Last week was a super busy week with both my canine and equine level 4 massage students attending for their assessed practical days.

Everyone has worked so hard over the last 7 months to build their practical skills in Merishia massage. Teaching can be so rewarding as you get to see people develop and succeed both professionally and personally.

We had some new dogs in the group this session but they fitted in really well and they all enjoyed their massages. This canine group also seem to have cracked Jinny who allowed lots of different massage strokes all over her body. I think Katy felt she had drawn the short straw when I told her Jin was going to be her assessment dog, however she worked wonders on her and Jin actually allowed her to do limb stretches (as shown above) that she normally would not tolerate 😊

I think it’s fair to say that the dogs were in a very relaxed state by the end of the afternoon !!

The equine students had the added stress of having to battle some pretty hairy road conditions to reach the yard for their assessment day… Snow and ice is not fun!

But, they did not let this put them off and also had some wonderful experiences with the horses at Avril’s yard (My Safe Cobs Natural Horsemanship). As Avril takes on horses for schooling and training, some of them come with physical and emotional traumas. This makes them interesting case studies to work on but can also pose challenges for students and really tests their confidence and skills.

This is Woody. When I first tried to treat him he had so much fear that he would shake and leap away from me with just the lightest contact. But look how relaxed he is during his massage with Lorraine!! This is a huge break through for Woody and I am very proud of both him and Lorraine 😊

Brandy decided to have a little lie down before his massage had even begun 😂 but when we finally go him up he really got into his massage with Ann.

Posie and Banner also really enjoyed their massages. By the end of the afternoon you could feel the zen in the barn as all the horses relaxed in their stables.

So with 5 more case studies to complete I am confident that it won’t be long before this group of students are fully qualified Merishia Massage therapists.

*** If you are interested in becoming an animal massage practitioner, I still have spaces on my next course, starting in May. Please contact Jo at Rose Therapies to get more details and enrol***

March sees some important dates in both the equine and the canine world, meaning end of February and the first week of March can be very busy for me.

🐕🐩🐾CRUFTS🐕🐩🐾

🏇🐎🐴EVENT SEASON STARTS🐴🐎🏇

I am very lucky to be involved with a number of animals who will be heading out to some important competitions at the beginning of March. I also have limited spaces to take on new clients who would like to give their animals a boost before competing at these events.

Please do contact me if you would like to book in for a pre-crufts/pre-season treatment. Limited availability from 20th February 😊 remember appointments can be requested directly from the website.

Last week was a bit hectic. As well as ‘normal’ work I had 2 full days teaching. My Merishia massage students came for their unit 4 practical days – revising the Swedish massage techniques and learning some advanced massage techniques. It’s lovely seeing the students get to this stage and start consolidating their massage skills.

The dogs and horses really enjoyed this sessions and everyone was very relaxed by the end of each day. I was very proud of my cranky old collie who let lots of different people do lots of different things to her this time! However she then disgraced herself by having a scrap with one of the visiting dogs and had to be sent out of the room 😂

If you are interested in joining the massage course next year, please drop me a message.

So my certificate came through this week, confirming that I have passed my course and am now a licensed instructor for the canine conditioning academy. I know I’m blowing my own trumpet, but I’m pleased as punch with this! This little piece of paper is the culmination of a year’s hard work! I am quite proud of myself that over the last year I have built up to working full time again, running my business and teaching the massage courses. Alongside that I have also successfully studied for a level 4 qualification, kept my family alive and not lost all of my marbles!

What does this mean for my business? Well, I am already using skills and techniques that I learnt on the course for my rehab cases. Some of you will be practicing these right now with your beautiful dogs. In addition, I plan to run group training sessions, starting in the new year. These will be 8 week courses where you can socialise your dogs and learn key exercises to help strengthen them at the same time. Look out for further details to come. I will also be offering 1-2-1 conditioning training for anyone who is interested.

As ever, appointments can be requested directly from the website 🙂

***I have a limited number of spaces for new clients in November***

🐎🐎McTimoney Animal Chiropractic and Equine/Canine Massage🐕🐕

***Now also offering laser therapy using K-Laser class IV therapeutic laser (as used by Supervet and NHS 😊)***

Drug free accelerated healing, pain relief and treatment for a number of conditions including (but not limited to):

🐎Arthritis🐕Acute and Chronic Wounds🐎Fractures🐕Chronic Pain and Lameness🐎Post Surgery Rehab🐕Hip & Elbow Dysplasia🐕Cruciate Disease🐕Sprains/Strains🐎Laminitis🐎Kissing Spines🐎Dental Extractions🐕

Also for 🐈🐂🐇🐁🐑🐖🐒

Appointments can be requested directly via the website.