Bentley's Butt

Ok, so I know you're looking at this picture and after seeing the odd thing sewn into Bentley's neck and the interesting contraption that he's wearing, you're wondering what happened to him and you can't imagine what could possibly be wrong with this poor horse's butt!

The good news is that Bentley is going to be just fine. He had a large growth on his neck that was removed, but he keeps bumping it open. He's a big, athletic guy and he's doing the best he can on stall rest. The contraption that he's wearing is the horse equivalent to the "cone of shame" and it keeps him from lowering his head too much and straining his stitches.

Tonight poor Bentley was rubbing his butt against the back of his stall. I overheard the barn's medical guru talking to the trainer, trying to figure out what to do for him. His tail didn't seem to be itchy and he enjoyed a cold hosing, but when he was put back in his stall, he went right back to rubbing his butt on the wall. She said that it almost seemed like he was trying to put pressure on a sore spot.

I offered to massage him and got taken up on that on the spot! I left my daughter's lesson and went to work.

The big guy was confused at first and didn't understand the pressure, he thought I was asking him to move over! So I warmed him up with some long light strokes and gradually increased the pressure. He got the hang of it. I found spots that he really loved and he leaned back into me. He really liked getting a massage around his harness.

When I moved around to his left side, he was more "ouchy" and let me know areas that he didn't want to be touched. I backed off to let him know that I wasn't going to pressure him. I went back to the area around the harness that was itchy and got him to lick and chew - a sign that he was releasing tension and enjoying himself. Then I moved back to the ouchy area.

He was generally tight in his glutes, but I hadn't felt anything unusual yet. I slowly worked the area, getting closer to the ouchy place. I tried a couple of stroke techniques while working my way to the muscles on the inside of his thighs. That's when I felt a big "ropey" area. It's like a really long knot. I worked it very gently and gradually added more pressure to it. He let out a really long big sigh and I was just as relieved as he was!

When he was put back in his stall he went straight to his hay and didn't seem to be thinking about his butt. And that's the whole point, to get us to focus on what's important in life and not think about our pain.

I was so happy that I now have the skills to help out. That's why I'm doing this, why I'm back in school and getting ready to work in a career that most people will not understand. It's enough that Bentley understood. And luckily for Bentley, I'll be back at the barn tomorrow.

I massaged a cat - and we liked it!

I am the proud owner of a few cats yet I've held off practicing massage on them because they're, well, cats!

I knew that my dogs would accept any attention or touch that I gave them and even with a few ouchy spots that they've told me about, the dogs have loved their massages. Even when I was brand new and had no idea if I was doing it right.

I wanted to have more confidence before I massaged a cat because I knew that if I didn't do it right I might not get another chance. I'm proud to say I'm confident enough in my technique that I tried it out on my kitty Maria.

Maria was an obvious choice for my "crash test kitty" because she's so very mellow and is almost dog-like in her love of attention. Maria is one of those kitties that drools when she's happy and was a limp purring slobber-ball when I was done with her. She quickly figured out that I wasn't just petting her and she was excited. She rolled her body strategically so that I could get to all of her parts. I wasn't sure how much pressure to use on a cat, she seemed so small and fragile compared to my big dogs. I found that I intuitively knew how much to press and where to do my strokes.

I know Maria and I are both looking forward to our next session!

Find the Knot

In class yesterday it felt like we were playing a game called "Find the Knot." We practiced finding areas of tension on each other and each other's dogs and people would get almost giddy when they found a big one. I had a huge knot in my shoulder - perhaps I should go get a massage?

Massage and My Dogs

Here are my dogs Jimmy & Lexi. They mean the world to me and are just as important to me as my human kids.

Like most good dog owners, I feel like I do the best for my fur-kids as I can. I researched their diet and feed a homemade raw diet to my dogs and cats. I made sure that the fence was Jimmy-proof which was no easy feat. I researched vaccinations and worked with a vet to have a schedule that works best for them. I notice subtle differences in their behavior and gait. I'm very aware of what's going on with my dogs.

I planned to massage my dogs because of all of the benefits that massage brings, but I didn't think they "needed" it. I just thought they'd be lucky dogs because Mom knows something new and needed practice. We bring our dogs to school to learn our techniques and I was shocked to find out that both of my dogs' backs are full of tension!

My poor Lexi-Lou even winced in pain as the instructor showed me one of her worst areas! Needless to say that she's gotten a lot of massage time since then and is doing much better!

Animals mask their pain, it's part of their survival instinct. When we were learning to look for problems in an animal's gait, Lexi showed no problems at all.

Jimmy had a lot of areas of tension as well, but that didn't surprise me quite as much. He's my little rambunctious clown and gets himself into trouble. He's been to the vet for various limps and bumps and once he probably dislocated his shoulder, but it had popped back in by the time we threw him in the car and got to the vet.

Now my puppies will get massaged regularly to relieve the tension and help all areas of their bodies function better!