Equine Sports massage is the therapeutic application of professional sports massage techniques applied to the horse. A thorough understanding of anatomy and the interaction of bones, joints and muscles are the basis of the proven physical and mental therapy that is the art of massage.

All animal athletes benefit from sports massage. Massage today is just as viable as it was centuries ago as a healing art.

Equine Body Work uses sports massage and passive stretching, in partnership with the horse’s whole team of healthcare professionals to identify and help prevent musculoskeletal imbalance and its related pathology.

An Equine Body Worker looks at the horse as a whole and attempts to consider all possible causes and effects of any tension while interpreting a horse’s reactions.

The Equine Body Worker targets soft tissue pain and injuries. Soft tissues are muscle, ligament and tendons. Muscles are the soft tissues that move joints. Ligaments are the connective tissue that connects bone to bone. Tendons attach the muscle to a bone.

More than 60% of the horse’s body weight is muscle. These soft tissues can become dysfunctional due to sprains, muscle cramps, bruising, strains, general muscle soreness, or repetitive stress injuries. Small muscle injuries, micro-tears can take up to 90 days to become apparent (by a change in attitude, decreased performance and or lameness) by which time they may have caused a more serious injury. The Equine Body Worker can release adhesions or the scar tissue, resulting from these small micro-tears, speeding recovery time to the horse’s musculoskeletal system. The prompt attention to these ‘minor’ muscle injuries not only enhances a horse’s performance but may also prevent future problems.

The application of hands-on techniques when administered are to increase the action of the horses circulatory systems to fill the muscles with fresh well-oxygenated, nutrient filled blood that provide increased tissue cellular metabolic exchange to improve the range of motion, erase muscle spasm, physical and mental tension and enhance the overall muscle tone. Or to flush the toxins that are released during heavy muscle activity, speed recovery and thus reduce the risk of future injury.

The Equine Body Worker employs stress point therapy with Shiatsu Acupressure techniques that consists of 84 points throughout the body within the 12 body meridians. When the stress point is addressed the horse may have a pain reaction indicating that there is an issue in that specific area. The pain can be alleviated by direct pressure, cross fiber friction, and massage strokes that rebalance the body’s energies.

Equine Body Work aims to maintain and restore mobility in order to enhance the body's self-healing capability by helping it to function properly once more.

Equine Body Work is therefore very good for ongoing body maintenance, in order to support the body to work to its optimum. Whilst body tissues will start to degenerate due to old age and general wear and tear, remaining as mobile as possible will delay the process, improving the chances of a more active, healthy and pain free life.

Equine Body Work at best has the goal of helping each horse to achieve balance in body, mind and spirit.