While Henry has had a couple of chiropractic visits, he’d never had a massage before. Not for any real particular reason… I tried to make him an appointment with someone in the area a couple of times, but both times the scheduling just didn’t work out. Then Patently Bay posted about Eli’s massage from a mutual friend of ours (I didn’t know she had started doing massage!) and boom – within the day I had made an appointment for Henry with Kelly of The 36 Equestrian. Supporting a friend’s business while also benefiting my horse, that’s a win-win.
I wasn’t really sure if Henry would like a massage or not. He generally doesn’t really love being touched or groomed, so I kinda just thought he might stand there and let it happen, but not particularly enjoy it. I was wrong.
He’d had a pretty hard week leading up to his appointment – a fairly intense dressage ride, two jumping days, a hard conditioning day, and XC schooling. As soon as Kelly put her hands on him she said “Ooo, he’s crunchy.”. That’s what you want… a crunchy horse. Poor Henny. He’s working hard these days.
At first he was a little bit unsure of her intentions, but as she starting working on him his head got lower, then his lip drooped, then his eyes closed, then he started drooling. A couple of spots were particularly tight and he yawned repeatedly until she worked them out, then would just lean into her. He was totally blissed out.
She worked on him for what felt like forever, and he seemed to love every minute of it. Totally worth it! I’m surprised but really happy that he liked it so much. We’ll definitely be adding regular massage therapy to our repertoire. And for anyone in our general area – I highly recommend Kelly (you can email her at The36equestrian@yahoo.com)! She did a great job.
breedrideevent.com 
So glad Henry enjoyed his spa day! Love his droopy lip 🙂
I wish The 36 Equestrian came to NJ, I’d love to see how Roger feels about massage but I’m not sure if there are any equine massage therapists in my area. I definitely think massage is something that all horses can benefit from!
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Eli will definitely get regular massages from Kelly, too. He enjoyed it way too much not to keep up with it. Henry looks completely zen.
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I love watching their expressions when they get worked on
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I swear by massage! I try to get a session in once every 8 weeks but it generally doesn’t happen because of the ole bank account. B really likes it though and has shown improvement each time. glad Henny loved it!
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I love massage for athletes. It works miracles on me, especially on my ability to maintain elastic contact. It breaks down muscle knots allowing me more flexibility through my shoulder/back.
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I used to have my horse massaged back in the day when I was younger and my parents paid for everything. I really should look into it again. I know there are massage therapists in the area but haven’t really gotten around to finding one for my boys.
Badger has had chiropractic done because he lives with my trainer and she’s into that. I don’t much like the chiropractic stuff… scares me a little. But massage I’m all for.
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This is pretty much exactly what happened with Katai. I was sure that she wasn’t going to like it since she’s not big on grooming or cuddling but she completely melted and everyone in the barn told me how goofy and gooey she got.
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