What You Learn at Prairie Winds

The Art of Equine Massage Therapy is hands-on bodywork where you learn to feel where movement is hindered and release it. Here your head learns what's needed, your hands become skilled at facilitating changes and your heart soars with the feeling that you can truly make a difference in the life of these wonderful creatures.

Every rider wants a quiet horse that is supple and willing to participate. Every rider wants a horse that moves gracefully and powerfully at work and at liberty. Every rider is Listen looking for the thrill of a perfect ride and partnership each time they are with their horses. But injuries, traumas, poor fitting tack, uneven feet and unbalanced riding can induce pain and resistance which prevents horses from performing to their highest ability. Skillful massage and bodywork will help isolate and heal injuries and traumas. Massage and bodywork will promote relaxation of the muscles to effectively change inefficient and oftentimes painful movement patterns and habits. Through relaxation the horse will become softer, more agile, responsive and willing to work as a partner to the rider. When a horse is feeling his best, his heart, soul and spirit is expressed through joyful movement.

To facilitate this grace in motion for the horse and rider the equine bodyworker must become aware of the physiology of soft tissues, know when soft tissues are at their peak of efficiency, understand why they suffer pathologies and how the use of manual manipulation of soft tissues allows the horse greater freedom in movement. The equine bodyworker must also have an understanding of equine anatomy; it's form and function, as well as the essence of biomechanics of movement through muscles, bones and joints. An equine massage therapist employs pragmatic tools for clear and concise mutual communication by noticing the horse’s mental and emotional state in order to anticipate and create healthy responses.

At Prairie Winds we say that the exploration is the massage because your hands learn to feel their way through a horse from nose to tail and sense where muscles are tight or strained, injured, dull or overwhelmed. As you find those troubled places you release and change inefficient patterns by drawing from the many techniques you study here that have roots in shiatsu, myofascial release, neuromuscular re-education, craniosacral therapy, T'ai Chi Ch'uan, and principles of structural integration.

Which technique you use is not as important as noticing how the horse responds and then adjusting your approach until the problem changes. However, techniques are just the beginning of a more subtle approach because techniques are mere tools like round pens, lunge lines, reins and saddles. Good horsemen know this and do not teach people sure fire techniques to start a horse. Instead you hear them say things like, "Fix it up to work and wait" or that riding boils down to "Timing, balance and feel". We work from guiding principles of bodywork so that it is not so much what you do but how you do it and knowing what you are trying to achieve. Art begins with the skillful application of the tools following principles. This is what makes learning at Prairie Winds unique.