I went out to catch Goose today. For the first time in a really long time she played hard to get. I realized she was in heat, and thought maybe she just wasn’t feeling a ride today. I’ve been working on practicing mental pictures as taught by Susan Fay in Sacred Spaces, so I took a minute and sent her a mental picture of just giving her a massage. She sidled right up to me and moved around putting me in the spots she wanted worked on.
I’m not a certified massage therapist, just an everyday person who loves her horse and wants to do the very best for her. I saw a few videos on TikTok about horse massage and the more I saw the more I liked the energy of the lady in the videos. I went digging and realized she had an online equine massage course. I took a look and it looked like exactly what I was wanting, so I bought it and have been learning ever since.
I love that she teaches you the specific strokes to use, and then breaks up the course in a number of different ways so you can search different things. You can search by what you’re trying to improve, like impulsion, collection, spins and so many more… then it will give you the exact muscles and strokes to work on to help them be more relaxed in the body parts required for that action. You can also search by area of the body. When Fiddler, our barrel horse, got a little sore in the back, I had the chiro come out, but then asked in the EBO group which muscle groups would be good to work on. I got a quick answer and was able to go find those videos and work on him. We added in some Magic Mud (coupon code Fiddler10 to save 10%) and he is doing so much better. I love having multiple things I can do to help my horses feel better.
Anyway… back to Goose. Today she was not feeling the ride so I just gave her a massage. She moved me to her back, and her neck, and her hind end through the time I was out there working on her. But lastly we worked on her ears. The ear pull is the one massage I see make the most difference for her. She’s not heavily worked, we take nice short rides lol, but she is anxious, and seems to carry tension in her head and neck. The ear pull helps relax the head and poll and helps with the entire body. This girl was not a fan of having her face and/or ears touched when I first got her 3 years ago. But she sure loves the ear pulls now. 🙂
Here’s a quick video on the ear pull. If your horse will let you, I highly recommend trying it.
If you’re interested in learning how to massage your own horse I highly recommend following Equine Bodywork Online, and when you’re ready to pick up the Equine Bodywork Online course use coupon code Jackie100 to save $100. 🙂
Since Runaway was nudging me, hinting he wanted a little massage too, I did a little ear pull on him too. He was a little worried at first but loved it by the end. I love seeing such relaxed ponies. <3
