The horse should be provided with fresh drinking water and if the weather is cold rugged up well following the session to ensure that the muscles remain warm.
Turning the horse out or taking the horse on a gentle hack following a session is preferable to being stabled as this will allow the work within the soft tissues to continue and cellular changes to take place in relation to blood and lymphatic flow.
The following days riding should allow for continued changes to take place and the horse to become aware of muscular releases and any additional physical and emotional change.
If the horse is to be lightly exercised sports massage is best applied before exercise.
By making the muscles pliable through massage, it is easier for the rider to work out a problem in the subsequent days.
It is ideal if the exercise can be incorporated within 2 hours following the massage session.
If the massage occurs following exercise it is advisable for someone to hand walk or hand jog the healthy sound horse afterwards for 10 to 15 minutes or turn the horse out for a period.
The animal should be only lightly worked please see suggested post massage workout on the treatment day and, depending on the specific animal, so many days after treatment, progressively building back to normal regimes and work load.
Working Your Horse in After Massage
1 Begin walking the entire long and short sides of the school / arena for five to ten minutes.
2. Try positioning the head and neck slightly (using legs and seat) to the inside for a few strides, back to the center a few strides, then outside for a few strides. Do this without interrupting the rhythm and without tension. Straighten for a while then repeat. Do this on both reins / in both directions.
3. Pick up the trot and remain on the rail / track for the same period of time about five to ten minutes. On the short side bring your horse back to the walk. Resume trotting on the long sides. Change the rein / direction and repeat the trot work.
4. Repeat the head and neck positioning at the trot work. Again remember not to disrupt the rhythm walk when necessary.
5. Begin work on the twenty-meter circle at the trot. Change the rein / direction and repeat.
6. Begin a serpentine of three loops at the trot but walk over the centerline. Change the rein / direction and repeat.
7. Now begin another serpentine of three loops with no walk transitions over the centerline. Change the rein / direction and repeat.
8. Free walk using the whole school / arena then take up working trot. Pick up canter.
9. In your interval canter work, begin using the whole arena and then work some large 20 – meter circles. Canter on both reins / in both directions.
10. Try some head and neck positioning in canter. Repeat this at the other gaits but think more ‘shoulder fore’.
11. Depending on the level of fitness and capabilities vary the work by adding other figures. Try some 15-meter half circles and returning to the rail / track, spiral in, change of bend, and leg yields.
12. Cool down for at least 15 minutes in the walk and trot. If it was a hard workout, trot for half of your cool down period
Remember that the work after the massage session should be kept as soft, free and non-restrictive as possible. Avoid working in tight circles, and any long periods of collection. Allow the horse to stretch downward and long during your workout for short periods of time. As with any exercise or movement, do not overdo it.
Post Massage workout from Manual Foundation course in Equine Body Work Debranne Pattillo
