Benefits of Massage
These include:
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Helps calm the nervous animal
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Improves muscle strength
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Reduce risk of further injury
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Releases toxins
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Improves Circulation
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Help "wake up" lazy horse
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Imporves communication
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Aids mobility and flexibility
Equine Merishia Sports Massage
While treating your horse Jenny can also look at your saddle, she is not a qualified fitter however has been trained by a professional saddler fitter to check the saddle when she is doing her assesment. She is very aware of performance and behavioural issues that develop through poorly fitting saddles. Things she looks for and acesses are;
- The parts of the saddle.
- Assessing saddle for asymmetry issues and broken trees.
- Panel and flocking faults.
- Girthing issues.
- Tree types.
- Numnahs and padding.
- Thoracic sling and the muscles affected by poorly fitting saddles.
- Differentiating saddle issues from other issues.
- Assessing horses (static and ridden) and their saddles.
- Fitting saddles.
* Permission from your vet is required before any treatment. A phone call is all thats needed, A vet report can be provided if required.
What Is Equine Merisha Sports Massage?
Merishia massage uses a hands on simple but very effective technique that is beneficial to horses of all ages and abilities. It helps to ease muscle tightness or spasms enabling the horse to move more freely in there day to day routine.
Massage can be used as a preventative and maintenance as well as rehabilitation following injury. So just because your horse is well does not mean he does not need a massage.
When used as a preventative massage it can help to spot problems in the muscles before they develop into more serious ones. By assessing your horses way of moving, a body worker can use this to work out which muscles could be tight or sore and work on these to release the tension to help your horse move more freely.
When to use massage?
These are a few examples of when massage can be of benefit:
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Pre-competition, to warm up muscles to enhance performance and minimise risk of injury.
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Post-competition, to minimise the effects of fatigue and stiffness.
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For general stiffness and tension.
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Throughout the competition season to maintain performance.
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Maintenance, all horses benefit from this whatever the discipline.
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Schooling difficulties, e.g. crooked, one sided, changes in temperament, unwillingness to perform etc.
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'Cold backed horses'.
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After or during injury recovery to maintain range of movement and reduce uneven muscle development
So by addressing the minor issues in soft tissue adaptations that are occurring from older injuries and by correcting incorrect movement patterns that have arisen from the horse holding himself incorrectly from old injuries, the horse can perform better.
For those owners who have had a massage on themselves, you know how much looser and flexible you feel after. This is exactly the same for your horse. It can produce a positive change in the horses disposition, by removing pain in the muscles, and making the horse feel more comfortable in his body. Also from the increased flexibility from massage and stretching this allows for a greater range of motion and reduces strain on tendons and ligaments, maximising tendon and muscle elasticity resulting in easier lateral work, increased stamina when working and a reduced risk of injury in the horse.
Signs of pain in the horse are many. A change in your horses disposition, a dulling of the coat, biting, kicking on saddling, cold backed, refusing jumps, striking off on the wrong canter lead can all be signs of pain. Massage can help all the above, but it should never be used in a lame or sick horse without a veterinary check and diagnosis first.
Massage is a great boost to the body, not only in a physical sense by relaxing the muscles, promoting good blood flow and drainage from toxins from the muscles, but also psychologically. Massage is mentally very relaxing and comforting also building a firm bond between horse and owner.
Regular massage on your animal will help you detect the early signs of an injury occurring, and can also help to minimize the risk of an injury occuring in the first place.
Merishia massage is suitable for horses of all activities, from the highly toned competition animal to keep muscles in peak condition, to the older less active companion.