Poetry in Motion
‘Alternative therapy to go hand-in-hand with vet care’



KNOX — Creatures on two legs and four legs, long legs and short legs, suffer from muscle aches and pains, bumps, and sprains.

Teri Stark, a Knox native, has opened Poetry in Motion, a canine and equine massage business. Sort of like physical therapy for animals, massage is good for animals that have been injured or are arthritic, she said.
"It’s not just a luxury," said Stark. "It’s a great alternative therapy to go hand-in-hand with vet care." Her going rate for a dog starts at $30, for a horse $50. Sessions are at least an hour, she said, the length varies. Massage is good for any animal with a circulatory system, she said; it helps release toxins.
Stark recalled that she once had a baby blue jay with a leg that wasn’t working well, so she tried massaging the hurt leg. "It really helped him out," she said.

Growing up showing horses, she saw a lot of horses in pain but noticed that they would keep working, said Stark. When people get hurt, they understand when a doctor tells them to rest, but, she said, when animals get hurt, they still think that they can keep going.
"My heart went out to those horses," she said.
Stark graduated with an equine massage certification in 2003 and is now back on her family’s property in Knox, where she says she will do some of her work. She’ll also make house calls. "The main thing is to keep them calm and relaxed," she said.
Explaining that animals strain muscles just like humans do, Stark said, "A muscle is a muscle."