Visit 1
Rampage is a TB of undetermined age. His history is not clearly known, what is known is that he has spent the past several years in a paddock at a riding school after his owner lost interest and failed to pay his agistment costs.
Michelle his current owner was offered Rampage as a free lease with an option to buy. He was extremely underweight, wormy, had very bad feet. He also came to Michelle with a reputation of being hot and difficult to ride.
By the time I did my first “real” work on Rampage, he had started to put on weight, had his feet addressed and was on a special diet.
At my first session, I addressed the raised vertebrae and the side of the wither. The Lumbar region is very prominent and uneven. It is also causes flinching when touched.
I commenced the session with direct compression to the sacrum. My hands were taken over the gluteals on both sides. I also addressed the Thorasic/Lumbar region. My hands remained steading here. T15, T16, L3, L4, L5 and L6 were misaligned and by the end of the session you could visibly see that they were not as prominent and were better aligned. His gluteal region also appeared to fill out a little.
Visit 2
On initial assessment prior to commencing work, it appears that the lumbar are again prominent and uncomfortable to the touch. He has been ridden approximately 4 times since the last massage.
I worked the same areas as last week with the same techniques as they appeared to give some relief. Rampage appears to be much more comfortable and happier in himself.
This week I also worked on his neck, shoulders and wither. I used direct pressure over the scapular and tricep regions. There was a lot of tightness around the shoulders, latissimus dorsi, serratus thoracis and chest area.
By the end of this session, Rampage was much happier. He was no longer standing camped under and along his back appeared to be not as restricted.
Visit 3
The thoracic and lumbar region is sitting up again. So, I ask to see him saddled. The saddle is not fitting correctly and when being ridden in the seam/ridge at the back of the cantle is hitting the vertebrae. My recommendation was not to ride in the saddle until it had been correctly fitted.
I commenced work in the same areas as on the previous sessions. Today the muscles are responding a lot quicker and settle into a more natural position. Once again I worked on the neck, shoulders and wither.
By the time I had finished, Rampage appeared to be much more comfortable, happier in himself and no further signs of him standing camped under. His atrophy like back muscles were also in a much better condition. The changes, which occurred during Rampages massages, were amazing and had his owner astounded with the differences.
Michelle’s Thoughts
Rampage came to me with a lot of problems, I was told he was meant to be really hard to stop, runs around with his head amazingly high, and would have his mouth wide open.
By looking at him I could tell he had major back problems and he had had them for a long time, his feet were in shocking condition, actually surpising my farrier with their condition and his teeth hadn’t been done for many years.
Natalie started work on Rampage, the differences I could see, right then and there, as she was working was nothing short of amazing, jaw dropping in some instances, and we could see results immediately.
As the sessions progressed,the better he became under saddle, no longer did he his carry his head so abnormally high. A re-occuring problem kept coming back, which didn’t make sense, it was discovered by Natalie to be my saddle causing it. I then in turn had my saddle fitted. After all his treatment and saddle fitting, Rampage was a totally different horse, infact, people who knew him before, couldn’t get over the fact that he would carry his head in a normal fashion and even use his back and work on the bit.
Rampage wouldn’t have transformed like he did if it wasn’t for the work of Natalie!
Michelle Mcfadyen