Gaining a horse’s trust after it retires from the racetrack or is rescued from auction, abuse or neglect is no easy feat.
Loreen Pantaleone provides massage therapy to Angel, a horse that gives preschool-aged children with disabilities riding lessons at Riding High Farm in Allentown, during a visit to the facility on Nov. 11. PHOTOS BY EFF GRANIT staff Loreen Pantaleone uses sports massage therapy to help her gain an equine’s trust and change a horse’s physical and psychological state by releasing tension and increasing circulation.
Pantaleone started Loving Touch Horseworks in Robbinsville after discovering that massage helped her own off-the-track thoroughbred Kenzie. After receiving certification in equine sports massage therapy, and seeing it benefit her thoroughbred and other horses, she knew this was her calling.
“When you see their faces change, they yawn, their chin and lips begin to twitch and droop, [and] they nod off to sleep, you know you are relaxing them beyond anything they have ever felt before,” she said. “When I see that, I know I’ve made a difference in their lives. That’s my therapy.”
Pantaleone began donating her time to massaging horses at the Standardbred Retirement Foundation
SRF) in Hamilton and for the nonprofitHelpingHearts Equine Rescue
HHER).
Last week, she began soothing working horses at Riding High Farm in Allentown. Angel, a 20-year-old Arabian at the farm, helps provide riding lessons to preschool-age children with disabilities. Riding High Farm Program Director Robyn Struz said Angel is a special member of the stable because she can alert staff to seizure activity.
While Pantaleone massaged Angel on Nov. 11, Struz said, “I’m a firm believer in massage therapy. It relaxes the muscles, which everyone can use. There’s nothing like a good back rub.”
During the massage session, Pantaleone gently rubbed the horse with her fingers while making soothing comments. The massage therapist alerted Struz to tension in the equine’s neck from trying to keep balance.
“Once I release the lactic acid, she’ll feel better,” Pantaleone said.
Angel did show signs of feeling better when she cuddled up to Pantaleone by placing her neck on the therapist’s shoulder. Pantaleone said a massage wakes up the nervous system.
“Lactic acid glues the muscles together,” she said. “When you separate the lactic acid, the horse starts licking.”
Angel also started licking and began to let her eyelids close in contentment. Other than having a little arthritis in her back, loose stomach muscles from having babies and some calcification in her right shoulder blade, Angel is in fine condition for the work she’s doing at her age, Pantaleone said.
“Angel has spent her life in a therapeutic riding program,” Pantaleone said. “I just want to make her feel comfortable while she’s trying to balance uneasy riders on her back for most of her life.”
Noting that Angel was rescued as a baby from an auction where horses are sold for slaughter, Pantaleone said, “That’s why I got into this work — because of all the horses that almost went to slaughter but were saved and got new careers. Now they’re in riding programs instead of on someone’s dinner plate in Europe.”
When Pantaleone rescued her horse Kenzie from a starvation situation, the equine was near organ failure. Pantaleone helped the horse gain weight but realized that her skeletal system could not carry the new weight. After researching various means of trying to help her horse, she decided to become certified as an equine massage therapist at Equine Kneads in Oxford, Warren County.
“After the first night that I worked with [Kenzie], it was like somebody put a rubber band in my horse,” Pantaleone said. “The next day her spine elongated and she started running and galloping. I knew then that I wanted to do this for every horse.”
The benefits of massage include the release of endorphins and improved circulation. Warming and loosening the muscles also helps prevent future injuries, according to Pantaleone. The touch therapy also helps a horse become more trusting, Pantaleone said.
“Usually a horse is only touched when it’s being tacked up for a race, prodded by a farrier or poked by a vet,” she said.
The massage therapist has also incorporated thermograph scanning into her sessions. She uses an infrared heat sensor to determine a horse’s skin temperature, which can alert owners to possible injuries or issues. The scan also shows Pantaleone the increased circulation that massage brings to the horse’s legs.
“After coming off the track, many horses can have muscle strains and even full leg injuries,” Pantaleone said. “Since massage increases circulation, it can also speed up the healing process.”
This past year, Pantaleone has seen an influx of horses needing to be rescued or retiring due to the changes in the racing industry in New Jersey.
“The more horses I get my hands on the happier I’ll be,” Pantaleone said. “I want to help lengthen their careers or move on to new careers.”
Pantaleone devotes her life to the care and rescuing of horses by volunteering. She also spends her time as the coordinator of monthly silent auctions held to benefit HHER as well as donating her artwork to the “Painting for Rescues” program. Loving Touch Horseworks is insured by the Hands-On Trade Association and serves the central New Jersey and surrounding areas.
To further support HHER, Pantaleone created a massage sponsorship program. People can select an animal in HHER’s care and sponsor a massage for a small fee. All proceeds for the massage go directly to HHER, and a digital picture of the massage is sent to the sponsor.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit www.loripantaleone.com or call her at 609-477-9950.