Soothing Hands Equine Therapy

 A friend told me about a problem she was having with her horse and asked for help. I have had quite a few clients with the same or very similar problems. So I thought it would be useful to share the solution with everyone.

The problem was that her horse Fifo was anxious about being saddled, particularly about having the girth done up. She would pull back whenever the girth was being tightened, even just loosely

Here is my reply:

To find out how to relieve Fifo’s anxiety about the saddling process you need to determine if she is having current problems or memories of past issues. Let’s deal with potential current problems.

Use light pressure first, and then if you get no response use a moderate pressure.  Do all these checks on both sides. Please be careful because even the nicest horse can bite or kick if this is uncomfortable for her. Remember that she can’t say “stop” or  “that hurts” any other way.

-          place hands over the top of withers and squeeze with fingertips on far side

-          run your fingertips down her spine from the withers to the tail

-          slide fingertips about 2 inches from spine from shoulder towards hind end

-          run your fingers from behind the scapula down to girth box

-          make a grid pattern with your thumb in her girth box

-          slide thumb from elbow up towards withers (through the triceps muscle)

-     run your fingers between her front legs back towards her tummy

If any of the above causes her to twitch excessively, to move away or sink down, or it feels as if you’re working on a board then her muscles are sore/tight. Probably her saddle/girth is, or was, causing her discomfort.

To fix the problem she needs a massage as well as some conditioning to understand that saddling and/or girthing isn’t going to hurt anymore.

Faith’s reply:

Thank you, thank you! 

 I will try that tomorrow and see what she does.  If she’s not sure and it’s a memory… should I saddle her with her bareback pad for a while and gradually shift over to the saddle to see if there is a change?

 Also, how often might I check her body the way you described?  Would that be a good thing to do once a week or so whether or not she is showing active symptoms?

Faith

The answer is yes; if there is no negative response when you go to put on the bareback pad, only with the saddle.
 
I would recommend checking her before you ride for now until the symptoms go away. If there are no symptoms then the frequency of checking depends on how often you ride and how well your saddle/bareback pad fits.
 
I check my horse whenever I am hanging out with her and/or before I ride. Just because I know my saddle doesn’t fit perfectly and sometimes a beginner rides her who is not too quiet in the saddle. Plus by checking her she gets lots of mini massages and I can stop any problems from getting started. The biggest plus…she loves getting her massages.
 
Listen to what she is telling you, and assume she is telling the truth; whether or not you can believe it to be true. Her memories are currently true to her. Help her through them; don’t dismiss them as irrational.
 
Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

He does enjoy his massage

I’ve been massaging horses professionally for over 11 years and I love my job! I get to hang out with really nice horsepeople as well as great horses. What other job allows you to hug and kiss horses every day?

There is no better thing in the world than making a horse feel better. That soft eye and gentle sigh or the wholebody shake when they get rid of an old discomfort…..WOW. nothing could be more satisfying.

A nice young man went to ride his nice horse and found that all the horse would do willingly was walk. The young man did not feel competent enogh to school the horse through the problem and so he asked for my help.

Well I had all my hats on that day; my riding helmet, my therapist’s and trainer’s hats. There was a problem to be solved…..was the horse in pain or just being defiant?

How often do we all come across this problem? Pretty often. The question is how do we deal with it, beat the horse with whip and spur, do the horse whispering/Natural Horsemanship thing, give up because we wouldn’t want to upset the horse so we’ll just walk until it wants to do more? I know what I did and the outcome was successful for the horse, the rider and me.

Stupid horse, what is your problem???? Sound familiar? I think if the horse could talk it might say somthing like, “You are, you stupid human!!! You don’t communicate clearly. if  I reacted to all the conflicting orders you gave me with your seat, legs and hands I would be a stark raving lunatic by now. To add to that…. my saddle is uncomfortable and my feet hurt! You’re lucky I can even move, much less get into a frame. You think it is comfortable to run around with my back hollowed with you bouncing around up there yanking on my mouth? Give me a break!!!”

I’ve been around horses for longer than I can remember (no I’m not having memory lapses-well not that I notice…). I’m 48 now, and  I was put on my first horse when I was 2. Forty-six years is long enogh to let me know that every day with them makes my life richer and I am constantly learning from them.

I was a stupid human, like the one described above, for about my first 30 years or so with horses.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved them, and I kept trying to be a better rider,  to improve my knowledge of the keep and care of horses, but that phrase, or somthing simliar, was part of my vocabulary. 

But, about sixteen years ago a teacher came into my life who changed it, and my life with horses forever. I no longer use the phrase Stupid Horse.

I hope she will do the same for everyone who reads this blog. It is also my wish that this will be a place where our knowledge and understanding of horses will grow.

In my next posts I will introduce you to my first teacher and all who have followed her since.

Here’s to Happy Horses