Luna and Bella

Luna

Luna is a fiery redhead. Who only advance riders are permitted on. Her story inspires many though. Luna when she was just a month old almost lost her leg and life when she was entangled in a fence when she was only a month old. The rope fence left horribly painful scars. Pain which made her very cranky and nasty for most of her life. Imagine yourself being in tremendous pain and having people wanting to ride on your back. How would you feel about that? So we had to wait till she was full grown to do much riding with her.

We had to use DMSO on her scar tissue to break it up. An old horseman's trick. DMSO breaks up scar tissue and coats the nerve fibers so it also helps with pain. We also did shock treatments on the scars. Dr Agle from Buckeye Veterinary clinic has one that was used to break up kidney stones. Which he uses on scar tissue. I brought him a book on neurofacsial injections on humans. He had done a similar treat meant called messo therapy. So he was willing to try it. It involves injecting large amounts of lidocane into the scar tissue. To break up the adhesion and numb the nerves. In doing so they can slow down the firing of the pain signals. I had seen it work when I worked at the Ohio rehab center in canton. When Dr Djurich was still there.

The results were impressive. After the first treatment you could see were she could lift her foot when she moved instead of dragging the toe on the ground as she previously did. The video of that convinced some of the other vets in his clinic that were a little skeptical of the theory and actions of breaking up and treating scar tissue. Myself as a massage therapist had seen in on humans many times. On how scar tissue could cause a lot of pain at the site and in other places. Its why I like the myofacial release technique so much when treating old injuries and scars.

After the treatments she is like a new horse. She isn't the super love muffin she was as a baby. But the grouchy don't touch me for any reason rank mare is gone.

Bella

This is Bella, another example of a horse who needed healing therapy. You see, when a horse gets to this stage no amount of training or “desensitizing” as horse trainers call it would help. Imagine a veteran with PTSD trying to send him back to boot camp or basic training. Trying to “Train” the PTSD out of them. It doesn’t work on horses or humans much. Usually what you get when you do that is a hardening of the emotions of the horse or human so they don’t experience anything much. Humans get what some people call the 1000 mile stare. Horses with it are what’s called “dull” even though they can feel a fly land on them you can try to thump them all you want for a reaction and the horse doesn’t seem to react nothing gets to them. Thankfully the more in tune horse trainers now work with gentling and starting techniques instead of the old fashion “breaking” Let me ask you what do you think they “break” during that? The will they call it. They spirit also the mental and emotion and the soul. It breaks those so they can have control over the physical body of the horse. These “breaking” Techniques work but the result is an animal that is doing something because it fears retribution instead of a willing partner that has all of its facilities “whole”. A horse that is whole mentally physically, emotionally and spiritually. Faces challenges differently than one that is broke through experience. For example our soldiers when they go into the military. They are whole certain training techniques are applied to break them down and rebuild them mold them into what they will need to survive battle or war. This has an effect on all that go through it. A comradery is produced and they are prepped in a very systematic way. When they go to their assignments through experience sometimes very difficult often extreme experiences they are changed. They gather sometimes physical damage mental damage and spiritual damage. Since we are three part beings. Many don’t want to admit that there is a soul or spirit. That it can be damaged. Let alone that it can be damaged or even greater still than that. There are techniques to help heal that. That is my area’ of expertise over the years. Yes we have spirits or souls yes they can get damaged and yes over time and through specific work repair can be done. That is the main difference in our facility. We offer help with all three.

Bella had a different version she was the opposite of dull she was what I call shattered. The least little thing would set her off. Boom she would blow up and do what horses do run from what was scaring her. I finally realized why my one friend didn’t take any off the track thoroughbreds because many of them have similar reactions and they are fast when they react. Many people that don’t know horses well think they are trained to ride. So they can take them off the track and ride them. Some you might be able to do that with. But most fall back on their training and instincts. Which means they are born and bred to run. They are also trained to run. Not much else. So if you aren’t well experienced with a horse that is born and bred to run you’re in for a wild ride.. I was asked to do energy work on Bella at a different stable. I use a mixture of energy’s since I am trained in many. Reiki, Qi Gong, Christian hands on healing and some healing energy’s the swami I studied with taught me plus multiple other healing systems. In working with the horse the owner noticed a difference. She asked could I do a lot more with the horse? Make a big difference. I said probably nothing is carved in stone when you are working with healing techniques. But it would take at least a week to see a big difference. Maybe a month. It takes time. I know people hate to hear it. But it takes the time it takes. In our fast paced world dominated by clocks and calendars. Most people don’t like that answer. But I would rather be honest with someone. Instead of making up unreasonable time tables. She agreed and sent her horse over to me for the healing therapies to be applied. Well this horse was afraid of everything and in the horse world it's called a blow up. Their brains lock up because of some perceived threat and they go into instinct mode. Different thing trigger this in people and horses. Sometimes it’s a loud noise or a quick movement or something new. With Bella It was pretty much anything and everything. You never knew what was going to send her flying. She would sometimes run into things. Sometimes through them or jump over them and head for the hills. This was not a minor case. Simple energy work that we do wasn’t going to help at this level. I have been training on spiritual healing techniques my whole life. Ever since I was 18. It takes a lot of time experience and specific training to do it. If you are not well trained in it. I always suggest leaving it to someone that has. For both your benefit and others. I have 30 years of training and only under specific guidance started doing the advance work in the last few years. Anyhow I planned on doing one or two techniques a day to see how she would respond. The first day I worked on her twice. The second day the horse actually looked different to me. Its something I have seen before but with her it was quicker. Many others that have had horses over here have said the same thing. Their eyes change the way they hold themselves change etc. I went to put her halter on and she didn’t toss her head just allowed me to put it on her and she walked up to the arena. Not pranced looking in every direction quickly trying to see what was about to attack her like she had the day before. I could see the healing therapies changing her. But how do you “Prove” a horse has responded to healing work. I used to teach obstacle course work. How to teach horses how to accept obstacles and then go over them. Almost every obstacle tends to get harder. Bella didn’t like any of them the day before. I thought what if I proceed to take her over progressively harder obstacles to show how much she has come along. Traditionally you can introduce the horse to it and using pressure and release techniques you can get a horse over them in a short amount of time. This type of training had been tried in various forms with little luck. This horse had a LONG history of blowing up and hurting itself at the pressure and release technique. So much so she had flipped over backward and crushed her spinal bones that horse people call the withers. When they tried to force her to load in a trailer. She was one that developed a major aversion to trailers. She had Multiple injuries and multiple vet calls each year type of horse. Most people don’t keep them long because. They cost a fortune in vet bills. Which she had over the years. Bella has been injury free for many years. The only vet call in the past 4 was over an infection in her leg. She tore it up especially the lymphatic channels during her last race. It has had swelling problems ever since.

Back to proving the horse was better. I took her to a six inch high bridge. Its 4x8 wide since it’s a ¾ inch plywood deck on top of 6x6’s . For my own safety I took her over on a 10 foot lead rope. Let her walk up to it then asked her to walk over it. She sniffed it snorted at it then walked over it in both directions on the lead rope. Horses have to be shown something in each direction their brain doesn’t share info the way ours does. So its actually new to them on both directions or both sides of their body. I then took the lead rope off and slid one finger through her halter. I asked with one fingers pressure in each direction. She complied. I had my proof. Each day I did one or two sessions with her and each day added a new obstacle. I worked up to the dreaded plastic bag and walking over a blue tarp. Same thing each day with her. Once over with a lead rope. Once over with a finger in her halter to guide her in each direction. Up to the point where she would load the same way in a trailer. The trailer was a trauma source to her. Like many horses she was beaten to get into the trailer. She even flipped over once when she was being forced to get in. If I got a beating or butt whipping every time I got near something. I wouldn’t want to go near it either. You can “train” the horse to accept it. But put your self in the horses shoes. Would you rather heal the trauma so you can willingly get in a trailer. Or be trained to accept the fear that comes with getting on a trailer every time… ? It’s a different approach. One that takes a lot of time and experience to acquire. But we have found it works for us. A healing approach over training. Along with tools to deal with things when they come up. Anyhow the owner came out after a week to pick up her horse. She was amazed at the transformation. At first not believing me until she saw the horse handle all the obstacles with ease. With me just using one finger in her halter. The final one was the trailer. She would walk up and step up onto the trailer without blowing up and kicking the crap out of the sides of it. A major step forward. The owner knew the horse had changed drastically. I said get your gear on and ride her. So she tacked her up and rode her. After letting her make a couple laps to get comfortable. I said I meant over the obstacles to prove to you how they don’t bother her anymore. Her face went pale at this suggestion so she went over the easy ones to start. After that I said take her over the tarp? All of a sudden the horse started acting scared at the tarp. Because the rider was scared. Horses mirror whats in us. I said that horse isn’t afraid of that tarp. YOU ARE….. Now quit telling her with your emotions and energy that there is something to be afraid of. Because she believes you. She knows you wont lie to her. ( Horses are prey animals with a very keen sense of feelings. Those that didn’t develop keen feelings and instincts of danger in the past ended up dinner to a predator. The ones that had a keen sense of feelings lived to pass that ability to their offspring.)

I said she doesn’t mind the bridge at all. Ride once more over it then over the tarp but clear your “feelings” That she will have a problem with it. Ride over it like she has ridden over it a thousand times. Look forward where you want to go… Just like that they went over without a hesitation without her scooting sideways at the last second like she always did with her before. Bella went over all the obstacles and quit being terrified and reacting at everything. Her owner was amazed at turn around. I explained when a being is whole body mind and spirit. We react differently. We come at things with confidence. When our souls are fractured even small things scare us. Bella had other obstacles to overcome with her owner. Which took time . Although we helped with the healing and speeding up healing time. It isn’t an instantaneous thing. Healing takes time. But it is possible. When I bring horses in for the intensive indigenous style healing. We do an intake info on them before we agree to work with them. For our safety and theirs. We also make sure the home they are in will be a safe and permanent one. We don’t find it fair to remove a horse’s natural protection to past abuse. Unless it will be in a place it won’t be needed.