Benefits

All horses can benefit from massage therapy, whether top level competition horse or the family horse on box rest. These different horses obviously have different demands and needs, so will benefit in different ways.

All working horses work at different levels, with different levels of riders and within different disciplines. Obviously different disciplines are likely to have greater impact on different areas. For example, show jumping places great strain on the shoulders, chest and back whereas complex lateral work in top level dressage impacts on the sides of the hind quarters, as well as through the neck if worked in too much of a tight outline. From these examples, it is clear any horse in a working routine will benefit from massage to some degree. They may be able to work and compete for comfortably as a result.

Those horses with less experienced or a variety of riders will commonly have back and neck problems. For this reason it is obvious why a child’s pony or riding school horse could benefit too.
Horses off work or on box rest can also benefit. Massage can help them relax through what is potentially quite a stressful time for them. It can help to keep the tone in the muscles as well as helping to reduce swelling which can occur through lack of exercise.