Obi & meAside from fawning over Obi, there are few things I'd rather do than work on someone's horse and see a positive change in the animal's movement and disposition.
I've been doing equine massage therapy in Colorado for four years. Because I split my time between Boulder and Breckenridge, I work the northern Front Range as well as the I-70 mountains. Call me at 970-390-2157 and let's talk about your horse.
I grew up around horses in Wisconsin and was one of those kids who was chronically late for dinner because I was sitting at the barn watching my horse eat. Years later it still happens three or four times a week.
While I took a hiatus from horses to do things like work in New York City and play news reporter in the Colorado mountains, I never got them out of my system. I remember following a mounted cop back to the barns in New York one summer evening and spying through the doorway as he very put his beautiful horse away for the night at a snail’s pace. Clearly he was always late for dinner.
I got back into horses in 2000 and noticed that this time around my focus was much more on the horse as a sentient being. Without getting overly touchy-feely here, I found I was a lot more interested in the human-horse connection, and this led me to massage.
In 2005 I enrolled in the EquiTouch equine massage program in Loveland, Colo., and followed up with advanced course work there several months later. EquiTouch emphasizes equine anatomy and movement, as well as individualizing each massage. The advanced work focuses on deep tissue massage, which I love to do. During that time I also completed my Reiki Master certification. I’ve found that Reiki (healing energy) works remarkably well on many horses, and is a natural adjunct to massage therapy.
My latest foray is equine craniosacral therapy, which I find fascinating. There's much to learn.
Obi and I mix natural horsemanship with some attempts at classical-type stuff – nothing too serious – to see if we might learn something new. We board at Orvilla West Farm outside Longmont.
-- Tara Flanagan