There are many different types of massage available to the equine owner these days and I believe it’s well worth anyone’s while to consider learning a few techniques that could make your horse more comfortable – before work and after. While working on thoroughbred studs we’ve had someone out to see to fillies that haven’t been tracking up properly, to spellers that have obviously pulled something while cavorting in the paddock and to stallions that have come up sore without a specific conclusion why.
Each has been seen to and after chiropractic work, acupuncture and or massage the problem has been assessed and fixed. This was important for a speller so that they could go back into racing, vital for one of our stallions who was having trouble putting pressure on his back legs and therefore potentially out for the season and important for other fillies that were to be sold at yearling sales.
I had a friend who was doing a massage course via correspondence a couple of years ago and although most was theory based (a lot to do with the muscular-skeletal system of the horse) it worked well for her being employed at a horse stud as she was able to practice on many different equines and witness the effects of certain pressure points and massage techniques.
If you’re curious about equine massage, make sure you have access to horses that you can practice on – your own, friends ponies or work related horses to get a general idea of how horses respond to massage and of course just get in practice. Something else that’ll make the study easier is getting yourself familiar with the technical names of bones and muscles, ie – the carpus rather than the knee.
Take a look at http://www.kersur.net/~santa/skeletalsystem.html or Wikepedia’s page on the Skeletal System of the horse at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletal_system_of_the_horse.
Equine Massage Sites:
http://www.equinemmt.com/ – courses offered.
http://www.pambryan.co.uk/ – equine sports massage therapist
http://www.horsedirectory.com.au/vic/health_service/masseurs/index.html – equine massage/masseurs
Courses are offered for the beginner/an owner wishing to know the basics and further study is available for someone wanting to perhaps turn equine massage into a career, providing a service for others at a cost.
“Horse terminology… Needs Experienced Rider = Potentially Lethal”
tag: equine massage, course, training, education
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Darquette,
Even though I live in a smaller city, we have an excellent large animal Chiropractor. He did a great job on my trail horse. He had Sunny in tip top shape with a surprisingly few expertly taps with a rubber mallet.
I bet horse massage would be a fulfilling discipline.
Mary Haley
Author & Editor
Horse Resource Organization