As an equestrian photographer I am asked to photograph many aspects of horses, riders and horse care. For the past week I have been working with Jim Masterson, a renowned equine massage therapist and body work professional on his new book about caring for Dressage horses. The two horses we used were Grand Prix level Bacchus De Light owned by mystery writer Tami Hoag and Betsy Steiner’s horse in training, Conego.

Day One: The project started with equine artist, Susan Harris painting the skeleton of Bacchus. It took four hours of keeping the horse still and comfortable to complete the job.

Next, American World Championship Dressage team member and USDF Bronze, Silver and Gold Medalist, Betsy Steiner saddled up Bacchus and put him through his paces. It’s interesting seeing what bones he uses to perform the various dressage movements like, the shoulder-in, haunches-in, collections, extensions, and so on.

Day Two: Started again with Susan Harris painting the muscle groups on Bacchus. He was a good soul and put up with all the brush strokes of paint and tedious hours.

Once again, Betsy rode Bacchus moving him through advanced dressage movements including; piaffe, tempi, passage, pirouette. You can see which muscle groups he uses to perform these advanced moves.

Day Three: Body worker Jim Masterson went to work. The Masterson Method is a form of bodywork that relaxes the horse’s body and relieves his muscles, connective tissue, and structure of deep stress and pain.

Jim uses gentle and light manipulation of targeted release points; the movement of joints or junctions through a range of motion in a relaxed state. He observes the horse’s response which helps him know he is on the right path. When the horse releases the tension from that area, it is often accompanied by eye blinking, head shaking, and yawning.

Conego, a seven year old luistano stallion stood for almost three hours without being tied, thoroughly enjoying the treatment. He was a champ at yawning, opening his mouth and showing his teeth wider every time.

The book project will target dressage horses and the common places stress accumulates and how to relieve that tension and pain. It has been an exciting project to work on. When the video is released and the book published I will let all of you know!!