Equine Shiatsu

Shiatsu is a holistic therapy that is rooted in the principles of traditional Oriental medicine. Shiatsu is translated as "finger pressure" and a session involves sensitive pressure which can be exceedingly gentle or, in some cases, quite firm, applied by fingers, thumbs, palms or even elbows & feet in conjunction with massage, stretches, limb and tail rotations. Treatment can either be tonifying or sedating, depending on whether energy is deficient or excessive.

Equine Shiatsu has developed using knowledge of human shiatsu and the practice of acupuncture on horses. Points and areas for pressure are chosen using the traditional principles of oriental diagnosis and are located along the same energy pathways (“meridians”) that are used in acupuncture. Each meridian has specific properties, which govern the physical and emotional characteristics of the client (be it human, horse, dog!...). When something happens to prevent energy flowing freely throughout the body, we become ill, injured, depressed or develop some other imbalance. A shiatsu practitioner will work to re-balance the body so that the energy can flow freely again and help to remove the cause of the illness. Modern experiments have enabled the detection of meridians, including the measurement of tiny electrical impulses along the very channels predicted thousands of years ago by ancient Chinese wisdom. Horses have the same meridian system as humans.