Bodywork

Massage may be considered part of bodywork, but not all bodywork is massage.

“Bodywork is more of a broad term incorporating a lot of different modalities, like stretching, acupressure, myofascial release, manipulative therapy, breath work, or energy medicine,” explains Meghan Brady, a certified Masterson Method practitioner for equine bodywork, among many other therapies, based in Virginia. 

“Bodywork techniques also aim to assess or improve posture, promote awareness of the body-mind connection (an approach that sees the body and mind as a single integrated unit), or to manipulate the electromagnetic field alleged to surround the body and affect health,” says Brady.

Because of the wide range of techniques, the list of benefits is lengthy. These include relaxation and stress reduction, improved posture, activating under-used muscles and deactivating over-used muscles, increasing joint flexibility and range of motion, encouraging faster healing, improving blood and lymph fluid circulation, strengthening the immune system, and more.

Sara Hassler, a client of Brady’s, has seen a vast improvement in her barn full of horses.

“Meghan has worked on my horses for the past few years and has made a tremendous difference both in their training as well as day-to-day demeanor,” she says. “The horses have an overall sense of peace and relaxation as she works on them, and their minds and bodies feel ready for action! They consistently feel softer and more elastic through their bodies after a session, and the feeling lasts a long time.”

Brady adds that bodyworkers don’t treat injuries or ailments, and all horses should see a vet before being started on bodywork.

Massage

Most of us are familiar with massage therapy. A therapist uses different pressures to manipulate muscles, tendons and ligaments. It’s known to help relieve stress, tension, tightness and soreness.

Leda Mox, a certified equine sports massage therapist and owner of Armstrong Equine Massage LLC in Minnesota has been using massage on horses for over 25 years with great results as a treatment, but also as a preventative.

“There are many reasons why your horse would need a massage,” she says. “The first and most important reason is to prevent injuries.” She adds that massage also helps increase blood flow, boost the immune system, increase range of motion, improve flexibility, and assist with pain management.

Mikayla Tibbetts, a client of Mox, found massage a blessing for her horse Moseby, an off-track Thoroughbred.

“He came to me lacking muscle, strength and balance, and was sore in multiple areas,” she says. “Since his massages, he has become so much happier in his work. As he’s developed muscle, Leda has helped identify his sore spots and given me new stretches to target those areas. After his massage, he picks up his canter leads so much easier.”

Chiropractic

Chiropractic adjustment—the manipulation of bones and joints—has become almost mainstream as a human treatment, and is rapidly gaining popularity with horses as well.

Anne Marie Ray, DVM, is a veterinarian at Ridgefield Equine Clinic in Washington state who also practices chiropractic care.

“In simple terms, chiropractic care is to adjust the chiropractic subluxations affecting the nervous system to allow the body to heal itself,” she explains. “I like to think of it as a tool in our toolbox for treatment for a variety of issues. It may be used complementary to other treatment options to ensure the best care for our patients.”

Her favorite patient story happened while she was in chiropractic school during a hands-on lab class where the students, including her, were supposed to be palpating the cervical vertebrae on a horse’s spine.

“It was cold and windy that day, and the horse we were trying to work on appeared anxious, uncomfortable, and did not want to stand to allow us to palpate him,” she says. “Our professor asked the owner if she could adjust the horse, and after adjusting the horse’s neck, he took a deep breath and stood perfectly for the rest of the afternoon. I’ll never forget that moment, because it showed me that chiropractic care has a place in veterinary medicine, and that we need to keep an open mind about modalities that will keep our patients healthy.”

Ray says that while most horse owners come to her after an injury or an issue such as lameness, back pain, or a change in behavior, she says it works best as way of decreasing the chance of these problems occurring.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese therapy that uses thin metallic needles inserted into the skin at very precise locations. These are then moved gently and specifically to stimulate tissue, muscles and nerves.

Linda Cimetti, DVM, is a veterinarian at South Shore Equine Clinic & Diagnostic Center in Massachusetts who is also certified in equine acupuncture. She says most of her acupuncture patients are suffering from musculoskeletal injuries, although she also helps horses that have routine pains from training and showing.

“I see a lot of clinically sound horses get that last 10 to 15 percent of performance that you can’t achieve without alternative medicine,” says Cimetti. “A lot of horses in training have sub-clinical neck, back, or hip pain, as well as joint pain that can be identified and addressed with regular acupuncture treatments—before it develops into a clinical unsoundness.”

Cimetti helped the owners of Equinox Bossanova, a Morgan stallion, find the cause of his lameness using acupuncture when no other vets had been successful. She found his stifle acupoints to be very reactive.

After the treatment he was better, but not 100 percent sound, so Cimetti combined acupuncture with stifle joint injections.

“We got the horse’s stifles injected and he was fixed,” says his owner, Christine Nava- Moulthrop of Timber Hill Stables in Kingston, Mass. “It took Linda’s non-traditional methods to find the problem. If it wasn’t for her, I’d still be trying to figure out what was wrong.”

Boss went on to a successful show career and was inducted into the American Morgan Show Horse Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Connecticut Morgan Show Horse Hall of Fame in 2023.

If you’re interested in alternative therapies for your horse, it’s always good to start by discussing it with your vet to see which type they think might work best for your particular situation.

PEMF

PEMF stands for pulsed electromagnetic field. Each of the cells in your horse’s body has an electric charge; when the charge gets low, the cells cannot heal and are dysfunctional. PEMF technology uses a pulsing electromagnetic charge to stimulate cells and essentially recharge them, allowing for tissue healing and reducing inflammation and pain.

Amy Perez, owner/trainer of Stellar Equine Solutions LLC in Washington state, is certified in PEMF therapy and helps people, horses and small animals with PEMF treatments.

“I firmly believe there is not one injury or ailment that doesn’t benefit from PEMF,” she says. “From sore muscles to broken bones, arthritis, Cushing’s, navicular, or just daily maintenance for our hard-working horses, PEMF can help it all.”

She has seen many horses have incredible reactions to treatments.

“I have treated a horse with a broken leg through a cast, [which] helped speed up the healing process and the horse fully recovered. I have treated horses that could barely walk due to a Cushing’s flare-up, and by the end of the session, they trotted off in their pasture. Every horse starts to get a soft eye, begins yawning, and lets out a huge sigh of relaxation during treatment. Most of their owners’ reactions start with a ‘wow’ and end with ‘I am so glad to see my horse happy again.’

“The main benefit for PEMF with horses would be pain relief,” Perez continues. “PEMF oxygenates the blood cells to promote healing in the body. The body naturally heals itself, but sometimes it can’t get back to complete repair without help. PEMF does just that—it helps the body heal itself.”

Summer Crosby has seen incredible results.

“My horse, Shooter, receives PEMF therapy on a regular schedule from Amy Perez,” she says. “Shooter has had ongoing issues in his right shoulder for some time: soreness, short striding and frequent lameness. After a year of vet visits and no real diagnosis, it was suggested to start Shooter on PEMF therapy. The changes I’ve seen following his treatments have been nothing short of amazing. Shooter has received both chiropractic and massage therapy, and the PEMF has helped him achieve even greater progress. We have been able to continue competing on a regular basis.”

Key Takeaway

Therapies outside the standard western medical options are continuing to gain steam as horse owners discover their complementary benefits to equine health and soundness. You may find that trying out these alternative therapies in your horse’s care routine may do wonders for his health.

This article about alternative therapies for horse care appeared in the August 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Also Read: Expert’s Advice on Kissing Spine

The expression of kissing spine is often not clear cut; the horse may shift his weight when groomed over his back or be reluctant to be saddled. He may not stand to be mounted or may bolt when the rider places weight in the saddle. The horse may buck, rear or kick out repeatedly.

Less obvious signs can be a horse that is stiff under saddle or one that is consistently hollow or tosses his head. He may be reluctant to go forward or have trouble picking up the correct lead or maintaining a true three-beat canter under saddle. While many of these issues can be caused by other problems, kissing spine shouldn’t be ruled out without a veterinary investigation.

A Sweet Name for a Sour Problem

True to its name, kissing spine occurs when the bony projections (called dorsal spinous processes, or DSPs) on a horse’s vertebrae rub or impinge on each other, causing pain and changes in the bones and ligaments that attach to them, explains Liberty Getman, DVM, an associate surgeon at Tennessee Equine Hospital. Getman graduated from the University of Florida before completing a residency at the University of Pennsylvania; she is specifically interested in lameness and orthopedic surgery.

Kissing spine is suspected when a horse shows significant, consistent pain when light pressure is placed on the lumbar and lower thoracic spine, Getman explains. The condition is often most painful when the horse is wearing a saddle; the afflicted horse is often sound but displays behavioral problems when ridden. The condition can greatly affect a horse’s performance.

Some cases are so severe that the DSPs can overlap by as much as 50 percent, says Lauren Luedke, DVM, Dipl. ACVS-LA, a Colorado State University graduate who completed her residency at Cornell University before becoming a surgeon at Manor Equine Hospital in Maryland.

Interestingly, horses diagnosed with kissing spine exhibit varying degrees of pain—and the degree of abnormality does not always dictate the level of pain, says Luedke.

“For example, there are some horses with severe changes and minimal back pain and some horses with mild radiographic changes with marked back pain,” she explains.

Kissing spine can be diagnosed using a combination of methods, but each will begin with a clinical exam. Based on exam results, radiographs can be used to confirm findings as evident by impingement and bone remodeling of one or more of the dorsal spinous processes, says Luedke. In more complex cases, nuclear scintigraphy (bone scans) can be useful in detecting active bone remodeling, indicating that DSP impingement is a primary problem.

Blocking the sites of impingement with carbocaine (a numbing agent) may be useful. However, because some horses can have radiographic changes (visible on X-ray) without clinical signs, Luedke stresses that it’s important to analyze findings collectively to arrive at a diagnosis.

Kissing Spine Prognosis and Treatments

The prognosis for horses with kissing spine is fair to good with appropriate management, according to Luedke.

Getman agrees.

“It’s important to remember that horses with kissing spine have an excellent prognosis for life, and that the prognosis can be good-to-excellent for athletic performance,” she says. “The severity of the disease and how many sites are impinging influence prognosis.”

Treatment of the condition can range from back injections to surgical removal of the bone that is impinging and causing pain. Luedke says that treatment often begins with the administration of anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers, and a steroid injection between the impinged DSPs. Injections are not a one-and-done solution, however.

“The hope is that the injections last for six months to a year, but in more severe cases, [the injections] may only last a couple months,” says Luedke.

Getman also often recommends chiropractic adjustment, acupuncture and mesotherapy to horses in her care that are affected by kissing spine. Mesotherapy involves injecting small amounts of compounds into the middle layer of skin using very fine needles; it’s often used for pain management.

If medical therapies are unsuccessful, surgery is an option. The more conservative surgery is known as an interspinous ligament desmotomy, or “keyhole” surgery. This minimally invasive procedure cuts the ligament that connects the two affected spinous processes to each other, explains Luedke, and can be done in multiple areas. This surgery allows more room between the DSPs and likely transects the nerve to eliminate pain.

A more invasive surgical option is a cranial wedge ostectomy, which removes the impinged bone and requires more extensive incisions and rehabilitation. The type of surgery pursued is often dictated by the severity of disease: in cases where the DSPs are overlapping, cranial wedge ostectomy is the preferred surgery.

Though horses affected by kissing spine experience the most pain when they are under saddle, most can have athletic careers if their pain can be managed, says Luedke.

“Some horses with explosive behavior may be too dangerous to ride,” even after their kissing spine issue is resolved, she notes. She says that the earlier pain a horse experiences from kissing spine is managed, the less likely he is to learn the explosive behavior associated with the back pain.

Luedke concurs.

“My experience so far is that horses with DSP impingement requiring surgery have done very well post-operatively,” she says.

She adds that there is one piece of the kissing spine puzzle that has not yet been tested.

“We don’t know yet know what happens to these horses 10 years from now,” says Luedke. “Is there any recurrence of disease, or can it occur at other locations? Or do the horses continue to do well because we have taken away the pain component, allowing them to use their back properly and maintain [muscle] strength?”

A Note on Rehabilitation

Kirsten Johnson, owner of Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center (KESMARC) in Versailles, Ky, which offers multiple treatments for a variety of conditions from which a horse may be recuperating.

These include a hyperbaric chamber, a pool, an underwater treadmill, and a cold saltwater spa, among others. Each of these has its place in the rehabilitation of various injuries, ailments, and surgeries, but Johnson has had extremely good results in horses suffering from kissing spine using a combination of treatments.

“I’ve had success with horses with very poor prognoses with doing a good [chiropractic] adjustment, saddle fit and back-strengthening exercises,” she says. “I’ve had horses that were going to be euthanized go back to lead quality, productive lives.”

One often overlooked facet of kissing spine pain management is saddle fit, according to Johnson. Also, compensatory pain is a concern.

“Once the horse starts hurting, other things go wrong,” she says. “Rehabilitation is focused on not only retraining the body, but also on hopefully making improvements there in terms of strengthening and lifting the back. You also have to focus on retraining the brain—and doing it safely,” she says of horses that may have developed dangerous habits resulting from perpetual pain.

The water does a very good job of letting horses reap the benefits of it use while forgetting everything that hurts, she notes. Whether the horse goes on the underwater treadmill or swims is dependent on the horse, his age and his discipline, she says. For horses that come to KESMARC for rehab for kissing spine, Johnson says she often sees marked results in 90 days.

Though kissing spine may seem like a death knell for a horse’s athletic career, it often is not. A veterinarian focused on a correct diagnosis and treatment for the individual horse is key, as is a well-defined, strategic plan to bring the horse back into work.

This article about kissing spine appeared in the April 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Lameness brings out many emotions, including fear and frustration, particularly when its cause is a mystery and the horse doesn’t heal. Those are just some of the emotions that Barb Robinson, an avid trail rider from Aston, Penn., felt when her partner, an 18-year-old Icelandic gelding named Ari, went mysteriously lame.

Ari was performing well in the months leading up to his lameness. Uncertain but considering possible causes, Robinson relayed that she had taken him on a 10-day trail riding trip to Hocking Hills, Ohio. When she arrived, she found the conditions less than ideal. “It was a deep, slogging mud,” she says. “But he came out fine.”

She rode Ari all summer and fall without issue, even taking part in the League of Maryland Horsemen’s Fall Roundup in November 2019. “His gaiting was awesome!” she adds.

After the Roundup, she began to notice small changes. “He started resting his left hind leg [while in crossties] here and there,” says Robinson. “He never did that before. He used to always stand square.”

He was also laying down more than usual. Still, she was able to continue riding without issue, including the day after Christmas with a friend. It was on this ride that she noticed that Ari felt a little off while she was posting. Then, bringing him in from the pasture the next day, he was off at the walk and on turns while being led. Robinson called her veterinarian out to investigate.

“I was convinced it was the left hind,” Robinson says. “He flexed positive in the left stifle and the hock.”

Ari was placed on a COX-2 inhibitor for several weeks, and Robinson stopped riding, but unfortunately she didn’t see any improvement. Her next step was to have an osteopath visit. “The osteopath felt the right stifle was sticky,” she continues. ” She got it working properly.”

The osteopath also gave her the green light to start riding again. “But when I rode him, he really didn’t want to put weight on the left hind.”

Because of its prevalence it was at this stage that she had her veterinarian also test for Lyme disease. It was negative. By this time, Ari was exhibiting a level five lameness on the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ scale, meaning that he was minimally weight-bearing whether in motion or at rest. At her wits end, Robinson began appealing to others for help.

Healing Hands for a Mystery Lameness

“One of our associates reached out to me about a fellow Icelandic Horse owner having trouble with a mystery lameness,” said Heather Wallace, ESMT, CCMT, an equine and canine sports massage therapist.

Wallace owns Animal Bodywork and Aromatherapy based in Red Bank, New Jersey, and has partnered with human and animal chiropractor, Madelyn Rauch, DC, AVCA.

“She called me up and asked if there was something, we could do to help,” says Wallace, and she and Robinson were able to make the connection. “That was in January of this year.”

On their initial visit, Wallace and Rauch (who is known as Dr. Madi) took thermal images. “We could immediately see that there was a lot of heat in the left stifle and hip,” Wallace says. “There was some compensation in the front as well. Once I got my hands on him, he had a knot the size of a grapefruit in his groin. I started to unlock it.”

The team’s efforts are a true partnership. It starts with Wallace loosening and adjusting the muscles, a benefit in and of itself. Then Rauch removes the interference to the central nervous system, which is housed within the spine and accessory osseous (bone) structures, to create more ease in the skeletal system.

“I’m looking at the way the horse’s body moves,” says Rauch. “If it is locked and not moving the body cannot get messages to that area as efficiently.

She then works to remove any interference. “I was able to get more motion into all of these segments, so that they would fall back into alignment and start progressing,” she adds.

Rauch uses a specialized technique, Bio-Geometric Integration (BGI), which is largely fascial-based (related to the tissue covering the muscles). This technique minimalizes the effort that it takes to move a bone. Coupled with Wallace’ s massage, the combined treatments make for a gentle but effective adjustment.

Wallace and Rauch worked on Ari for a total of three sessions at one and three weeks apart after the initial visit. “We started seeing results immediately,” Wallace said.

Ari was still lame, but he was able to stretch the leg and bear weight. The lameness was reduced by 60% after the first visit.

The team pointed out that it’s important to note that Ari’s other caregivers were not wrong. “There was definitely something going on in the right stifle, because he was compensating and putting so much pressure on that right stifle, because he physically could not put weight on and stretch that left hind leg,” said Rauch.

Ari’s long-term prognosis is very good, and his owner is thrilled. He’s currently 100% sound and back to trail riding. He’s now on a maintenance plan with Wallace and Rauch to ensure his future soundness, which both recommend for all horses as a preventative measure.

Sometimes it is more about adding other members to a horse’s healthcare team so that issues can be evaluated from a variety of perspectives.

Have you ever had a health issue with your horse that required a team of experts to work together? If so, please share your story in the comments below.

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