These are before and after photos of my Arab mare, Tinsel. I have wrote about Tinsel before. I believe she is the mother of the herd. Like all mothers, she has a hard time leaving her "children". What I mean by this is that she isn't necessarily herd bound, but she worries about her herd when she is not with them. The reason I bring this up is because she can be difficult to massage. She has a hard time standing still. I have to find a balance with her. I need to allow her to move at times and I need her to stand at times, so I can perform the massage. Finding a balance is the key with her.
I found it interesting during this massage that although she did not stand still some of the time, she did a lot of licking, chewing, and yawning. The most fascinating part was the before and after photos of her back. Her back was tight with many restrictions. I did a lot of work on her back, glutes, and hamstrings. I will admit that I did not expect to see the results I saw in her back. She taught me that we can still accomplish quite a bit, even if the horse is not standing perfectly still. The best part is that when I brought her in the day after the massage, she was more relaxed and focused. When we are changing horses body patterns, there will be times we may not notice a huge difference. It is a process. In this instance, I was able to relax her back. When I brought her in the next day, mentally she was calmer. Don't expect everything at once. Enjoy the process!!!
This is Tinsel's before picture. You can see the tight restrictions going down her spine. You cannot feel how tight her back is in a picture, but trust me it was very tight.
This is the after picture. If you look at her spine in this picture, you can see the smoothness going down her spine.