I wanted to get a certification in equine massage, I’ve been looking online and many people say not to do the certificate online but to do it in person. Does anyone have any recommendations for the midwest? Do you need to have any master programs done? Please let me know Thank you
Who do you want to certify you? Do you need to have any particular qualifications to operate legally n your jurisdiction? Find that out first.
If you don’t need any qualifications to operate legally and the field is unregulated then it’s basically the wild west out there.
As in any trade, the longer the program, the more hands on the training, and the more experienced and qualified the teachers, the more you can potentially learn.
So no, doing this entirely online is not optimall.
Realuze the human RMT training at least where I live is an intense and quite challenging full time two year program where you need to memorize all the anatomy and participate in numerous hands on clinics.
That’s what it takes to be competent on humans.
On the other hand there are weekend courses for equine massage.
You do realize any little backyard school of anyrhing can grant their own accreditation. But it may not be recognized by anyone else.
I suppose it depends on what your goals are.
In general if the qualifications are minimal and the work fairly easy, you won’t make much money doing a job because there will be lots of other people getting qualified too.
My daughter got her massage certifications in two separate courses through Northwest School of Animal Massage, the equine path. Each course takes most people about 6 months to complete. There are a series of online study modules, with a final test for each one. These include horse-handling, equine anatomy and physiology, kinesiology, etc.Then students choose one of several books to read and review in an essay of 5-10 pages. After those steps have been successfully completed, students take a 40-hour “practical,” which means, basically, a week of hands-on training under the supervision of instructors.
As Scribbler says, some states have certification standards and licensing; some even require that massage therapists work through a veterinarian. Other states have no requirements at all, and it is truly the Wild West out there. It’s a good first step to find out what your particular state does or doesn’t require before you begin.
No exclusively online course will be effective, though some purport to turn out equine massage therapists in only a few weeks. No good!
Equine massage is an excellent tool, but it is only one of the “hands-on” methods. A good bodyworker should have a wider repertoire: Masterson Method, for example. Whether these various studies and certifications will be worth the cost and time to you really depends on the horse culture where you live. My daughter lives in a metro area with plenty of h/j, dressage, western barns in the vicinity.
I did a one week hands on equine massage course, and despite being an LMT for people, felt it did not really teach me enough to go out and take people’s money. I did it for my own horses and will occasionally work on my friend’s horses but I do not do it for a living. As an aside, to become an LMT, I was in school for 14 months, did 100+ hands on hours in a clinic, and had to take a pretty extensive licensing exam. I am very good at what I do but it took a lot of time, definitely not something to be learned online or in a week.
How do you find that out? I would want to operate in both Illinois and Wisconsin
You need to contact the various states and ask. Conversely, you can ask your vet where to ask, and if they know about the regulations. Or if they know what state department to email.
Or email vet schools in your two states of choice and ask them who you should contact.
I’m guessing the regulatory body would be the same one that regulates vets, don’t know if that would be a subset of agriculture (my guess) or if it is a subset of the regulatory body that oversees doctors and dentists, etc.
I think there is often some consideration to how you advertise and explain your services. If you are doing chiropractory or claiming actual health benefits from your practice, that may put you in conflict with vet practices in some jurisdictions.
If you are just doing “relaxing massage” or reiki or something that is unregulated, there may be no conflict.
Anecdote. This week I had a student close to completing a local one year equine massage course, come and practice on my horse. She was very conscientious and observant, and pinpointed all maresy’s typical tight spots without me telling her first.
We got to talking about her future plans. She came down from a much smaller rural center to take the course and hopefully to return and develop a client base. She said there were a couple of people there who took weekend equine massage courses in in business for high fees, running around “ruining horses” or not being effective.
Which I totally believe.
There’s an awful lot of people doing body work with no certification because even in states with some attempt at regulation of non DMV practicioners, there’s little or no enforcement. It’s don’t ask, don’t tell, cash only and don’t want to know.
