Jessica Blackwell
Horse health / Care
Jessica started her working life with a science degree and love of horses, and a passion to combine them both into a career.
After completing a horse massage course to help her own competitive horses she was hooked and studied a number of different therapies and started working as an Equine Sports Therapist. A gap in the industry (combined with a business degree), led her to develop Equestricare and the equine sports therapy educational courses it offers including certification courses in sports massage, tissue mobilisation and photonic therapy as well as online courses, books and dvd’s. Jessica has multiple qualifications in the Equine therapy field (Sports Massage, Bodywork, Myofascial Release, Red Light Therapy, Tissue Mobilisation, Biokinetics, Laser Therapy, Taping and Reiki) and has also done extensive study in Biomechanics, anatomy and exercise physiology.
She has been fortunate to have trained under some of the worlds best including: Dr Barb Crabbe, Dr Eleanor Kellon, the late Dr Kerry Ridgeway, Gillian Higgins, Ruth Mitchell-Golliday, Sharon May Davis, Di Jenkins and more. Jessica has been a full time professional equine therapy practitioner since 2005 utilising not only her hands on techniques but also a range of other tools including ultrasound, laser, photonic therapy, microcurrent therapy, taping and more. She has been teaching since 2008 and has guest lectured at many events. She was commissioned in 2012 to write the new manual and online course for Equissage and has published three books and two DVD’s on Basic Horse Massage Techniques, Tissue Mobilisation and Equine Muscles. She has also been honoured with numerous awards for Equestricare including Telstra’s Most Innovative Business Woman of the Year and runner up Young Business Woman of the Year, and Marcus Oldham’s first ever female Graduate of Excellence.
Her passion is helping people turn their dream career into a reality and educating the general horse owner about helping their horse.
Visit Jessica Blackwell at the following sessions
Details
Friday November 11th
1:30 pm to 2:15 pm
Off The Track Boulevard Arena
Pony Pilates and Horse Yoga
Stretching is essential for keeping our muscles flexible, strong and healthy. Most human athletes stretch regularly and understand the immense benefits of stretching. As horses are designed to mainly walk, graze and flee from predators, not have a rider sit on them, all our ridden horses can be considered athletes.
This talk will look at a variety of exercises that you can do with your horse to improve posture, core stability, strength, flexibility and coordination. We will look at these different areas and demonstrate a variety of stretches that you can do to assist your horses to be more flexible, strong and healthy in a step by step manner that is easy to follow and remember!
Details
Thursday November 10th
12:30 pm to 1:15 pm
Off The Track Boulevard Arena
Understanding the equine back
We sit on it but what do you really know about it?
The back is a complex structure made up of muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones, but the most important aspect is that it is not designed to carry weight from above. This talk will look at the aspects of the back that we need to know as riders. How flexible is it really, where is the weakest point, what does a vertebrae actually look like etc. We will look at how to palpate the back to assess for any pain or discomfort and massage techniques that everyone can do to help their horses backs to be pain free. As well as look at some back strengthening exercises that are easy to do.
Details
Saturday November 12th
9:45 am to 10:30 am
Off The Track Boulevard Arena
Supporting the Equine back
We sit on it but what do you really know about it? The back is a complex structure made up of muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones, but the most important aspect is that it is not designed to carry weight from above. This talk will look at the aspects of the back that we need to know as riders. How flexible is it really, where is the weakest point, what does a vertebrae actually look like etc.
We will look at how to palpate the back to assess for any pain or discomfort and massage techniques that everyone can do to help their horses backs to be pain free. As well as look at some back strengthening exercises that are easy to do.
