Advanced 5-Day Course

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. For those interested in becoming a Masterson Method Certified Practitioner (MMCP), it is the next required step. Read more about the certification process here.

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 is also the primary course for the Certification Program.

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 on 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.

Advanced 5-Day Course Dates

See our COVID-19 procedures. See our COVID-19 Waiver (for Canada, the United States and Poland).

**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. If a course is FULL, email to be added to any course waitlist**

USA

February 20-24, 2023 Tucson, AZ with Vanessa Helvey

March 6-10, 2023 Phoenix, AZ with Coralie Hughes

March 20-24, 2023 Watsonville, CA with Sandy Vreeburg

May 1-5, 2023 Wake Forest, NC with Sandy Vreeburg

June 12-16, 2023 Watsonville, CA with Sandy Vreeburg

Canada

May 8-12, 2023 Cobourg, ON with Lori Hoppe

August 21-25, 2023 Calgary, AB 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.**

Europe & UK

April 3-7, 2023 Cheshire, UK with Vicky Devlin

April 17-21, 2023 Horley, UK with Vicky Devlin

**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

(nothing scheduled at this time, please check back here periodically or sign up for our monthly e-newsletter to be updated on current course offerings)

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

1st Prerequisite – Beyond Horse Massage Weekend Seminar

You must have taken the Weekend Seminar-Workshop before attending the Advanced 5-Day Course.

We encourage you to space out the time between the Weekend Seminar-Workshop 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.

2nd Prerequisite – Home Study Course

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.

3rd Prerequisite – Physical Fitness

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)

4th Prerequisite – Horse Experience

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.

Some of the topics covered during both lecture and practical parts of the course:

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
Flow of the work
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
Working with owners, trainers and other equine professionals

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 Masterson Method Certified Practitioners may use the Masterson Method® name and logo in their bodywork business. Any uses by those other than our certified practitioners to promote their services is an infringement on trademark rights. If you have any questions, please Contact Us.