Equine Massage and Chiropractic Treatments
"Make Good Horse Sense"

by Ian Hewins

1/20/2005 - For thousands of years horses and humans have been working together. Due to the important place that horses have held in our lives and history specialists in animal care have also existed for thousands of years.  Equine massage was practiced by the ancient Chinese and Roman civilizations. Over the past few decades equine body work has become more common particularly with performance horses and rehabilitation. It most certainly cannot replace veterinary care. It does work as preventative maintenance, and increases the rate of healing in most situations. Because body work interacts with the muscular, skeletal and circulatory systems directly, it can address issues that standard veterinary care cannot.  

  Dr. Jay Komarek, whose home base and office are in Boulder, has been doing chiropractic adjustments on horses for 28 years. He began at a race track in Philadelphia and estimates that he has worked on over 10,000 horses. He has also worked with numerous dogs. Needless to say he has many success stories, but his favorites involve seeing recovery in horses that have been lame for several years. As well as working locally, Jay travels to Atlanta and Durango. In both locations he has a massage therapist and veterinarian that work with him. Jay has also studied acupuncture and finds the combination to be very effective.

  Tellington touch is a combination of bodywork and ground exercises primarily used with horses. Linda Tellington Jones developed TTouch based on the Feldenkrais method which she began study of in 1975. It encourages breaking of habitual movement patterns, healing from trauma and injury, and can greatly improve athletic performance. In acute cases such as colic, shock and foundering TTouch can really help to keep a horse "on its feet" until a veterinarian arrives. Most of Linda's work has been with competition horses; however she has worked with many other animals as well, to include; monkeys, snakes, rabbits, guinea pigs, bears, cats and dogs. She has done work in Zoo's around the world.  Perhaps you have heard of one of her most famous client's. Willy the Orca whale from the film "Free Willy".

  Pam Bunge of Mountain Mommas Trail Rides and Gold Lake Mountain Resort has been getting body work done on her horses for 7 years. As well as equine massage, she sometimes gets Shiatsu and Reiki (a Japanese energy technique), done on them. Pam says that she gets body work for her horses because the horses work so hard and have some many different riders of different ability levels. She say’s, “Body work and a good saddle fit are essential to maintaining a healthy trail horse.” She considers them to be just like human athletes, who perform better when their bodies are in good condition and they are feeling good. She has had work done to help with overall body stiffness from heavy use as well as with specific muscle strains and sprains.

  Chiropractic adjustments and body work have been taking their place along side western medicine in their ability to help people and animals heal and maintain overall good condition. The importance of body work with race horses has been accepted in this country for a long time. Many kinds of care are available to help create and maintain good health and a good attitude. Needless to say a cooperative healthy and happy horse makes for a happy rider.   

  If you are interested in further reading on Equine massage and body work the following books are a good place to start looking; Let's Ride, and other titles by Linda Tellington Jones. Equine Massage, by Jean-Pierre Hourdebaigt. The Walrus on my Table, by Anthony Guglielmo and Cari Lynn. The Anatomy of the Horse, by Robert Way and Donald Lee.