The Equi-Neural Shift Method

01/11/2026

If a tongue tie works, why does the research show the airway gets smaller, not larger?

I'm sharing Dr David Marlin's article because it asks a question racing needs to take seriously: what evidence supports using tongue ties, and what might their use mean for the horse's welfare?

My answer is yes: I believe tongue ties should be banned in racing. The horse putting its tongue over the bit, drawing it back or showing airway signs is giving us information. Tying the tongue down may stop us seeing that movement, but it doesn't tell us why it is happening or resolve the underlying problem.

That question matters especially when a young horse wears a tongue tie from its first race. What is going on before the horse has even had a racing career? It could be oral or dental pain, bit contact, an airway problem, conformation, handling or training history, or altered sensory-motor function. There may be more than one factor, and the cause may differ from horse to horse. We should investigate rather than assume that restraining the tongue is the only answer.

The tongue is a sensory and motor organ. The brain uses information from it to coordinate movement, and the tongue works with the hyoid and structures involved in swallowing and the upper airway. In horses, the hyoglossus connects part of the hyoid to the tongue and helps move the tongue's base. A tie restricts tongue movement, so I think we should investigate what that means for movement, loading and sensory feedback through the tongue-hyoid system.

There may be wider movement connections too. An equine dissection study describes a deep ventral myofascial line extending from the hindlimb toward the oral cavity, through structures including the psoas, diaphragm and ventral neck. That does not prove a tongue tie causes hindlimb or thoracic-sling dysfunction. It does give us a reason to investigate the relationship rather than assume the effects stop at the mouth.

In the racehorses I observed, the poorest-looking thoracic-sling function was in the lower-grade horses. It appeared to improve as I looked at higher grades, but I still wasn't seeing slings that looked fully functional. That is my observation, not a population study or proof that tongue ties caused what I saw. It is part of why I want us to look at the whole horse and ask what is driving these patterns.

At Keeneland I watched horses walk to the parade ring with blue and purple tongues. We called it normal.

Some tongues looked blue or purple; some hung limply. Tongue colour alone cannot diagnose impaired blood flow or pain. But I am concerned about ties being left on for long periods. Serious tongue-tissue injury has occurred when a tie was accidentally left on for hours. That risk deserves to be taken seriously.

I'd also like to see data on whether tongue-tie use overlaps with Lasix use, EIPH, dust exposure and training conditions. I'm raising that as a question for research, not claiming that a link has been established.

I understand that many people use tongue ties because they believe they help and feel they have no other option. I'm not interested in attacking them. I want the industry to investigate why each horse needs one and provide a better route for the horse. My own work looks at possible sources of dysfunction and whether comfortable function can be restored; that is an avenue to investigate alongside proper veterinary, dental and airway assessment, not a proven cure or replacement for it.

The horse that needs a tongue tie is asking a question. I want racing to start answering it.

Anatomy references relevant to the questions I'm raising:
• Veerasammy et al. (2020), equine hyoid and tongue-muscle anatomy
• Elbrønd & Schultz (2021), deep myofascial kinetic lines in horses

👅 Tongue ties: is it time for a ban?

They’re used in racing with the aim of helping horses breathe or preventing the tongue from moving over the bit. But how strong is the evidence that they work, and what might they mean for equine welfare? 🐎

In our latest article, Dr David Marlin explores:

🔬 What studies tell us about tongue ties and airway function
🏇 Whether their use is linked to improved race performance
⚠️ The behavioural and physical signs that raise welfare concerns
🌍 Where tongue ties have been banned and where they remain in use

With questions surrounding both their effectiveness and their impact on horses, is their continued use justified?

📖 Read the full article here: https://askanimalweb.com/lack-of-evidence-for-tongue-ties-time-to-ban/

💬 What do you think? Should tongue ties be banned in racing?

01/11/2026

Morning snuggles... Simba and Squeaky have a weird love affair that does not extend to her climbing up his body with her claws, surprisingly enough. 🤣

25/10/2026

"They puff up."

That's how Cherie DeVaux describes how champion racehorses present at the jog. She trained the 2026 Kentucky Derby winner. And that's her observation of what separates the best from the rest in the paddock.

I immediately knew this was the thoracic sling - and I had photo upon photo to prove it.

Earlier this week I watched two race fields at the same meeting, same track, same afternoon. In the claiming race, I struggled to find a horse whose thoracic sling looked well engaged. The whole field looked weak through that area. A few hours later in the $400,000 stakes race, the horses showed noticeably better quality and function through the sling. Same conditions. Clear difference.

The thoracic sling is the muscular support that holds the horse's trunk between the forelimbs. It includes the serratus ventralis and the pectorals. When it's working well, the trunk lifts, the shoulder opens, and the horse looks... puffed up.

Which brings me to Cherry.

She's 26. A former racehorse. These photos are from one session.

What I found when I worked with Cherry had nothing to do with her chest, abdomen or spine. We started with trauma from a previous head surgery.

The red line follows her topline. The green line marks the base of her trunk. The blue line shows shoulder angle. Look at the space between red and green in the after photo. Her thorax is higher, her spine has lifted, her shoulder more open. She even looks younger.

**"But Mandy," I hear you say, "she isn't standing the same in both photos. How are these even comparable?"**

That's exactly the point. I didn't position her. I didn't place her feet or ask her to square up. That change in posture, that change in conformation you're looking at, is her brain deciding how to hold her body. This isn't a stance I created. It's the stance her nervous system chose when it was no longer working around something it had been compensating for.

One session. At 26. Starting with her head.

If Cherie DeVaux is right that champions puff up, the question worth asking is: what creates that? And how much has your horse left on the table because nobody looked there?

If you're seeing something in your horse you can't explain, I'd love to hear what you're noticing.

25/10/2026

preparing for

24/10/2026

I spent some time in Kentucky this month. I wasn't there to watch the racing. I was watching horses. That distinction matters, because what you see depends on what you're looking for.

Keeneland is extraordinary: the infrastructure, the attention to the surface, the veterinary presence and the care taken at every level of the operation. It is a facility built by people who take horses seriously. That was obvious.

What Keeneland is doing for equine safety is genuinely impressive. Under Dr. Stuart Brown, the VetCam network monitors horses across the track surfaces. Every horse entering a race passes through a four-point paddock check before reaching the gate. The veterinary assessment window opens seven days out. Dr. Mick Peterson's lab at the University of Kentucky is doing serious work on how a horse's hoof interacts with the ground beneath it. The industry is investing in this. That matters, and it deserves to be said.

What was also obvious to me, with my training, was something harder to talk about. I saw horses stabled around the clock, with little opportunity for regular movement and varied loading. I also heard how some follow the racing circuit for much of the year, with very little or no time off.

I heard of horses exhibiting signs of EIPH being held back from racing as two-year-olds, so they could race on Lasix at three in races where its use is permitted. They don't prove that every horse has the same experience. But they make me ask whether the system gives young horses enough time and the right conditions to develop before racing asks so much of them.

I also had access to something most people at a racetrack don't: a dissection of a four-year-old Thoroughbred. What I saw in that spine raised a question I haven't been able to set aside since. This video shows it.

In that specimen, the growth plates on both sides of the joints in this section of the spine were still open. The video shows what happens under load: the growth plate breaks away before the intervertebral disc. The caption on that video makes a point I want to repeat here: this is not the exception. It is the rule. Growth plates are treated as vulnerable points in human medicine, in cattle research, in primate science. In equestrian sport, that understanding doesn't seem to apply. A study of 36 Thoroughbreds found that growth plate closure in the lower spine ranged from 4.9 to 6.7 years of age. We are asking two-year-olds to race.

We are asking two-year-olds to race while some parts of the spine may still be developing. That does not, by itself, prove that racing at two is unsafe. It does raise a serious question about whether the loads placed on young horses are being matched to their development.

When horses break down, their bodies can leave evidence in dissection rooms, veterinary reports and careers that end before they should. We need to understand what that evidence tells us, what it doesn't and what we can see when we visually assess horses.

Racing wants to protect horses. The infrastructure at Keeneland shows that. But protecting horses through checks and track safety is one part of welfare. Giving their bodies time and appropriate conditions to develop is another.

What might the sport look like if horses had more time for their spines and the rest of their bodies to mature before facing the demands of racing?

I'm not suggesting racing stops. I'm asking what it might gain if horses started later.

This welfare question needs to be at the centre of any review. Any new model would have to work for the owners, trainers, horses and be viable for the people who care for them. Riders and stable staff might be working with more mature and safer horses; owners might have horses better prepared to compete; and the industry might create meaningful roles in the years spent raising and preparing them. We need research to find out what is possible.

In Britain, yearling racing was banned in 1859, and two-year-olds were later restricted from racing before May in 1869. Those age-related rules are more than 150 years old. We know far more now about equine anatomy, development, training and injury. The timetable should be open to serious review in light of what we know today.

Kentucky’s aftercare work is extraordinary. But what if we put just as much thought into *before-care*—giving horses more time and better conditions before they enter the racing system?

The developmental question is not separate from what I was observing in those horses. If a spine is still forming under load, a dysfunctional thoracic sling compounds every stress placed on it. That is a problem we can address right now, without waiting for a rule change or a research programme

The similarities in how the horses carried themselves were striking. To my eye, very few showed signs of a functional thoracic sling. The sling is the muscular support that suspends the chest between the forelimbs and manages load through movement. In my work, a horse compensating through this structure can show that its nervous system has reorganised around a problem. Those changes may be visible before a breakdown.

That makes it relevant to the proposed impact-related mechanism of EIPH, although a direct link between sling function and EIPH has not been demonstrated. Yet the thoracic sling receives little attention in much conventional racehorse training. Its role in chest mechanics is clear; its possible contribution to EIPH needs further research.

I also noticed differences across race grades. In the higher-value races, the relationship between performance and thoracic sling function was clear. The horses that won were, in the main, the horses whose slings were working.

In the claiming races it was a different picture. Owners enter horses in claiming races when they are ready to move them on. The horses I saw in those races showed the most marked signs of reduced thoracic sling function across the two days. The condition of those horses' slings suggested none of them were bound for top level racing without significant postural intervention.

That is my observation from two days at one track. It is not a finding that tells us the condition or future of every horse in claiming races. But it is a pattern I could not ignore.

We can have all the theoretical conversations about age, but as it stands they race at two. The question worth asking is how we give them the most functional body possible, to allow them the best chance of a long and successful racing career.

I believe there are significant interventions available right now that can produce horses with a functioning thoracic sling that are not being utilised. This is not something difficult or slow to do. It is another layer of training, arguably one of the most important, that can be added to what is already being done.

If you're working with horses in active training and you want to understand what their movement patterns might be telling you before a problem becomes a crisis, I'd like to have a conversation about what you're seeing and, where it's useful, arrange an assessment.

The video accompanying this post was made by Becks Nairn, who has kindly given me permission to share it. See her original post and support her work here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1625529755718863

12/10/2026

What are the characteristics of champion racehorses vs the rest?

09/10/2026

Racing foals - how does their upbringing affect their performance?

30/07/2026

You know me from the ragwort posts — the one clearing it every other day, checking for caterpillars before I pull a plant, banging on about the actual science because half of what's repeated online about horse safety is wrong, and I'd rather get it right than get it popular.

That same thing — dig until you actually understand what's going on — is why my work now has a name that actually says what it does: the Equi-Neural Shift Method.

Here's the short version. I work with your nervous system, and your horse's — because you, your horse, your dogs, your family, you're not separate problems, you're one interconnected herd, mirroring each other.

I follow what the nervous system shows me, without judgement, and release what's actually holding things back. Sometimes that's in you. Sometimes it's in the horse. Often working on one clears it for the other too.

I've had a flying change turn up on its own once a block was gone. I've had a rider's pain lift without us ever talking about the rider. That's not what I'm chasing — it's just what happens when the thing that was actually stuck gets integrated.

If you've ever felt like you and your horse are stuck in the same pattern no matter what you try, that's usually not a training problem.

Comment or drop me a message if you want to know more about how it works.

29/07/2026

Myth: pulling ragwort destroys cinnabar moth habitat.

Reality: it's not about whether you pull it, it's when.

If yesterday's post taught me anything, it is that there is alot of passionate, but uneducated, opinions on ragwort.

Here's the part people just don't get — the lifecycle of the cinnabar moth. Moths lay eggs on the plant, which hatch into caterpillars after 1–2 weeks. The caterpillars then feed for about a month, often stripping one plant bare before moving to the next - not hat I have ever seen that happen.

Once fully grown, they drop into the soil to pupate and overwinter underground, emerging as moths the following spring.

So for most of the year, there are no caterpillars on the plant at all — just that roughly month-long window, usually early July where I live.

I checked my ragwort today: approximately 3 acres of ragwort - no caterpillars. Three weeks ago there were though, so I left those plants alone and I'm only pulling now that they've moved on.

You don't have to choose between the moths and horse safety. Check first, leave what's still hosting caterpillars, pull the rest before it seeds. Symbiosis is best.

Sources:

Cinnabar caterpillars — Sussex Wildlife Trust
Ragwort cinnabar moth — Manaaki Whenua / Landcare Research
Insect Fauna in Detail — Buglife

28/07/2026

I wish I could say this is all there is, hut this is just 3 days worth and not even a quarter of what is needing pulled.

But there's a lesson - to anyone renting your fields out - include ragwort picking in the contract!

In 2010 when I got my farm it was over run. And each year, because I dont want to spray it costs me thousands to get it all picked.

Meanwhile, influencers are talking aboit beneficial a plant it is and encouraging people to leave it in place.

While the thousands of seeds those left plants have spread across the countryside causing havoc for people like me, who are doing their best to keep their fields with some grass in them.

Because the ragwort doesn’t just pose a danger for the horses, it also drastically reduces the grazing in the field.

Just my tuppence on the subject.