Horse massage soon to be illegal in California if this passes. What about your state?

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=Lady Eboshi;8293991]
, I feel that a very vigorous half-hour grooming DAILY does many good, quantifiable things for a horse. Half an hour once a week or month of “massage?” I don’t care if MERLIN himself is doing it, not much effect there.[/QUOTE]

My fairly well-informed opinion is that only about 1% of people practicing horse massage are creating substantial benefit for the horse. But, none of the ones I’ve met are vets. People as highly able as Jack Meagher can do some amazing things with injuries that seem intractable. I have met others who are similarly that excellent. It’s not beneficial to have a veterinarian physically present while this work is done, any more than it is to have a doctor watching your human physical therapy session while working with a trained PT.

Their concerns, if they need to be addressed at all, can be addressed by simply having a veterinarian sign off that they’re willing to be associated with a practitioner, or by separately licensing people in veterinary physical therapy which is what is done in human medicine.

[LesleyW]

^^Yep. Most of my early horse experience came from rubbing horses at the track. Very rarely do I see anyone doing any sort of after-ride massage, or rubbing linament at the barns I’ve boarded at. It’s habit for me, especially since my girl’s legs show the wear and tear of a racing career.

[Hermein]

I firmly believe that in order to be followed, laws and rules need to be based on common sense–the need of vet presence for massage is shakey, at best.

How do these people intend to enforce this law should it be passed? Which wizard will specifically define “massage” to be significantly different from a withers scratch or a carrot stretch? How are they going to police YouTube to make sure that no do-it-yourselfers are out there rubbing on their horses with a video camera capturing the whole demonstration?

Who wants to bet that the introducing legislator has never been within 20 ft of a real live horse?

[Watermark_Farm]

[QUOTE=Hermein;8294840]

Who wants to bet that the introducing legislator has never been within 20 ft of a real live horse?[/QUOTE]

Sadly, it’s veterinarians and those closely associated that have introduced this language change. After a week of talking to people and reading up on this, I’ve decided to make a road trip to the hearing on September 10 in Sacramento.

This is an interesting read (expand the text that goes with the photo):

https://www.facebook.com/equinemassagetherapyschools/photos/a.628510883835348.1073741826.137225176297257/1052575361428896/?type=1&theater

[maunder]

[QUOTE=Lady Eboshi;8293991]
Years ago we had no “horse massage,” we had old-time GROOMS who were what an Englishman would call good “strappers.” They rubbed horses a LOT, and they used some serious elbow grease doing it. (Actual “strapping” is a technique where the horse flexes his muscles against the groom’s thumping them pretty hard with a wool-flocked round leather block. The horse learns to participate in his own “massage.”)[/QUOTE]

I used to be one of those grooms. I worked at a top of a line boarding stable over 30 years ago and we grooms groomed individual horses for at least an hour and a half daily…each. They SHONE…and not because of any shampoos, supplements, or gimmicks.

[Hermein]

Sadly, it’s veterinarians and those closely associated that have introduced this language change. After a week of talking to people and reading up on this, I’ve decided to make a road trip to the hearing on September 10 in Sacramento.

Yep, I assumed it was some shill from the CA vet association looking for a way to up the income of its members, so the assoc. could up its dues.* I was referring to the tame legislator who would present the bill on the assoc’s behalf.

Since you’re planning to go for the hearing, I hope they will ask for comments from the audience.

*Life on the internet has made a hardened cynic of me–not that didn’t have that trait when I was a 7-yr-old.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=maunder;8303727]
I used to be one of those grooms. I worked at a top of a line boarding stable over 30 years ago and we grooms groomed individual horses for at least an hour and a half daily…each. They SHONE…and not because of any shampoos, supplements, or gimmicks.[/QUOTE]

Right.

Some times, we had to ask a groom to ease off, the horse was getting sore from all that grooming!

We sure had some brilliant horses, you could see yourself reflected good enough to part your hair on them.

[LarkspurCO]

[QUOTE=poltroon;8293973]
Public comment is open on the proposed California regulation through September 10. Here is a link to the wording in question:

http://www.vmb.ca.gov/laws_regs/arehab_lang.pdf[/QUOTE]

The way this reads, would hand walking as an “active form of exercise” need to be supervised by a veterinarian?