Trusted by horse owners, trainers, and equestrian professionals for over 25 years
Develop Feel. Build Partnership. Improve Performance.
Develop feel to recognize what your horse is telling you—and respond with greater confidence.
For more than 25 years, Sal Salvetti has helped horse owners, riders, and professionals develop the feel to better understand movement, comfort, and communication.
Get The Free Horse Body Awareness Guide→What Does It Mean to Develop Feel?
Developing feel is learning to recognize the subtle changes in your horse's comfort, movement, and communication before they become obvious.
It's the foundation of a more confident rider, a more comfortable horse, and a stronger partnership.
The Sal Massage Approach™ teaches horse owners, riders, and equestrian professionals how to develop feel through practical observation, body awareness, and hands-on experience.
I Didn't Start With Feel. I Learned It.
When I first entered the horse world, I didn't have a natural ability to “feel” what a horse was telling me. I had to learn it.
Through riding, grooming, studying anatomy and massage, and spending countless hours observing horses, I learned to recognize subtle changes in their bodies, movement, and responses.
That's when I realized: feel isn't something you're simply born with. It's a skill you can develop.
And that's exactly what I want to help you develop.
As you develop feel, you'll begin to notice:
Subtle changes in movement
Early signs of tension or guarding
Changes in comfort
Better balance and symmetry
How your horse communicates through movement, posture, and behavior
Start Developing Feel
Download Sal's free Horse Body Awareness Guide and learn five simple observation checks that can change the way you look at your horse.
✔ Takes about 10 minutes
✔ No experience required
✔ Start developing feel today
Join thousands of horse owners learning to develop feel.
The Academy
Learn to See. Feel. Understand.
A six-module program designed to help you develop feel through observation, body awareness, touch, movement, and hands-on learning.
Explore The Academy →What you'll learn
Every lesson helps you develop feel with greater confidence.
✓ Develop feel on the ground and in the saddle.
✓ Build a stronger partnership with your horse.
✓ Recognize subtle changes before they become bigger problems.
✓ Understand the connection between comfort, movement, and performance.
✓Learn through real horses, real demonstrations, and decades of experience.
Start Developing Feel →
After more than 25 years working with horses, Sal realized the greatest skill horse owners could develop wasn't a massage technique—it was feel.
For years, Sal noticed something others missed.
The horse was always communicating.
Small changes in movement, posture, breathing, and behavior often appeared long before bigger problems became obvious.
Over decades of working with thousands of horses, he developed a method for helping owners learn to notice those changes for themselves.
That method became The Sal Massage Approach™.
Developing Your Feel
Developing feel doesn't happen in one lesson. It grows as you learn to observe, ask better questions, and truly listen to your horse.
Start Developing Your Feel
Whether you're new to The Sal Massage Approach™ or looking to deepen your understanding, start by developing your awareness of what your horse is communicating.
Download the free Horse Awareness Guide and begin paying closer attention to the subtle cues in your horse's movement, comfort, and responses.
Start Developing Feel →Developing Feel in Action
Releasing the thoracic sling.
The pathway to relaxation and mobility while elevating and yielding the ribcage. This also affects the thoracic back, neck and shoulder. No resistance here!
Seeking mobility and comfort.
Working deeply into the base neck and shoulder. The result: total relaxation and pleasure!
Tension relief.
An active release for the lower cervical while extending the shoulder. This approach relieves tension and is the recommended way to achieve depth with greater comfort for the horse.
The more you learn
to observe,
the more your horse
can tell you.
What people are saying about
The Sal Massage Approach™
Sal focuses on the horse completely. He allows the horse to give him feedback.
— Arlene “Tuny” Page, Grand Prix rider, The Chronicle of the Horse, Molly Sorge, July 2011
It's amazing how supple and relaxed he can get a horse.
— Jane Hannigan, Grand Prix Rider
I've witnessed firsthand the transformative impact Sal has on a wide variety of horses—from young horses to high-level competition horses.
— Jacqueline Toher, Professional Trainer, Elegante Sporthorses
Sal has helped me develop a sensitivity to and empathy with my horses which has enabled me to identify physical changes early before becoming real problems.
—Kyle Kuvalanka, Adult Amateur Rider
