NH massage therapist provides relief for horses - Valley News

[JULIA FURUKAWA]

Equine massage therapist Rebecca Upham Davis works with Clyde. (NHPR - Michelle Liu) — NHPR - Michelle Liu

Equine massage therapist Rebecca Upham Davis gives Clyde the horse a gentle leg stretch. (NHPR - Julia Furukawa) —

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When humans start feeling muscle aches and pains, a massage is one way to find some relief. But massages aren’t reserved for just people. They can ease discomfort for horses, too.

At a barn in Kensington, N.H., in early August, equine massage therapist Rebecca Upham Davis is offering her client a therapeutic massage. His name is Clyde. At over 17 hands, the German warmblood horse towers above Upham Davis.

Upham Davis worked with humans as a massage therapist for three years. She started taking horses as clients six years ago when she started her business, Elite Equine Massage. She says horses had always been a part of her life, so it felt like a natural transition.

“The horses are so receptive to body work, and they honestly hold it a lot better than people do,” Upham Davis says. “So it's really rewarding from that aspect.”

Upham Davis starts every treatment with an assessment. Since her clients can’t tell her what hurts, she asks them to walk down the length of the barn. She asks Clyde to strut, and watches his movements carefully.

“I'm looking at the points of his hips there, and what's kind of dropping a little bit more than the other,” Upham Davis says. “So the left side is staying a little bit higher and the right has a little bit more mobility.”

Clyde circles back around and Upham Davis gets to work. She has to stand on a stool to reach his back. Upham Davis starts with gentle palpations targeted at where he may need relief.

The horses she works with come from different backgrounds. Some are former racehorses, others work horses, or they’re in the latter years of their lives and need a little extra love to feel comfortable.

In Clyde’s case, his muscles are tight after his long journey in a trailer up the Eastern Seaboard. He came to New Hampshire all the way from Florida.

Upham Davis directs her focus to Clyde’s lower back.

“If I put pressure right here, just watch along the length of his back,” Upham Davis says. You see the little tiny ripples.”

Indeed, there are ripples. Like water lapping at the edge of a lake. Upham Davis finds the spasm and applies pressure. It gently dissipates.

Clyde seems to find some relief. Upham Davis says she used to tell her human clients that discomfort is OK, but pain is not. Since Clyde isn’t able to verbally articulate how he’s feeling, she watches him closely for any signs that the pressure might be too much. That might be heavier breathing, or even a bite.

As Upham Davis moves toward Clyde’s tail, he really starts to relax.

“You can kind of see how his head wiggles back and forth,” Upham Davis says. “That's a good sign that they're pretty relaxed. If I'm working on the hind end and the whole body is doing this loose wiggle, he's not trying to brace against me at all. He's just in his own little zone.”

Clyde gently snorts in approval.

Equine massage is a physically demanding job. Upham Davis is on her feet all day, and she manages her small business on her own.

She says the horses she works usually have kind temperaments, but they’re also massive, and strong. The job can be unpredictable and sometimes dangerous, and she’s sustained a few serious injuries over the years, including a back fracture and several concussions.

But Upham Davis says she wouldn’t trade the work for anything else. She’s learned to take time to rest and explore her hobbies like rock climbing. At the end of each day, she turns to her gratitude journal.

“The things that I get most inspired and excited by and kind of just like fuel me for this work, are those cases that are like the success stories or where I can really see and feel a difference and we're getting somewhere,” Upham Davis says. “I think those are the ones that I'm most grateful for at the end of the day.”

After about an hour and a half of work on Clyde, Rebecca asks him to walk the length of the barn again. The difference is noticeable. His left side is looser and his pelvis has more of a swing through it.

Upham Davis will be back to check on Clyde's progress soon. She says she’s hoping as he exercises more he’ll be stronger each time she sees him. But still, a massage never hurts.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.

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