Horses in your care will benefit further by your participation in the Advanced 5-Day Course. You will become more adept at The Masterson Method® techniques that will help relieve your horse’s stress and build stronger human-horse relationships. The Advanced Course is required before entering the Fieldwork Course. Read more about the certification process here.
Advanced 5-Day Course
The Advanced 5-Day Course in equine bodywork is an advanced, practical course that is open to anyone with experience handling horses and a basic knowledge of equine anatomy, who is interested in improving relationship, communication and performance in horses.
It consists of five days of practical training. Your group will be visiting a different barn each day within the vicinity of the primary city. This way you will have a variety of horses to work on. Carpooling is recommended and can be arranged on the first day.
This course is spent almost entirely working with horses. You will learn where to look, what to look for, and how to release and clear issues that most affect performance. During this course you will perfect your understanding of the principles of release of tension in the horse, your ability to recognize and use responses of the horse to your touch to get that release, and your ability to enable the horse to participate in the process of releasing tension.
You will also learn evaluation techniques that will help you identify bio-mechanical patterns in the horse associated with possible primary Issues, and resulting secondary Issues.
Course size is limited to ensure one-on-one instruction.
We are accredited by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork Organization (NCBTMB) for Continuing Education Credits.
USA
July 21-25, 2025 Pequot Lakes Area, MN with Becky Tenges
September 1-5, 2025 Ooltewah, TN with Kathy Tow
September 8-12, 2025 Elgin, IL with Elizabeth Appleyard
September 22-26, 2025 Watsonville, CA with Sandy Vreeburg
November 3-7, 2025 Austin, TX with Becky Tenges
November 3-7, 2025 Wake Forest, NC with Khrystynna Hunsinger
November 10-14, 2025 Tucson, AZ with Vanessa Helvey
Canada
August 18-22, 2025 Calgary, AB with Lori Hoppe
September 15-19, 2025 Langley, BC with Lori Hoppe
October 6-10, 2025 Sherbrooke, QC with Sylvie Vallières (taught in French with English material)
May 4-8, 2026 Cobourg, ON with Lori Hoppe
**If you find a course that works for you and has openings, we do recommend registering as soon as possible. Our courses have been filling much faster than usual.**
Australia & New Zealand
October 13-17, 2025 Elimbah, QLD, AU with Vicky Devlin
Europe
August 25-29, 2025 Orcemont, FR with Caroline Hébert Bernard (in French)
September 8-12, 2025 Graz, AT with Vicky Devlin (in English with German translation)
September 16-20, 2025 Rzęszyce, PL with Beata Filonowicz (in Polish)
October 4-8, 2025 Egestorf, DE with Walter Saxe (in German)
October 8-12, 2025 Schalkhaar, NL with Masja Fick (in Dutch)
November 8-12, 2025 Aßlar-Oberlemp, DE with Silvia Hamm (in German)
UK
July 28-August 1, 2025 Langford, Bedfordshire, UK with Vicky Devlin
November 24-28, 2025 Horley, Surrey, UK with Vicky Devlin
What You’ll Learn—Course Details
Advanced 5-Day Course schedule for each day is 9am – 5pm. Please plan on arriving 15 minutes before the course begins.
Course Prerequisites
You must have taken the Weekend Course before attending the Advanced 5-Day Course.
We encourage you to space out the time between the Weekend Course and the Advanced 5-Day Course. This will enable you to go home and “soak in” what you have learned. That said, we understand that life gets in the way so you are welcome to come to a weekend and stay for the Advanced 5-day if both courses are contiguous.
It is a prerequisite to complete the Beyond Horse Massage Online Home Study Course prior to attending the Advanced 5-Day. Jim has found that those who have completed the course prior to the Advanced 5-Day come better prepared.
The Advanced 5-Day Course also requires a certain level of physical fitness. You must be in good physical shape to meet the demands of these five days. You will be working with horses every day and often on your feet for the whole day. To give you an idea of the physical requirements needed to successfully complete the course, what would be required would be roughly equivalent to one of the following:
- Forty minutes of aerobic activity without the need to sit down
- Thirty minutes of Pilates with hand weights or bands
- One hour of serious riding (not a gentle hack out)
You must have enough experience with horses that you are able to safely and comfortably perform the techniques taught in the course. In addition to working safely, you should be able to:
- work in an enclosed space such as a stall, with an unfamiliar horse
- pick up and handle the fore and hind feet and legs of an unfamiliar horse
- hold up a leg long enough to examine the foot and leg
Course Outline
Time Breakdown: Approximately 15 to 20% will be spent on lecture, including:
- The anatomy of key junctions of the body that most affect performance; the poll/atlas/axis, the neck/shoulders/withers junction, and the sacroiliac/sacro-lumbar junction and major muscles associated with that junction.
- The principles and mechanics of release in the muscles and connective tissues of the horse, different levels of pressure, recognizing and using the responses of the horse to touch, and how our use of pressure, movement and position causes a muscle or junction to release.
- Initial and final evaluations, primary issues vs. secondary issues, and pain vs. restriction in the body.
Approximately 80 to 85% will be spent in hands-on demonstration and practice of Advanced Masterson Method Techniques on multiple horses with a range of issues.
- Initial Evaluation – gathering information on what’s going on with the horse’s body
- Advanced Techniques – purposes, goals, anatomy and demonstration
- Advanced Techniques – hands-on practice
- Softening and yielding
- Refining feel
- Staying under the bracing responses
- More responses, releases and tuning in to the horse
- Refining flow
- Pain vs. restriction
- Safety working with head-shy, sore and/or difficult horses
- Discussion of some common primary issues, such as feet and legs, injuries, saddle and tack, TMJ and dental issues
- Final Evaluation – Putting it all together
Required and Suggested Reading and Viewing for the Advanced 5-Day Course
Required:
- Beyond Horse Massage DVD, by Jim Masterson. Can be purchased here on the website.
- Beyond Horse Massage Book, Jim Masterson with Stefanie Reinhold. Can be purchased here on the website
- Beyond Horse Massage Home Study Course
Suggested:
There are numerous books on equine massage and bodywork. Any background reading on position release, myofascial release, neuromuscular, craniosacral, acupressure, bio-dynamics and muscles and movement will help. Below are some suggestions:
Books are available on our online store:
- Whole Horse DVD series, Jim Masterson (5 DVD Series)
- The Horse Structure and Movement, by R.H. Smythe and P.C. Goody (Good structure, joint and ligament drawings)
- Horse Anatomy: A Pictorial Approach to Equine Structure, by Peter Goody.
- Horse Anatomy: Equine 3-D, app for iPhone and iPads (Strongly recommended for iPhone and iPad users)
Note About Our Trademark
Only those who have demonstrated proficiency and completed the Masterson Method Certification Program may use The Masterson Method® name and logo. Use of The Masterson Method name and logo by others to promote any professional services is an infringement on trademark rights. If you have any questions, please Contact Us.
Accreditation
We are accredited and approved as a continuing education provider through the following organizations:
