Many times people ask me what to expect in an Ortho-Bionomy session, either for themselves or their animal. That’s a broad question, because it will depend largely on what is going on in the body at the time of treatment.
Continue reading What to expect in an Ortho-Bionomy session – for people or animals!
The other day I was working with our gelding, Patches, on a liberty ritual that involves a pile of hay and him walking to me rather than to the hay. We then walk to the hay together, and include stops and sometimes backing up on our way there.
“Can you hear me now?” was a phrase in a popular advertisement for cell phones years ago. I recall being at a ride where I had to climb to the top of a big hill to get any connection. The beauty of that was everybody there made one phone call at the end of the day and the rest of the time no one could reach us and we didn’t bother to reach them. Our horses and our friends who were present got all our attention.
Continue reading Can you hear me now? Quality time with your horse
In the beginning of horse liberty work, there are rituals to follow such as: Sit with your horse. Wait until he/she engages with you. Keep him away from you if he gets too bossy, etc. The idea behind this is what is important: in doing this and the other rituals you are establishing a bond that has the potential to deepen your bond or change it if necessary.
But why does one person succeed in getting that horse to move off and another has trouble doing it? Why is our own personal energy so different?
Continue reading Establish an energetic connection with your horse
Happy New Year!
Between breaking the ice in the water tanks or dealing with tank heaters, regular maintenance such as hoof care and illnesses, there is always something to do for horses in winter. Complicating matters here in the Southwest has been the extreme cold lately. The following is an update of an article I wrote in my newsletter of January/February 2011.
Winter solstice begins today and lasts through Christmas Day, December 25th. What we have this year is an alignment of the planets with the sun and the beginning of a new era for this planet we live on.
This Discovery News Channel headline: “Dogs Sent to Newtown to Comfort Grieving” caught my eye.
“Discovery News – A team of specially trained dogs just journeyed 800 miles to help grieving children and adults at funerals and other gatherings this week in Newtown, Conn.
Continue reading Interspecies bonds provide a comforting presence
A lot of times owners ask me if their horse or dog is in pain. Generally they don’t ask about their family members because people can verbalize their pain. When I work on humans I rely heavily on what they tell me as far as pain goes, and how it’s going – is it getting better, worse, is there any change whatsoever?
I have been thinking a lot about how people approach competition with horses and how to nurture our relationships with our horses while we are asking them to perform for us. The reason why is because a lot of times horses experience burnout, as a result of their humans pushing for some kind of success.
Recently I have heard this expression “cowgirl up!” told to horse owners who are not coming forward in their leadership with their horses. Among some trainers and clinicians, it is meant to be helpful, but for many women and some gentle men, it only serves to make them feel insecure about their leadership around their horses. It usually involves being chastised for not “making” your horse do something he is supposed to (in human terms). I know when this was first posed to me it made all my insecurities surrounding being credible come rearing up and made me into a quivering mass of jelly. Women in particular can have difficulty speaking up and that ability in a relationship with a horse is necessary, even though speaking up is going to take a different form.
