EQUINE MASSAGE THERAPY BEYOND THE BASICS
The horse was staring at me from behind the bars of his stall. “Do something,” he seemed to say. He’d undergone a procedure called a “basket surgery” for his neck just three weeks before; now he had edema (swelling) in his sheath and all four legs, plus along his belly—likely the result of inactivity during his required stall rest.
I would’ve loved to introduce some hand-walking or other exercise to help mobilize the fluid, but in this case, strict stall rest was essential. Even minimal movement could cause a catastrophic shift in the metal baskets stabilizing his neck.
What to do? I instructed the owner to apply standing bandages, then on a whim called my favorite massage therapist, who had some training in circulatory massage. Within 24 hours of this horse’s first session, his owner called to tell me the edema was dramatically reduced. It continued to improve with weekly sessions—and equine massage therapy turned out to be all we needed to get this horse comfortably through his extended period of rest.
may conjure up images of pampered show horses
