Massage and Myofascial Release

Well, after talking to Dr. N on Tuesday about Gus ... she decided he could benefit greatly (possibly ... at least) by getting a massage done. She recommended S. I called S up and was (surprisingly) able to get Gus in the same day. So yesterday was Gus's "spa" day.

S and Gus got along pretty well. Actually, considering Gus's aversion (and rightfully so) to everyone but me and B, he was FABULOUS for S. She did a lot of slow work on Gus. It's called Myofascial Release and it works on the connective tissues. I guess it's supposed to be really beneficial to those who have some disease, whose name is escaping me at the moment. It starts with a "M" and basically you are diagnosed with it when nothing else seems to work/fit the equation.

S found NUMEROUS issues all over on Gus. Specific points of soreness include shoulders (around point of shoulder/shoulder joint), SI area, gluts, and a lot of tension/pain/issues around the last ribs & lumbar vertebrae.

Borrowed from Irish Horse Society's webpage.

She was able to work a lot of the soreness out of Gus and showed me a couple exercises/movements to incorporate into our everyday routine, to help keep Gus stretched and moving freely.

I'm really hoping that this helped Gus out ... a lot. I just can't afford much more treatment, unfortunately, if this didn't "cure" him. I probably will get one of the chiropractors back out sometime soon though, just to realign things again. I'm hoping to get Dr. K out again. She's much more sympathetic to Gus's plight then Dr. R.

The plan is to work Gus again this weekend and see how things go. I'm really hoping that he's moving better on the lunge ... and is sound enough for me to hop up on and do some teeny, tiny walk/trot laps around the arena. Fingers crossed.