Palpation is when you actually use your fingers and hands to touch the horse and explore it's body.

Palpation is easier than Body Scanning for some people, but it also takes practice to get really good at it.

You will use your fingers and hands to go over the horse's body looking for areas of tension, "knots", soft or puffy areas, tender areas, or maybe even areas the horse won't let you touch at all. You will also be looking for hot and cold areas like in body scanning (or in place of body scanning).

Starting at your horse's head, feel for tension around his ears and his jaw. Move down his neck and check for tension, etc and also to see if the cervical vertebrae seems even on both sides of the neck.

Check for tension, tenderness, etc. in the neck and shoulder junction. This is a common spot for horse's to have tension or spasm.

Move your hand down between the front legs to the pectoral muscles and check for tension or a "lumpy" feeling. This can have something to do with horses who don't like being girthed.

Next, check up near the withers and into the shoulder. It is very common for horses to have spasms and tension in this area as well. Especially in the tricep muscles.

Place your fingers on each side of the spine and make three passes down the vertebrae. One light, one medium and one deeper pressure. Look for tight, tense, or tender muscles. By placing the other hand on the abdominal muscles, you can feel if your horse is tightening here as well. If so, you will want to spend some time working on your horse's back. It is not uncommon for one side of the back to be tighter than the other.

Next, check the pelvis and hips. Since it is such a large area on the horse, take some time to explore this area from top to bottom, and then front to back. Try to cover all of the major muscle groups and Stress Points. And, last but not least, check to see if your horse is holding tension in it's tail. Horses with clamped down tails often have problems in their back. Since the tail is an extension of the spine, you can get an idea of what your horse is feeling in his back.

You can also palpate down your horse's legs to check for tenderness, swelling or heat.

You will be able to gather a lot of information from your horse by palpating his body.





CAUTION:
A word of caution though - pay extra attention to your horse and what he is telling you as you palpate. Palpating can cause your horse to become irritated. If you press into something that is painful, he may react by biting, kicking, etc.

I actually learned this lesson the hard way . The first time I was kicked by a horse during a therapy session was actually during the evaluation process. (Luckily this was also the only time as I am a quick learner). I made the mistake of thinking that I did not need to be as aware and careful since I wasn't "doing anything yet". Apparently, the horse thought I was doing something!! Without any warning, he just let me have it right by the knee cap. I was very fortunate that he missed the patella, but not by much. I had a horrible bruise in the shape of a horse shoe, but no lasting damage. I made sure to stay well out of the way after that.

Always be aware of your safety during the evaluation process just as you would during the equine therapy session.


For those of you who like video demonstrations, I will be providing a video of a complete equine evaluation once the weather gets better. If you would like to be notified when the videos are available, please join the email list.