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Posture Prep = Amazing!

Lola continues to love her Posture Prep sessions after riding, but Feronia was not impressed. It’s pretty similar to her Grooma curry comb.

I could spend a long time working on Lola’s hind end, and she wouldn’t complain. She’s enjoying it on her chest, rather than barely tolerating it, too. (She also loves having the sides of her poll just behind her ears rubbed, but prefers that I do that with my hand - and tries to groom me back!)

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I figured out how to make Shayney like it better. I have to get all the pee/poo spots broke loose with a metal curry first. She doesn’t like it as an actual grooming tool. :roll_eyes:

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Yes, I don’t like it for grooming, really. Both mares get brushed with a stiff bristled brush to remove as much mud as I can, then a regular rubber curry (Lola) or a Grooma curry (Feronia), then on to various brushes.

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Are you doing the cross fiber technique?

Well yeah, that’s the whole point of the thing.

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I bought one of these without high hopes because my horse has always hated grooming. Curry combs, jelly scrubbers, rubber mitts are all the devil and touching her with them results in nasty mare face. Only a Tiger Tongue is occasionally tolerable. But to my surprise, she actually likes the PP! I do have to be gentle with the pressure, but she really seems to like the cross-fiber technique. She’ll even close her eyes, yawn, and lean in when I use it on her neck, shoulder, chest, and back - I could never curry those areas without a bad reaction before. Really surprised by how she’s taken to it!

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Sad blue face here. I ordered Nov 17 in hopes of trying it and loving it and picking up a couple more for holiday gifts. It’s been lost and delayed to the point that Amazon is now saying maybe mid January. Maybe.

Sure glad Amazon wasn’t so irresponsible with the parts I needed to make my toilet work.

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Wow. I got one last week, then ordered another right away and got it two days ago. Mine is shipped USPS, don’t know how I got it so fast over the holidays.

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www.drpatbona.com is where you can order directly from the creator of the tools and techniques.

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So, I got mine a couple of weeks ago – it is a game changer - completely lives up to the hype! Thanks, you guys :blush:

I ordered three for three of my students who really love to do bodywork and grooming, they’ve reported back great results, and it has helped my mare tremendously in many subtle ways. She is looser under saddle, more freely forward – and her neck is getting some nice pops, even more than after all the bodywork I already do. Her hamstrings are much softer, shoulder is freer, she really wants to stretch her legs when I do my usual stretches, and has a greater range of motion – I’ve even worked on her pecs.

The one downside is that after I use it, my deltoids are burning – and with a repetitive motion, my hand arthritis does flare up. I’ve been trying to use it on myself, but it’s a little big - so I plan to order the human version. Right now it goes back-and-forth (and shares duties) between home and barn, lol! the YouTube tutorials shared on this thread have been hugely helpful as well. Who would think such a little device would have such a big impact?

Kind of hard to use it on myself so I’ve had my husband go over my delts with it several times – and I can’t figure out how to use it on my feet?? I have very tight muscles everywhere, and since I don’t have a lot of body fat I have to use it more gently to avoid bruising myself, but I’m looking forward to getting the human version.

Gotta love COTH :clap::heart:

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FEET !!! drop it on the floor to massage the bottoms of your feet and between the toes. The Blue human too is very pliable and user friendly for humans on humans. Such great feedback!

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Two more!

Plantar Fasciitis

Tennis elbow

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Haha, I was telling my husband yesterday that I don’t need to buy my mare a Bemer now, because I have this brush. But really working on my horse is tiring as she is big and likes a lot of pressure. Still at $11 vs $5500 for a Bemer set, I’ll suck it up and put in the work.

Yesterday I came out and she was a little stocked up, so I used the PP to get circulation going in the legs, and then kinesiotaped on top. When I was working on her, I noticed that she seems looser around the elbows. I’d also done a thoracic sling taping the two days prior, so might be a combo effect, but everything seems looser. Friday we ran into someone who used to do taping and bodywork on her and hadn’t seen her in a few months. She agreed that she’s moving better than ever and I do think the PP is a contributing factor.

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What would you make of a horse being extremely reactive to the posture prep along her midline in front of her stifles and udder (all around her umbilicus for reference)?

This is my horse who was super reactive all over her hind end when I first started using the posture prep. She’s less reactive on her hindquarters now but still super sensitive in that area under her belly.

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My pony was/is reactive in a similar area and literally started bucking when I started under his belly. I had to go incredibly slow with very light pressure but enough pressure to not tickle him. I used the TNT method where you hold a slight bit of pressure until they relax and take a breath. Then next spot, rinse repeat.

He’s always been super reactive around his sheath/belly area, but it’s worse when he gets tight in his back and SI area.

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That’s sort of what I do. Although I don’t hold pressure, I just lightly keep at the area with the curry with zero pressure until she relaxes.

She loves her midline curried behind her front legs. Basically once you get under her rib cage she is fine with her midline being done, it’s just that back area that she is REACTIVE about, and not in a “ticklish” manner— in a painful, wants to kick/bite you the whole time manner.

She was like that about her whole hind end at first, but after a few sessions, she no longer reacts on her hindend and even seems to enjoy it now. But she is still nasty nasty nasty about her belly area towards her udder.

FWIW, I can touch her all over with my hands. This is not her normal behavior when you touch that area.

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I’ve been using my human posture prep all week. The one day I missed using it at night I started having pain much earlier in the day, just from walking and standing during the day. I’ve also been sleeping much better. I slept through my alarm every day this week…sorry ponies.

My KS mare had to get overreach boots because she’s started kicking her heels.

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I’m Canadian and it doesn’t look like shipping outside the US is possible which is why I had to trust amazon.com :pensive:

If there is some sort of work around for shipping to Canada I’d happily cancel my Amazon order and order directly!

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I’m feeling a little sad that my horses seem to be the outliers who don’t like this thing. I’ve used it on the retiree the least but he’s the easiest to please and seems to enjoy it as much as any other curry comb. The TB does some licking/chewing when I get to the scapula but sometimes I can’t tell if that’s true enjoyment or just relief that I’ve gotten past the hip and back, which he does not care for. He has a similar reaction in his rear belly area as @Texarkana’s mare, even though he usually LOVES scritches in the sheath/groin area. The 5 yo hates it in the entire thoracic/barrel area and just tolerates the haunches. They both show their most positive reactions to the neck and chest but nothing amazing.

I’ve used it on them 4-6 times each. The TB did have one very positive session that ended with him very relaxed and even belly-slapping a bit. But otherwise they’d both prefer my usual minimalist grooming.

Any suggestions? I watched the full-length video and use the pic of the horse with lines on it for quick reference. I start with light pressure but have also tried a bit firmer in case that’s ticklish. They’re really different horses in their bodies/mileage/suppleness so I feel like my technique must be the common denominator for them to object so similarly. But I also don’t think I can be doing it THAT wrong!

I can only think that there is a lot of tightness going on. How much experience do you have with myofascial release generally?

I’ve been doing myofascial release on myself for almost a year. When I started I could not drop my right seat bone to level. One side of my pelvis was about 1 1/2 inches higher than the other. When I lay down on my right side I couldn’t stand it for more than 10 minutes because it stretched that area too much. When I lay down on my left side, I had similar difficulty because my hip would get shoved up under my ribs. Releasing all of that was very painful, usually for several days afterward. Many times the myofascial release would trigger enough inflammation I could not touch the area at all and I would go up a pants size from swelling. When the muscles would release there would be a very painful electric burning type of pain. Sometimes there was a ripping sensation and that would be very painful. I will also have a lot of “soreness” that feels like I need to stretch. That is a response to the new length in the muscles and what helps the most for that is exercise and contracting those muscles.

In short, it’s really not a comfortable process.

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