Francisco Equine & Canine Massage

08/19/2025

Excellent post.

As an equine bodyworker, helping just one part doesn’t help the whole horse — it’s all connected.

PAIN

Often pain is interpreted in different ways by many people, and the sufferer of pain will also interpret it in many ways and often the person interpreting the pain will tell you how you should feel, how you should manage it and your recovery time, and often when you need to stop whining about it especially if the pain is not a result of injury and no one can find out the why or where its coming from

Now imagine if you are the horse.

As a therapist we are often working on what we find on that day, we can tell if it has been there a long time and often the pain has receded, but the restriction has taken over, often depending on how restricted the horse is can tell us how long the horse has been like this, that will often determine how much we do because if we do too much in one go will we end up with blob of jelly of a horse not knowing where to place itself, if you do too much in one go you may just be taking away the one thing that was holding the horse together.

Chronic pain is not something anyone or animal gets used to it they just learn to live with it but often then it is reflected in the personality and often a horse gets the label of grumpy, aggressive, wont mix with other horses (can you imagine being in pain and along comes another horse to groom you with their teeth ouch), their reputation proceeds them so any future encounters with people will come from the person being defensive and the horse being reactive and a vicious circle starts with only the horse getting the raw deal

Spasms are unpredictable so can you imagine a horse that has a burst of pain, and it has to figure out what caused it, was it the saddle?? Was it the corner of the school?? Was it being led from the field?? So the horse puts up caution to everything just in case one of those things may have been the culprit and remember a shot of pain often means the reaction is visceral, and out of control, think if your back spasms as you stand up you have no control over how your body reacts

Intermittent pain is often when changes may be occurring, and the place is reactive while changes are happening for example bony changes and unless you have a scanner or Xray machine on tap we have to look at the horse and assess when work should continue, the bone is changing searching for an anchor and until it anchors pain will be there and then we may have restriction afterwards

We often are shocked when a horse reacts negatively to our touch, yet as a human if we are in pain we will try to protect an area so that one area becomes our whole world we must protect it at all costs, the problem when working with horses is we often hyoerfocus on the area because we want to "fix" it so even our intention as our eyes go to the area will create conflict within the horse, we often negate pain relief over massage yet some horses may just need an analgesic that can simply let it breathe a little and give it room to begin to release that protective mindframe

Gut changes are a huge issue for horses I see lines, angles, limb alignment, postural training yet internally the horse is in chronic pain, some days are good some are bad but the issue is always lurking, I really feel for these horses as a fellow not so happy gut sufferer it's debilitating and no I do not want to exercise it away,

I often find we dismiss pain in horses even if the pain is localised the whole body will be focused into that one area to try and deal with it, so if your horse has a lack of concentration after pain has been diagnosed then it might be because the brain is trying to figure out what to do and how to cope

We cannot wipe away years of pain or restriction in a one-hour session, that’s having an unrealistic goal for either your therapist or the horse, we cannot be expected to have all the answers to the why we are there to work on the how, we are only opening a window of change for the horse,

I often try to get the owner to think how they would feel if they had a similar injury or illness or pain reaction, how would they feel about going on a 20 mile hike with a back pack, how would they feel about going out and socializing, how would they feel if someone said we can't see it therefore we will dismiss it

Pain is pain no matter what species you are it still hurts

06/22/2024

Good info for this hot weather!

A recent study, conducted in Japan, compared various methods for cooling horses after exercise in hot and humid conditions. Thoroughbreds were exercised until their pulmonary artery temperature reached 108°F. The time until the pulmonary artery temperature returned to

05/08/2024

Send a message to learn more

05/04/2024

My cell phone is not reliably sending or receiving calls/texts.

Please contact me by Facebook messenger if you are trying to reach me personally or Francisco Equine & Canine Massage.

Thanks!

05/04/2024

For anyone trying to reach me —

My cell phone is not reliably receiving or sending calls/texts.
Please contact me by Facebook messenger!

02/22/2024

"I want a bridle just like that. Why do I need a fitter?"

This is a frequently asked question. My answer:

The horse pictured is my 14.2 hand (if he stands up big and tall) fine b***d Arabian and measures as follows:

Browband: 17 inches ("Warmblood" in most brands, "Horse" in others)

Cheeks: 10 inches ("Horse" in some brands, "Cob" in others)

Noseband: 15 inches ("Pony" in some brands)

He requires a considerably larger browband than my 16.1 hand tank of a Thoroughbred. No, he isn't a mutant, he's a typical horse in that bridles are not a one size fits proposition. I've literally seen ONE equine fit into a "Horse" sized bridle correctly. It was a Mule.

There are other component measurements required to properly fit a bridle and skull comformation plays a big part in recommendations as well. Different makers vary as to how the measurements need to be taken based on the design of the bridle ("Ergonomic" bridles, jowl straps, bitless bridles, for example)

Our old wisdom would have us order a particular size and punch holes in pieces or swap out pieces til it "fits." Spoiler alert, I was the Frankenbridle queen for years. But short of pixie dust and sheer luck, they still don't fit correctly.

As if this wasn't frustrating enough, different makers have different ranges for the common pony/cob/horse/warmblood/draft and or the nebulous small horse/large horse/small horse with a big forehead bridle sizes and I've seen a "Horse" browband vary as much as 4 inches brand to brand and the same for every part of a bridle. Some new and trendy designs are anatomically terrible (poorly placed buckles, double browbands, no padding behind metal rings, for starters), and a professional can point this out, explain why it would or wouldn't work for your individual horse, and help you avoid pain, discomfort, and performance issues for your horse.

The consequences of improper fit range from mild discomfort to permanent nerve damage and/or bony changes that may result in the need for premature retirement.

It's never been easier to avoid these issues.

A qualified, certified, and independent fitter can save you money, time, and frustration. They can also save your horse a (literal) headache.

Thanks for attending my TEDtalk 😉

If you'd like more information on how a professional fitting can help your horse be more comfortable and perform better or have other questions, please reach out. If you're ready to make fit happen, book now through our website.

02/21/2024

05/20/2022

It’s that time of year — please be aware!

09/19/2021

This is a conversation I have with almost every single client I work with.

Great information!

“The horse just has a little arthritis in his left hock, it doesn’t seem to bother him too much.”

Horses are great compensators, and they will create alternative locomotive patterns to continue movement.

So, say this little bit of osteoarthritis causes a reduced range of motion of the tarsal joint. In an attempt to maintain stride length and hide this dysfunction to potential predators (because you never know when a lion could be waiting around the corner... or a flapping plastic bag!) the tarsal joint is rotated medially (inwards) during the swing phase of the stride. This results in asymmetrical & medial weight bearing through the digit. This places additional stress through medial hamstring muscles, resulting in muscle tension and trigger points. And this is all something that is potentially going on in just the affected hindlimb.

A hip hike/drop can occur at corresponding phases of the stride, placing the sacroiliac joint under stress, resulting in paraspinal and asymmetrical gluteal tone/pain.

Decreased impulsion from the left hindlimb leads to increased weight bearing through the right forelimb diagonal. This can create tension and hypertrophy to the right pectoral muscles and related fascial planes.

The spiral of compensation could continue on further, affecting cervical muscles that become hypertonic as a result of weight shifting, digit shape and size, TMJ pain, head tiling, hyoid dysfunction, asymmetric tail holding...

Often it can be the case where I see a horse that is a chronic stage of compensation and it can be difficult to find the true cause especially when the horse may appear just overall “stiff”.

I liken the rehabilitation of chronic cases to peeling the layers off an onion; one layer at a time and piece by piece to unravel and rewind the compensation spiral. 🐴

** Note after recieving a lot of messages, if you feel you require help with anything I have mentioned in this post, please drop me a message and I will try to get back to you but it may take me a while as I receive multiple a day! I am based in Surrey and cover most of the South East, so if you’d like a treatment & plan for your horse I would be more than happy. ♥️