Massage: The Perfect Antidote To A Day Of Horsing Around

By Nancy K. Crevier

The first day of summer and the longest day of the year, June 21, gave everyone some extra daylight to prowl about town. And if you happened by the Grand Union parking lot that evening, you might have been surprised to see a curious addition to the usual crowd of pigeons and seagulls pecking about the lot.

Dolly, a 10-year-old palomino mare owned by Cindy and Bob Miller, and Victoria, a 9-year-old quarter horse bay mare owned by Carol Bussey, were the centers of attention there as members of the Newtown Bridle Lands Association (NBLA) gathered to watch Newtown resident and certified horse massage therapist Betsy Ritchie demonstrate the positive aspects of equine massage.

Neither of the horses had ever had the benefit of massage before, although Ms Bussey, having owned Victoria for only a few months, said she cannot be 100 percent sure of that.

That Victoria was into it was apparent to her owner. “She just relaxed. She put her head down and wiggled her lips. Then she turned her head and put it on the massage therapist. It was so sweet.”

“It sounds like a ‘feely-good’ thing,” says Ms Miller, referring to equine massage, “but it’s really not. Large farms do it [massage the horses] all the time. Dolly was a little tense in the parking lot. But Betsy found some knots and she relaxed.”

“We would probably use it again,” adds Mr Miller.

Applying direct pressure with the only tool she uses, her hands, Ms Ritchie, owner of Equine Alchemy, gently pressed and prodded tense spines and hindquarters, seeking areas of muscle tension. Spasms, strains, and muscle tension can cause shortening of a horse’s stride, stiffness, and even eventual lameness if left unattended, according to this specialist.

The parking lot seminar was unusual for Ms Ritchie. “Typically,” she says, “I go to the clients in their own environment.” The peaceful, familiar stalls of her 45 to 50 clients throughout Fairfield and Westchester Counties offer a calmer surrounding for her to ply her trade.

But even in the dusky twilight of an asphalt parking lot, Dolly and Victoria responded to her touch. “The bay [Victoria] was bending her head, pushing her hindquarters into me,” she says. “The second horse, the palomino [Dolly], was very nervous. She liked it, but was still apprehensive.” Even so, she could feel a physical relaxation on the part of the mare as she gently worked her way down the spine and rear leg.

“Horses are so honest. When you hit a sore spot, they let you know.” There was no kicking out or biting at this session, though, which Ms Ritchie has experienced with some of her more difficult clients.

Horses get massages for “pleasure, and relaxation, or injury,” says Ms Ritchie. “It’s the same as when a person gets a massage. I have clients for a little bit of every reason. I work on a lot of horses that are show horses, that are ‘athletes.’”

Dr Beverly Marr, president of NBLA, was pleased to have Ms Ritchie offer the massage demonstration to the membership. Dr Marr, a chiropractor with Physical Medicine and Wellness Center on Glen Road in Sandy Hook, says, “The NBLA tries to disseminate information to the riders. Not a lot of people would think about having their horse massaged,” though she goes on to clarify that the practice of equine massage is an old profession, and one used frequently by owners and trainers of race horses and other performance horses.

Dr Marr has seen firsthand the benefit of equine massage. Her 13-year-old thoroughbred, Sea, a former racehorse, is now a dressage horse. Dressage, which is a highly technical horse training in which the horse “dances,” is extremely hard on a horse’s body. Dressage horses are prone to injuries because of the unnatural bending and dance movements required of them. That alone would make them candidates for massage.

Even under a watchful eye, though, accidents can happen. In December 2004, Sea lost his footing and fell. Dr Marr applied several therapies to help her obviously hurting horse.

“Horses bond with their human,” says Dr Marr. “When they are hurt or sick they give you a certain look.”

Betsy Ritchie would agree with that. “People who really pay attention, even just brushing them [horses], will notice when something’s a little off, when the horse’s disposition is off,” she says. “Ninety-nine percent of the time crankiness in a horse means something is going on.”

Although she observed that Sea’s gait was off, Dr Marr was uncertain at the time just what was bothering the big gelding. Thinking the lameness was centered in the leg, Dr Marr had the horse’s hocks (the equivalent of a human elbow) and then the stifle, or “knee” of the horse, injected with cortisone. When Sea failed to respond to the treatments, she called in Dr Angela Erickson, who diagnosed a sore back and did a chiropractic adjustment to Sea. It was at Dr Erickson’s recommendation that Sea underwent a month of massage therapy, twice a week.

“Within two weeks, he was 50 percent better,” Dr Marr says. “It made a huge difference. Now, he is pretty much back to full work.”

In watching Ms Ritchie knead and press Dolly and Victoria, Dr Marr observed that the mares had “absolutely loved” their experience. You can tell when a horse is relaxed, she says. “They drop their head and get a dreamy look in the eyes.”

 Ms Ritchie confirms those observations. “You can see as things start to loosen up, their whole body relaxes. I have horses that moan with pleasure. I have had horses fall asleep on me,” exclaims Ms Ritchie.

Dr Marr, who has ridden and owned horses since she was 6 years old, stresses the importance of total horse care. “Everything you do with people,” she says, “you do with horses: dentists, doctors, diets.” It seems an easy step to chiropractic care and massage.

“Massage never, never, never takes the place of veterinarian care,” emphasizes Ms Ritchie. “It complements care. It is part of the whole picture of horse care.”

The science of massage is something that Dr Marr, as a chiropractic physician, understands. Massage is about loosening tight muscles, she says. As muscles relax, blood flow and circulation improve. And we know, she says, “That blood flow is the healing element.”

Expressing her affection for her hoofed clientele, Ms Ritchie says, “I just want to bring whatever healing I can to them.”