Page 18 - December 2016 Thoroughbred Highlight

Following Her Dreams
Growing up in Mississauga, Ontario Marguerite didn’t have access to horses like kids who live in the countryside. The closest she could get to
the animals she most loved were the horses at the racetrack.
Hailing from Liverpool, England, the home of Aintree Racecourse and the world famous Grand National,
it wasn’t a stretch for her father to agree to take his young daughter to Woodbine and they went as often as they could.
Marguerite completed school and trained to be a Dental Assistant however after a while she realized that sitting across from her boss all the time wasn’t very appealing. Wanting to remain in the health care eld Marguerite began working as an Executive Assistant at the multinational Pharmaceutical company, Novartis working out of their Lens Care Facility in Mississauga.
However it was the death of the beloved Brigadier, the Toronto Police Horse that was struck by a vehicle, that would open the pathway to a new direction in Marguerite’s life.
Saddened by the senseless death of such a noble stead, Marguerite was ipping through the archived photos of Brigadier and noticed information on equine massage.
“Vet school was not in cards,” said Marguerite candidly, “When I found out about equine massage and realized that I could do something that would help horses I knew I had to nd a way to make it happen.”
Working with horses was something she had coveted and with the support of her newly wed husband, Chris Jaglowitz,, Marguerite enrolled in the equine massage therapy program at the D’AL School of Equine Massage Therapy (D’Arcy Lane Institute of Massage Therapy) in London, Ontario in September 2007.
“My husband attended an information session with me,” recalled Marguerite, “On the drive home, seeing how excited I was he said ‘Oh why not just follow your heart?’ so I did.”
The condensed two year program consisted of 12 hour days Monday to Wednesday. After the rst year Marguerite began working as a hotwalker during
the summer months for trainer John LeBlanc Jr. at Woodbine. And as sort of a self imposed internship, Marguerite would practice her massage teachings on the LeBlanc trainees. “It would give me con dence to work with the horses and have John tell me what he felt that day with each horse he was riding.” noted
Marguerite who massaged horses such as Moonlit Beauty and Bugs Boy, “He could tell if there was a difference the next day.”
By the summer of 2009 Marguerite had graduated the D’al program and continued to work with John Le Blanc Jr. while completing the required vet hours she needed to obtain her designation as Registered Equine Massage Therapist with the IFREMT, an organization dedicated to the advancement of the equine massage therapy profession. www.ifremt.org
In 2010 Marguerite of cially launched her business, Equine Edge Massage Therapy, and began calling on trainers at Woodbine racetrack.
“I have some pleasure horse clients, dressage horse clients, hunter/jumper horse clients, and I even worked with the
Four year-old gelding Salvation Show with Marguerite Old (right) and Trainer Katerina Vassilieva.
Thoroughbred Highlight - Page 18 - December 2016