services
QUALIFIED HORSE MASSAGE & BODYWORK
Rebalance Equine Bodywork services incorporate a combination of sports horse massage, deep tissue work and soft tissue mobilisation techniques. These techniques will help increase your horse’s soundness and performance as well as minimising any pain their may be experiencing.
equine Sports Massage
Sports massage is a full body, hands-on technique that allows the therapist to feel for any areas of increased tension, heat, swelling or any other abnormalities. It influences not just the muscles but all of the horse’s soft tissues including fascia, tendons and ligaments.
It has many benefits including enhancing muscle tone, improving posture and performance, increasing circulation, flexibility and range of movement, relaxation and relieving tension. Sports massage promotes the horses’ natural healing system and helps to assist with recovery.
Nikki’s sessions include a full body horse massage as well as the use of ‘Sure Foot Pads’ which tap into the nervous system of the horse via the hoof, creating new neural pathways which produce positive changes in movement and behaviour.
horse massage sessions are designed
- to be used best as a preventative method to pinpoint any areas of tension on your horse and release them before they escalate into an injury
- for rehabilitation purposes post injury
- to highlight any imbalances and postural issues that can be applied to training to increase your horse’s overall soundness and performance
- to not just work on your horse’s physical tension but also release nervous tension and assist with your horse’s mental state
- to increase flexibility and suppleness so your horse can move freely and happily
how horse’s Muscles work
Horses have over 700 skeletal muscles and approximately 60% of a horse’s body weight is muscle. Muscles are made up of muscle fibres, connective tissues, nerves and blood vessels.
Muscles work in pairs and pull but never push. They contract when they work and release when they are off. The muscles work when the nerves are stimulated which in turn contracts the muscle fibres. This contraction pulls on the tendons that attach the muscle to the skeletal bone. This is turn pulls the bone which extends or flexes the joint and causes movement within the horse.
Because muscles work in chains throughout the body to cause movement, an issue in one part of the chain (one muscle) has a follow-on effect throughout the whole chain and therefore the whole body. This is why it is important to look at the body as a whole, for example, a hind end issue may present itself as symptomatic in the opposite shoulder.
Ligaments
… are the band of connective tissue that connects bone to other bones or cartilage. They are non elastic and act as a support to the joints. If over extended, ligaments will stretch and lose their strength. Due to their limited blood supply, they heal slowly after injury and often incorrectly.
fASCIA
… is the white connective tissue that runs throughout the entire horse’s body. It surrounds every muscles, bone, organ, nerve, blood vessel, tendon and ligament in the body. A restriction or defect in the fascia can have consequences such as restricted movement and altered posture.
tENDONS
… are the band of connective tissue that connects bone to muscle. They are flexible and elastic and can be short or long. They can withhold large amounts of pressure, however they can often stay contracted after exercise increasing their risk of strain.
Red Light (Photonic) Therapy
Red light is a safe, non-invasive method of promoting healing and controlling pain.
The light is absorbed by the body’s tissue and converted into cellular energy (ATP). Blood flow to the area is increased and so is the removal of lymphatic waste. This helps to speed up the healing process and reduce pain.
A typical session with Nikki will include red light therapy to assist with releasing triggers points, muscle knots and spasms and encourage blood flow to areas with muscle trauma. She also uses it on various acupoints to help release energy through the meridians and aid with certain issues and conditions.
“Nikki has done an amazing job with my daughter’s horse and in teaching her how to stretch him for ongoing relief. After his first massage, she immediately noticed the difference with him being more supple and willing.“
Shannon Godwin
Assisting horses to perform & feel better
