What is it that you actually do??

This is a question that I have been asked a lot recently, primarily by new clients, as they watch me poke and prod at their horse. Generally, new clientele who have been recommended to me as they have difficult or rehabilitation horses - people who are trusting me off the word of a friend, coach or trainer.

On paper, and for ease of ‘fitting into a category’ I am an equine sports massage therapist. This seems to best fit what I do because I manipulate and work with muscles. But what I really do cannot be encompassed by only four words.

If you will indulge me a little bit, I will proceed to wax lyrical about some parts of my life and thought process that I haven’t revealed to many. Working with tough and practical horse people, I sometimes feel that revealing my ‘hippy dippy,’ ‘touchy feely’ beliefs and practices might make me seem less professional, but I am coming to see that they are what make me good at my work.

What I do when I am with your horse is definitely massage. I know my muscle groups, I know what belongs where and how it should feel. I can recognise a muscle tear, scar tissue, atrophy and over development. That’s the easy part. What I also do is look at how those muscles (in their functionality or disfunction) are creating movement in your horse. I look at the patterns of development and make educated guesses as to how that may have come about. My background in biomechanics and rehabilitation draw my focus to understanding how the body moves and what that means in relation to how the horse feels and compensates. I watch the horse move and weight each of their limbs, constantly asking questions - why would he want to load just that limb? What is he avoiding or compensating for by resting all his weight into his left shoulder? If the sacrum seems to point in that direction, but the pelvis is oriented in the opposite direction, what would that affect and how would that feel? Why would that happen? How can I best help?

I watch the natural motions of the horse as I am ‘massaging’ and observe how they make them. For example, your horse reaches around to scratch his ribcage but might have to lift through his lumbar spine to create enough bend. Or he may have to stand his hind legs wide and attempt to bring the ribcage around to his head, reducing the bend of his cervical spine. He might reach to lick my hand by stretching his neck and twisting his poll to the left, but be unable to twist to the right. He might get cranky when I put my hands on his sternum, or not be able to do a belly lift.

Above and beyond all of this, I listen and adapt. Every motion, every pass of my hands and application of pressure, I listen to the horse. I give them a chance to have a conversation about their own body - where it hurts, where there are restrictions and how deep they are able to go in relieving pain and pressure.

So often, I think about horses I worked on in the early days of my business and study and wish that I could have a ‘do over.’ Back then, I believed that deep was best and we could push through restriction to relieve and release pain. But now I believe that I wasn’t fully listening to those horses - I did not give them space to be part of the conversation, part of the massage. As much as a human therapist will ask ‘does that pressure feel good?’ or ‘Are you still okay?’ I now know that it is imperative to ask the question of the horse. They are creatures that communicate with us, and it is part of my job as a ‘massage therapist’ (it still doesn’t feel like the right title, but I’m going to keep rolling with it) to interpret and respect their communication. Their voice, as it were. (in case you were wondering, this is the ‘hippy dippy’ portion of my job! ;-))

Its watching for eye twitches, floppy lips, head movements, and looks, shuffles of the feet, shifting away or into a movement, nips and knocks of the head, head tossing and pawing. Horses talk with their body, because thats what they’ve got. This is why I ask for a relaxed lead rope, or to give your horse some space. Every motion means something, we’ve just got to get good at learning what.

I also think about energy and connectivity, but I don’t think I’m brave enough to talk about that yet.

So...look, at the end of this, I haven’t really simplified an answer, but hopefully I’ve given you some insight. I honestly don’t think that the process of what I do can be simplified, especially as I grow and learn more. However, at the end of the day, what I want to achieve is extremely simple - I want to help.

Having a quiet moment working with RED, owned by Rachel Dalgliesh

#equinemassagetherapy #horse #rehabilitation #constantlylearning #equinefunctionaltherapy