Dotted Horses
November 13th 2007 21:02
Learning your surface anatomy helps with your therapy
I'm lucky enough to have studied with some really good teachers in my time. I have also completed several courses in equine massage over the last two decades. Some place a strong emphasis on anatomy, others 'skim' over the topic. It really depends on what aspect is important to the convener of the course at the time. Though I think for someone just starting out, you do need to understand the basic structure of the horse, and if you can identify muscles this will help a lot with how much you get out of later courses.
This poor chap in this pic was labeled for the foundation course Equinology offers and when it came time to do the assignment it was hot humid days and well, the labels barely stayed on, even with the assistance of sticky tape.
Our TAFE students have been asked to refamilarise their surface anatomy in preparation for their own labeling session next month. We will do it a little differently, in that we will label the muscles they can identify and mark its main trigger point, and then assess how many muscles they don't know and these will probably be the ones they remember many years later. Hopefully it will help them when communicating with other professionals when they identify an area that has been addressed. Though, in turn they stay real with their clients and don't try and lord it over their clients by using the latin terms for muscles. It is a fine line, an owner wants to know you know your stuff, but they don't need to be left feeling stupid or lesser than after a massage therapist has completed their appointment.
One very early book - "BEATING MUSCLE INJURIES FOR HORSES, Jack Meagher" is a good book to start looking at muscles with a focus on Trigger points. he lists about 80 points which will get you started, and as your knowledge grows or you go onto study this approach, you will discover hundreds.
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