Mills Equine Services

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🩶 Equine Myotherapist & Photonic laser
🩶 Animal L3 Reiki Practitioner
🩶 Trigger & Stress Point therapy
🩶 Fitness & Rehab programs
🩶 Tissue Mobilisation student
🩶 Special interest in racing🏇
🤍 Proud sponsor of Fulfillment Park
📍Geelong & Surrounds

31/08/2026

This past Friday I also had the pleasure to work on Duke.

Duke is an older horse and is semi retired, his owner had concerns about a trigger point she had noticed along the back.

Upon my initial evaluation this trigger point presented bilaterally (both sides) in the same spot. This information is so important as it tells me peices of the puzzle.

As my treatment went on the information Dukes muscles were giving me were presenting like an old saddle fit issue with pressure points that have caused the trigger points bilaterally. Normally I would do an saddle evaluation but his saddle wasn't available, so cannot fully confirm but was a common presentation for this issue.

Duke overall felt pretty good for his age 🙌, nothing was screaming out to be other than the bilaterally trigger points. This tells me that the body is doing its job and self releasing and maintaining the muscles health and the trigger points were chronic but, that's where I come in and give that little extra help to release.

31/08/2026

Had the pleasure working with this young fella Trigger on Friday 🥰.

Trigger is just a bubba and just rising 3, this session was his first time getting any sort of bodywork 🙌.

With the young ones or first timers my approach is, less is more. We want to create a positive association as young horses are so impressionable. So this looked like taking the session slow and waiting for him to soften in new areas. He released super & allowed himself to go into that deep parasympathetic state and gave us many yawns.

Trigger has been very well handled which made my job easy and he was such a willing boy.

Such a great session working on his 'virgin muscles' 😅 as it goes to show that in many cases that horses become sore due to the many external factors we put on them, but that's another discussion for an another post!

Not every horse that bodyworkers go out to see present sore, the sore ones are just the ones to be posted over and over again on social media as they get attention but I'm here to share that us bodyworkers are not just here to keep saying your horses are sore.

I'm here to educate both cases. Sore or not sore Myotherapy or any type of body work is so so beneficial to horses for multiple reasons but I'm just trying to highlight that bodywork shouldn't be just about the soreness and Trigger reminded me of that.

27/08/2026

My Happy place 😍😍

25/08/2026

This morning I had the pleasure of working on Stan for Georgia Malone

Stan is a chronic windsucker which now has been controlled however, the muscles that are constantly being contracted by windsucking just needed some extra attention.

One muscle in particular is the brachiocephalicus which originates at the poll and inserts at the deltoid tuberosity & crest of humerus and in short from, one of its functions is being a prime limb mover (I do have a post on my Instagram & pages if you wanted to know more about this muscle).

For windsuckers when the brachiocephalicus gets restricted or sore this can affect front end movement, ability to work functionally through the neck & head which then can cause compensational patterns in the rest of the body if left untreated for some time.

Horses that are chronic windsuckers it is definitely worth getting them regular bodywork for these reasons to keep them happy and moving functionally.

Stan also presented very restricted through the hyoid which is also a go to area of mine when treating a windsucker and Stan gave me such a great adjustment 🙌.

Also as seen in the video when applying cross fibre along the expaxals (back) you can see fasciculations (spasms) from trigger points mixed in with an 'fly twitch' response. This response can be common in bodywork as when we put pressure on certain areas the nervous system can trigger an involuntary response from the stimulus we are producing via our techniques and for Stan here it happened when applying cross fibre. This technique can be uncomfortable as I am going against the muscle fibres, which then can result in more sensitivity in the superficial layer of the skin in some horses.

With the fasciculations from trigger points and the nerve response we can gain the information we need to and understand what's going on.

As not all 'fly twitching' = soreness
&
not all soreness = presents with the 'fly twitch response'

My job as the therapist is to read the whole clinical picture and understand for Stan individually why both these signs presented.

Stan is ready to continue his work, prepping for up coming shows 🙌.

17/08/2026

A raw video of what a session can look like. It's not always the horses zoning off and falling asleep. Yes during this session we did have many moments of releasing & softing but these moments also happen.

As seen in this clip Russ is clearly showing me I am on a very sore spot which was apparent by the fasciculations travelling from the lumbar portions of the expaxals (back) muscles into the front where most of the back muscles actually originate, this goes to show how interconnected the body is.

This big response from the muscles gives me the information that there is hypersensitivity in the muscles I'm treating, which would be causing a lot of discomfort for Russ.

As a therapist it is up to me to know when a horse is at its 'window of tolerance' as we do want to create a safe and positive association to getting bodywork done but it's knowing the balance of when to keep going or to ease back.

In a session, us therapists will treat sore points which are uncomfortable and cause reactions from the horse as that's them communicating to us however, we can still treat these areas without causing a negative association.

As seen in the video Russ did soften and relaxed his near hind to lean into my pressure after his clear communication that he was uncomfortable & sore. This response was after warming up the muscles for extended period of time and easing into the deep work very slowly (p.s deep work is not 'pressing hard')

If Russ was to continue telling me he was uncomfortable like shown in the video for any longer or start giving me extra signs I would stop give him a break and either 1) recheck the area to see if it's still very hyperactive and if so reattempt to go back in and easing back into the work to see how he is still responding 2) if not tolerating the reattempt I would change my approach to another technique such as laser therapy 3) move onto another area to give him a break on that area 4) Leave that area for that session as we can always slowly work on areas to release them, doesn't have to be in the one session especially if the horse isn't coping, remember Rome wasn't built in a day so releasing chronic muscle dysfunction is the same, little

17/08/2026

My intuition just knew that Russ was the one I wanted to pick for my winner for my free session giveaway. My energy work has opened a new level of connection to horses and Russ energy was speaking to me 🫶🏼

Russ presented as quite a sore boy. During my assessment I found that what was presenting was chronic muscle dysfunction meaning that what I found had been there for a while, I would say it's from his time as a racehorse and not getting the proper bodywork while in heavy race work.
Spelling a horse that is presenting sore can only do so much that's where a therapist like me comes in and assists the horse to release further. Horses are incredible animals and do a lot of self adjusting & releasing themselves but at times need that extra help which is the case with Russ.

Russ will have another 2 sessions 2 weeks apart to get on top of the dysfunctions and then spread out on a maintenance schedule.

Thank you to his owner for trusting me to work with him 😍

Back with OGs 🩶This afternoon at Fulfilment Park I had the pleasure to work on Baloo, Saraha & Amari.Baloo is just comin...
12/08/2026

Back with OGs 🩶

This afternoon at Fulfilment Park I had the pleasure to work on Baloo, Saraha & Amari.

Baloo is just coming back into work after a spell due to an leg injury, today was checking him over and focusing on working though some secondary compensational issue due from his injury. Baloo is always such a character to work with but he's just such a dude 😎

Saraha and Amari are lesson ponies and today was a maintenance session keeping them both happy and functional for lessons!

11/08/2026

Moments like these 🫶🏼




09/08/2026

On Friday I had the pleasure to treat these 3 OTTs!

Racing is a big passion of mine and seeing off the trackers in such beautiful homes with their owners brings me so much joy.

Thank you to Bec, Laura & Skye for trusting me with your horses.

Zippy had his 4 weekly maintenance session and focused on his main area of concerns and doing hyoid, spine & pelvic joint mobilisation techniques to further assist Zippy's functionality.

Zippy has mild kissing spine and regular bodywork is so important in the management not only for the musculoskeletal system but also for Zippy's movement patterns. Managing any muscle dysfunctions limits the potential of secondary compensational changes in movement patterns which is vital in the management of KS.

Zippy is always a pleasure to work with and makes my job easier and tells me where he needs to be worked on and he'll move his body into me where he needs it, a great example on how I incorporate my energy work into my myotherapy sessions.

Rain was also a pleasure to work with! This was my first time giving a treatment to her as she's a new addition to her owner Bec. Like any first timer with me I did a whole body evaluation and a full body treatment to get to know her and her body for future sessions. I have created treatment plans for the next few session. Can't wait to see her and Bec develop this new partnership 😍

Sweet boy Russ was my giveaway winner. Again such a dude and took his session like a champ. Not all horses would have tolerated bodywork with how sore he presented, no fault to his owner. I find OTTs really need significant bodywork after retiring as they often have many little issues that have been left untreated for some time and this causes dysfunctions throughout the whole body leading to secondary compensational patterns. Sometimes spelling isn't enough for these dysfunctions to resolve by themselves and need manual therapy to assist. Which was the case for Russ but his owner has done everything right and it was my job to simply come and help assist Russ to release any restrictions and soreness that needed that extra help. Russ will follow up with more sessions to really get into everything.

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Geelong, VIC

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