Equine Sports Massage Therapy
Equine Massage Therapy
Equine massage is an area of increasing importance in horse care. Professional and recreational horse owners use it to improve performance such as increasing mobility and range of motion, it can free up the poll, neck, shoulders and back to improve jumping, flexion, turning and stopping it can also be of benefit to the horses wellbeing.
Trained therapists who perform Equine Massage can also teach owners how to use stretches and techniques to aid there own horses and opens up a new avenue of communication with their horse.
Benefits of Equine Massage
Equine massage therapy for horses is commonly used to enhance performance levels, endurance, can help to prevent injury and aid the rate of recovery when an injury has occured but can also be used for the following.
- Balances mind and body
- Calms the tense horse
- Calms the nervous horse
- Revives the tired horse
- Revives the despondent horse
- Detect and release muscular spasms
- Aids repair of scar tissue
- Produces optimal lymph and blood flow
- Disposes of trapped lactic acid and toxins
- Aids digestion and metabolism
- Improves strides and lateral flexion
Practitoners advise the use of shorter regular sessions rather than infrequent longer sessions.
Massage of horses can be used in the following situations:
- Pre-event: As part of a training and injury prevention program by loosening and warming up muscles prior to competition.
- Post-event: As part of the cooling down and recovery process, thus reducing soreness and stiffness in the muscles.
- Maintenance: As a regular part of the horse's exercise program to keep muscles in tune and to aid in the prevention of injury
- Rehabilitation: As part of the recovery program to facillitate faster healing through increased blood flow and to prevent compensateory lameness.
Contra-indications
There are situations where massage is not recommended, for example where there is acute inflammation of the skin, soft tissue and joints, where bones have been fractured, where circulatory disorders persist, where there is the presence or danger of haemorrhage or tumours and in the event of sprains.
Undoubtedly, the field of human massage has been much better researched and the widespread use of massage as an integral part of the training program of professional athletes is sufficient evidence for many that their competitive horses would also benefit from this form of therapy.