Sooner Than Later Animal Massage & Bodywork

10/24/2026

🐴💙 Today’s application!
K-tape was applied to the medial and lateral aspects of the leg to help support the limb, along with around the fetlock joint to provide additional support.

10/23/2026

✨ A FEW OPENINGS THIS WEEKEND! ✨
My schedule has a little room this weekend, and I’d love to spend it working with your animals! 💕
From horses to dogs and cats, animal massage and bodywork can be a wonderful addition to their wellness routine.
If you’ve been thinking about scheduling a session for your animal, now is a great time to reach out!
📩 Send me a message to chat about availability and get something scheduled. 🐴🐾

10/22/2026

10/16/2026

✨ Let's Talk About Soft Tissue & Chiropractic Care ✨

🐴 🐾Sometimes, the way an animal moves during work/daily activities can tell us a little more than we realize.
I recently overheard a conversation about a horse displaying certain movements or behaviors during one type of work but not during other activities. Chiropractic care was brought up as a potential next step, which got me thinking about an important piece of the conversation that I’d love to share from a bodyworker’s perspective!

✨ The importance of addressing soft tissue!
Muscles, fascia, and other soft tissues all play a role in an animal’s comfort, mobility, and movement patterns. Tension, muscle guarding, and compensatory movement patterns may influence how an animal moves and responds to different activities.
While chiropractic care may be beneficial for some animals, I believe it's important to consider the soft tissue and the body as a whole when developing a care plan.

🐾 Why consider bodywork before chiropractic care?
Muscle tension and guarding: When muscles are tight, braced, or already guarding, they may influence how the body responds to an adjustment. If an animal feels uncomfortable or unprepared for the movement, their nervous system may trigger a protective response, causing them to tense up further. This can make it more challenging for the body to relax and respond comfortably to the treatment.

Soft Tissue Preparation: Massage and bodywork can help address areas of tension and promote relaxation, potentially allowing the body to respond more comfortably to adjustments. Preparing the soft tissue beforehand may also help reduce the need for more forceful adjustments and support post-treatment comfort.

A whole-body approach: The body works as a connected system. Considering the surrounding muscles and tissues helps us look beyond an individual joint or area to better understand how tension or restrictions in one area may influence other areas of the body.

Supporting ongoing care: Combining appropriate modalities may help support an animal's comfort and mobility as part of a broader care plan.

🐴 My recommendation as an animal bodyworker?
When appropriate for the individual animal, I often suggest considering a series of 3–5 bodywork sessions before pursuing chiropractic care, allowing time to assess and address soft tissue tension first. The appropriate timing and number of sessions will depend on the animal’s individual needs, findings, and response to care.
If chiropractic care is part of your animal’s wellness plan, communication between the professionals involved is important. Coordinating bodywork before or after an adjustment may be beneficial in some cases, with timing tailored to the animal and the recommendations of the providers involved.
✨ It's not about choosing one modality over another. It's about looking at the whole animal and considering how different approaches may complement one another.
Every animal is different, and their care should be, too. 💕



Music:[02]Research by yourbestfriendjippy

10/14/2026

Everyone in the world is doing the best they can with the wisdom they have. 🐴

That goes for the owner standing in the feed aisle reading labels for the third time. It goes for the trainer, the farrier, the bodyworker, and the nutritionist. And yes, it goes for the vet who has seen ten horses before lunch and still answers your text at 9pm.

Most of us in this industry didn't wake up this morning hoping to hurt a horse. We got into this because we love them. Somewhere along the way, though, the horse world got cruel. Comment sections turned into courtrooms where the innocent are guilty until proven otherwise. A different approach became "quackery", asking a question became an attack, and changing your mind became a weakness.

If you've ever been torn apart online for trying something new, or simply for asking "why?", I see you.

Knowledge is only as valuable as the way we share it. Whether you have letters after your name, a big following, or a barn full of hard-won experience, how you share what you know matters. Delivered with a sneer, it shuts people down. Shared with kindness, it opens minds.

I'd much rather use my little corner of the internet to encourage discovery, exploring, and asking better questions. For collaboration from all, whether your experience is anecdotal or mainstream. Thinking outside the box should be celebrated, not punished. Let's dig into the research, use our critical thinking skills, extrapolate information beyond the limited research that is equine specific, and talk openly about what we're seeing in our horses.

Disagreement is healthy.

Curiosity is healthy.

Contempt is not.

So to every vet, practitioner, trainer, influencer, and owner sharing what you know, here's my ask. Lift people up. Make them think. Give them room to ask the next question without fear of being shamed for it. Then put your support behind the people, practitioners, and pages who do the same. Every like, share, and referral is a vote for the kind of industry we want to build.

When we know better, we do better. When we share with kindness, everyone's best gets a little better, horses most of all. 💜

10/04/2026

Thank you so much to Jami with Unleashed Hounds and Hops and Victoria with The Balanced Orchid Animal Massage and Bodywork! 💕 Victoria was originally supposed to be a vendor today, but unfortunately, she wasn’t feeling well and asked me to fill in for her. I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to be there!😁🐾
It was such a great day! There were so many amazing vendors, rescues, food, drinks, and more. I got to see some familiar faces, meet new ones, and, of course, support some of our amazing local vendors!
I was happy to see Lary again as well. Please, checkout their page and give them some love. I appreciate his mission, commitment, and effort for the dogs.

10/03/2026

Canine Gait Patterns 🐾

Have you ever watched your dog moving and wondered which gait they’re using?

The order and timing of their footfalls, along with how their limbs coordinate, help distinguish one gait pattern from another. Speed can also influence which gait a dog uses.

I’ve created a detailed blog post exploring the nine canine gait patterns and variations shown here, including video examples and explanations of common misconceptions.

Read the full blog post here:

https://www.sitstaysquat.ca/blog/canine-gait-patterns/