What kind of bodywork does my horse need?
There are many different equine bodywork modalities out there. Deciding which one will benefit your horse the most can be tricky, but at the end of the day, it’s more about the right practitioner than about the right modality.
When working on one system of the body, we are always influencing all the other systems too.
When it comes to bodywork (be it human or equine), there are a lot of different options out there. As bodywork for horses is becoming more of a norm, we see more and more different bodywork modalities. Which is absolutely fantastic! But it can be a bit tricky to know exactly what your horse needs.
Unfortunately, as always, there is no simple answer. Different horses might need different modalities at different times in their lives. What greatly benefits one horse, might not do much for another. And vice versa. Among the more popular modalities are chiropractic, osteopathy, massage therapy, myofascial release and dry needling. And then there's acupuncture, shiatsu, Emmett, Masterson... The list goes on. I don' want to go into the details of how these modalities are different from one another. The more important thing is that they are very similar. Sure, they might look very different, but they have more in common than not. While chiropractic, for example focuses more on joint function, and massage focuses more on muscles, they both have an effect on the whole body. It's impossible to separate the different systems, because they are all connected. So, even if you are focusing on joint function, you can't do that without having an effect on muscles too. And if you are treating the fascia, you are influencing the joints too. And all of these influence the nervous system, which is arguably the most important piece of the puzzle.
In my opinion the more important question than the modality is the practitioner. A good practitioner will employ different modalities anyway and will have a thorough understanding of just how connected everything is. A good practitioner knows their own limits and will be able to direct you in another direction if what they're doing isn't working. They can answer your questions in a way that's easy to understand and they don't mind telling you exactly what they will be doing before working on your horse. And they will listen to the horse. The horse's cooperation in the process is a vital part of therapy, so a good practitioner will always listen to what the horse has to say. Forcing the horse to accept something they are not ready to accept will rarely have a positive impact. A horse that does not understand what's going on or what's being asked of him will tense up and doing any kind of meaningful bodywork on a tense horse is very difficult. A good practitioner knows this and will do his best to make sure the horse is relaxed and cooperating. Every practitioner has his limits, so sometimes even the best one can be missing something that your horse needs. Taking care of a horse's health is a team effort and a good bodyworker knows this.