Welcome everyone to my new website and blog! I hope you have had a look around. If you missed the “About” section, allow me to introduce myself. I am your equine sports massage therapist.
Who is this girl?
My name is Sarah and I have been in the horse industry for more than 30 yrs. It all started because of my dad, who was a rodeo cowboy before I was born. He traded 300 bales of hay for my first pony (who I had from age 3 to age 26, she was well over 30 when she passed). My new horse was a mare the farrier found for us after I outgrew my pony. I worked for a local western pleasure horse trainer during junior high to help pay for a few lessons and help turning an old rope horse into a barrel horse.
My next horse was purchased in 2000. He was the first horse I bought and trained myself. I was a sophomore in high school. I was working for the second trainer of my career, where I learned about the cutting industry, to pay for gelding. I started him as a 3 year old with her help and finished him myself as a barrel horse. We college rodeoed a bit before I bought another horse to run on (more about him in a minute 😉).
After high school, I went to work for another trainer that was in the reining sector of the industry. I fell in love with reining, but it’s an expensive sport and I had a passion for barrel racing. I learned a ton about how to correctly ride horses and developed a better feel and skill set to continue on in my journey with horses.
College Days
Off to CSU-Fresno, I went to pursue my degree in Equine Science. I continued working for the reining trainer during the summer and I worked at the quarter horse unit at Fresno State during the school year. After college, I spend a brief time working for my fourth trainer and while that experience wasn’t a positive one and didn’t last long, I learned a ton about the reined cowhorse industry.
During college, I acquired a TB gelding that I did some college rodeoing on. When I moved home from school, I made it my mission to pursue barrel racing more competitively. (I had purchased a horse trailer from the reining training before leaving for college so I had my own transportation).
I started really getting into running barrels in 2010 until Rocket bowed a tendon at a barrel race. I spent a year letting him rehab and we came back in 2012 and competed together until 2016 when I retired him at age 27.
I have acquired a few more horses since and sold only one (lol). My current project is my 12 year old grey mare (there is some posts about our journey in previous posts and I will be writing more about what we’ve been through the last couple of years).
SL Barrel Horses lands in a New Home!
In 2015, a client of mine approached me about starting a training and boarding barn with her. We dabbled in the business for a few years with many ups and downs but covid restrictions eventually required us to shut our doors. During the few years I was teaching and training, I acquired a couple of more horses, one of which came with some soundness issues. I had never heard of equine posts massage therapy or knew any equine sports massage therapists.
SLBH Equine Bodywork was Born!
I did some extensive research, I came across equine massage. I researched countless massage schools and modalities to learn and finally settled on completing my certification through Midwest Natural Healing For Animals.
My certification was completed in August of 2020. I began to slowly build my business while continuing to compete. Barrel racing is my heart and soul, but helping horses via equine sports massage is my new found passion!
My ultimate goal is helping as many horses as possible to feel their best in and out of the arena, as well as educating riders on the benefits of massage. Feel free to find me on Facebook or instagram if you have any questions about my services.
