Stacey Kollman
This is me with Buckley, one of the "second career" horses
I've help to rehab and send on to a good and productive home. At 21, he's
started a show career as a training level dressage horse, and consistently
earns comments about his prospects for a successful future in the discipline
from judges who have no idea how old he is.
Why Use Massage and Other Complementary Therapies?
I discovered massage and various other "complementary" or "alternative"
therapies while operating a small lesson and training barn in Tucson, Ariz.
Many of my school horses were either former show horses retired from the
ring because of soundness problems, or older horses that had been without a
job for various reasons and needed help getting back into regular work.
These horses had a wealth of experience and wisdom to share with riding
students if they could be returned to regular work. I also attracted a few
"problem" horses whose owners needed help to either ride or sell them.
These horses come with a host of issues, physical and emotional, and it was
quite a process working through the layers to find out what wonderous
creature was at the core. During those years, I had the great good fortune
to meet a number of dedicated and talented professionals. The first to open
my eyes to new possibilities was a vet/chiropractor/accupuncturist whose
work seemed like magic. And, as I have found with so many of these
practitioners since then, she was willing to answer all my questions and
show me what I could safely do myself to help my horses. Since then I have
drawn on the aid and advice of massage therapists, chiropractors, TTEAM
practitioners, as well as farriers and equine dentists.
I especially have been drawn to therapies that I and my clients could learn
to do (at least the basics) on our own, calling in the experts only when we
needed more extensive help. And I'm a bit of a research junkie, so access
to the web has certainly taken my curiosity down some interesting paths!
I also have been lucky to blunder into the world of Peggy Cummings'
Connected Riding, looking at the whole horse and the whole rider and
creating a team effort toward balance and biomechanically correct movement.
Participating as a rider and in the instructor training program, I've
learned about all kinds of additional modalities - Feldenkrais and Alexander
work, TTOUCH, Reiki, magnets, lasers. Lately my research and
experimentation has expanded to include more esoteric approaches, as well.
I use the therapies that appeal to me and that work for me, and have found
answers to many questions I couldn't get answered from regular vets. A
veterinarian has the training and tools to help with many conditions and
issues. But what advice can most vets offer for the horse who has developed
an uneven gait through compensating for an injury that no longer exists, or
one who carries himself in an unbalanced way because of longstanding fears?
They are unlikely to be able to help you overcome the effects of the former
owner's too-small saddle that pinched or the former trainer's dependence on
draw reins to force a false frame.
Basically, I just want all the tools I can have at my disposal to help
horses and riders stay happy and healthy and to give some horses that
otherwise would be discarded a chance to be productive and to teach the
lessons they have to teach.
