Benefits of Equine Musculoskeletal Therapy
Horses are athletes - from the hacking pleasure horse right through to the top level competition horse. Horses have adapted over time to carrying the weight of a rider on their back and to the demands we place on them, and we have the responsibility to make sure they can do this as comfortably as possible.
Human athletes always warm up and stretch before competing and have regular therapy sessions to enable them to perform at their best – horses can benefit from the same treatment to help them keep fit and healthy and at the top of their game.
Equine Musculoskeletal Therapy can help to prevent injury to your horse as well as aid recovery.
Here are some of the benefits:
Muscles
- Warms the muscles
- Removes lactic acid
- Relieves muscle fatigue
- Releases muscle spasm
- Improves muscle tone
- Improves muscle flexibility, suppleness and elasticity
- Reduces risk of pulled muscles
- Minimises stiffness
- Improves and reduces muscle atrophy
- Induces rapid cell renewal and tissue repair
- Speeds up recovery
Joints
- Increase joint range of movement
- Helps keep joints flexible
- Helps ease painful, sore joints
Other Benefits
- Relax the nervous system
- Assist in proprioception
- An effective way of identifying injury
Both Digby and Jager benefitted from Equine Musculoskeletal Therapy sessions.
There are many tell tale signs of when a horse is suffering from a problem that could be helped by musculoskeletal therapy. Visit our how do I know if my horse needs a treatment page.
Although there are many benefits of equine massage therapy it is not a cure. However, scientific research has shown that it can help to relieve pain and discomfort, improve a horse’s range of movement and enhance performance as well as inducing relaxation as detailed in this article by Horse and Hound. Muscles and joints never forget what has happened to them, so an old injury could still be affecting the horse.