Massage benefits human muscles, and many sports people would not go without it, why should horses by any different? Horses are very tactile animals, you often see them grooming and rubbing each other with mutual pleausure. If you watch you will so see each horse tell the other where they want the tactile therapy to be applied. For the horse, massage is natural!
Equine sports massage is completely, non-invasive and thoroughly enjoyable for the animal. Benefits like increased circulation and stimulation to the lymphatic system can aid in recovery and help to maintain overall health and muscle tone. It can help to increase flexibility, remove toxins from stressed muscles and relieve muscle spasms for athletic animals.
Every equestrian - owner, trainer, and rider of racehorses or show horses - wants his or her horse to have every possible edge in competition. Massage can help provide that edge. Similarly, every owner of a pleasure horse wants the assurance that their horse is the best it can be. Due to the health promoting qualities of massage, as well as its curative properties, this therapy is being incorporated by knowledgeable equestrians as an integral part of their horses' total and continuous health care program.
There are many different equine bodywork techniques and equine massage therapies available.
       A few popular massages known in equine bodywork are Equine Muscle Release Therapy, Equine
                                      Sports Massage Therapy and Equine Trigger Point Myotherapy.

Equine Muscle Release Therapy (EMRT) is a technique which signals the brain to initiate the healing process. It consists of gentle moves on soft tissue that stimulate energy flow, enabling the body's own resources to heal itself. The signals are sent via specialized nerve cells found in the fascia of the muscle.
Fascia is a membrane like plastic wrap the covers every organ, blood vessel, nerve, muscle and every bone. Fascia is between the firm connective tissue (bones, ligaments and tendons) and the liquid connective tissue (blood, lymph, and cerebo-spinal fluid)--fascia is continuous throughout the whole body -- joining everything to everything else within the body. Fascia should be loose, mobile and elastic however, the fascia network can cause muscles to be tense when it becomes rigid -- holding shapes of dislodged parts. Therefore pain that is thought to be due to tense muscles may not be at all but is in fact due to the fascia covering the muscle.
EMRT helps correct restrictions and misalignments of fascia and tissue, restoring balance to the body at the musculo-skeletal level. Also energy flos is enhanced which in turns helps free congestion, increasing the circulation of nutrients and the removal of waste products from the horse's body. EMRT work consists of a series of precise moves on specific points of the body. The moves are gentle and light with frequent pauses between each series, by using positive moves that initiate a positive energy flow and negative moves that isolate the energy to a specific area EMRT can produce a lasting relief from discomfort and pain.

Please Note: 'EMRT works in conjunction with the veterinary profession and under Veterinary permission, EMRT never preports to replace it. Always make sure you have fully qualified EMRT therapist to treat your horse.'

Equine Sports Massage is a therapeutic application of a variety of massage techniques. There have been long recognized to have many benefits including -- increasing circulation and range of motion, relieving muscle spasm/tension, enhancing muscle tone and improving the horse's stamina and overall performance. Equine Sports Massage can be used bother for prevention (lessen injury risk caused by strain or fatigue) or rehabilitation. A qualified Equine Massage Therapist will carefully assess your horses' confirmation including on the lunge in walk, trot and canter to pinpoint any problems causing or likely to affect its work. An important element of the treatment is the use of passive stretching exercises for the horse, these are usually completed at the end of the massage session once the muscles have softened, also can be used at the end of riding/training exercise. The therapist will encourage the owner to incorporate simple stretches into the horses daily routine - this will attain optimum results and often an individual work program will be drawn up so that the horse can obtain maximum results. By using passive stretches your horse can improve flexibility of muscles and joints as well as improving circulation to tissues.
Veterinary advice should be sought before your animal is referred to an Equine Massage Therapist. Usually the therapist will be keen to discuss the progress of your horse with your veterinarian - thus in turn improving the benefits of the sessions. Any level of horse can benefit -- whether a competition or leisure horse.

Equine Trigger Point Myotherapy - myotherapy literally means muscle therapy. Also known as TPM. It is a method for relieving pain based on the application of compression to trigger points in the body. Trigger points are defined as hypersensitive locations in the muscles that cause pain in response to undue stress. They develop into tight bands or knots within the muscles. These bands or knots can cause the muscles to spasm, limit the movement of joints, and cause serious pain. Trigger points often do not occur in the same location where the pain is felt. Instead the pain may occur some distance from the actual location of the trigger point. TPM is a non-threatening and non-invasive technique utilizing the hands, knuckles, and fingers of the Myotherapist to locate trigger points within the body. The Myotherapist then uses pressure to help relieve these trigger points and assisted passive stretching to help re-educate the muscles to what they are capable of doing. The assisted passive stretching combined with corrective exercises help to relax, strengthen and lengthen the affected muscles. The combination of the therapy with the stretching and exercises helps to develop flexibility, strength and stamina in the muscles thus alleviating pain and stiffness. Myotherapy can help a horse that suffers from cold backed, one-sideness, shortened strides, resistance and refusing.
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DISCLAIMER: Naturally Equine does not make any medical or veterinarian claims to any of the remedies or therapies listed on this site. The remedies or therapies are well known worldwide and are listed on this site for informational purposes only.