Before your visit
How to prepare your horse for the visit
Good preparation lets the visit run smoothly, safely and to your horse’s full benefit.
- The horse’s owner must be present at the first visit.
- The horse must be dry and clean. Avoid spraying it with coat-shine products.
- Provide a calm place for the massage.
- Avoid booking visits at feeding times or when horses are being brought in from the paddock.
- The visit should not coincide with a visit from the vet or farrier.
- Do not schedule vaccinations or worming for 3 days before and 3 days after the massage.
- If the horse is undergoing treatment or the mare is in foal, please let me know in advance.
- During the first visit I assess the horse in motion, so please prepare a headcollar/bridle and a lunge line.
Contraindications to massage
- Fever and acute conditions, viral and bacterial infections
- Cancerous diseases
- Open wounds, fresh haemorrhages, injuries and fractures
- Infectious diseases
- Pregnancy (depending on its stage and the mare’s condition)
- Recent vaccinations and worming (a gap of at least 3–4 days)
- Acute inflammatory conditions of the hooves (e.g. laminitis in its acute phase)
- Poor general condition of the horse, exhaustion of the body