Understanding Fascia in the horse

Fascia is one of the least understood systems in the body—human and equine and is being acknowledge by many health professions more recently. I’ve seen fundamental results in my equine bodywork through the release of fascia which has charged my passion to share this information so that riders and horses alike can benefit from greater freedom of movement and balance.

What is fascia?

Fascia is the body’s network of fibrous connective tissue. You’ve seen it when you skin a chicken breast—the filmy layer between the skin and meat. It is a system of soft connective tissue surrounding every muscle, organ, ligament, bone, nerves and more throughout the body. Injuries, repetitive stress, dehydration and trauma affect the health of fascia.Overtime fascia develops stuck places that restrict its flexibility. Fascia does this to protect an injury while it heals, adhesions, scar tissues etc. The trouble is that once it has healed the fascia remains on holding.

What does fascia do?

If everything was removed from your body except fascia, the shape would still be recognisable as you. Fascia is what actually holds us up and together (not muscles and bones), so understanding fascia is essential to understanding movement. Fascia’s most obvious job is to help body parts move together, wrapping around layers of muscle to slide easily as they contract and release (flex and extend). Besides movement and flexibility, fascia maintains equilibrium (balance and functionality). Fascia’s other job is to guard injured tissue. When trauma or stress occurs, the web of connective tissue changes to protect the injured area; it also holds emotions from trauma and shock. Healthy fascia enhances proprioception (knowing where your body is in space.) As one of the largest sensory organs in the body, it is a major communication network within the body.

Why does bodywork make a difference?

Think of the fascial network as a sweater that’s stretchy, and where you have a snag, the neighboring stitches are bunched together around a big loop, stuck in a clump, and not as stretchy as before. Being stuck is what fascia does when injured. If not released, it thickens over time. The good news is that fascia is living tissue, and it can heal. There are many excellent bodywork modalities focused on releasing and lengthening connective tissue. The work is a lot like teasing the snag back into your sweater until you’ve restored flexibility. The process of release supports the living tissue to dump stored toxins and plump up as it rehydrates and begins moving fluidly again.