Very often, I am asked how I got into the business of
equine massage and whether or not I truly believe in the benefits of
this type of alternative therapy. My answer to these questions
is answered in telling the story of my nine-year-old thoroughbred,
Mia.
Five
years ago, I decided to buy my first horse off the track in the hopes
of giving a racehorse a chance at a new career and a new life after
retirement. However, I don't think I completely realized exactly
what I was getting myself into.
To be handled, Mia had to have at least a chain over
her nose or under her lip to keep her from bolting, and she would not
let anyone touch her head, let alone climb onto her back. When looking
at her, she had an obvious imbalance of muscle development from
traveling to the left for so long...and when I say obvious, I mean at
least a good three inch drop when looking at her from behind the left
side of her back to the right. I also found out later that the
probable cause of the most of this was that she had been raced for
years with a broken back! Once I managed to ride her, I realized that
she had one gait and one direction - a gallop to the left, of course!
This was going to be quite a project, possibly beyond
my ten years experience as a hunter/jumper competitor. However,
luck was on my side when I moved Mia to a barn at which the owner
happened to be an equine massage therapist. She began working on
Mia every 2-4 weeks with full-body massages and taught me how to do
some stretching and spot massage work to do every day to improve her
physical progress and to create a loving, trusting relationship with
her.
With each session, Mia improved by leaps and bounds.
She became more loveable and trusting to the point where she no longer
needed a chain over her nose, let alone a halter to lead her.
She would greet me as soon as she saw my car pull in the driveway and
actually looked forward to training. And slowly but surely,
those muscles that were so imbalanced began to even out and become
like butter around her broken back that was finally starting to heal.
Now, five years later, Mia still gets her monthly
massages and a little work done every day to keep up her range of
motion and to keep her muscles even and loose. She is an absolute love
to be around! She is also one of the most beautiful movers and clears
four-foot courses like a dream. All of this made possible, I
truly believe, by the physical and emotional benefits of massage.
This is why I now do what I do, so that you too can experience what I
have no matter how big or small the project...
Hope to see you soon -
