Massage is a very beneficial tool for the general health of all horses.

Most horses enjoy a massage which can be beneficial for their mental state of being if they have no other problems. Horses which are showing signs of irritability or girthiness can also benefit from massage.

All my horses enjoy a massage, even if only for a few minutes, and they will line up in the paddock awaiting their turn. Even young foals benefit from a gentle massage as it gets them used to being handled. My 4 week old foal will walk up to me and demand a massage whenever he gets the chance - all of his own free will.

We offer a range of treatments to suit most requirements:

Full Massage - this involves an overall assessment of your horse’s muscles followed by a full body massage, concentrating on any problem areas which were observed during the assessment. I will show you some moves you can continue to use in your daily/weekly routine to help keep your horse in top condition.

Specific Massage – if you know what your horse’s problem is, I can concentrate mainly on the problem area(s).

Routine Massage – your horse may not have any specific problems and you may wish to help maintain optimal health with regular massage.

Pre-Event Massage – a massage before competition warms muscles up without expending valuable energy, increases circulation and can have a stimulating effect on the nervous system. Stretching enables muscles to awaken and be ready for action.

Post-Event Massage – a massage after competition enables muscles to clear lactic acid and other toxins built up during exertion, assisting a good recovery after an event.

Stretching - improve your horse's range of movement and elasticity of limbs.

Vanessa is a graduate of the National College of Traditional Medicine's Equine Myofunctional Therapy course.

A word from one of our satisfied clients:

My husband and I have been involved in Performance events with Miniature Horses for over ten years.  One of our main performance events is high jumping which we have been very successful in with one of our geldings, Alqueria Playboy, up until 2 years ago when he started to refuse to jump.  We knew there had to be something wrong for him to refuse a jump as he is a very willing little fellow.

After a few different methods of treatment, a friend of ours recommended Myofunctional Therapy.  We asked Vanessa to give it a try on Playboy, then we rested him for a while and then preceded to build his muscling up again, so we could try him back in the show ring.  To our amazement he was better than he had ever been.  His movement was more flowing and it was so easy for him to get up to much higher jumps than he had ever achieved before.  We cannot speak highly enough of this kind of therapy and our horses will certainly be seeing more of Vanessa in the future.

Elizabeth and Andrew Papoulias
Alqueria & Down Under Miniature Horses