Kathann Seiler says bonding is just one of the benefits you’ll get from giving your horse a massage. Be sure to pick a time and place that’s conducive to relaxation.

Muscle Science 101
Let’s start with the basics. Massage offers you a source of perception, a way to explore your horse’s muscles as they tense and relax. After a while, you’ll come to recognize what is normal for your horse and when your horse's muscles may be in trauma. But understanding the science of your horse's muscles is a key first step.

“Think of muscle tissue as an organism that functions as all basic organisms do,” explains Kathann Seiler, ESMT, an equine sports massage therapist based in Franktown, Colorado.

Muscles need food to replenish energy and grow, she points out, and they need to constantly clear their systems of waste products that can build up and impair circulation. Oxygen is a key element in these muscle processes. Muscle cells need oxygen both for energy production and waste elimination. Lactic acid and carbon dioxide are waste products of energy production in the muscle cells. Where these byproducts are created but not eliminated, you’ll find areas of muscle spasm or tightness, which reduce circulation, cause pain and impede free movement.

Your Soothing Touch

• Find the time to give your horse a massage. It can be done in as little as 5 or 10 minutes. • Make the surroundings and timing of the massage conducive to relaxation. • Use a bathroom scale to measure how it feels to apply 1, 2 or 5 pounds of pressure with your hands. • Strive for a touch that relaxes, soothes, and strengthens muscles. • Watch and respond to your horse’s body language; he’ll tell you what he likes and doesn’t like. • Include all three parts of the massage—warm-up, heavy work, cool down—and give equal attention to both sides.

Massage Offers Relief…and Much More
“The main goal of massage is to improve circulation throughout the body by easing pain, releasing muscle spasms, and relieving tight, hard muscles,” says Seiler. Improved circulation leads to healthier muscles and an overall healthier metabolic system. And a healthy metabolism leads to a healthy, happy, alert and vital horse.

Massage also can lead to heightened sensitivity in your horse.

“Researchers note that with more frequent touching, more connections appear to be made between the nerves that go from the muscles to the brain,” Seiler explains. Further, they expect that frequent, light touching results in an improved mind-body connection. Massage sensitizes an area and makes it more responsive to touch.

This heightened sensitivity stands to improve your relationship with your horse in so many ways: lighter cues, improved responses and ease of movement, to name just a few benefits.

To Massage or Not to Massage?
The nice thing about massage is that it helps your horse whenever you can find the time to do it. Sometimes, free time appears by happenstance: Your planned ride gets rained out, or you get out of work early, so you get to the barn with an extra half-hour before your lesson. If you can build massage into your routine, though, so that every other day you take an extra 30 minutes to massage your horse, he will appreciate and benefit from the consistency of it.

Seiler recommends keeping at least one hand on the horse throughout the massage. She starts with effluerage, a smooth, flat-handed, gliding stroke, using even pressure. Below: Percussion strokes are rhythmical impacts used on large muscle groups. Cupping, as Seiler demonstrates here, sets up vibrations that reach deep into the muscle tissue.

If your horses live with you, you have the luxury of access to them at any time. Seiler, who owns horse property, finds that a good time to work on her own horses is in the evening after feeding. “My gang is relaxed and not anticipating anything else but relaxing. They are in tune to me and what I’m doing, since I just brought them food.”

After their massages, the horses have the evening for their muscles to rest and gain the full benefit of the massage, before they’re put to work the next day.

Probably more important, though, is when not to massage your horse.

“If your horse is showing any of the following signs or symptoms, massage could actually make some underlying medical conditions worse rather than better,” Seiler cautions. Here’s her list of when not to massage:

• If your horse has a fever
• On an area where there is an open or healing wound (leave that area alone, but massage the rest of the body to help with inflammation)
• If your horse is experiencing any kind of nerve irritation
• If your horse has acute signs of any viral diseases, infectious diseases, or skin problems
• If your mare is in foal

Regarding the final point, massage and pregnant mares, there is some controversy. Some people say not to massage a pregnant mare during the first three months of pregnancy, while others say not to massage during the last three months. At any rate, when a mare is in foal, any massage should be done lightly.

Location, Timing & Approach
As you prepare to massage, place your horse in a location where he’ll be most comfortable. That could be his stall or paddock, or any other spot that is protected from the elements, loud noises, or hustle and bustle.

“Make the surroundings and timing of the massage conducive to relaxation,” Seiler suggests. Start out with a halter and lead rope on your horse. You can either tie him or have someone else hold the rope. Use common sense as far as your own safety, too, in that you don’t want to tie or wrap the rope around any part of your body. And make sure to remove any potential tripping hazards for yourself as you move around the horse.

If it’s chilly out and your horse usually wears a blanket, just turn back part of the blanket so the rest of the body doesn’t get chilled.

Timing of the massage also is important. Most likely, if you’re substituting a massage for an exercise session because of inclement weather, your horse will be more than happy to stand still. However, if you decide to start the massage just before feeding time, you’ll probably not have a patient, willing horse. Again, make sure that common sense prevails when timing is an issue.

Another percussion stroke, pounding, calls for using a relaxed fist without too much force, which seems to have an anesthetic effect on sore spots.

With your horse standing still, position yourself on one side so you can easily see your horse’s head. Being able to see his face and head is crucial, because he’ll give you lots of information and signs during the massage. Signs of relaxation and contentment include lowering the head and neck, closed eyes, and still ears that are turned slightly toward you. As the massage progresses, you might even see his lower lip droop and note a decrease in his respiratory rate.

Also note any signs of discomfort or pain: ears pinned back and rapid snapping back of the head as though to bite you. You should even watch the body for a swishing tail or a raised leg that might potentially kick out. Seiler also recommends keeping one hand on your horse during the massage to help keep him more grounded, connected and relaxed. You should maintain contact even as you move around the horse from one side to the other.

“If you remove your hands and disrupt the massage, you prevent the horse from relaxing and trusting your movements,” notes Seiler.

The Pressure of Your Touch
How much pressure you should use during your massage will mostly be dictated by the signs your horse is showing.

“The most effective pressure is one sufficient to cause a sensation somewhere between pleasure and pain,” Seiler explains.

Now is the time to be very attentive to your horse’s face for signs of comfort or discomfort, as mentioned previously. Always begin with light pressure and progress to heavier pressure, while watching your horse’s reaction to your touch.

To get an idea of exactly how much pressure a finger or hand can exert, use your bathroom scale. Therapists use the terms one pound of pressure, five pounds of pressure, and so on. Feel how much pressure you need to exert on your scale to raise the dial to one pound or five pounds. Do this with one, two, three, four and five fingers, then use both hands. This should help you judge pressure as you work on your horse.

Seiler uses both hands to apply cross-friction strokes to increase circulation, reduce spasms and eliminate toxins. With fingers, thumbs and the heel of her palms working in opposite directions, she moves the muscle tissue underneath without moving the skin. Cross-friction strokes should start lightly and increase in intensity, lasting no more than 30-40 seconds.

5 Massage Techniques Your Horse Will Love
Now you’re ready to start your massage. You’ll want to think of the massage as having three parts and two sides. That is, you should plan to 1) warm up the horse’s muscles, and 2) do your heavy work, and then 3) cool the horse down afterward. Also, remember that your horse has two sides; plan to work on both, as what you feel on the left side may not always match what you feel on the right side.

Here are five great techniques that you can use for all parts of the massage:

1. Effluerage Stroke. You will likely use this massage stroke more than any other technique, as it typically is used to both warm up and cool down the horse’s muscles. This stroke is a gliding movement done with the entire hand. You can use one or both hands at the same time. Keep your hands flat, using even pressure throughout the entire stroke, except when going over bony areas.

Effluerage strokes are long, continuous and smooth. Always keep them flowing so there are no sharp breaks in the movement. If at all possible, perform this stroke in a direction toward the heart to allow the one-way valves in the veins and lymph ducts to open toward the heart in the presence of fluid pressure. During the warm-up phase of the massage, this stroke will help you find any tense or congested muscles and aid in warming up these areas for deeper strokes to follow. Effluerage has a soothing affect on your horse and will boost circulation, as well. Use this stroke throughout the massage to drain lymph and body fluids.

2.  Percussion Stroke. Percussion involves rhythmical impacts used in rapid succession on the body. These strokes are most beneficial for the larger muscle groups, but should never be used on the cervical or dorsal spine. The hand can be used in different positions to vary the quality and intensity of the stroke. One position, called cupping, uses rhythmical impacts at various speeds, with all fingers held closely together so you actually form a cup with your hand. Bouncing your hands on the horse—either very quickly and lightly, or slowly with more pressure—will produce vibrations all the way to the deepest tissues in the body.

Cupping is beneficial to reach and relax the deep, big muscles in the hindquarters of a horse. Pounding is another percussion stroke using the side of a loosely held fist. This technique can create an anesthetic effect on a certain area or spot on the body.

3. Cross Friction Stroke. You’ll use this technique most during your heavy muscle work. This stroke works well to strip toxins from tissues, increase circulation, reduce muscle spasms, and increase warmth. It is one of the best methods for restoring tissue mobility and breaking down adhesions in the muscle tissue.

Before using this technique, make sure you’ve warmed up the affected area thoroughly, and note that this stroke shouldn’t be used below the knee or hock. Cross friction involves moving the tissue without moving the skin, so a fair amount of pressure is needed. But, as with all strokes, remember to start lightly and increase the pressure to the horse’s comfort limit. Using your thumbs, fingers, or the heal of your hand, place both hands side by side and press until you feel the soft tissue, then move your hands in opposite directions. This stroke should only be done for 30 to 45 seconds.

4. Direct Pressure. This is one of the most effective strokes in sports massage therapy. Direct pressure will help to increase your horse’s range of motion. It helps to loosen muscle fibers and can restore muscle to a relaxed state, thereby lengthening muscle and alleviating chronic pain from tightness. To apply direct pressure, use your thumb or the tips of a finger or fingers. Slowly press down into the adhesion or knot that you feel, pressing toward the direction of a bone. Use as much pressure as the horse is comfortable with, and hold the pressure for 30 to 45 seconds. After direct pressure, apply a slow cross friction stroke, spiral out and then use a percussion stroke on the area.

5. Skin Rolling. Skin rolling helps to maintain the elasticity of the skin, and most horses find this technique very soothing after a while. This stroke needs to be done very slowly, and you may have to do it several times in short cycles before your horse understands and appreciates the benefits he will feel. You will use your fingers and thumb, going either single-handed, or using both hands at once, in an area of muscle that has been warmed up. The thumb lifts the skin and draws it toward the fingers. The fingers walk forward with the thumb and skin following. This process lifts and separates the myofascial layer from the muscles and improves movement.

After working on your horse, make sure to do your cool-down massage to prevent the muscles from stiffening up again. Walk your horse until he’s cool, and then use the effluerage and cross friction strokes to encourage drainage of fluids and muscle relaxation.

Based on these descriptions, you can see that massaging your horse can be quite a workout for you, as well. Seiler offers a hint:

“You’ll maximize your energy if you maintain good posture and develop a feeling of working from your elbows, not just your hands. Work with your arms and hands relaxed and use your body weight when doing large movements to help you prevent fatigue.”

Two-Way Conversation
A gentle, nurturing massage encourages your horse to have confidence and trust in you. Massage is the building tool to enhance this relationship.

“It is not simply an action, but a means of therapeutic communication,” says Seiler. Always pay attention to your horse’s body language—this is how he talks to you, and this is what makes massage a two-way conversation. Spend this time with your horse with your mind clear of problems, negative emotions, or the bad day you had at work. Have a calm and peaceful attitude and your horse will, too.

Gently experimenting with massage is the best way for you to learn what does and doesn’t work for your horse. With common sense and time, you and your perfect horse will both come away after a massage with a new appreciation and deeper trust in each other.