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ONGOING COVERAGE: SUMMER CAMPS 2008

Helping hands

Equine massage helps get the most out of horses

Asking a dude horse at Tip Top Ranch in Northern Colorado to flex its neck and poll, equine massage student Carli Leavitt, of San Diego, works to relax and soften the neck muscles. (Courtesy of Michael Stenson, Prairie Winds Equine Massage Therapy College)

Erica F. Curless
Staff writer
April 16, 2008

LOVELAND, Colo.— Many horse owners, for whom winning times and perfect scores mean money in the bank, are embracing an age-old way to enhance their horses’ performance: massage.

Just as professional football players, golfers and cyclists depend on sports massage to improve muscle function and prevent injury, equine massage is filling the same need in the multibillion-dollar horse industry.

To serve that growing market, Sara Stenson and her husband, Michael Stenson, founded Prairie Winds Equine Massage Therapy College in the Rocky Mountain foothills in 2002. They’ve taught equine massage to about 130 students worldwide, including some from the Inland Northwest. ? “I don’t want to fix a broken horse,” Sara Stenson told 11 students in the school’s fall session, beginning in September. “I want to keep them from breaking.”

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The Stensons say Prairie Winds is the only school in the nation offering equine massage as a two-month, intensive course; most other schools offer two-week courses or online instruction. Prairie Winds graduates are certified by completing 350 hours of study. Tuition ranges from $1,400 to $6,800.

The two-week and online courses are geared more toward relaxation rather than improving performance, the Stensons say. They want Prairie Winds graduates to enhance a horse’s athletic ability and longevity. They also want students to have successful careers, so the program teaches business and marketing along with massage techniques.

Trained equine massage therapists command anywhere from $25 to $250 per session, and their potential subjects are performance and competition horses.

The dozen instructors at Prairie Winds teach students how to understand a horse’s movement and anatomy and how to treat the individual animal to make observable improvements in how the horse carries itself, Sara Stenson said.

For example, if a barrel horse isn’t sliding around the barrel properly, massage might focus on loosening the horse’s shoulders and rib cage. If a jumping horse is refusing to jump, massage could help free the hind end and improve the transfer of power from the back legs through the spine. There is no “horse whispering” involved.

“There is no element of mystery or of special talkers and skills and abilities,” Michael Stenson said. “That’s all crap.”

All a person needs to learn equine massage is experience with horses so they can get the horse’s attention, understand how it moves and see where its muscles are braced. Then they use their hands to persuade the horse to release the muscle tension. It’s similar to the muscle tension people get in their necks and shoulders, especially if they type on a computer or stand for long periods. “It’s quiet work,” Sara Stenson said. “Relaxation is not had by pounding and pushing and jerking and pulling.”

RaeAnn Cook, a dressage and jumping trainer from Asotin, Wash., who now lives in Fort Collins, Colo., said she has used massage on her show horses for 20 years. Massage therapists often accompany horses to shows, including the Olympics, she said.

Cook became a believer after a massage therapist helped relax the tight back of an Arab-cross horse she was training.

“I saw a huge difference,” she said.

She has watched equine massage gain popularity for the same reasons human massage is important to many people, athletes or not.

“It really helps your body heal itself,” Cook said.

There are a few equine massage therapists in the Spokane area, all of whom vary in their techniques and approach.

Ramona Kellogg, of Deer Park, considers herself a stress reliever for animals, from dogs and horses to cows and llamas. “It’s really old-school stuff,” Kellogg said. “It’s just been forgotten because we as Americans are such a disposable society. But it’s too expensive to raise a horse any more and just get rid of it just because it’s off.”

Phyllis Ray, of Green Bluff, recently retired from the Air Force and got her human massage license in addition to attending Biomechanics Advanced Equine Massage in Tacoma.

She now wants to work with both riders and their horses, she said. If a rider is calm, it’s easier for a horse to work, Ray said.

“In a performance they are more relaxed and carry themselves more properly,” she said. “They have more correct motion.”

Laura Attaway, of Deer Park, is a licensed human massage therapist who started working with horses after completing a course in Colorado.

“Coming from the Old West cowboy mentality, a horse is something you go out on, chase cows all day and then come home and stick it in a stall,” Attaway said. “It’s another piece of farm equipment. But we are getting away from that. There’s growing awareness of what a horse really is.”

Erica Curless is a Spokesman-Review staff writer who has been on sabbatical to attend equine massage school and plans to become an equine massage therapist.

Contact her at ecurless@hotmail.com or (509) 991-7314.