Equine Massage: A Practical Guide (13 page)

❖ Neck relaxed, shoulders loose, elbows flexed

❖ Knees slightly flexed, feet apart at shoulder width

❖ Moving and flowing from the pelvis

With your arms and hands relaxed, this posture will allow you to perform massage smoothly, avoiding tension in the chest, shoulders, and back. Remember to take deep breaths regularly to keep yourself relaxed.

Use your body weight to regulate the amount of pressure applied. Avoid unnecessary movements of the body; they will fatigue you and may annoy the horse. In her video
Centered
Riding,
Sally Swift demonstrates how good posture will ensure connection with the vital energy that life offers you at all times.

Good posture will ensure an energy flow from your hands to the horse and back to you, benefiting both you and the horse.

Stand fairly close to your horse to reinforce this energy exchange.

In some cases, such as working on trigger points, you may consider leaning against the animal if he allows you to. It is important to give the horse a feeling of closeness to increase his relaxation and to ensure benefit from your treatment. But exercise judgment.

Closeness reinforces the feeling of care that occurs naturally when giving a massage, but if the horse objects to your proximity, you should always be ready to move away.

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3.2 Proper Posture:
Back straight, elbows and
knees flexed.

3.3 Proper Posture:
Using body weight for added
strength.

Sensitivity of the Hands

A good touch provides a soothing and comforting feeling during your treatment.The palms of your hands and your fingertips will give you accurate feedback on the physiological state of the various parts you are working on. Learning to trust your hands is not easy, however.You must concentrate so as to detect subtle changes in the body on which you are working.The quality of your work depends strongly on the sensitivity of your hands.

In the early stages of practice, a good way to develop your perceptions is to work with your eyes closed.This will help you focus on your fingertips, developing your tactility and enhancing your
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touch.This manual participation in massage is doubly beneficial to you. First, massage stimulates the circulation of blood to your hands and fingertips, nourishing them and preventing blood and lymph congestion. Second, since the nerves in the fingertips are directly connected to the brain, the use of the hands tends to promote a feeling of psychological ease. The Chinese habit of turning walnuts around and around in the hand springs from a knowledge of the salutary effect of manual activity. By putting the fingertips to extensive use, massage promotes emotional stability and physical health as it stimulates the blood flow to the hand.

The Four T’s

The sensations you perceive during massage—temperature, texture, tension, tenderness—are referred to as the “four T’s.”

Temperature

The normal body temperature of a horse is 38° Celsius (99 to 100.5° Fahrenheit). Any changes in the temperature of the horse’s skin suggest that certain problems exist. For example, an area that is abnormally cool to the touch (due to lack of blood circulation in that area) compared to the rest of the body may indicate such problems as muscle contraction or deep chronic tension. An area that is hot to the touch indicates the presence of an inflammation and is a sure sign of an underlying problem (such as microspasm, stress points, trigger points, or traumas).

Texture

By
texture
I mean the density and elasticity of the skin and the muscular fibers. By practicing on healthy animals, you will quickly develop a sense for what normal, healthy tissues feel like. Tissues that appear either too soft or too puffy indicate the presence of swelling (edema), a sign of sluggish blood and/or lymph circulation, or of an underlying inflammatory condition.

Tenderness

By tenderness of the structures (muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints), I mean the degree to which the animal responds to your touch. If he is highly sensitive, it is a sure sign of an underlying problem (nerve endings are irritated or perhaps damaged). The horse’s reaction to your touch is proportional to how severe and how stressful the condition is.

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Tension

Muscle tension is the result of a heavy workload or too much exercise. Sometimes muscle tension can result from scar tissue buildup after trauma.Too much tightness means less blood circulation, fewer nutrients, and less oxygen. Tension will increase toxin buildup, creating an underlying inflammation. Trigger points and stress points might result. It is normal to expect some high muscle tone immediately after exercise. But to find tension in the muscles after a good rest is a sure sign that it is a compensatory response to some other problem. Too much tension in a muscle might be a sign of scar tissue developing as a result of an inflammation.

Thus, when you start a massage, always remember to use your fingers as sensors to get feedback (the four T’s) on the particular condition you are working on. Your fingers should become an extension of your brain. Use them as probes, quickly feeling and assessing what they touch, knowing almost instinctively how to adjust the pressure and to use the right massage move.You will be amazed to find how fast this heightened perception will develop for you.

Pressure, Contact, and

Rhythm

The key to a successful massage is in the heightened perception of your fingers and the mastering of pressure, contact, and rhythm.

Pressure

To appreciate how much pressure you are applying in a massage, experiment by pressing on a bathroom or kitchen scale.You will be amazed to find how quickly pressure builds up. Practice by simultaneously or alternately using one thumb, two thumbs, the fingers of one hand, the fingers of two hands, the palm of the hand, two palms, one fist, two fists, your elbow,
etc.
Practice the various massage moves on the scale with and without using your whole body weight. Be creative! This exercise will help you realize how little you must exert in order to reach deep into the muscle structure. In massage we have to be very careful about applying too much pressure because we inadvertently can bruise the muscle fibers. Obviously, a bruise can’t be seen under the horse’s coat.

A bruise will be indicated by a slight hardening of the tissues—

caused by the blood’s stagnation—and the tenderness of the tissues that you will feel on palpation several hours after treatment.

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Also use a scale to practice evaluating a 5-or 10-pound pressure, then 15 or 20 pounds, up to 30 or 35 pounds. Repeat the exercise until you feel what it takes for you to reach any desired level of pressure.

Degree of Pressure

Actual Force

finger-stroking touch

0.1 to 1 pound

light touch

8 to 10 pounds,

starts at 15 pounds

More than 25 pounds can bruise fibers in the thin muscle layers of the average horse. If the horse has been well warmed up, he will take heavy pressure much more easily during the treatment.

Thicker muscle layers can take up to 30 or 35 pounds of pressure.

When working on scar tissue or on ligaments, use up to 35

pounds of pressure, but again be very careful at that particular stage of your treatment.

The best pressure is one sufficient to cause a sensation midway between pleasure and pain.A good masseur or masseuse can apply pressure that produces deep bodily effects without discomfort.

When getting into the deeper aspects of your work, closely observe the animal’s feedback signs, especially the eyes.

Choosing the right degree of pressure will depend mostly upon the symptoms shown by the horse and by your goals for that massage treatment.Your posture should always be such that you use your body weight at all times; if necessary, you can ease up on the pressure immediately. Using your body weight will prevent fatigue.

Never jab your fingers into the animal’s flesh. Instead, apply firm pressure with the soft bulbs of the fingers, the thumbs, or the palms of your hands as if you were resting all your body weight on them.

Always begin with a light pressure and progress to heavier pressure. Start with light strokings; follow with effleurages; then build up to wringings, kneadings, or compressions, all interspersed with effleurages (every 20 to 30 seconds) before using pressures above the 15-pound mark. Do not get carried away while working over stress or trigger points or on scar tissue.Very heavy pressure will trigger soreness in the muscles, especially the next day. Use the four T’s. Always pay attention to the feedback signs of the animal, and “listen” to your fingers. Pain and discomfort should always be
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regarded as a warning signal. Be attentive, constantly adjusting the pressure of your massage. It’s better to give several light treatments than one too-heavy treatment.

Because your thumbs, fingers, and palms are in constant contact during massage, they need careful attention.Whether employ-ing the thumbs or the fingers, always press downward firmly using the bulbs of the fingers, not just the tips. When pressing forward with the tips you can tire or even injure your hands; don’t do it!

(Overuse of finger joints can result in many problems, including premature arthritis.) Years of correct massage action have given me well-developed, silky-smooth thumbs—the kind essential to this profession. Correct massage practice can do the same for everyone.

Contact

To get the best contact with the horse, keep your hands flexible, molding them to his body parts.A mindful contact will be strongly perceived by the animal, strengthening his trust in your work.

Much information passes through your hands, both to you and to the animal.You should feel a lot of warmth—lots of energy—

flowing through your hands during a massage.This deeper sense of contact will give you much feedback on what is happening with the animal as you are progressing with your massage.

Always weave each stroke into another, thus giving a feeling of continuity. Never remove your hands completely before the end of a massage move, not even when going around the horse to go on the other side. If you do not weave your moves one into another, if you often lose hand contact during the massage, you will create a disruptive feeling that prevents the horse from relaxing (you would feel the same if you were being massaged in that manner). Keeping hand contact makes a big difference in ensuring connection and comfort.Your proper posture will ensure that you work smoothly, passing on a feeling of general relaxation to the animal.

Rhythm

In this context, rhythm refers to the frequency with which you apply your movements. Rhythm plays a strong role in the effectiveness of your massage.

A gentle, almost slow rhythm of 1 stroke per second is used most frequently. Use a soothing rhythm to start your session, to weave your moves into one another, and to finish your work. A soothing rhythm works wonders in relaxing the horse’s nervous system, yet this soft approach allows you to work deeply if necessary.

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A faster rhythm stimulates the animal. It is used to perk up the horse before riding or exercising, to stimulate circulation before deep treatment, or simply to warm up your animal when he is chilled. Be aware: Too brisk a rhythm could quickly irritate the horse, causing him to react against this type of massage. (How to choose specific rhythms will be discussed in chapters 5 and 6.) Develop your sense of rhythm by counting in your head, by listening to music, or by singing.

With practice you will develop a true appreciation of the feedback
your fingers give you and you will know exactly how to achieve
the right pressure by adjusting your contact and rhythm. Solid
knowledge of the structure you are working on and of your massage techniques, plus a strong dose of common sense, will be all that
you need to keep pressure, contact, and rhythm in harmony.