Aug 11, 2008

Making Me Uncomfortable

Finally, someone is suing a state over the issue of horse massaging.
Mercedes Clemens is certified to massage humans, but she claims the state of Maryland is keeping her from her first love: Massaging horses.

She shut down her equine massage practice in a Washington suburb after state officials told her state law only allows veterinarians to perform such services.

Now she's suing two state agencies, saying regulators are unfairly barring registered massage therapists who want to practice on animals.

I'm going to sue Clemens for making me uncomfortable.



"This isn't just a career for me, it's my passion," Clemens said. "If I was independently wealthy and I didn't need an income, I would do this for nothing. That's how much I love it."

Oh, fuck me. This just went way beyond uncomfortable. Clemens is now in creepy lady land.

4 comments:

Jezcabelle said...

So as a random massage therapist I feel compelled to mention that equine massage is legit. The horses perform better in the races if they are able to better physically recover without increased stress to the muscles just like human athletes. It is big business, as a therapist you can make far more working on racehorses than humans. Keeping it out of the hands of therapists in those states just keeps the money in the hands of the vets. To give you a comparison - I charge $60/hr for my patients, $100/hr for athletes; the equine therapists I know charge around $200/hr and they usually contract with stables/owners so they will see a couple of horses a day. If someone walked in and took that kind of income away I'd fight it too.

Dave Anthony said...

Interesting. I won't rewrite the story because it still creeps me out, but interesting.

Jezcabelle said...

Oh I dig that is creeps you out - I'm not asking for a rewrite, I just wanted to be sure you had some more information. You've never struck me as the kind of guy to turn down information. I was just professionally compelled to offer the idea that her situation is way less Catherine the Great & way more losing income opportunity,

Dave Anthony said...

I appreciate it. I never would have guessed people massage horses. Now I know. And I've always know the veterinarian cartel was evil.