Touch, hearing, sight, scent, taste: the five senses? I wrote about touch last week. It is only one sense that a horse experiences. I would also add “feel/vibrations” to the list, because it isn’t just physical touch, it’s the sixth sense that something or someone is out there, or that horses feel it through the earth.
Touch can change heart rates, calm and nourish. Touch is the way we sometimes make contact when nothing else can work. I remember being in the hospital and having someone touch me in a healing way, just touch, not trying to move me, and it made all the difference in the world. 
Continue reading The importance of touch in horse work
Usually I don’t do seasonal blogs but this year, it feels special to list a number of horsey things I’m thankful for.
The closer we get to horses, the deeper our experience can become. Horses can guide us in remarkable ways. My mare Jazzie came to me in dreams for two years before I brought her home. I am in the process of learning why she wanted to be with me so much. Sometimes (probably more often than not) horses know things that we don’t know yet or that we can’t sense.
This past weekend I conducted a workshop in Corrales, New Mexico at the home of Nancy Freshour, an avid horsewoman. The three who participated were all accomplished horsewomen and really knew their horses well. 
Continue reading The art of knowing horses
Recently there has been a lot of attention in the horse press given to whether it’s best to ride a horse with a saddle or not, or even whether to ride horses. This query also extends to whether we should all ride our horses in a neck rein or bitless bridle, are all bits cruel, etc.?
These days we are inundated with information on how to manage our performance horse, geriatric horse, and what ever, usually from the companies that sell supplements. If there is a problem with your horse, there is probably a supplement designed for it.
![Sharif paying attention to work done on his neck. [Catherine Sobredo Photography]](https://horsesatliberty.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/imgp2293.jpg?w=198)
Much like people have mantras and chanting for their meditations, horses move and flow rhythmically. If we can watch, feel and be a part of their rhythms rather than imposing our own modern-day rushed rhythms on them, we will find they are much more likely to want to be with us, and will be curious about us.
You fill in the blanks. Several things could have happened here. In a perfect world, the horse is doing great. You have great energy and your horse and you are a real team. Best case, your trainer has also worked with you and your new horse to know what the trainer is doing so that you can all work on “the same page.”
Continue reading Just got my horse back from the trainer and…
Last weekend I conducted a three-hour tutorial on equine bodywork on Friday before the Spirit Horse Liberty Foundation Clinic in Jones, Oklahoma. Visiting and ranch horses were evaluated and students learned some skills in how to do bodywork on their own horses, with work on the hindquarters, shoulders and legs that translated to the spine. This work addresses the physical problems horses suffer. Among the students were an equine chiropractor, horse trainer and nurse who were all amazed as I have often been at the powerful effect of Equine Ortho-Bionomy.
Continue reading Bodywork alternatives for horses – OrthoHorse Tutorial news
