Has anyone tried/bought the Equissage?

[Bay Mare]

Just wondering what you thought to it and whether it was worth the money?

Did you have a free trial first? Were they hard sell or did they just let the product speak for itself?

Thanks x

[JOJOBA]

There was one where Jack went for schooling and he really liked it - preferred the Treadmill tho :p.

Ive heard they can be a good investment if you want to hire them out to others.

xxx

[kikiD]

We had someone from Equissage come and demonstrate for one of our units at uni. The horse it was used on seemed a bit uncomfortable after wearing the pad for a while (got really fidgety, did not look happy) but a slight improvement was seen when he was ridden.
Other people mentioned that they had used it on their horses and they seemed to be quite happy wearing the pad.

[mogadoga]

A woman came to a friends yard, it was great, she said about what it can do , improve circulation etc but didnt really have to sell it.

I know someone who has one and 'hires' it out, going to peoples yard for 'treatments' for £25 a shot so it does pay for its self :)

[Bay Mare]

Thank you :)

[Zingy]

When I had a demo of one it was kept quite factual and the sales side of things wasn't pushy at all. They did take their time though - saw my horse ridden first, then did about an hours treatment, then saw him ridden again. He had definitely improved from it, but he needed intensive physio at time.

I've found it very useful and I'm glad I've got it, but I wouldn't have bought one without a specific reason for one, particularly if it was only going to be used on one or two horses as they are very expensive. There's also normally no kind of extended trial period either, so the initial demo is all you get and you can't then buy one and decide you don't like it or it isn't worth it and get your money back. I was lucky enough (or unlucky, depending which way you look at it), to have part paid by my insurance as part of a claim for physio and managed to get them to agree to a 30 day money back guarantee on it.

I get very wary about this "hiring it out" thing, which is something that the company used to suggest - I don't know if they still do. Either you're letting people take it away and use it themselves, which is a bit risky given the cost of it :eek: or you're going and treating other peoples' horses, which in my opinion, you shouldn't do without adequate insurance. I've not ever looked into the insurance side of things, but I don't know if third party liability insurance to use something like that if you have no kind of veterinary qualifications or anything would be particularly easy to get.

I just stick to using it on my own horses or for free on friends horses. I've never come across a horse who has disliked it, generally they really settle down and relax with it on. They do all seem to enjoy it, but apart from on my horse, I can't say I've ever seen any particular changes in horses from using it.

[Zingy]

BM, if you're interested in seeing one properly, I'm coming over to your yard at some point over the next couple of weeks and bringing it with me to do Yann's horses, so you're more than welcome to have a look at it and see what it does :)

Rio & Tess have both had it on before and seem to enjoy it, so if you like what you see from that and I've got time, then I'm happy to give Saffy a quick session with it if you like so you can get a bit of an idea what she thinks of it? :)

[Bay Mare]

Thank you :D That would be great x

[Ginger Thing]

We had a demo on my massage course and were absolutely horrified :eek:

The girl was very hard sell, tried to tell us how it worked 'scientifically', and when questioned by a qualified vet and osteopath (she didn't know that, prob thought he was a massage student like us!) just said 'nobody likes a smart arse' and couldn't answer his questions.

She didn't assess the horse, didn't want to see it move (as a massage therapist would) and just slapped the machine on it. Health & Safety would have had a fit if they'd seen her, she took no notice of the horse's body language and continually put herself in dangerous positions where she could have got her head kicked!

She said it was safe to leave the machine on the horse unattended - having heard the story of the one at an event, when the machine slipped around to it's belly and it freaked and ended up dead in a ditch, I don't think that's a good idea!

Sorry to rant, and I'm sure there are good reps out there, but I was disgusted by her attitude, caring nothing for health and safety, just wanting the £2500! And although it may have benefits and good results, it does just use vibration, not the other techniques available to a human body worker. It can't read the horse's reactions or find problem areas in the same way we can, so I am biased and think a body worker is a better option ;):D

You'd probably get the same vibratory effect from running the back of the clippers over the body - I have a £7.99 massager from Lidl which I use on my horses sometimes!

[vikkig]

more horse uses one twice a week to help build top line and also before and after hard schooling or dressage tests.

my horse really enjoys it and it has a number of different benefits.

the one at my yard is bright pink and looks abit silly on my boy but he doesnt mind to much he enjoys it

[Zingy]

Thank you :D That would be great x

No problem :) I'll let you know when I'm coming over. It'll definitely be a weekend, just not sure on a day yet.

[Stella2]

Flora had several treatments when she was on a rehab livery and it was included. She enjoyed it and its clearly nice and relaxing. My equine physio looked into them, including the depth of the massage, a few years ago. She told me, its a nice way for a horse to relax, but not to waste my money because a handheld massager from Argos would do a job of the same standard. When she was out to Flora in January, I asked her if she was still of the same opinion and she said she is! So nice idea, but not worth the shed loads of dosh it seems ;)

[Zingy]

I'd dispute the claims that a cheap massager is as good ;) I've used both myself and there's just no comparison between the effects that they give. The equissage gives a much deeper massage, or it certainly feels as if it does. You could argue that the difference doesn't justify the price tag certainly, but in my opinion they're really not comparable.

[Stella2]

I'd dispute the claims that a cheap massager is as good ;) I've used both myself and there's just no comparison between the effects that they give. The equissage gives a much deeper massage, or it certainly feels as if it does. You could argue that the difference doesn't justify the price tag certainly, but in my opinion they're really not comparable. I'm just going off my physio's expert opinion! She might be wrong, but she has looked into it (and tried it on one of her horses) and subsequently said that it only reaches the tissue that a cheap handheld reaches.

[JOJOBA]

The difference I suppose is that Id be way too scared to use my hand held massager on my horse for fear of doing damage!

xxx

[Bay Mare]

You could try it on yourself :D That's probably what I'd do :D

[JOJOBA]

I use mine on myself all the time, it's great. But Im not as important as a horse :p

ETA - having seen my physio doing work on Jack with tiny electrical impulses in carefully chosen spots, and being repeatedly warned to NEVER massage your horse yourself, Id be too wimpy :p

xxx

[Zingy]

I'm just going off my physio's expert opinion! She might be wrong, but she has looked into it (and tried it on one of her horses) and subsequently said that it only reaches the tissue that a cheap handheld reaches.

I understand where you're coming from, I just don't see how people reach that conclusion when it feels so different :confused: I'd be curious to see what backup they have for saying it :)

Edit to add - I spoke to my horses chiro about it a while ago and they don't particularly like them because they said for certain conditions they are far too powerful, which makes it all sound even more strange!