SV REMT Equine Massage Therapy

The Equine Athlete

In any team competition, each team is only as strong as its weakest member. In the context of equine sports, the team consists of you and your horse or horses. In training and in competition, your horse is your partner – he or she is with you, step by arduous step, to achieve your goals. In every sense of the word, your horse is an “athlete” every bit as much as you are. And in every aspect of athletic development, your horse has the same needs as any athlete, human or animal. To perform at his or her best your horse needs physical strength, coordination and balance (and in certain sports, speed), mental alertness and focus, and an overall sense of pleasure in his activities. In short your horse needs to enjoy a sense of “wellness”.

“Wellness” in our equine partners is achieved through many factors from proper nutrition to a sound mental state. We try to ensure that our horses are ready for the challenges we put before them by providing good food and conditioning, and with routine health and foot care. However unlike many human athletes, horses rarely get the benefit of having a specialist such as massage therapists as part of their health care team even though most of the athletic endeavors our equine partners participate in put unnatural demands on their soft tissues and joints.