When was the last time you gave your horse an essential oil massage?

I use essential oils quite often for a variety of reasons- soothe achey muscles, boost metabolism, help me to get a good night’s rest, to name a few. While I’m sure most of us understand the benefits of using essential oils on ourselves, but what about using oils on our favorite four legged friends – both horses and dogs. Would they benefit from an essential oil massage? The answer is yes, most definitely!

Today, we’ll talk about the many uses of essential oil massages on horses. Buy first, a little history:

Rene Maurice Gattefosse’ in the early 1900’s fathered aromatherapy, as we know it today. He was interested in using essential oils, the aromatic or volatile part of a plant, as medicine to treat people. Before he began using these oils with people, he tested them on dogs and horses. When he was pleased with the results, he began working with people and through his studies and those of others that would follow modern aromatherapy was founded.*

When incorporated into massage, essential oils can help the horse to feel better and eliminate stiffness, soreness, and stress from their bodies. One does not need to be a trained massage therapist to give a horse a massage.However, we highly recommend using a Posture Prep Cross Fiber Groomer to enhance your massage technique.

Essential oils can be used in diffusers to bathe the horse’s environment in essential oil vapors. Now before we get into how to use essential oils, I’d like to share a short story with you.

A Healing Story

A great example of just how powerful using essential oils can be happened to Lisa Carter, a certified equine massage therapist, who is also trained in animal aromatherapy.  She was attending a natural horsemanship clinic, and one of her long-time clients was going to be there.  She asked Lisa to work on her horse to see if she could help with some recurring issues. According to Lisa, the mare had started to become painful and locked up again, with big knots in her neck and shoulder. She was also favoring her left front leg.

“This poor horse was so extremely tense by the time I saw her on Friday, her lips were clamped tight and wrinkled up, her neck muscles were bulging, she was visibly lame at the trot and she would flinch when you reached your hand out to touch her. I immediately broke out the bottle of Lavender and let her smell it. I also put a couple of drops at her poll and rubbed several drops of it into my palms and rubbed her bad shoulder with it. As soon as I started to rub on her shoulder, she let out a HUGE breath and lowered her head like a great weight had been lifted off of her.  Her head lowered and her facial expression softened. By using lavender and several other oils like marjoram and copaiba, I was able to get similar results. Her knots were visibly reduced within minutes.”- Lisa Carter

Safety Tips for Essential Oils

Even though essential oils are all-natural, there are some safety tips we should follow when using them for ourselves, our horses, or other pets:

1. Purchase only 100% therapeutic-grade essential oils and follow directions on the label.
2. Essential oils are usually used diluted with carrier oils, such as coconut, olive, sunflower, or vegetable oil for topical applications.  They may cause redness or irritation if used on the skin undiluted.
3. They should not be used in the eye or ear canal.
4. Do not ingest (eat/ drink) essential oils, unless you have consulted professional advice.
5. Discontinue using an oil if you or your horse has a reaction (skin, respiratory, stomach.)
6. Consult a physician or professional trained in essential oil use if you or the animal is pregnant.  (Like acupressure, essential oils can be deceptively potent!)*

Using the Oils

Not all oils are the same and not all horses are the same. According to Gritman Essential Oils, picking oils or blends for your horse is up to you and to them. To see how well the horse will handle an oil, take a few drops in your palms. Rub them together and offer the oil to the horse. Let the horse decide if they will accept the oil or not. Never force an oil on your horse just because you are told that this is what your horse needs. Your horse needs to accept the oil. If the horse does not, you must go to another oil.

Some oils are best used in massage while others are best diffused and some can be taken internally. When and how to use an oil will come with experience, so start slowly. Your confidence will rise when you see how well the horse responses.