Neigh Neigh Nosh

Hugh’s workout today 🙌 he’s had 2 days recovering

When your Thoroughbred or Standardbred has a healthy gut microbiome, they can become amazing doers 🐴🌿

I love seeing the transformation.

A healthy gut doesn’t just influence digestion—it supports nutrient absorption, immune function and overall wellbeing.

These guys are only fed:
🌿 20g of Neigh Neigh Nosh The Hindgut Builder
🌿 25g of our Ultimate Vitamin & Mineral Mix
🌿Small feed 1x daily
🌿 1kg of Rhodes hay each day, plus their grazing weeds and all

If they ever started to lose condition, I’d simply increase their hay.

They live as naturally as possible in a herd on 20 acres, on a wild, windy hill where they browse, forage, walk and socialise all day.

They’re constantly moving, picking through different plants and behaving like horses were designed to.

I don’t believe a Thoroughbred has to be skinny just because they’re a Thoroughbred.

With quality fibre, protein balanced nutrition and good management, many Thoroughbreds can maintain excellent condition whether they’re in work, spelling or retired.

Healthy horses start from the inside out. 💛🐴

Hugh ran a fantastic trial yesterday! 🏇🙌

His time was great…

I’ve just got to keep believing in the system. 💛

This is what Hugh’s recovery looked like after his gallop.

This am he was looking great in his paddock

Many people might look at that and think, “He’s fresh… he needs more work.”

I see it differently.

After a hard workout, a horse can be highly adrenalised. Their nervous system is switched on, stress hormones are elevated, and their body is working hard to recover.

I’m very mindful of the fact that it takes about 3 days for the muscles to recover after strenuous work like galloping, so easy work and therapy is needed

✨ Equissage and red light therapy together.
I use the relaxation pulse first, followed by CPM mode.

✨ Tensegrity work.
Hugh does this five days a week, and yesterday we spent around 30 minutes together.

At first, he objected, especially through his pectoral muscles.

Then he softened.

He slowed his breathing.

He relaxed into his body.

The loose ties simply help him stay in one place while still allowing him to lower his head and stretch freely.

For me, this work is about restoring movement, improving body awareness and helping him come back to a calm, balanced state after physical effort.

Last week he also enjoyed a hot–cold spa session after his treadmill work. 🛁❄️🔥

When you think about it, human athletes don’t just train.

They recover.

They do mobility work, stretching, yoga, massage, cross-training and mindfulness because recovery is where the body adapts.

So why shouldn’t our horses receive the same level of care?

For me, training and recovery go hand in hand.

A horse that recovers well has the best opportunity to feel good, stay sound and enjoy their job. 💛🐴

First sports massage I’ve given Hugh in 10 weeks 🙌🐴

He’s now been in consistent work for 11 weeks, so I was really interested to see how his body felt.

Overall… he felt really good! 💛

Five days a week he does his Tensegrity exercises, which are a bit like us doing a slow 15-minute Pilates or yoga session. They help improve posture, stability, body awareness and movement.

Alongside that he also receives:
✨ Red light and laser therapy at least once a week.
✨ Prolotherapy and acupuncture injections every 7 weeks.

When I assessed him today, his tightest areas were:

• Right gluteal muscles
• Shoulder joints
• The small biceps brachii muscles
• Elbows
• Pectoral muscles

What’s exciting is seeing how much his body has changed compared to when he first arrived.

Instead of feeling like one big block of tension, his muscles are now softening, moving more freely and recovering much better after work.

Rehabilitation isn’t just about riding.

It’s about consistently supporting the body so it can function the way it was designed to.

Every horse tells a story through their muscles… and Hugh’s story is becoming a really happy one. 💛🐴

horse rehabilitation

Enjoying the beautiful winter sun and some spontaneous somatic work with Dancer ☀️🐴💛

Dancer is a horse that’s experienced a lot of trauma before she came to me.

She’s one of my special projects, and I absolutely love her.

She suffered a significant injury to her left psoas muscle, along with head trauma, which has left her disconnecting from her hindquarters.

This gentle awareness work helps her brain reconnect with her body, improving stability, coordination and confidence.

When we first started this journey, her only option was to fall forwards onto her face.

She simply couldn’t find any stability.

Seeing how far she’s come is incredibly rewarding 🙌

Rehabilitation isn’t always about making horses stronger and perform better.

Sometimes it’s about helping the brain rediscover parts of the body it no longer knows how to use.

Healing happens through patience, consistency and creating an environment where the horse feels safe enough to learn again.

I’m so proud of this beautiful girl and the progress she’s made. Every small step is a big win 💛✨

We really do have the most beautiful cityscape sunsets from up here 🌅💛

It makes me a little sad knowing that next year this view will disappear as the area is developed 🏠 (wallabies where will you go😭)

Why can’t there be a park on top of the hill instead? 🌳

This giant property has become so much more than just a place to keep horses. It offers so much to the community.

I have a few teenage girls who come and help me, and we have so much fun together.

They learn how to:🐴 Feed and groom horses🌿 Handle and lead them with kindness🪵 Build and repair fencing🧹 Rug horses and do the daily jobs💪 Lunge and work horses from the ground❤️ Respect and understand animals

We play games, have parties, do liberty work, and in summer we even go swimming.

It’s social
It’s active
It’s fun.

And best of all... there’s no screens.

Just fresh air, horses, laughter and learning.

Watching young people grow in confidence whilst being out in nature 

It’s sad that these types of outlets are becoming less and less as urbanisation takes over 😢