• Improves muscle tone and increases range of motion
• Increases flexibility and performance
• Balances the body by treating it as a whole instead of individual parts
• Alleviates muscle pain and tightness
• Reduces inflammation and swelling
• Promotes healing by improving circulation
• Relieves muscle tension so that the muscles can relax
• Lengthens connective tissue which results in the reduction of adhesions in the muscle
• Loosens and softens scar tissue
• Prevents atrophy (wasting) of inactive muscles

Massage may be able to relieve:

• Trouble with transitions
• Trouble picking up leads
• Shortened or choppy strides
• Girthing problems
• Irritability or resistance
• Hind end weakness
   

Facts to consider:

• 60% of a horse body weight is muscle.
• Muscles respond to injury or stress by hyper contraction resulting in unnecessary stress on opposing muscle groups and joints.

Muscle soreness can occur from any of the following:

• injury
• not warming up muscles properly
• cooling down too fast
• structural or systemic imbalances
• over-stretching the muscles
• misuse or overuse of the horse
• poor saddle fit
• Like humans, horses anticipate pain and overcompensate to avoid it.
• Muscle problems are cumulative: when a muscle becomes tight, over-compensation increases tension in opposing muscle groups.
• Massage and equine body work can relieve many issues and enhance the quality of life of your equine athlete.
   

Massage is NOT recommended if your horse has any of the following symptoms:

• Evidence of a fever
• Has any form of cancer
• Has any form of skin disease
• Has a contagious or infectious disease
• Massage is not to be administered to abscesses or tumors

Always remember massage therapy is not a substitute for veterinary medicine.

Probably the best known exponent of sea water was trainer Ginger McCain, whose treble-Grand National-winner Red Rum was exercised daily on Southport Beach. In his early days, the horse was plagued with chronic foot problems, later kept at bay, according to Ginger, thanks to the natural healing properties of his back yard training ground.

With the availability of equine therapy pools, swimming horses is becoming increasingly part of the regular training programme for equine athletes. As with people, swimming is beneficial in horses for conditioning the muscular and cardiovascular systems without subjecting the limbs to concussion.

Well-known endurance vet Rod Fisher points to the possible application of underwater treadmills in fitness programmes as a “useful form of exercise without putting strain on joints”.

As well as a fittening tool for providing strenuous exercise, particularly through resistance training, gentle swimming can be valuable for rehabilitation of horses recovering from injury. For competition horses suffering from tendon or ligament injury with a high risk of recurrence, swimming can be a useful way of reducing the fast work necessary to bring top-level athletes back to peak fitness. However, experts say any swimming programme should be carried out carefully, as horses are not naturally strong swimmers, and the action can exert pressure on the chest area.

Aside from swimming pools, the 1990s saw a wealth of advances in equine spa technology. Spas sprung up across Europe and in Australia over the decade, but still the veterinary profession was not convinced of the benefits.

It took independent trials in Australia by Professor Evan Hunt at Sydney Orange University, to promote the benefits of cold water spa therapy for horses with leg injuries. Professor Hunt, a vet, admitted to being an arch-sceptic before the trials, in which he first conducted studies on 27 horses. The tests produced improvements in a range of conditions from bowed tendons to suspensory ligament problems and chronic fetlock synovitis.

Professor Hunt conducted his first trial over the winter, but initially found that he was unable to get the same results during the summer months. Experimenting with different water temperatures showed that the colder ambient temperature in winter had been beneficial.

Next, Professor Hunt experimented with the salinity of the water to produce the optimum mix. He widened his research, and in the next 65 horses tested, found a rapid response to treatment in the case of open wounds, with improvements being seen in patients with everything from laminitis to navicular syndrome and severe skin lesions. There was even evidence that hoof growth was stimulated and scarring reduced.

Leading osteopath Karen Robertson, who works alongside the British Paralympic team treating both people and horses, says she has worked with horses that have benefited from the treatment.

“I would recommend it for tendon problems, for example where there is deep or superficial flexor tendon injury or damage to the suspensory ligament,” she says. “I have never used the therapy for lacerations, but it seems that spas with highly mineralised water and oxygen jets can be useful for tendon problems and healing abrasions.

“For horses training on hard surfaces, hydrotherapy can be a useful way of reducing the concussive effects by assisting with the healing process,” adds Karen. Using swimming as part of a fitness programme will in turn reduce the amount of work needed on concussive surfaces, she says.

Louise Cunliffe is a homeopath who works in conjunction with vets, giving advice to horseowners so they can treat their horses themselves.

“It often surprises people that skin conditions such as mud fever respond to a remedy taken internally, as they assume you need to apply something directly to the wound,” she says.

“However, what happens at skinlevel is just a symptom of what is going on in the body as a whole.”

Just because alternative treatments are called “natural” doesn’t mean they can’t do harm if misused. An effective result relies on making an accurate choice of remedy, and that’s where the experience of a qualified therapist comes in.

“Each individual may respond differently to a remedy,” says Louise. “Personality and temperament play a big part in the healing process so what is ideal for a highly-strung horse may be wrong for a big, laid-back animal.”

Equine aromatherapist Louise Chambers agrees.

“A horse will choose what’s right himself given the chance, so always let him smell essential oils before you use them,” she explains. “If backs off a particular oil, don’t use it.”

Essential oils can be taken internally or used externally. To administer internally allow the horse to lick the oil one drop at a time from your hands until he refuses any more. For external use add three drops of essential oil to 5ml of base oil.

Homeopathic remedies are best handled as little as possible, so push a couple of tablets into a carrot or add to a small scoop of mint and garlic-free feed. (Mint and garlic can negate the effects of homeopathic remedies).

You can also get remedies in liquid form which means you can put drops onto an apple or carrot for easy dosing.

Finally, it’s important to remember that while you can do what you like to your own horse, you can’t treat other peoples. It is illegal for anyone who is not a vet to prescribe remedies for animals not belonging to themselves.

“It is a simple, non-invasive technique which feels good when you have it done,” she says. “The first horse I treated was my own. He had arthritis in his fetlock joints and the vet was pessimistic. With a person, you start treatment on the head, but I thought this might frighten the horse, so I started on his legs. He absolutely loved it and after that I could work on his head with no problems.”

For Jenny, who is a nutritional therapist and iridologist for humans, reiki was a natural progression. She took a degree for treating people, then a furthercourse for treating animals.

“We treat a huge variety of conditions in horses, from physical to emotional and stress-related. It seems to be particularly effective for laminitis, perhaps because after about 20 minutes’ treatment, the horse can stand more comfortably. Sadly, people don’t always tell me how effective it is in the long-term, but the short-term relief is obvious.

“One of the most dramatic results was on a dog who had kidney problems and had not eaten for a week. It relaxed so well into the treatment that I asked the owner to find some food, which I also treated with healing energy and the dog started to eat.

“There¨s a lot to be said for treating the owner, as well as the horse – often just talking to me about the problem helps people.

“Reiki usually requires several consecutive sessions to work, and we can also do distance healing.”

Louise Cunliffe is a homeopath who works in conjunction with vets, giving advice to horseowners so they can treat their horses themselves.

“It often surprises people that skin conditions such as mud fever respond to a remedy taken internally, as they assume you need to apply something directly to the wound,” she says.

“However, what happens at skinlevel is just a symptom of what is going on in the body as a whole.”

Just because alternative treatments are called “natural” doesn’t mean they can’t do harm if misused. An effective result relies on making an accurate choice of remedy, and that’s where the experience of a qualified therapist comes in.

“Each individual may respond differently to a remedy,” says Louise. “Personality and temperament play a big part in the healing process so what is ideal for a highly-strung horse may be wrong for a big, laid-back animal.”

Equine aromatherapist Louise Chambers agrees.

“A horse will choose what’s right himself given the chance, so always let him smell essential oils before you use them,” she explains. “If backs off a particular oil, don’t use it.”

Essential oils can be taken internally or used externally. To administer internally allow the horse to lick the oil one drop at a time from your hands until he refuses any more. For external use add three drops of essential oil to 5ml of base oil.

Homeopathic remedies are best handled as little as possible, so push a couple of tablets into a carrot or add to a small scoop of mint and garlic-free feed. (Mint and garlic can negate the effects of homeopathic remedies).

You can also get remedies in liquid form which means you can put drops onto an apple or carrot for easy dosing.

Finally, it’s important to remember that while you can do what you like to your own horse, you can’t treat other peoples. It is illegal for anyone who is not a vet to prescribe remedies for animals not belonging to themselves.

Other types of acupuncture include:

• Electroacupuncture — effective for chronic pain. The points are electrically stimulated by attaching leads from a battery operated electroacupuncture unit to the inserted needles
• Laser acupuncture — a low intensity laser is used on the points
• Moxibustion — cigar-like sticks of the herb Artemesia vulgaris are lit at one end and used to heat the needles or moved slowly in a circular fashion over the point to be treated. This is particularly good for chronic arthritic conditions in the cold winter months
• Aquapuncture — substances such as vitamin B12, local anaesthetic or homeopathic medicines may injected into a point
• Gold beads can be implanted to provide long-term stimulation of a point
• Trigger point acupuncture — the needles are inserted into trigger points, which are small circumscribed exquisitely tender knots that may be found within taut bands in a muscle. Trigger points are very common in horses and may form in response to a direct injury, chilling, chronic overuse of a muscle or repeated microtrauma (repetitive strain injury). Trigger points can lead to chronic pain and muscle shortening, causing the horse to change its action to a short, choppy gait. Affected animals are often grumpy and dislike being rugged and groomed.

What is acupuncture used for?

It can be used to treat almost any medical condition with the exception of malignant tumours, irreparable fractures and end-stage organ failure. It is often used with conventional veterinary treatment, so the horse experiences the benefit of their combined effects. It works well with complementary therapies, including physiotherapy, chiropractic, osteopathy, healing and homeopathy.

In equine practice, acupuncture is commonly used for:

• Muscle soreness, particularly of the neck, shoulders, back and hindquarters. Clinical signs that may be alleviated by acupuncture include “cold backs” — resentment of saddling and girthing, dipping on mounting; general stiffness or inability to bend on one or both reins; head tilt or inability to flex from the poll; shortness of stride and not going forward from the leg; disunited or bunny-hopping at canter; “hopping” on the transition from walk to trot; bucking on the transition from trot to canter; irritability and soreness during grooming.
• Arthritis
• Digestive problems, including poor appetite, diarrhoea, some types of colic
• Respiratory problems
• Reproductive problems
• Poor immunity and post-viral lethargy

Who can do acupuncture?

By law, acupuncture can only be performed by a vet. This is because it is an invasive procedure that requires a thorough knowledge of veterinary anatomy and physiology.

How does acupuncture work?

Inserting the acupuncture needles stimulates tiny nerve endings that carry impulses to the brain and spinal cord. This results in responses within the nervous and endocrine systems, leading to the release of neurotransmitters and hormones influencing the body tissues and organs. The effect of an individual needle depends on where it is placed in the body and which nerves are stimulated.

Acupuncture is particularly good for pain relief, as it increases the release of natural painkillers such as endorphins and enkephalins. These act on the pain pathways in the brain and spinal cord and can block the transmission of incoming pain signals.

An acupuncture needle has a direct effect on trigger points in tense, shortened muscles. As a needle penetrates a trigger point, the muscle will often contract and then lengthen almost immediately. Sometimes the needle is “grasped” by the muscle and relaxation takes place over 20-30min. This process can often be hastened by twirling the needle. As soon as the trigger point relaxes, the pain and tenderness disappear and the blood supply to the muscle improves.

Acupuncture also helps restore a patient to a state of balance, or homeostasis. By influencing part of the brain called the hypothalamus, acupuncture can affect homeostatic regulatory mechanisms such as the control of pulse, respiration, hormone secretion, intestinal motility and white blood cell production.