I’m gonna go ahead and say this right off the top: I’ve been a PEMF user on and off for a long time and am very familiar with the various therapies available on the market, so this is one of those purchases where I felt pretty good about it beforehand, but about 1000x better about it afterward. For many reasons, several of which were unexpected. Despite being really familiar with the product in advance, there have been surprises along the way too.

First, we may as well talk about the biggest factor right off the bat: the cost. There’s no way around it, any kind of PEMF machine is expensive. For someone like me, who doesn’t have a lot of disposable income left after everything else for the horses, it’s a particularly large purchase. Having some kind of at-home PEMF device for my horses has always been a bit of a pipe dream, and one I couldn’t really justify until recently. The reasons I was finally able to sell myself on it mostly boil down to:

1. I have two horses currently that greatly benefit from regular, preferably weekly, PEMF. At $75-100 per horse per session, actually being able to do weekly sessions on both of them is entirely not within my budget. Monthly would be a best case scenario, and even then it’s definitely not cheap to pay someone else to come and do it. There’s a point at which buying a unit is cheaper, and that point is really only like 2 or more horses or even just weekly treatments for one.
2. It feels a little bit like “do or die” time if you want to purchase a product like this, which will be highly impacted by the upcoming tariffs. Magnawave is an American company, but as with many electronics, a lot of the components that go into making the machines are not manufactured in the US and have to come from overseas. Companies like Magnawave and BEMER have already had to raise their prices this year, and it’s likely that they’ll go up even more.
3. To me a machine like this can be viewed a bit more like an investment. They hold their value on the resale market REALLY WELL (used machines really aren’t that much cheaper than new, trust me I looked), they last a long time if you take care of them properly (and buy from a company with a good warranty and maintenance/repair capability), and – if you wanted – you could monetize your machine by turning into a business. I personally am not going that route, but I could if I wanted.

My first step when looking at adding a PEMF product to my arsenal was to figure out exactly what I wanted. There are many products on the market, from low frequency to higher frequency, and blankets vs PEMF machines with attachments. There are pros and cons to all of these products, but having used a variety of them in the past, I knew that I didn’t want a blanket. It’s just too hot in Florida most of the year for a horse to sit under a PEMF blanket for any period of time without sweating to death. I also wanted to have more control over being able to do specific parts of the horse for longer periods or at varied intensities. While the blankets are very easy to use – put it on the horse and turn it on and that’s it – for me and my horses, I wanted an actual PEMF machine with attachments.

The only real con to that setup is that it does require more knowledge and training in order to use it correctly. That can be a bit intimidating off the bat when shopping for a machine, so I knew I wanted a brand that included a thorough training course with the purchase of the unit. I also looked at other factors like warranty, customer service, support, reviews, etc. In the end I settled on Magnawave, because I thought they were superior in all of my particular criteria. There are other similar brands on the market that are a little cheaper, but for me I felt like the other benefits of Magnawave outweighed any minor price difference. It’s a lot of money to spend, so I wanted to make sure I bought a good brand.

The sales guy that I worked with was really fantastic. For real, if you’re interested in a MW at all or even just have questions, let me know and I can put you in touch directly with him. At no point did he try to upsell me to a bigger unit than I needed (indeed, I got the cheapest one they make), he answered my questions, and he followed up when and how he said he would. I had questions about potentially financing it, and he put me in touch with the people that could give me the numbers for that (I ended up not financing it, so I can’t speak to how well that works, but I did talk to someone about possibly doing that).

I ended up going with the Semi 10 model, which is their smallest and most compact unit. I’m using it on max 4-5ish horses a week, and I’m not looking to have a busy Magnawave business, so getting a bigger unit wasn’t really necessary for me. The small one is still very powerful and effective, but really simple to use and easy to store or carry around. The machine itself is the size of a large lunch box, really. I also wanted to be able to use it on myself and Mina (the dog that got hit by a car last year), so something easy to carry back and forth or have in my house was a big plus.

The Semi 10 comes with two attachments: a large loop and a smaller butterfly loop. Really, those are all you need. However, for my particular horses I really wanted the XL wave wings and the hoof bundle. The XL wave wings because they cover more surface area (hi, Presto has a limited amount of patience) and because the design of it is great for being able to do large areas like the SI and pelvis (Presto’s main spot and Rubes’ main spot, respectively). Seemed worthwhile.

I wanted the hoof bundle because I dunno if y’all remember how many abscesses and hoof bruises and ripped off hoof walls I dealt with last year between all my horses but it was too many. Florida is really tough on feet, especially in the summer. My farrier LOVES using PEMF, he says he definitely notices more and better hoof growth, so I thought the hoof bundle would be worthwhile. Basically the bundle includes the MagEnergy mat (which is great for using on humans and dogs on it’s own) and you put it inside the big hoof box so you can do two feet at the same time. I wanted the mat anyway, so two birds with one stone by getting the hoof bundle.

Now that I’ve been using it for a few months I can say that as far as attachments go, I use the XL wave wings by far the most when it comes to the horses. When you’re doing them regularly as maintenance it’s nice to be able to cover more area in less time. I’ve used the butterfly loop some too, for doing joints or very targeted smaller areas like the poll. I use the mat a lot for myself. If you’re going to spring for one extra attachment for the horses, get the wave wings. If you want to go all out, the hoof bundle is also a thumbs up from me too. With what I’ve got, I feel like I have a full arsenal of attachments to tackle literally anything.

The ordering process was simple and easy, and then it took about 6 weeks from when I ordered to when I got my machine. I used that time in between to complete all of their online courses and certification, which was… considerably more than I expected. Ok to be fair I’m not really sure what I expected, maybe like a 4-8 hour training course equivalent to like one day? But no, their training courses are THOROUGH. You don’t have to do them all, if you only have the Magnawave for personal use (you do have to be certified to be a practitioner and charge people for the service), but I was curious and wanted to learn as much as possible. And, well… the courses didn’t disappoint.

When you buy your machine you get access to their portal, which has tons and tons of info about the machine itself and how to use it. They also have a facebook group just for certified practitioners, and the company holds regular Office Hours live streams. If you want to make it into a business they have a ton of training and support for that too, with everything from how to set up the business to places to order business cards and promo materials. There’s just a ton of stuff at your disposal.

I didn’t need any of that, but I did go full ham on the training course library. In the end I completed 11 training courses, including my official certification for Equine and Small Animal. The training is GREAT though, very very thorough and with a lot of detailed and specific information for not only how PEMF and the machine itself works, but on everything from how to care for your machine to how to tailor treatments for specific issues like laminitis or kissing spine.

There are more than 30 videos available just in the Equine section alone. Trust me, you will NOT lack the knowledge on how to use your Magnawave unless you really just don’t even want to try to learn. The training alone is a huge huge selling point for Magnawave over other brands, IMO. I went from a basic understand of PEMF to feeling like I was mega-educated and knew exactly what to do when my machine arrived. Getting started was a breeze thanks to all that!

As for how it’s actually working… this is where I’m probably the most surprised, tbh. I mean, I used PEMF before and knew it did something, sure. But I’ve never been able to afford to use it really regularly, or had the knowledge to know how to interpret what I’m seeing, or the ability to tailor it to each horse in a targeted way. Holy crap, y’all, it’s an absolute gamechanger.

I do the boys once a week unless there’s a specific thing that needs more intense treatment, and there are benefits I hadn’t even predicted. First and foremost is the fact that doing bodywork on them myself means that I constantly have my hands on every part of them and I see how things compare from week to week. I know what spots showed more sensitivity or reactivity, and can also take that knowledge forward into how I ride them. It gives me so much more information.

Aside from that, there’s no doubt that both of them feel better. Rubes is always looser after his sessions, and there have been a couple times where I’ve felt like he was a little stuck in the base of his neck during a ride, Magnawaved it afterward, and could immediately feel an improvement the next day. My dentist was also delighted to know I had a Magnawave, and had me treat Rubes’ poll, TMJ, and jaw after his dental. Presto tends to carry tightness and tension in his lower lumbar and SI, and it’s dramatically reduced with weekly PEMF. I also treat his legs and stand him on the hoof box after events or gallops. He does the most dramatic releases and stretches during his sessions – he absolutely loves it.

As for me, I think I would marry the MagEnergy Mat.

I always lay on it after events or hard workouts, because I have scoliosis and therefore my lower back kind of just always hurts. After shows it tends to be very tight, but there is a noticeable difference in my range of motion after I spend 20 minutes laying on the mat. Hillary has also used it for her shoulder where she had soft tissue repair.

I mean… I knew I would like the Magnawave, that’s why I bought it, but if I’m being 100% honest I love it so much more than I thought I would. Being able to use it regularly makes all the difference in the world, and knowing how and why it works, and how to use it in the best way to fit into my program and for each horse. So far I’ve been very pleased with the Magnawave brand, as well. I really can’t stress enough how much I love this little machine and what a difference it’s already made. My only regret is that I didn’t buy one sooner… even if I’d had to finance it, it would have absolutely been worth it. I’d buy it again in a heartbeat. Worth every cent.

*if you have questions about PEMF or Magnawave feel free to reach out! I really couldn’t get into a ton of technical detail here without this being extremely long, but I’m happy to give you more info if desired.