Q: Eva in Denmark asks - The moment I put my hand on this horse to to brand him he moved away. No matter where I put my hands he moved away. I tried his forehead, and he moved his head away. What do you do in such cases?

A: We hear about these types of responses now and again. I have had it happen on occassion and it took me some time to work out that there were two reasons for this. One, the horse has such a sensitivity and fear often associated with a neurologic or emotional problem that it does not want to be touched in any way whatsoever. In this case walk away, tomorrow is another day and who knows - then the horse may just allow you in. The other similar cause of this behavior by the horse is the most common, the horse is reading your intent which even while correct is not wanted by the horse at that time. This may be due to fear or emotional attachment to the injury. The horse, reading your intention, is letting you know it does not want to be touched, or perhaps it is remembering or associating that perceived intent as being the same as that used by some person such as chiropractor or bone setter who has hurt him in the past. In these cases I will switch off my intent, and focus on the owner, or handler, leaning on the horse quite naturally and allow my hand to just sit on the horse while I chat away to the owner or handler and 'sneak' in the moves without mentally focussing on them at all, build in observation periods and then just walk away. The last time I did this I had a Level 4 class watching me, the following day at question time they were quite disappointed that I had not done ET. Luckily Merrily Morgan was there to point out that I had. Point made, if the Level 4 students were not aware that I had done ET then neither was the horse! The same day the owner phoned to say he had a completely different horse. The answer is, don't push it, just accept that which is presented to you and work around it.

There alas one other scenario. Recently we had a student on a clinic in Australia. This man who turned up to a L1 clinic, only wanted to show everyone how good he was at what he did and looked down on ET. The fact was that no horse would willingly allow him to touch them. He went home and shortly thereafter we received an abusive letter stating how bad ET was, no horse on his wife's property would allow him to touch them either. Some people are in the horse world, some people are of the horse world, there is a big difference, and the horse is the one that will tell you if you are welcome in their world or not.

Q: Mary a horse breeder in Australia asks: "Is it ok to do the Abdominal procedure on a pregnant mare? Are there any contra-indications/precautions at all?"

A:   Performing ET on a pregnant mare who is still working (riding, training, competing)  could be beneficial, as releasing trauma muscles, and general relaxation, can speed up the recovery after work and be helpful for keeping the soft tissue healthy and free of restrictions. The healthy mare can benefit from gentle bodywork, as her body and main musculoskeletal system is, and will be even more, challenged over this time by the growing weight of the foal. Over the past 10 years of teaching ET we have received negative comments or case studies regarding working on a pregnant mare. Personally Jock and I are often working/teaching ET on  pregnant mares, as part of our class, we never saw any side effects, only relaxation.

Q: Nicole a naturopath in Australia asks: "I arrived home from work & my horse had colic.  I called the vet and did the Abdominal procedure and then one side of the Level 2 ABB before the vet arrived.  The horse was sedated for drenching.  When the vet had finished treating the horse he left. While coming out of the effects of sedation would it be ok to continue the ABB?  Previous study (other modality) had indicated that receptors would not be working while horse is sedated. Can it be aware and process the ET work?  What would be the best thing to do in this situation?" 

A: A colic is  a general term to describe abdominal pain, which can have many origins - reproductive, urinary or gastrointestinal  system and a veterinarian can use many diagnostic techniques to locate the pain and start treatment.  While you are waiting for his/her arrival, try to calm the horse with the Equine Touch. We have many case studies from our students helping their horse with BBB and abdominal procedure. I have, in my own experiences with my mare and colic, performed the back procedure (holistic back opening L3) and hamstrings procedure. She is always relaxes when I address her thigh. I worked recently on a horse with colic, once again saddle procedure to address the bladder meridian and abdominal procedure.  You are right - the sedation can change the proprioreceptors threshold, and this can definitely have an effect upon the bodywork. I personally do not work on a sedated horse, even when we are addressing the horse after dentistry, we wait until after the horse is fully recovered from the sedation.