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August 26, 2024
APPLETON – Klara Rosenthal – owner of Silent Symphony, LLC – said someone recently asked her what the most rewarding part of her job was.
“Watching a horse’s features soften as they release tension and relax into the massage and/or pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy is gratifying,” she said. “Knowing a horse isn’t in as much pain and feeling like themselves again is the reason why I started equine massage.”
Rosenthal said she earned her equine massage certification this past spring, registered her business and has since taken the reins on a career performing therapeutic treatments on horses across the state.”
“It’s the same as what you would do for athletes, or anybody who’s having issues with their muscles – except I’m doing it on horses,” she said. “I try to relieve their pain, tension, inflammation – any of the stuff that they may be struggling with – with a holistic approach as opposed to a medical approach.”
While working on all breeds – primarily on athletic horses, but on some trail and “backyard” horses as well – Rosenthal said she applies her equine massage techniques, supplementary PEMF therapy and professional icing services – particularly to soothe horses after shows and competitions.
“The most common issues I treat are sore or tight muscles because horses will stretch their muscles and become pretty much as hard as rock,” she said. “That causes them to not have full range of motion and move the way they need to move.”
Rosenthal said she’ll be expanding Silent Symphony’s range of services this fall once she’s attained additional certifications and training, but has cherished her early, fundamental experience and clients.
“I enjoy the relief that the horse has and the relief that the owners get,” she said. “I am definitely the kind of person who wants to keep everybody comfortable – and to give (horse owners) the knowledge they are looking for as well.”
Classical training
Rosenthal said her serious interest in horses began when she was about 10 years old when her family moved to a small hobby farm with a barn set up for stalls.
“I always wanted a horse, but now we had the property,” she said. “I went on Craigslist and found horses in a budget that I could afford, and then went from there.”
Rosenthal said the female horse she selected appeared healthy, yet she was “scared of everything” – hardly an ideal state for bonding and training, when even brushing and touching caused the horse agitation and distress.
“She came from a situation that wasn’t the greatest for her skeletal and muscular development, so she has a lot of issues that we’re still working through,” she said. “The veterinarians wanted to prescribe her drugs to keep her muscles loose and to give a calming supplement as well, but she did not take to any of those like we expected her to. So then I started looking at a holistic approach.”
Rosenthal said her research led her to the world of equine therapeutic massage.
“I saw the amount of relief that my horse was in,” she said. “She totally relaxed – and she’d never relaxed in her life, just because her muscles were so tense. Watching the massage therapist get my horse to relax and get her to actually – in a sense – use her brain and start thinking because she wasn’t in so much pain for the first time since I had known her – that was a really big deal to me. I decided pretty much that day that I wanted to help other horse owners feel the relief that I felt, and help horses feel the relief that I saw with my own horse.”
Rosenthal said online instructional videos helped her to try massage techniques on her own, but she recognized her shortcomings from a lack of professional training.
“I didn’t understand the different levels of pressure, and how long to hold a trigger point or what I was looking for in a (tension) release,” she said. “Having that professional massage therapist come out and work on your horse – your horse will respond differently than to the owner doing it at home.”
While working to complete a degree in business management, Rosenthal said she found an equine massage certification program in southeastern Wisconsin.
She said she was specifically seeking intense, hands-on training, but just as importantly she sought solid comprehension of the therapy’s methodology – insights she can now share with her clients.
“I like to understand the ‘why’ behind why things work,” she said. “When horse owners have those questions like, ‘why should I use the Magnawave (PEMF machine)?’ Or, ‘why should I have my horse on a monthly schedule for massage?’ Or, ‘why are you pressing so hard in one area versus the other?’ – I try to answer those to the best of my ability, which is also backed by science and logic.”
Rosenthal said her training also entailed the thorough anatomical study of horses’ muscles, joints and bones – systems working complexly and quietly in concert – which in turn inspired the name of her practice.
“Learning about the body and the biomechanics of how horses work – it’s really like a symphony because one thing can’t work without the other,” she said. “I like classical music as well. I used to play violin growing up.”
Silent Symphony, Rosenthal said, is composed solely of her, and though this venture is relatively new it has already played out part of her dream – providing equine therapy with a more natural, and less invasive and expensive approach.
She said she’s been able to spare clients’ costly procedures and X-rays with her methods.
“I’m not a vet, so I can’t diagnose anything, but I can make recommendations,” she said. “In the training that I received, we were taught to feel for imperfections, knots, broken muscles and scar tissue and all of that kind of stuff. I was taught to look for those things first versus jumping to, ‘well, maybe it’s a neurological issue or a broken bone.’”
Her services, Rosenthal said, are typically most effective when she’s able to treat horses regularly – and when she’s able to impart wisdom from her training to her clients.
“I’m definitely a building block to helping those horses, but if you’re not maintaining that good connection and good atmosphere with the horse, they’re going to revert back to their old ways or that old tension again,” she said. “I definitely help in getting the horses over some of that initial trauma.”
Encore
To treat even more issues, injuries and traumas, Rosenthal said this fall she will pursue an additional equine therapy certification for several services, including:
- Red light therapy
- Kinesiology taping
- Cupping therapy
- Cold laser therapy
- Additional PEMF education
Rosenthal said she’s grateful Silent Symphony’s clients have been anything but silent about the work she does.
She said clients have been spreading the word about her patience, thorough care and measured recommendations for treatment throughout the state and beyond.
Though she’s only occasionally worked with clients outside of Wisconsin, Rosenthal said she is looking to expand her network and services much further.
“If everything goes the way I’m expecting it to go, in about seven years I plan on working internationally at world shows and competitions,” she said. “That’s my biggest, longer-term goal that I have currently.”
Shorter term, Rosenthal said she’ll simply relish the opportunities of working with horses full-time and purveying the potential of equine massage.
“Having a professional masseuse come out and work on your horse – I have seen it change the attitudes of some horses,” she said. “Just providing relief and answers to the horse and the owners is the most rewarding part – and the whole reason why I got into it.”
Though her original interest in horses may have been borne of a sense of escapism, Rosenthal said her career has “opened up a world” for her in a social sense as well.
“A massage usually takes 60 to 90 minutes and most of the time (the owner and I) are talking – either about the horse and what they do, the most recent trail ride they went on or their most recent competitions,” she said. “So I try to get personal with my clients, just because it does bring that sense of community.”
To learn more about Silent Symphony, LLC and equine therapy, visit its Facebook page.
