The new thing I've been gushing about

Including my podcast with Wendy Murdoch

Author

Danielle Crowell
April 17, 2024

If you watch my Instagram stories, you might have seen me putting a pad underneath my horses’ feet. These are SURE FOOT pads (and mine specifically is the Physio Half Pad).

*Before I continue, I just want to come right out and say that this is NOT a sales pitch to get you to order something. I recently purchased a pad and have been very interested in the changes I’ve been seeing, so I invited the creator, Wendy Murdoch, to come onto the wehorse podcast and chat with me (more about that below).

Here is personally what I’ve noticed with my horses when using the SURE FOOT pad:

Sota:

  • She immediately goes into a meditative trance. Sota is a horse who tends to be busy, but the moment I put the pad under one of her feet, she softens her eyes, stands completely still, lowers her head, and zones out. And then, after a few minutes, she comes alive again, lifts her head, licks and chews, and kicks the pad out of the way, like “I’m done.”

Paco:

  • Paco doesn’t have quite the same response as Sota. Rather than going into a meditative state, when he stands on the pad, it looks like he spends the time thinking. A puzzled, almost questioning look is on his face. He doesn’t stay on the pad quite as long as Sota and can be a bit more hesitant about it.

Here’s what is interesting:

Paco’s rehab is different than Sota’s in that Sota has been rehabbing from an injury, whereas Paco has been rehabbing from years of postural compensations. So while Sota seems to enjoy the pad, Paco seems to (currently) be a bit more unsure because it is different.

Here’s a human example: If I sit in a desk chair all day long with armrests, and every day I lean my left arm on the armrest while I work, I’m going to naturally start leaning to the left as my default sitting position. Then, if I changed desk chairs to one without armrests and therefore was forced to sit upright, it would feel strange, because I’m so used to leaning to the left. It might not even feel correct; my body might have become so accustomed to leaning to the left that sitting upright felt wrong or even hard to do.

So, I am bringing that same lens to Paco on the SURE FOOT pad. If he has spent years standing in a certain posture, asking him to stand in my perspective of a correct posture might feel strange, even hard, for him. Now, to back up for a second, the SURE FOOT pad doesn’t immediately put the horse in a perfect posture. But, it does do weird Jedi mind tricks to their nervous system, which in turn can help their body release compensations and soften into a more ideal posture.

Anyway, I’m really impressed by what I’ve witnessed in the past few weeks of using my pad. And, using Wendy’s suggestion, I’m going to use the SURE FOOT pad to help me get Sota back under-saddle again this year. As you’ll hear in the podcast, Wendy gave me the great suggestion of using the pad every step of the way with her: when tacking up, when in the ring, when at the mounting block, and when sitting on her back.

If you want to learn more about the SURE FOOT pads, hear Wendy’s expertise (there are soo many interesting points she makes throughout the interview) and hear me gush over this product, check it out on The Equestrian Connection Podcast.