Equine Cupping USA

X, short for Excalibur, is a 20+ year old rescue who has been comfortably living at an equine sanctuary for the last six years. This first picture is from his first treatment with equine cupping. The protocol began with hindquarters. Before we could finish, X asked for his shoulders to be done. Afterwards, I asked Hannah, his handler, to walk him. She was impressed with the improvement in forward movement. Over the next week, she observed that X was a bit stiff the day after, but seemed to loosed up a good bit the second day after the treatment and more willing to move around when he’s out in pasture. The second treatment occurred three weeks later.

The second treatment began using the Masterson method of assessing with the pass over the bladder channel. Several points along the neck were indicated with eye blinks. This continued along the back and hindquarters. This became information for what to treat with the vacuum cups.

 

The protocol begins with the hindquarters. There was enough of a release from the first treatment, that the glutes, biceps femoris, and femoral quadriceps. Light vacuum pressure was used during the warming strokes with the large glass cup and manual control of pressure pulse. The second pass of medium strokes with the same glass cup treated areas of tension in the area. X indicated a nice release with licking and chewing.

This happened in about 10 minutes. Considering that it took more than 30 minutes to get those same releases in the first session, this was good news. The work from the previous session three weeks ago held.

 

Time to move on to the torso. Warming strokes began with the loin and moved forward towards the shoulder. This is important because this is the direction of lymph fluid movement. The trigger points along the shelf of ribs were treated for 1 -3 minutes of 3 second pulses. Using moving cup technique, the glass cup ran down the ribs, along the descending pectorals and abdominal obliques. When indicated, certain areas were treated with 2-3 minutes of 3 second pulses.

 

Cupping of the neck on both sides yielding some hidden restrictions. The video describing those restrictions shows me stating that we are looking at the left side of the horse when clearly I am on the right side and I mention that the “dorsal line” looks a bit straighter when clearly we are looking at the ventral line. Welcome to my dyslexia! LOL

 

Our goals for X are to work towards releasing as many restrictions are we can. X is not asked to work. He has had excellent care for six years which includes a chiropractor/acupuncturist veterinarian. This treatment uncovered the possibility that his atlanto-occipital and atlanto-axial joints were “out” and it might be time for a chiropractic treatment. We are currently waiting to hear feedback from the veterinarian.

 

Finally, the video shows looser movement and willingness to move forward. X was happy to drink water at the end. This treatment moved a lot of lymph fluid around, so drinking water is very important.