Welcome to our website where you will find ways for your horse to REACH maximum potential. I have been training and working with horses for the past fifteen years. As you read this site you will learn how to improve the performance of your horse and open new potential. From training to sports massage Reachin' Out will unlock a new future for you and your horse.
Horse owners all over the world are beginning to get used to hearing the jokes about "How do you get the horse to lay down?" and "How do you find a table big enough for the horse?" when they tell certain individuals an Equine or Horse Sports Massage Therapist just worked on their horse. But what is Equine Sports Massage Therapy? ESMT is a hands on approach to your horses well-being. All horses can benefit from equine sports massage. Massage therapy keeps muscles healthy, maintains suppleness and strength and can build up those that may have been wasted. This type of therapy not only increases performance and endurance as well as aiding in preventing injury it is also a powerful tool to assist in and speed healing.
Next you ask, why does my horse need a massage? Performance is a stressful activity. You and I engage in stressful activities each day. Be it dealing with traffic, school, work, family or our beloved horses, life is stressful. At the end of the day you and I can crawl into a hot tub or hot shower. Some of you get massages. Our horses don't have to worry about traffic, except maybe at feeding time. Our horses don't have school or families to deal with. Yet the stress of cutting that cow, turning a barrel, sliding to that stop or that last 5 miles on a 50 mile ride does add up on your horses muscles. Stress very easily builds into pain in the muscle tissues. Pain can bring out several different reactions in your horse. These reactions range from refusing the correct lead, shortened stride and stiffness to launching its rider off its back because the back is sore to outright lameness. Muscle pain and stiffness is due to stress, reduced flexibility and circulation. Equine Sports Massage Therapy is a very important tool in maintaining your horse's performance what ever the discipline you and your horse participate in.
Some of you may be saying to yourself, "So what, it's just a horse!". But if I changed out the word horse for the word person, you would have a totally different perspective. The word athlete would come to mind. Webster's dictionary defines an athlete as a person possessing the natural or acquired traits such as strength, agility and endurance that are necessary for physical exercise or sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts. The majority of the world associates an athlete only within the human race, such as a basketball or football player. However, there is a world wide known athlete that is overlooked on a daily basis. It is the horse. athletic training program is similar to that of a humans due to its emphases on building strength, speed and endurance. As the muscular system develops, the horse tends to loose flexibility and develops muscular tension. Tight muscles shorten the stride, restrict natural ability, cause poor performance, contribute to bad attitudes, and resistance to training. Tight muscles are injuries waiting to happen.
Many horse owners are quick to accuse their horses of being stubborn headed or dangerous when in reality they may be in pain. Some traits as showing lateral stiffness, hollow backed, being high headed, head shaking, bucking, and excessive rolling can be signs of pain and discomfort. It is unrealistic to expect performance from a horse that is in pain. Horses in performance training are going to have muscular pain. A successful horseman knows when to push and when to back off or modify the training regimen. Successful horsemen use properly fitting equipment and understand the value of conditioning and training their horses.
Two of the most common problems seen by Equine Sports Massage Therapist is the pole, the area right between the ears, being out and slowing in speed. Imagine a shoulder injury on an human, watching their movements the person appears stiff in the neck but in all honesty its their shoulder. The same is true with horses, the rider sees that the horse has lost flex and bend capabilities in the neck. Generally the first reaction from the rider to correct the problem is to jerk, pull and kick on the horses face and body. Once they see this form of correction doesn't work then they take it to a professional to adjust the pole. When the horses shoulders are jammed, it will compensate by transferring its weight to the hind quarters. After a while the hip muscles begin to have small trigger points or a chronic charlie horse that leads to muscle contraction and skeletal alignment. Horses can not communicate that muscle tightness so after time it becomes a chronic constriction of the muscle and begins to pull on their alignment. By massaging the several muscles in the neck and shoulders and stretching the front legs most of the horse can be fixed in one session. However if a horse has chronic, long term muscular problems, one massage will help, but a series of massages may be required to address all of the problems.
Your horse is a marvelous animal, capable of providing you with hours of pleasure. The benefits of increased performance through increased flexibility, reduced stress, attitude improvement and reducing the possibility of injury are all available to you through Equine Sports Massage Therapy. These benefits can go a long way toward increasing the pleasure and performance you receive from your horse for the rest of its life.
Human athletes are expected to be in the best physical and mental condition possible and push themselves beyond their limitations. The very same expectations are also placed upon Equine athlete's by their owners. Just as a human athlete must be maintained through exercise and massage, so does a horse.
A humans body weight is 40% muscle, but more than 60% of the horses body weight is muscle. Problems with the muscular frame can be a frustrating source of a variety of motion problems and training set backs.
The Alpha Sonic is an innovative way to help your horse in several different applications. It reduces inflammation, increases local circulation, and relaxes muscles spasms,. See how the Alpha Sonic has helped horses become more successful and increase your potential on game day.
Reachin' Out specializes in resistance free training, see how your horse can become a partner not a slave. I have been training horses for over fifteen years, and enjoy working with horse and owner to overcome many obstacles. Email or call to see how we can help make your horse an enjoyable experience for the future.
