Massage

[Kathryn Zuckweiler <zuckweiler@yahoo.com>]

Marilyn, I am a certified equine massage therapist (so of course I
believe in the therapy) and would encourage you to see if there are
any equine massage therapists in your area.  There are many different
types of massage and asking a few questions of the therapist should
yield you some good information.  Also, any therapist should be able
to do a quick evaluation on your horse and identify and trouble spots.
 Massage, in its ideal form, works to prevent injury by maintaining
the horse's muscles free from knots and working as efficiently as
possible.  From that standpoint, massage has value to endurance
horses.  Massage also relieves muscle spasms that arise out of overuse
of a muscle (and overuse can mean a particularly wild play time in the
pasture or the strain of high-level competition over a long period of
time).

Massage, at least as I do it, restores normal muscle function and
promotes the free movement of the horse.  Muscle knots are bands of
muscle fiber that are hypercontracted due to overuse and cannot
release to allow that muscle to work in its normal range.  Knots that
remain for any length of time cause buildup of waste in the muscle
which further inhibits motion and sooner or later the rider notices
that the horse won't bend a certain direction as he used to, or
flinches when the girth is tightened, or has difficulty sustaining a
canter, or any number of other things that just aren't quite right. 
Most successful massage therapies use some form of compression to work
the knot and release it.

Massage is non-invasive and, in my opinion, should be done with
nothing more than the therapist's hands.  I do not use any liniment or
brace or lotion or anything other than my hands.  Massage also, in my
opinion again, should not be prohibitively expensive, as it
experiences best success when applied regularly (which is a different
time span for every horse).  Also, if you consult with a massage
therapist, ask what you can do for your horse to follow up with the
therapy.  The therapist should demonstrate some techniques which you
can do on a daily basis to help your horse.  This at-home work should
also not take more than 5 or 10 minutes a day, like when you groom
your horse.

This is a long response to a short question, but I hope it helps you
decide whether to consult with a massage therapist.  If you have any
more questions, just let me know.

Kathy and Bala Fire in Houston (it's finally cooling down!)




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