Moving Forward from Setbacks
Today I went to work on a very lovely dressage mare who has been showing tremendous response to her massage sessions. My first time working with her she was reluctant and skeptical of me and when I finished her first massage I assessed the fact that her front end issues where going to be no quick fix and as a part of her team suggested we repeat her session again in 2 weeks. The next time I was out she was much more receptive and willing to allow me to work deep in the tissue and do more of the targeted myofascial release she needs, there was improvement reported from the owner & the chiropractor who also treats her regularly but we still had a mess caused by years of incorrect carriage, lower leg tendon injuries, and fractured withers to work through. But progress is good so we opted to bump her next session to 4 weeks out. Jumping ahead to that third appointment it was like working on a different horse! She was receptive and willing to allow targeted myofascial release as well as deep sports massage in her problem areas. The owner was thrilled with how well she was working and her test scores at her competitions were excellent. Again the chiropractor also agreed she was feeling much better and needing less work. Both the chiropractor & I agreed with the owner that we could try bumping her next sessions to 6 to 8 weeks out. Which brings us to today....as with all things equine there comes a time when you've made so much progress and things are going so well that a setback is inevitable but that doesn't stop it from being the biggest annoyance and very frustrating for all involved. The mare I worked on six weeks ago now felt more bound up in the front end than the mare I first met....which is saying a lot because the owner described her as a "hot mess" when I first met her. Spending the majority of the appointment working from the withers forward there was at least some good news to this setback: from her withers back through her hind end felt fantastic and even better was that despite how bound up her front end was this was the deepest she had allowed me to work in these targeted areas that are causing so many problems with her training. This mare has really grown on me and today she let me know how much she appreciates the work I do on her by stretching, yawning, chewing, and resting her chin on my shoulder while I worked on hers. We've come so far over the summer and while her team as a whole is frustrated with this setback we can rest assured that we are again headed in the right direction as what we all describe to each other as feeling makes sense with the issues she's having and we can work together to correct the problem. I look forward to working on her again in 4 weeks and seeing how today's session helped her progress. ❤💆
