HORSE owners have a wide range of therapies they can turn to when caring for and managing their equines. Equine massage, reiki, chiropractic, homeopathy, acupuncture and equitaping are just some of the therapies becoming more accessible and popular among horse owners. Modalities such as these can work well alongside conventional medicine and even when horses are perfectly healthy from a veterinary perspective, they can benefit hugely from these therapies. Here Horse Sense focuses on the practice of reiki.

What is Reiki?

Reiki (pronounced “ray-key”) is a simple Japanese energy balancing method that is used by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. It is well-known as a hands-on treatment technique, and many humans animals have regular reiki treatments.

What can reiki do for your horse?

Any horse can benefit from a course of reiki treatments, regardless of age or state of health, and practitioners believe beneficial changes can take place over a fairly short space of time.

“I find reiki with animals amazing,” Reiki practitioner Valerie Westfield, PhD, from Northern Ireland, told Horse Sense. “Reiki is very hard to explain in many ways, you really have to see a horse having a reiki treatment to understand. I always say horses don’t lie and you can really see the change before your eyes.”

“With racehorses sometimes it’s more to do with performance and well-being, a horse doesn’t have to have anything wrong with it to benefit from reiki. Just like some people like to have a facial or massage every month, some horse owners want their horse to have a reiki treatment every month.”

Electric current

According to the International Association of Reiki Professionals (IARP), energy flows through the body of a horse in good health much like an electric current. However, a number of factors can interfere with this flow. Among them are physical injuries, trauma, dietary changes, emotional problems, training issues, or a combination of these problems. Any blockage of energy can result in physical, psychological, or behavioural problems.

When you book a reiki therapist to treat your horse, the practitioner restores positive energy flow into the animal’s body, correcting imbalances. Horses are particularly sensitive and can quickly pick up on the healing they are offered through hands-on or even hands-off means, quickly become a willing participant.

There are a number of reiki professionals in Ireland Have a search online if you would like a reiki session for your horse. As with any complementary treatment, you should always gain veterinary consent prior to any treatment.