Certification Course $449
Introductory Rate
Introductory Rate
What IS Equine Functional Tape? (Hint: It’s Not Just Fancy Tape)
Let’s answer this straight.
Equine Functional Tape is not “human kinesiology tape, but on a horse.” And it’s not a random roll of sticky fabric you slap on and hope for the best.
Equine Functional Tape is a purpose-built tape system engineered specifically for horses—because the horse is the point. Their hair, skin, sweat, movement patterns, workload, environment, and biomechanics are different. So the tape has to be different, too.
Why this tape exists (and why it’s different)
I developed this tape while I was the owner of Equi-Tape (and before that, a partner in the company). It wasn’t created in a lab by people guessing what horses “might” need.
It was built the hard way:
- Years of listening to customers tell us what failed, what irritated skin, what wouldn’t stay on, what wouldn’t release, what didn’t hold up in real barns and real weather.
- Years of watching where taping methods broke down when you tried to apply “human tape rules” to a 1,200 lb athlete with hair, movement, and forces that don’t compare.
- Hundreds of small structural changes—again and again—until the tape became the most effective version I could possibly build for horses.
That’s why we call it functional.
Because it’s designed to do a job—reliably.
A tape lineup built for real equine goals (not one-size-fits-all)
Most taping systems try to make one tape do everything.
We don’t.
We use two different tapes, because horses need two different categories of performance depending on the goal.
1) The 2-Way Stretch Tape: long-wear, gentle, and ridiculously useful
This is the tape that surprises people the most.
It’s designed to last for weeks when applied correctly. Not hours. Not “maybe a few days if you’re lucky.” Weeks.
It’s built to be extremely effective for horses because it supports functional goals like:
- Decompression and comfort support
- Neurosensory input and proprioceptive feedback
- Fascia-focused applications
- Circulation/lymphatic-style support (when appropriate)
And here’s a big differentiator that matters in the real world:
The adhesive is strong enough to hold, but engineered to release if the human overstretches the tape.
Why does that matter? Because the #1 reason tape fails (or creates problems) is user error—pulling too hard, too often, in the wrong places.
This tape is designed to hold up in real conditions and to help prevent the most common “oops” that happens when someone is learning.
2) The 4-Way Stretch Tape: tensile strength for true support and biomechanics
This is not “stretchier tape for fun.”
This tape is built with multidirectional stretch and tensile strength so it can do the work horses actually demand from it.
That includes goals like:
- Supporting tendons and ligaments
- Stabilizing joints and structures
- Supporting bones and mechanical lines of force
- Influencing biomechanics when the application objective calls for it
Horses don’t move in one plane. They load, twist, compress, and rebound through the entire body.
So when the goal is support and structural influence, you need a tape that’s engineered for that reality.
“Functional” isn’t a buzzword here—it's a standard
When we say EquiTecs Functional Taping (EFT), we mean:
- Motion-first: we care what changes in the horse, not what the tape looks like.
- Objective-driven: every application has a purpose (support, decompression, activation, relaxation, etc.).
- Protocol-based: you’re not memorizing patterns—you’re learning a repeatable process.
And the tape is built to match that standard.
Because if the tape isn’t designed for horses, the method can’t be consistent.
What this means for you in the Certification Course
If you’ve been curious about EFT, this is the “missing piece” most people don’t realize:
the modality and the tape were developed together.
So in the certification, you won’t just learn where to stick tape.
You’ll learn:
- How to choose the right tape (2-way vs 4-way) based on the goal
- How to apply it in a way that holds, performs, and releases appropriately
- How to use a motion-first process so you can make decisions in real cases
- How to avoid the common mistakes that make people think “tape doesn’t work”
If you’re here because you want results you can repeat—not tape that looks pretty on a demo horse—you’re in the right place.
If you have any further questions or need additional help, do not hesitate to reach out. We are here to help.