By Caitlin Rothermel
Since 2001, the Northwest School for Animal Massage, run by Lola Michelin and her husband, David Cota-Robles, has trained students in the art and science of animal bodywork. In 2011, the school relocated to a scenic 12-acre property north of Vashon town, and now welcomes between 80 and 120 students each year.
Some students career changers. Others are groomers, farriers, trainers, or vet techs. And then there are local animal lovers, who want to learn how to work on their own horses or dogs. “It’s primarily a career training program,” Michelin says, “but students come from all walks of life.”
The school offers a hybrid model – students take online courses and also come to the Island for hands-on training. “The foundation level is 200 hours,” Michelin explains. “In Washington State, we have a minimum of 300 hours and some specific requirements to get the license.” Most students complete their training in 8 to 12 months, depending on their pace.
Over time, the school has created ripple effects across the Island. “We do have a number of graduates on Vashon who either have their own practices or help with the school,” says Michelin. Community members often volunteer their dogs or horses for practice sessions. “People from all over Vashon bring their dogs for class. It’s really fun for us because we get to know the community through their dogs.”
The practice of equine massage has deep roots. “Horse massage is probably as old as horses,” says Michelin. “The first evidence we have is in Chinese texts, when they would prepare horses for battle using massage and acupressure techniques.”
Later, in the early years of English horse racing, grooms were responsible for getting horses ready for the race, and helping them to recover, using massage. “They would sometimes even wrap towels around their hands like boxing gloves to work over the horse’s muscles,” Michelin says.
At Michelin’s school, students learn to tailor massage based on an animal’s temperament and body type. One elective course, for example, teaches horse temperament typing through the lens of Chinese medicine; see the figure accompanying this article for a summary.
These days, the school offers training in foundational as well as performance massage for sport horses and dogs, acupressure, and rehabilitation for animals recovering from injury.
This summer, the school will host a new kind of gathering: the Cosmic Cowgirl Camp.
The idea came to Michelin in a dream, following a retreat studying equine-assisted learning in Arizona, “I had this vision that there are women who, as adults, don’t get to go to camp and just have fun like we did when we were kids. Even if you’re not a cowgirl, there’s a cowgirl in you.”
As Michelin sees it, the cowgirl spirit blends nurturing with resolve. “We all, as women, have to be strong sometimes – but strong in the soft way that we’re capable of. Firm, but very nurturing. That’s a cowgirl trait.”
The horses will be present at Cowgirl Camp, not as the focus, but as companions and guides. “You learn so much from a horse … how you handle space, how you can influence something in your environment,” Michelin says. “Horses are unique in that they have tremendously large electromagnetic fields. From 30 feet away, you’re already influencing them, and they’re influencing you. For a lot of people, horses are a calming presence.”
What can Cosmic Campers expect? Yoga and meditation with horses in the background, trailblazing, knot-tying clinics, foraging walks, fence-mending. And of course, campfires and reflective time on the land. There will also be a cosmology component where guests will learn their personality archetypes and explore their inner “Cosmic Cowgirl,” using historical figures like Annie Oakley. “She was a sacred rebel,” Michelin explains, “She was an earth-tender, a protector of horses.”
The one-, two-, and three-night camps each focus on a different theme: Consciousness, Compassion, and Contribution, respectively. “Being present is a skillset now,” Michelin says. “We don’t get to practice it a lot in today’s society, because we’re always maybe worrying about the past and looking ahead to the future, or thinking about obligations that we have and not taking the time to just be fully present.”
Platform tents are provided, bunkhouse-style, and no horse experience is needed. The goal is for participants to rediscover the cowgirl spirit inside. “Even if you’ve never touched a horse in their life, you can still recognize that strength, that courageousness and grit that we think of when we think of the iconic cowgirl.”
Early bird camp registration is open through June 15th, and you can visit https://cosmiccowgirlcamp.com/ or nwsam.com to learn more about the camp or massage school.
