Equine Sports Massage Foundation

Equine Sports Massage Foundation

This course has evolved as the profession has expanded over the past years. There is more to massage than just a recipe routine. You need to look at the whole animal, understand what you are seeing and utilize the skills taught. Equinology is not for everyone. Equinology is for serious students, those who strive to be leaders in their profession. This 9-day 90+hour course (a total of 200+hours with the required externship) is taught by international instructor.

The course is taught in such a comprehensive logical layered format, that those with little or no complementary equine care and science background will find themselves up to speed with the other professional participants. After completing this workshop and required externship the student will have every confidence in effectively applying a complete sports massage.

Equinology staff members are able to answer questions that may arise during the externship: for this course there are an additional 70 hours of guided study once the student leaves the class - 6 (six) months are allowed for completion. 20 full sports massage sessions are to be carried out on at least 5 different horses using all the massage techniques and stretching and range of motion exercises as they are taught in class, as well as the correct documenting of equine body work sessions. Students attend class daily from 0800hrs to 1700hrs and have an additional two hours of evening study - this is an intensive course! Day 5 of the course is a day off for independent home study.

There is also a home study portion on muscle function, muscle identification, point location and gait evaluation - this is a required section to consolidate the material that is taught in class. An assessment is held at the end of the compulsory externship in order to receive the Equine Body Worker certification.

Course outline includes the following modules: full sports massage routine; muscle location, function and isolation, stress point therapy with 70 point locations; massage benefits; contra-indications for massage; bony landmark identification; stretches for the massage routine; applied anatomy; work ethics; documenting; subjective confirmation and gait analysis; exercise of horse following massage; introduction to dental issues; introduction to saddle fitting issues; marketing and recordkeeping.

Required reading: pre-course study guide will be sent to registrants approximately two months prior to course commencement: this study guide involves a minimum of 40 hours of preparation for the actual course.