Equine Sports Massage Therapy
Dyane Ashworth ITEC Dip, MIGPP, MESMA

Equine Sports Massage is the therapeutic application of professional sports massage techniques to the equine athlete. This hands on technique, which has been in use in the US since the 1970s, is aimed at increasing performance levels and endurance, as well as helping to reduce the risk of injury due to muscle fatigue or strain.

Who Needs Equine Sports Massage Therapy?
Horses competing in all disciplines benefit from sports massage therapy, although each discipline creates its own demands on the body systems of both horse and rider. Therapy is adapted accordingly to meet the needs of each horse, enabling him/her to perform to the best of their ability.

Massage therapy can be used pre-, during and post-competition, as well as horses on box rest or in rehabilitation.

What Is The Therapist's Aim?
Ultimately the therapist's aim is to achieve a supple musculature allowing the horse to work in comfort and balance, whether that be in racing, showjumping, eventing, endurance riding, polo or dressage.

Sixty percent of a horse's body weight is muscle so it is little wonder that muscular problems cause a variety of motion problems and training set-backs. There are many who are quick to accuse a horse of being un-genuine and un-cooperative when they are actually in pain and discomfort. This is often the result of over compensation, relying on other muscles to take on extra work, which in turn strains their associated joints and ligaments creating adverse knock on effects throughout the body's system.

What Are The Benefits?

When injury (1) occurs there is usually pain (2). Pain results in muscle spasm (3) which creates a reduction of circulation (4). Muscle atrophy (5) then occurs which causes ligament strain (6) resulting in loss of movement (7) which in turn create adhesions (8) which cause pain (2) and so the cycle continues.

By reducing (2) via appropriate therapy there is no (3) which results in little (4) causing minimal (5) which means no (6), (7) or (8) therefore enabling recovery!

The physical benefits of Equine Sports Massage Therapy therefore include:

Improved venous and lymphatic fluid flow thereby stimulating a quicker removal rate of waste toxins

Relief from muscular soreness/tension

Improved suppleness/flexibility and range of movement (especially when combined with appropriate passive stretching exercises)

Freed nerve pathways

A reduction in the adverse effects of over training

Enhanced performance by preparing the body systems for activity

Aids recovery after competition

Maintains muscle tone and range of movement in injured horses during rehabilitation / box rest

What Is The Body's Response?
When applying Swedish massage techniques, the movement of strokes are applied in a certain way so as to aid and direct the flow of body fluids, venous blood and lymph back towards the heart. The neural response created by the hands-on massage affects deeper structures within the body and creates a secondary effect of warming. This warming increases the circulatory flow within the whole body and enables an increase in the removal rate of toxins from the blood. This in turn enhances the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the cells of the body helping the body systems to function to the best of their ability. Massage, even when localised over a small area, affects the whole body as all the body systems are interlinked.

Dyane Ashworth ITEC Dip, MIGPP, MESMA