I have seen multiple people online putting their hands on the upper lip/gum area of the horse and holding steady pressure, and saying it in the horses jaw. I know that area with a gum chain will release endorphins, but have never heard of it relieving TMJ/jaw tension. I’m curious if it works, has anyone tried this, if so what changes have you noticed in your horse?
I actually have. I was skeptical at first, but he’ll lean right in and push against my hand. He’ll work his lower jaw the whole time, and he’ll spend a couple of minutes licking and chewing and yawning afterward.
I have no idea if it actually releases tension or not, but he seems to enjoy it.
Are you talking about a hyoid release?
If so yes, very helpful if horse is stuck holding tension.
I think this move comes from a cranial-sacral therapy base (which is not something I personally do, so caveat this answer with that in mind). I think I recall it being about cranial bones, probably the frontal bones. Remember, the “skull” is not one big bone but many joined by “seams” rather than joints. While you can’t exactly just push the bones around willy-nilly, cranial-sacral therapy/cranial osteopathy does believe in some “movement” around these sutures. (Again, this is my very basic outsider understanding of it… don’t ask me to elaborate and especially not to argue whether this is really possible or not).
I do remember the person describing this move saying we could try it on ourselves (and was all ready to flip up my gum and everything…spoiler alert: not needed on humans). Bring the back of your hand up under your nose, press the webbing of your thumb there while slightly pressing up and in with the forefinger and thumb under each cheekbone. Doing this I certainly feel it most as a bit of pressure relief in my forehead. Of course, because everything is connected and it’s also nice for my TMJ and “poll” but I wouldn’t say it targets them directly.
I’ve tried it on a small handful of horses. Some really liked it and some were meh. But it’s really a pretty safe thing to try in terms of being unlikely to have deleterious effects on the horse (unlike many hyoid releases you see 
) and not tough for the competent horse handler to manage, so give it a whirl if you want.
