The Equilibrium Massage Mitt Hotspot is a great device with an array of benefits, suitable for use on your horse and also yourself!
Offering comforting heat and massage options, the Hotspot heat pad soothes and relaxes your horse's hardworking muscles, with the choice to use heat alone, or alongside two different types of massage. Massage therapy has a great range of benefits, including:
- Increases circulation and oxygen to muscles
- Aids removal of toxins
- Helps recovery after exercise
- Promotes the release of endorphins (natural ‘feel good’ hormones)
The Cyclical massage option is designed to be used for your horse if you are holding the Hotspot heat pad still. This is useful when targeting a specific area or trigger point. Use the Continuous massage setting for your horse if you are moving the Hotspot heat pad over larger areas. This allows each sweep to deliver the same massage.
Both these massage options have three settings, Low, Medium and High. Low is best suited for a relaxing massage, for example after exercise, on a day of rest or for sensitive horses. Medium is best suited for general maintenance and everyday use. It can be used as a warm-up before exercise, or as a general maintenance massage. The third setting, High, is designed to be used on horses who prefer a more intense massage, those with thicker coats and horses that are a bit overweight.
The Massage Mitt Hotspot has been tested to increase skin temperature by 8.7°C on average. Using the heat-only option can provide a gentler session to increase circulation. Using heat is a great way to help sensitive horses who may find massage too much. Heat is non-invasive, gentle and well accepted with many associated benefits:
- Increases circulation and oxygen to muscles
- Encourages muscle relaxation
- Increases flexibility of fibrous tissue, such as tendons, ligaments and scar tissue
- Pain relief, based on the pain gate theory (Goldberg et al, 2017)
Extremely versatile, this Equilibrium Mitt can also help ease rider aches and pains, using both the heat and massage options, either alone or simultaneously.