Nanci Worthington LMT
Where a person can say “it hurts here” or “I just feel off”, a horse cannot. Yet we all know
that these animals give every ounce and more when expected to perform, because that is their job. It is our job as owners, trainers, riders to do everything we can to take care of them.
60% of a horse’s weight is muscle or soft tissue and, according to many vets, the least attended aspect of their health care. Many chronic problems common in horses are often related to soft tissue injury or compensatory movement due to prior injury. By working the entire body Equine Sports Massage Therapy addresses both the injury itself and the ensuing compensation. Aiding in the care and prevention of problems such as cold back, girthiness, poor lateral bending, balance and coordination, incorrect lead changes, lack of or too much forward propulsion and poor attitude, it also helps, to diminish the healing time from many diseases, including Lyme Disease.
To be the best requires maximum effort, which requires extraordinary exertion and strain. Designed to boost the performance and endurance of the equine athlete, Equine Sports Massage Therapy is incredibly useful for the horse in training as well as in the off-season, often reducing pre-season work. It does this by improving circulation, enhancing muscle tone, increasing range of motion, relieving tension and muscle spasm, extending the good health and life of the horse’s athletic career. When on a maintenance program, the horse’s overall performance, whether for show, race or pleasure can exceed pre-massage performance by 20%. As the horse’s overall health increases, so does the general disposition, a combination making for a beautiful sight as well as performance.
In addition to the equine athlete, Equine Sports Massage Therapy also helps the aches and pains of the elderly horse, the comfort and health of the brood mare and the many transitions experienced by the foal from birth to backing.
Nanci Worthington has been doing therapeutic massage since 1985. Training for two years to become a holistic health care practitioner in the early 1980’s, to her surprise, Nanci found that her talent lay not so much in herbs and nutrition, but rather in bodywork. She is trained in everything from Reiki and Swedish Masssge, to Cranio-Sacral Therapy,. Bodywork for the Childbearing Year as well as what is now called Thai Yoga Massage and Deep Tissue Sculpting. Studying with Eva and Gene Graf, Linda Burnham, Linda Kaiser and Carol Osborne-Sheets, she also spent a year doing a mentor training with Tom Myers, the creator of Anatomy Trains. She received her certificate for ESMT through Equissage (copyright thingy), Inc., in 1999.
Currently Naci is creating an Equine Sports Massage concentration at Post University in Waterbury, CT. including the teaching of Equine Locomotion. Much of Nanci’s own study is in structural kinesiology, both human and horse, because of her own love of movement. Bringing her over twenty years of therapeutic massage and allied holistic healing techniques to horses as well as the people who work with them, she also creates pattern based exercises specifically designed for their horses, to help riders enhance the overall healing capacity of the massage. In addition to doing massage therapy, Nanci also works with equine nutritionists, herbalists, acupuncturists and chiropractors. Information on ESMT, evaluations, sessions and clinics can be received by contacting Nanci or calling 413-329-5573.