Horses are fearful by nature; they are flight animals. How we address fear in the horse has to be a very fluid and dynamic thing because not all horses will respond to the same approach. A frightened horse is potentially dangerous because they are hard wired to flee or react suddenly when frightened.
For a number of years now, I’ve been doing distance bodywork on horses and people. Honestly, it doesn’t matter how far away those horses are, they can still greatly benefit from this help both anatomically and physiologically.
From the standpoint of a bodyworker, when the horse has “had enough” is pretty obvious. But even so, students will continue to press on an area and worry over it even when the horse has moved away. Why don’t they see it? Feel it?
In the beginning there was the herd. The herd traveled as one; each member had its own thoughts but they thought as one being when deciding where to move, when to move, where to eat, to drink, what to do if a predator approached. Their days flowed together and were designed around the quest for food, shelter and space. They shared a language that consisted of body language, sounds, just thinking a desire.
Recently I have been concerned about how people and horses come together, and how we “read” what horses are telling us.
(Okay, if you really want to, you can get off to sleep and for meals, if you think it’s necessary.) 
Continue reading 10 tips to riding horseback for the rest of your life
In my previous post, I talked about physical exercises for horses during winter, to avoid “wild and crazy horse behavior.” In this post I’d like to talk about using bodywork to support your horse at any time, but I think it’s very appropriate right now, when movement is difficult for horses because of the footing and the cold weather.
Continue reading Cold hooves, warm heart – holistic equine care for the cold weather
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.
