#horses - #Massage therapy is illegal in horses

Massage therapy is illegal in horses

Would anyone be interested in me talking about this in more depth as an instagram and/or youtube video?

SO...

I live in British Columbia, Canada, and in 2014 I graduated as a certified equine sports therapist by the BC College of Equine Therapy in Vernon BC. It was a two year part time course that covered an array of topics about the horses structure, bio mechanics, feet, teeth, bones, saddle fit and different ways of treating imbalances through massage, chiropractic and acupressure techniques. We attended class two times a month for two years and some of my classmates traveled monthly from two provinces away. Our policy and procedure "manual" was three pages long that covered expectations for the work handed in (in great detail), but nothing in regards to legality, representation, bylaws, code of ethics, disciplinary measures, dress code (boots? gloves? tools?) or anything. A lot of my textbooks have photocopied (plagiarized) content, on top of being sorely outdated. My certificate states that I am competent to the Art and Science of equine sport therapy. However, this is not correct, and it took me four years and a ton of independent research to figure out...

BC College of Equine Therapy and dozens of other schools like it are private institutions masquerading as legitimate schools to entice potential students, presumably for financial gain. Schools fail to evolve, there is no distinction between credible practitioners and regular people. Anyone with genuine interest in the industry is at a severe disadvantage to practice. And because practitioners aren't recognized as certified practitioners, they may put themselves at legal risk for false advertising and potentially malpractice for making false claims (registered massage therapists own the term "massage practitioner", how many equine sports therapists make that distinction?). Registered massage therapists, physiotherapist, doctors, sports therapists, chiropractors and more all have bylaws and codes of ethics to preserve their high quality standard of practice. Anything less is an imitation...

Right...?

Not only this, but horses are put at risk too when theories are blurred, assessment and treatment isn't being regulated so really who knows what could happen (yikes) and how well that practitioner is able to react in a potential emergency (double yikes).

Midway College in Kentucky is the only school that can make the claim that a graduate can be "competent in the Art and Science of equine sports therapy" with a bachelor of science.

I can't help but feel sad about the situation because I've seen horses benefit from what I've been taught but it falls short in the grand scheme of things. The truth is... a very small handful of equine practitioners have gone the extra mile and obtained formal education to the highest level in order to take special interest in horses in order to have a legitimate practice. For me personally I simply don't work on horses apart from my own, occasionally. I work at a physiotherapist office currently as a receptionist and I'm treated with tremendous respect by peers, other practitioners, lawyers, doctors, policemen and the general public as a representation of this office and its practice. But, when I approach local veterinarians as an "equine sports therapist" with questions about the legalities I'm simply ignored.

I've had a ton of fights among practitioners about theory, assessment vs treatment and techniques, who has a say and about what, etc. So, not only do we fight internally and criticize which school is best, but an association in my town is attempting to re-write bylaws that state veterinarians should be present for any diagnostic or treatment in any animal (including massage, dentistry, chiropractics, aromatherapy, reiki, etc etc etc...), in order to preserve the veterinary practice's code of ethics and keep animals safe.

I'm truly asking anyone out there... what's the problem here??

TLDR; This is ramblings I'm going to post without really rereading because it's soo complicated and long-winded. If you're interested in seeing the evolution of my gorgeous 17.1hh hunk of a rescue gelding you can follow my instagram @essentiallypua (I primarily talk about this stuff there...)

Submitted August 02, 2018 at 10:17PM by essentiallypua
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Horses/comments/946gzv/massage_therapy_is_illegal_in_horses/?utm_source=ifttt