Building Resilience Until Death Do Us Part

Animals do not like to exhibit pain, as it signals weakness to their predators. In Ortho-Bionomy and Equine Body Balance, we look at the health of the individual, not the illness or dysfunction. People want to tell us about their horse’s ills but basically we are supporting the health so it can grow and foster life.

Besides the work Equine Body Balance does to build resiliency, in both equine and human, it is also useful for assisting with the transitioning from life to death and quality of life. The work is helpful in determining if an animal has the life force to continue living or is ready to pass on. It is also helpful to the owner to assess the animal’s end of life care.

Many times the owner wants to find out if the animal wants to live. The animal may want to see if I can help. With some bodywork, the horse may find that it wants to stick around a little longer, or it may find that it can’t muster the life force to keep it on earth. Sometimes the message from our loved ones is unequivocable: I’m ready to go. Sometimes the animal does not want to leave its owner or its lovely life and is holding on.

Another issue we can consider having to decide how/what to treat. Take for instance, an older gelding who has a few health issues, but the cure or treatment for one is causing others to erupt and be more life threatening. In this case an owner needs to make decisions as to the horse’s health care that may mean choosing alternative options.

In Part III of Tenets of Equine Health, we will explore  some other areas of equine care that are highly important:

• Noticing signs of pain – mouth, eyes, nostrils, face, posture.
• The importance of movement
• Demeanor – personality changes; animals in pain may react suddenly, bite, kick or lunge, or be listless.

This course is not a replacement for veterinary care, but a complement to it. Diagnoses are the province of veterinarians.

Understanding what horse health looks like gives owners and equine professionals a better sense of the whole horse, to recognize what might be going on – and what to be concerned about.

In this class we will learn some techniques and skills to use to support horses in the meantime, pre- and post-veterinary intervention.

This class may be valuable for Owners and professionals – –

• Those interested in elder and hospice care for equines
• Those interested in recognizing the signs of wellness and illness
• May want help with making end of life decisions for their equines

Equine Professionals:

• Bodyworkers, animal communicators or other interested parties
• An elective study group for Ortho-Bionomy
• A program requirement for the Equine Body Balance Practitioner Program

Class is three hours Zoom time – includes homegrown videos, photos and outline with pertinent article links.

July 27th, 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. Mountain Time. Zoom will make adjustments for other time zones.