Equine Mind and Body

Equine Shiatsu Case Studies

These are some examples of how I have used shiatsu with horses. I have not used the names of horse or owner so as to protect their anonymity.

1. Horse A developed very acute breathing difficulties, with very rapid and shallow breaths - up to 40 per minute as opposed to the more normal 10-12. The initial vet diagnosis was that she had COPD and so I originally intended to treat the Lung meridian and points associated with COPD. The first treatment wasn't particularly successful as she seemed worried and unwilling to stand still for it. Yet there were certain aspects of the treatment that she liked and by the end her breathing had deepened. The subsequent few weekly treatments, however, turned her into a "shiatsu junkie", she loved it, even to the point of repositioning herself so that I could treat a different part of her body! I treated what seemed right for her, which wasn't exactly what we would have done for classic COPD. Each time her breathing was greatly improved with the treatment and the effects were longer-lasting. Interestingly the vet diagnosis later changed to more along the lines of an allergy rather than COPD, reconfirming that shiatsu should treat the individual and not the symptoms.

2. Horse B is an elderly arthritic mare who was a bit stiff, intermittently lame and sometimes found it difficult to stand up after lying down. With a few monthly treatments she was able to move around more comfortably and found it easier to stand up. In particular she seemed to benefit from deep, slow working along the Bladder meridian (which relates to bones and old age) and limb rotations/stretches.

3. Horse C is a mare with major personal space issues. She is possibly "cold-backed" (i.e. sore!) but most of her behavioural problems seem to stem from fear/worry and poor treatment at previous homes. The owner is a little nervous which sometimes causes the horse to feel worried and to use aggression to avoid a situation she doesn't feel able to cope with. Over a series of five, approximately monthly, treatments we were able to not only touch an increasing number of parts of her body, but also to turn her into a "shiatsu junkie" who loved being touched, handled and cuddled. But a shiatsu programme is no good with a horse like this unless the owner is prepared to put in a lot of work in between treatments. It is a whole process of teaching the mare that humans can be trusted and teaching the owner to trust both herself and her very lovely horse who only uses aggression in situations she feels unable to cope with. Shiatsu can only be a part of this - the key has been to develop a combined shiatsu and training programme which teaches the mare in sufficiently small steps that she never feels threatened enough to turn aggressive, but is still being challenged so that they can progress.