Ahhhhh

Miriah Stuart, horse masseuse extraordinaire, gave Phantom his first treatment ever.

Our barn hosted the local feed store's annual Horse Owner's Workshop in April for the third year in a row. This year Miriah gave a brief saddle fitting demonstration and again conducted a drawing for a free horse massage. Imagine my surprise and delight when she called to say I had won the drawing. We quickly set an appointment and today was the day.

Phantom is a pretty mellow guy (I don't call him "Goober Boy" for nothing). He sort of wondered what Miriah was up to. Afterall, no one has ever touched him like that before. He gave visual indications of his tender spots but was very well behaved. Miriah had worked on Phantom's jaw, neck and shoulders and was standing on her stepstool to work on his back when her cell phone rang. She stepped down to take the call and Phantom looked around to see where she went with an expression that said, "Where'd she go? She's not done, is she?" Apparently he had decided that Miriah's manipulations felt pretty good.

Earlier in the day, Miriah said she had worked on a mini horse only 33 inches tall. She was on her knees to perform the leg stretches. Too bad she didn't get a picture to put on her web site. :-)

I really appreciated Miriah's donated services, since massages and chiropractic work for the horse are a bit beyond my means.

Per Miriah's suggestion, I saddled up Phantom for a 30 minute walk. He had to give the "hairy eyeball" to the rays of sun peaking through the cracks in the near end of the arena, but halfway through our stroll he started giving me a truly swingy, stretchy walk. Ahhhhh.

You can learn more about Miriah and her services at: www.horsemassagepro.com.