E Dixon Equine Performance

09/06/2026

It’s weigh day!

4 times per year, I get the wonderful Jen from Equinutrition to come and assess the horses to make sure they are in tip top shape.

Blaze struggled with his weight when I first bought him and was very uneven, but not anymore! Infact he’s a little too porky weighing in at a whopping 606kg 🙈 but he did get onto the scales for Jen whilst I faffed around doing other things.

Mak who is my 27 year old tb, received a PERFECT condition score and has gained 40+kg!

Scarlett however, who is a very good keeper has accidentally fallen into the fat category - in fact, she’s obese!

Diets are required, grass rationing too. I NEVER thought I’d be sectioning my field for the whole summer given the grass antics last year… but needs must.

It’s a very important part of your horses wellbeing to ensure their nutrition is balanced - Jen really knows her stuff!

05/06/2026

Sharing this as I feel it’s very interesting for some of my clients to understand their horses issues on a deeper level.

For example, the points shown on the diagram below are exactly the points that my own horse has issues…

⚠️ Backed Too Soon? The Hidden Story Inside a Young Horse’s Bones

https://woldsequinemassage.co.uk/blog/horse-skeleton

05/06/2026

If anyone is still waiting for me to get back to them, please can you just give me a nudge ☺️

I have been trying to keep up with messages etc but have had my time completely overtaken by some other projects so I may have missed a message or two!

I also have very limited remaining availability for June ;

Saturday 13th June - 1:30pm
Monday 15th June - 12pm
Friday 19th June - 3pm

You can book me for;

• Equine Sports Massage
• Equine Rehabilitation Therapy
• Groundwork / Ridden Exercise Evaluation and Planning or Support

I do manual therapy, balance pads, red light therapy, lymphatic drainage, myofascial release (with new addition of cupping therapy) , joint mobilisations and stretching and optional ground based therapy through exercise patterns.

04/06/2026

Nothing better than being part of a team that genuinely puts the horse first.

Good communication between vets and therapists matters more than people realise, especially in long term rehab and performance management!

02/06/2026

The progress speaks for itself really 💪

This is a horse that I’ve been involved with for a few years now.

Unfortunately, he has had some right moments! From leg fractures to underperformance, we have dealt with the lot.

I started seeing him back in 2024 before he ventured off to his racing stables where he had an unlucky first trip out and fractured his leg on his first run! He came away to complete 12 weeks of rehab with mixed box rest and 6 weeks of strengthening with me before he was given the all clear to return.

Unfortunately, although he showed moments of improvement, he gradually started to decline again, underperforming and eventually completely stopping on the track.

He got himself in that much of a state that he dropped all of his weight and muscle. Nothing that showed up on blood work, nothing structural, but the weight loss went hand in hand with his underperformance so it was deemed necessary to pull him and give him time away.

I continued to provide support through as much manual therapy I could - with what we had left, to ensure there wasn’t any stress through the original fracture, or compensation cropping up anywhere else.

Anyway, a few months later and I’m happy to report we’ve managed to get his weight back up and some promising progress. This dude is due to start groundwork exercise with me to finish strengthening and building muscle 💪

Disclaimer: this is in no way meant to be taken as harmful or distasteful to anyone who has been involved with this horse’s training journey, it’s just been a very unfortunate experience for him - but we’re happily moving in the right direction now.

31/05/2026

I will forever choose this life in every lifetime 🤍🌸 life

31/05/2026

Sometimes… you just need to slow down.

This man is having a few days of lunging only while we wait for his new bridle to arrive.

This weekend, I let the herd into the rested field - look how bloody long the grass is!!! My grass prayers clearly worked all winter.

I laid against him for a bit and he regulated his breathing to match mine before popping his head on my lap.

29/05/2026

When I get messages like these, my brain does a little happy dance!

This is a client of mine who I have been working closely with for a kissing spine case.

I’m given updates regularly and we chat about progress frequently.

Wonderful to know that she is back in the saddle and happy!

I have another client with spinal narrowing who is switching onto a rehab plan from a maintenance package and I’m confident we can get them to this stage too!

28/05/2026

Have you ever wondered if your bridle is right for your horse?

This is Blaze and he is ridden bitless, in a side pull bridle. We typically use the FRA bridle and I attach my own rope clip on reins.

Last night though, I made a stupid error of just letting him graze whilst I went to shut a gate and his reins slipped forward and he stood on the attachment, pulled back and the side pull ring snapped off. Now I’m not mad because I’m glad it snapped and he didn’t pull his face off but it left me a little stuck!

I wandered off and found my older thoroughbred Mak’s old bridle. It was a rope bridle with a padded nose and which she really loved. The only difference? The reins attach under the chin not on the sides of the face.

I hopped on him, we had a little walk around to test the waters and I quickly learnt, he had absolutely no idea what I was asking him to do. He was wiggling around all over the place, throwing his bum out, head high in the air and had 0 bend… interesting. For some reason this wasn’t enough for me and I asked for a little trot - immediate NO! Broncing.

I got off and fetched his Lemieux head collar. Now I knew we were going to have the issue of brakes as he is quite strong in a fabric head collar (it’s something we are working on), but I thought it’s the closest thing to his side pull.

Hopped back on, we had immediate relaxation and he knew what I was asking, but the head collar kept riding up his face- which he did not like! We had our normal walk back, but trot was very VERY forward. Just trying to canter at any point he could and no brakes. But this was weird to me - because I’ve been trying to get this horse to canter for the past 9 months? And he is just offering it straight away. What is the difference? Is it restriction? Or is it lack of knowledge and he’s doing what he thinks best? Either way I wasn’t sticking around to find out.

We then stood for 20 minutes on a graze as I was out of ideas and didn’t feel like being thrown off 🤷‍♀️🙈

But it’s an interesting thing to consider. The reason he isn’t bitted is because 1. He hates the bit, 2. His mouth is tiny (nearly parrot mouthed) and 3. I don’t need him to be bitted, he is much more relaxed in his side pull.

I also had a client ride her usually bitted horse bitless (with consent) to see if mechanically it made any difference. Her immediate response was that he felt better, and from my perspective he looked relaxed but he looked like a fish out of water and had no idea of how to deal with that responsibility.

I’m not saying horses should be tried bitless , I’m not. But it might be worth considering playing around with different bridle styles to make sure you have the most freeing and correct style you can! Sometimes off the shelf just isn’t right.

You can ask a bridle fitter to come and see your horse to make sure you have the right sizes for them, as sometimes (and like mine) you can get a cob nose size with a full head and pony cheek pieces. And that would mean buying 3 off the shelf bridles and dissecting them which isn’t viable. Or you can buy the parts separately but you have to know what you’re doing. I’d find it easier to just ask a professional ☺️

26/05/2026

What are some client wins this week?

Well first up , one of my regular thoroughbreds needed to put a little condition on after returning home on holiday for a few months. He was extremely tight and reactive through his body. After working closely with him and his owner, he is looking nice and chunky and is completely supple.

Next we move onto a rehab case that I have been involved in quite a lot. A beautiful mare diagnosed with kissing spine. Her owner has worked tirelessly through her rehab and has kept me updated every step of the way, asking me super questions to aid her recovery, and although (like all rehab) there have been ups and downs, I was surprised with a video of the pair riding away in the arena again! How wonderful - looking so chilled and strong 💪

Another very small win for a client is a pony who was struggling with hindlimb engagement. We worked hard on ensuring that the horse was first of all comfortable (vet checks passed) and worked closely with the trimmer to ensure from a mechanical standpoint everything was correct. After a little change in exercises, we opted to do lots of core engagement exercises (poles, backing up, tummy tucks , pelvic tucks, and lots of stretches) and again, I’m sent videos of the pony riding away with great limb flexion and engagement.

The last win for the week may not seem like a win to most people (and may not even feel like a win to the owners) but i referred a horse for further investigation at rainbows equine hospital after we just felt that something wasn’t quite right. No outward reactions or tell tale signs but from a mechanical standpoint, it just didn’t look right in certain movements under saddle. After a long stay and lots of investigations, we are finally at the bottom of the issue. Hock pain and narrowing in the spine. Now this isn’t exactly what you want to hear but we have answers! These answers provide the details as to what is appropriate for a rehabilitation plan. This means we can structure his workload to suit his strengthening and hopefully reverse the effects of the spacial narrowing in the spine.

For each individual, these wins are completely different. But they all share the same goals . To have a horse that’s fit, healthy and happy.

And that’s what I want to do! I want to help you figure out how to get there!

I have a few spaces remaining for the start of July. Let me know if you want booking in 🙂