13/07/2026
Our Chief Youth Officer, Ada Draghici of Equus Salutis 🇨🇦, is offering guidance for rehabbing thoracic sling collapse in the form of a free video.
One commenter wrote, 'I can warmly recommend this course to anyone - no matter horse, person, or level. Equus Salutis is an amazing instructor with tremendous knowledge, a sharp mind, and unlimited empathy and patience for both horse and human. A rare horsewoman to find who gave me back some hope in humanity.'
❤️🐎
•rehabbing thoracic sling collapse•
***This post originally started as an anti "putting-the-horse-on-the-bit" text, with a little mention about side reins/pessoas/martingales.
Let me get that bit off my chest and then I will share HOW to do the classical alternative.
I'm begging the Internet to see that putting the horse on the bit, or asking a horse for vertical flexion is a dead end.
Horses never rehab with an artificial frame.****
This is Kai, aka my first pony, the center of my universe, who has now been in my life for 11 years.
For those new to the page, he had a severe neck injury at age 5 that nearly cost him his life (if you'd like to know the story, feel free to ask)
As I was scrolling through photos of him over the years I clearly saw that his health and soundness was a direct reflection of my level of education at the time.
This is sobering or deeply inspiring, depending on how how I wish to think about it. That the health of our horses is a direct reflection on the level of education of their human, thus making education our core responsibility as their caretakers.
I would like to loudly point out that Kai's poll remained the HIGHEST POINT in each photo, and that this rehab had ZERO stretchy trotting, stationary thoracic sling push-ups, or attempts to get his head down like all beginner purgatory dressage dogma is telling students to do.
Look at the position of his c5, c6, c7 in the left picture, and realize that the base of his neck would remain collapsed even if I used reins to get vertical flexion out of him. Keeping the poll the highest point is so important for soundness.
Now, how to do this.
1. Poll mobilizations
2. Shoulder in (send horse sideways to some capacity and when they understand it, move on to diagonal balance movements. I mean within 2 weeks max in most cases, not months or years)
3. Diagonal balance/RENVERS
4. Introduce piaffe and canter
I have published on this page a free detailed, 4 part series on teaching the progression from basic sideways, to haunches in, to renvers. This is the exact progression most people are missing between basic in hand, and introducing collection to their horse.
Those videos are not an infomercial and are produced to the quality of expensive courses, because I am against gatekeeping this knowledge.
(Please use the search bar to look them up, I have spent too much time fetching links for people for something that is already free to view 😆)
And if you are looking for more coaching 💓
I would also like to share that the Diagonal rebalancing course (renvers club 2.0!!)
Is coming back bigger and better.
•instructional videos to watch
•FB group to post unlimited videos for feedback during the two weeks
•August 2nd-16th (forever access to the course afterwards
•$230 CAD (discount for everyone who participates in the pilot course, PM me)
Taking early registrations, please EMAIL ME to [email protected] to receive a signup link once you have paid.
REGISTRATION INFO
Canada:
etransfer to [email protected]
International via PayPal:
Ada Draghici-Vasilescu [email protected]
International via Wise: https://wise.com/pay/me/adamarinad
