Caitlin Stokes Equestrian Therapy

With yet another storm in full swing, heres a #tb to another windy day and our first outing of the year at the BE Arena Event at Richmond EC. Not long til spring now! 🤞☀️

**Holiday**
I am on leave from the 18th february until the 5th march.
I will still be in contact but will not be checking my messages all the time 😊.
... If you would like to organise a massage, lesson or riding between 6th march and 28th march please let me know as I am booking up quickly!
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What a difference a day makes! Had great fun setting up some polework exercises in the sun yesterday.
Often during periods of horrible weather our horses will be in their stables for longer periods of time, and will move around less when they are outside.
Mobilising techniques like poles are a great way to get their whole body moving, give their brains a challenge and to have some fun! 🐎

It is definitely a 'stableview' kind of day today!

Happy new year all! Hope you all had a wonderful break. After a few months off petra and i managed our first jumping session of the year 🤗 ill be back at work from monday 6th so for those still needing to book in get in contact 😊 for my scottish clients I'll be up the first week in february and will contact you all soon!

It has been a busy month for sponsored rider Yasmin Ahmed. There have been ups and down but it is lovely to work with such a positive rider who always puts the welfare of her horses first. Read Yasmins monthly summary below..
"August has been a super busy month! Caitlin came out to visit us right at the start of the month with Toddy, Frankie and Cleo all having treatments. With Toddy I ticked off another goal for this year and competed at the Petplan Area Festivals at element...ary 😊 sadly the day didn't quite go to plan with Toddy feeling a little overwhelmed in the massive atmosphere but I couldn't be any more proud of him 😊 the rest of the month we've been practicing our DTM routine which we will be competing in a few weeks time 💃 and working on our traver and half pass as I we're now working on the jump up to medium. Frankie with the help of Caitlin's massage therapy is continuing his rehab following his fall in July and will start schooling again this weekend following a few weeks of hacking to build back up his strength and fitness. Last but not least Cleo, had her first ever BD outing and was a complete little star, a few more confidence building outings for her then we can look at being competitive. Getting Cleo out competing is a huge deal for my family because we rescued her at 2 months and hand reared her so she is very much the family pony ❤️"
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For anyone travelling in the Richmond area, please be aware! Thankyou to Richmond EC for letting everybody know so quickly!

I have had a wonderful weekend combining my partners passion of snow/ mountain boarding and that of my client farah with the lovely Abrigo. She is currently working on his trick riding which brought us to the conclusion of trying some horseboarding!!
It was a slow, easy session introducing Abrigo to the board and getting him used to them moving around each other.
Absolutely love this picture of horse and boarder meeting for the first time 😍

Thankyou to Dawn for a lovely review of the effects our Scarwork sessions have had on her horse, Buddy. Buddy's scar (seen in the pictures) is one of the most prominent I have seen to date, despite this the results I have seen between my first two sessions have been absolutely fantastic. Plenty of work still to do but to have these two out competing and back on track with their rehabilitation after a stilted start is just wonderful.
Buddy Purchase, Scar Buddy is a 15.1 hh 17 ...year old Hungarian Sports horse, whom I have owned for nearly 4 years. I bought him knowing he had a scar but as I wasn’t intending to show him it didn’t matter. However, as it was November and he had a thick winters coat I hadn’t appreciated the severity of the scar. It is about 10 inches long, crosses the point of hip and extends down the flank in an arc. It is a deep furrow with raised edges and prominent stitch marks either side, each leaving a small crater. The scar over the point of hip was puckered and tight. I was told he had sustained it during shipping from Hungary when he caught himself on a shipping crate. Although the scar never appeared to bother him unduly it was sensitive to the touch and obviously tight, he frequently lifted his hind leg up and out in an effort to loosen the tightness. After a series of health problems that were finally diagnosed as kissing spines, resulting is a successful operation but still leaving performance concerns I began to look for other reasons. Speaking to a friend who met Buddy for the first time she recommended I contact Caitlin. After just one session I noticed a difference in both appearance and performance. The scar has started to smooth out and the puckering has reduced significantly, the furrow has begun to fill in also. Buddy has stopped lifting his leg in an effort to reduce the tightness. His footfalls are more even, however the main difference I have noted is his ability to give me right canter lead, something he has struggled with since I bought him. It is work in progress as it is such a big deep scar, but he is responding well and almost seems to welcome the treatment as although sore for him he is feeling the benefit afterwards.
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Thought I would leave this here. Remember when you see someone succeed just how much work has gone in to get them to where they are. Likewise when you see someone fail, they havent reached the tip of the iceberg yet, and without the hardship they never will. So be supportive of those still on the road to success, and appreciative of those who have achieved it. Neither has any reflection to your own journey 🙂 we all benefit from kind words and support.

Massive congratulations to sponsored rider Yasmin Ahmed who was 3rd in both her Elementary tests at the Northern Championships yesterday!!! Absolutely delighted for you both 👏🏇🥉🎉
'Amazing day at the Northern Championship 🎉🦄❤️ Toddy finished 3rd in both our elementary tests 😊 He was pretty shell shocked in the bigger atmosphere but not half as bad as our Petplan attempt last year 🙈 Really relaxed & let go towards the end 😊 Just need to keep exposing him to bigger, buzzier atmospheres and I'm confident we'll get there💪 Thanks John Ahmed for driving us 2.5 hours each way😘 And Zahra for being the best sister, groom & supporter in the world 🌍❤️ & the 3 women loudly critiquing my flaws from outside the arena, easy to judge from the ground✌️#caitlinstokesequestrianthera py'

Great morning having a xc lesson with Jamie Atkinson, feeling much more prepared for our first Novice in a few weeks 😬😍

Such a lovely recommendation from Farah who owns the lovely Abrigo. It was so utterly wonderful to see how nicely Abrigo went for her when she rode him for only the second time since hes been with me. One more week before he heads home and I cannot wait to see the progression of these two over the coming months 😊

Petra picking up those front legs at Alnwick Ford Equestrian Centre while out xc schooling

A lovely visit from Abrigos owners today to see how he was getting on. It was so lovely to see her getting on and having a wander around and the partnership they have. I have just started to introduce some trotting into our training so was great to be able to show them his progress and how well hes coped. And ofcourse he had a good play with his stable toys while they were there too 😊