Welcome to the Circus
Hi All! This is officially the first Blog for Rodeo Ready! To start off I thought I would convey my motivation for creating this blog. My family believes in traditional and alternative therapies for our performance horses. My dad being an old fashioned cowboy, I admire his faith in Equine Chiropractics to help his horses perform. He generally has older seasoned horses that do their job well but require some maintenance and joint support. He keeps them on supplements such as glucosamine and will occasionally inject his older horses needing a little more direct attention. That being said I must say that while I am a huge advocate for alternative therapies I believe that there is no replacement for a good vet when dealing with chronic lameness issues. My mom is definitely been my biggest teacher and supporter, always looking into new excercises, therapies, supplements and products to keep our horses sound and happy. I was exposed to Equine Therapy at a young age; massage, chiropractic, energy or work with magnets. I graduated from the BC College of Equine Sports Therapy in June 2014 and was able to further my passion for the health, happiness and performance of not only my own horses but clients as well! I have been blessed to be around horses and rodeo my whole life and after struggling with soundness issues for my barrel horse Cacao, I knew I wanted to be more proactive in my maintenance and prevention of lameness or performance issues.
As I was competing I began to seek the help of various professionals. I worked with different Equine Body Workers to find the most effective therapy to keep Cacao sound and working. We tried traditional chiropractics and while I found there to be results, the chronic issues tended to reoccur after a week or so. I then added massage therapy to try and release the tension in the muscles and soft tissue to help the adjustments hold. I found neither was completely effective on her without the other. I was fortunate enough to meet and work with a couple graduates of the BC College and after talking with them extensively I was impressed with the diverse range of tools/ techniques they had to treat the issues at hand. I wanted to correct any imbalance in Cacaos skeletal system as well as the soft tissue and muscle. With the help of these women I began to learn ways to maintain the adjustments in between treatments through stretches and specific exercises. After seeing the results I wanted to be equipped to deal with these issues on my own and decided to further my education.
I have to credit so much more than my education to Dave Collins, founder and professor of the BCCET. The two years I spent in school have shaped me into the person I am today and I know the lessons I learned in and out of the classroom will continue to inspire me to be a better version of myself each and every day. That being said, so began my journey! And it is a journey that never ends, I am constantly learning and growing thanks to my equine partners, clients, family and friends. Life has a way of humbling and encouraging you. Every time I would begin to think I had things figured out, a curveball would be thrown. I must admit, I am still nowhere near as good at dodging or catching those curve balls as I would like to be, but I’m working on it! I try to start each day with a positive attitude and end it with gratitude, for even the bad days contained some good.
To conclude this entry I will invite you all to join me on this journey! This blog has no set agenda or topic. I hope to share everything from my tales of travel, words of (possibly naive) wisdom and loads of laughs! I have found inspiration in my life in many forms and aspire to pass them on to you! I plan to share whatever interests or inspires me! I hope you enjoy and feel free to drop me a line anytime! Keep your butt in the tack, head in the clouds and energy grounded! <3
