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‘High tech to high touch’
6/24/2009 10:37:35 AM
Splash Staff Writer
Profiles:
Erica Curless
A year ago Erica Curless' days consisted of investigative reporting on county politics or writing stories on families dealing with domestic violence.
 Curless |
"A lot of my co-workers thought I was crazy, and I heard a lot of jokes about how to get a horse on the massage table," Curless said.
Last October, a couple of weeks before she graduated from equine massage school, she received notice that she was laid off from the Spokane-based newspaper. So the 33-year-old Liberty Lake resident started a business called Dog and Pony Show Massage (an ode to the politics she covered for years in Kootenai County) with a clientele of performance horses and dogs.
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Curless is now consumed with a different type of research - how massage can help horses and dogs perform to the best of their ability.
She describes her career change as going from "high tech to high touch."
"The main difference is that I'm now doing something very organic with my hands," Curless said. "It's so rewarding and different than my past jobs."
The change took Curless back to her roots and toward crafting a career in a childhood passion - horses. Curless said she has loved writing and horses from as far back as she can remember.
"Pretty much my entire life I've wanted to be a journalist," she said. "When I was 8 or 9, I interviewed my horses and grandparents and published my own newspaper on carbon copy."
Marianne Love, who has known Curless since her childhood and served as her high school English teacher and mentor, said the career change has opened new doors for her past student and friend.
"As much as I was proud of her achievements in journalism, I am thrilled that Erica made the change," Love said. "I see total enthusiasm and excitement in her because she's doing something different every day. Plus this has allowed her to make a whole lot of new connections in a lifelong arena."
Since Curless grew up riding fast horses, she said she understands the need for their muscles to be working properly to get their jobs done. Using a light touch based in Shiatsu (a finger pressure-type of massage), Curless said her work brings attention to muscle groups so that they can adjust themselves.
"These animals get the same kind of tension, soreness and strain that human athletes do," she said. "There's not a professional athlete that doesn't have massage as some part of their training regimen to improve their movement and keep their muscles working properly."
Gena Loper, owner of the Post Falls Equestrian Center, said that Curless does a lot of Monday massages on the horses who have been to weekend shows.
"Erica is very soft-spoken when she's working with the horses. She moves very slowly, and that in and of itself helps them relax," Loper said. "They look like they're being hugged to death."
Curless said her skills as a journalist - especially asking lots of questions and explaining things in simple terms - have helped build her clientele. She hopes to further combine her two passions in the future by writing about the benefits of animal massage. But in the meantime, she's challenging herself by learning the basics of polo at the Spokane Polo Club and would like to start barrel racing again.
She is currently collaborating with her dad, who trains border collies to herd livestock, to learn different exercises and therapies for dogs.
As the name of her business indicates, Curless also works on the canine variety, including an Australian Shepherd dog named Teton who qualified for Nationals last year. Owner John Knepper of Spokane Valley said that Teton was kicked by a cow and believes she suffered some nerve damage, but she has experienced good results after each massage session, when Teton is a "new dog" with tremendous amount of energy and more flexibility.
"Erica's got a calming effect. Her demeanor tends to relax the animals and it's like she is putting the muscles back where they belong," he said. "All three of my dogs love her. One of them is extremely shy around humans, but she really took to Erica."
One of the aspects of Curless' newly learned skills not only benefits animals but helps people reach their full potential as well. Last winter, Curless started volunteering her time with Free Rein, a therapeutic riding program for disabled people of all ages.
She initially got involved by giving free massages to the program's horses. She said that even though the horses just walk, they work extremely hard to carry riders that are unbalanced. Soon she started helping with the riders as well, serving as a side-walker along the horse.
"Most of the riders aren't in control of their bodies, but it's so empowering for them to be able to ride," Curless said. "It's good socially to ride with others and meet other people and to bond with the animal. I just wish I could do it all the time because it's so much fun."
Love said that it's exciting to see Curless return to her roots.
"I've often told people that you evolve, and what you learned in the past fits into what you do in the future," Love said. "You always do what you know, and Erica knows horses."
Profiles:
Erica Curless
Age
33
Business
Dog and Pony Show Massage
Family
Husband, Matt Folwell
Animals
Quarter Horse mare, Tad
Miniature mule, LeRoy
Dogs, Toby and Dakota
Cat, Sam
Lived in Liberty Lake
Almost six years
Hometown
Dover, Idaho
Education
Journalism degree from University of Montana
Certification from Prairie Winds Equine Massage Therapy College (Wellington, Colo.)
Most unusual animal she's massaged
Chicken