeeehhh” pissy mode. I figured it might have something to do with how RP was asking her so I put her on the lunge (RP still in the saddle) and returned to taking trot on a voice command.

When she went smoothly and relaxed that way, I asked him to give the trot command with his heel at the same time I said “trot” but instead of a heel that stayed on her for one minute, to give her more of a floppy (but controlled) kick that was quickly on and as quickly off. Next time he gave her only his aid (about a 3 on a scale of 1-10 on kicking just to clarify) and that seemed to do the trick and we ended on a good note.

One reason for RP’s role in this whole training Z scenario is exactly what happened today. She got pissy being asked to go into a relaxed trot and started looking tight, head up and her back hunching (hmmm buckeroo anyone??) but I could change the work (using the lunge), transitioning her from something she already knew to something new, while still having a rider on her.

In this way we can return to something she already knows and is comfortable with: take the trot with a voice cue and do it in a relaxed manner; then add in the new cue (floopy heel kick, on and off quickly but emphatically) and she can transition that learning over to the new training she isn’t quite comfortable yet with.

Like I told RP, she’s my little project and I don’t have to be on anyone’s deadlline but my own.