Every horse will benefit from massage therapy: from the retired, the happy hacker, the treasured family pony too the elite competition horse across any of the disciplines.

 

More than 60% of the horses body weight is muscle, any activity may be stressing some muscles more than others causing micro-trauma in the muscle fibres, which at first can be too small to notice. The surrounding muscle fibres then work harder to compensate for the fibres that are not working which then cause them to tire easily and become part of the problem and so on, muscle spasms build up over a long time in this way going virtually unnoticed until problems are obvious.

 

A horse will compensate for discomfort by altering his gait over a period of time and overusing other muscles and if left untreated could develop into a more serious problem as muscle tightness is transmitted from one muscle group to another and then eventually will put more pressure on ligaments and tendons causing injury.

 

Prompt attention to minor muscular injuries can prevent more serious problems due too compensation. Few human athletes would compete without preparing their bodies using massage and stretching exercises. Using equine sports massage as part of your horses management will help prevent injury and increase performance.