NICK, the 3-Day Eventer
Nick’s owner Linda had worked with him for several years, training him as a three-day eventing horse but he was never quite right. Eventing horses compete in a challenging schedule that includes precision dressage on day one, stadium jumping on the second day, and cross-country jumping in a prescribed time limit on the third.
The owner’s main concern was that when Nick cantered in a circle to the right, his shoulders went to the left while his hind end shifted to the right. Nick was athletic and, given the limitations of his structure, was doing his best but he hadn’t become the top level horse shehoped he could be.
Session 1 (11/29)
Nick was high strung but it showed only when I worked in his problem areas. He shifted slowly from side to side as I worked those places. I found most of his holding concentrated in his right ribcage. This kind of holding sets in over time and affects the movement of the latissimus dorsiand serratus thoracis. The tissue was dense and had a solidity behind his shoulder blade that made me think it had been settled there for at least four years. The other areas of concern were his left lumbar region, the base of his neck on the left and to a lesser degree on the right, and the whole length of his neck. Horses jammed through their barrels (trunk) like Nick was understandably often have stiff necks.
Nick hung on to these restrictions tenaciously. There was enough of a shift to let me know that more was possible but I couldn’t get a significant change in that first session. I felt that I could, however, gain some improvement in his condition if we did a five session series.
His owner was reticent at first, having had a lot of professionals work on him in the past and yet his problems persisted. She finally decided to get him a series saying, “I’ve tried everything else, I might as well try this.”
Session 2 (12/6)
I start sessions with minimal pressure and graduate to deeper work as the tissue unwraps and the horse’s trust level increases. Nick allowed only medium depth pressure in his most held areas which was still an improvement over the light work he allowed in the first session. His areas of concern were the same but he let me in just a bit farther. He was significantly calmer during this session.
Session 3 (12/20)
This is the session where his pattern of tension finally opened up. I got in much deeper behind his right shoulder and he showed me new areas of tension that arose in response to his pattern shifting. Curiously his right hip was tender as well as the inside of the same leg. Previously this had felt fine. Either he was using the muscles of this leg differently as his body changed or he strained it in the intervening two weeks. Both were possible but my intuition said it was more likely he was unwrapping layers and revealing underlying tensions that were covered by a compensatory pattern.
Session 4 (1/10)
Nick was a different horse in this session. The work of session 3 had given him the freedom to move in new ways but he didn’t yet know how. For years his body had been held in a pattern that didn’t allow his right foreleg to extend because it had been restricted by the band of connective tissue behind his right shoulder. Now that his shoulder moved better, his right fore hoof landed in unexpected places. For example, when he took a jump, he always landed with his right foreleg touching the ground first and his body slightly bent to the right. He organized himself to this style of landing but now he was no longer held in that pattern.
His owner said he was “jumping fences like a klutz.” He hadn’t known any way other than the old way to jump and that organization clearly wasn’t supporting him anymore. He had to learn how to move his forelegs in a more integrated manner. I worked very deeply on his right shoulder and at the base of his neck on the right. His pattern had clarified to a smaller amount of holding in this one area and we addressed it.
Session 5 (2/15)
Throughout the series Nick found the work to be easier as the work got progressively deeper. His areas of concern today were the right wither pocket above his shoulders, right ribs and right shoulder. The adhesions and tension worked out during the session and toward the end he received the work in a highly receptive state with his head dropped and closed eyes.
The significance of the case study is helped by reading this summary by his owner, LInda
Stuckenschneider:
“I bought Nick when he was four years old, fresh off the race track with the intention of making into an event horse. I spent the first year trail riding, getting him to calm down and learn to ride with other horses. I did a lot of lunge line work getting him to stretch to the bit. He had a muscle bulge on the bottom of his neck, carried his head very high and was hollow in the back. His left side was overdeveloped and his right side was so underdeveloped that when I wrote on the right rein he felt like a totally different horse. I realized he was going to be a long term project.
Despite years of constant practice in dressage and jumping his progress was slow. He was still noticeably asymmetrical and his right side had not developed fully. I took him to low-level horse trials and schooling dressage shows and the comments from judges were consistent, that he didn’t come through his topline and did not accept the bit. I had done everything I could think of — custom fitted saddles for both disciplines, equine dentistry, a double jointed snaffle, chiropractic and more. The chiropractic helped to a point but Nick still couldn’t come through his back. In the saddle I felt like I was sitting on two inches of his spine.
Linda and Nick
“The chiropractor felt work beyond his scope was needed so he recommended the Equine
Natural Movement Series. At first I was skeptical but after the first session my trainers and I noticed a little difference. After the second and third sessions there was a major difference. Nick rounded and accepted the bit. His back lifted up underneath the saddle. I didn’t feel like I was sitting on a balance beam anymore. One day I noticed his whole shoulder area moving and I had never seen that happen. “
Nick changed dramatically. At first he seemed apprehensive jumping with a new body but after the fourth and fifth session it was like a miracle had happened.
I had a whole new horse. My dressage scores came up and his jumping improved. He now lifts his whole shoulder over the jumps, not just his knees. Months after the last session he continues to improve and get stronger.”