All though equine massage seems to be a relitively new phenomenon, in fact, it is not. Historians note that massage therapy of horses can be traced back thousands of years to the greek, who would massage both horses and warriors prior to engaging the enemy in battle.
In Europe, the U.K., Canada, Asia and the pacific rim, massage therapy has long been employed to enhanceequine athletic ability. Two notable animal massage and physical therapists are Jean-Pierre Hourdebaigt and Jean-Marie Denoix.
In the United States, it is said that equine sports massage therapy officially began in the 1970's with Jack Meagher, a highly skilled and well respected human physical and sports massage therapist for the NFL. Jack Meagher was known as "The father of equine sports massage" and used many of the same practices discoved in humans by John Harvey kellogg. In 1976, Mr. Meagher was invited by the United States equestrian team to join them to use his equine massage technique, The Meagher Method, for the Montreal olympic games at which they won the gold medal. the Meagher method is still the classic standard at which most others are judged. more recently, ESMT has become the mainstay of U.S. Olympic equestrian teams and the horse racing industry. Mr. Meagher passed away on March 10th, 2005 of cardiopulmonary arrest.
It is only now that amateur horse show competitors are catching on to the fact that ESMT can enhance competitive performance as much as 30%! Greater interest in holistic and complementary human therapies has spilled over into the animal world and more horse owners are becoming aware of equine myotherapies and their benefits.
