This column we hope to make a regular feature. In Hawaii they have a saying "aohe pau ka 'ike i ka halau ho'okahi" All knowledge is not taught in one school. So to broaden our students thinking with relation to the Equine Touch we came up with the idea of taking words of wisdom from other fields and introducing them into the Equine Touch teachings to allow your thoughts about ET and your use of them to widen and assist you in achieving mastery of the art and the discipline. If you know of some and would like to submit them along with your personal interpretation, please do so.

"The important thing in a military operation is victory, not persistence."'The Art of War' Sun Tzu.

Although it may seem strange to compare ET with a military operation, it is truly that, the enemy is pain and in order for the horse to heal itself it is necessary to overcome the pain as quickly and effectively as possible. Remember a horse will not heal while it is in pain. Many vets have commented on the fact that they have not run across any hands on modality which reduces the pain spiral as quickly and effectively as ET. However, we must bear in mind that unwanted persistence will raise the resistance and stress level, raise the pain level, raise the intensity of the injury and greatly reduce the ability of ET to help the horse address the problem.The more we persist the more we find ourselves in a hole of our own creation. In that situation, as Will Rogers said, "stop digging"!

Q: Gina from USA asks: My horse has total objection to me working on its neck mid neck and in fact when I place my hands on his neck his eyes roll in fear and he is so agitated and mistrusting, but the rest of his body he has no problem with. I know he had neck problems before I got him but the owner said the chiropractor fixed it. What can I do as he always seems a little stiff there?

A: Whenever I hear the word 'chiropractor' my first questions are who, and what was the style? There are some awesome horse skeletal adjustors out there, but alas there are also some nightmares who use very rough long lever approaches without first relaxing or releasing adjacent connective soft tissue. The neck is one of these areas which can be easily and sometimes aggressively manipulated using too much strength and thrust, especially if the horse is resistant. This can result in soft tissue injury, or character armour where fear is injected into the tissue injury and so the fear memory remains even if the original problem was 'fixed'. The horse then picks up on your intent to work on the neck and translates it back to the time when he trusted someone with the same 'intent' and then had pain and fear inflicted upon it. You must always remember that as soon as you give a horse a clue as to what you are going to do he is five moves ahead of you next time you repeat that intent. Go back to your horsemanship and find the answer to your problem. Desensitizing is of course important; in ET we can do this by scratching the area of concern, placing hands gently on the horse and eventually working towards the area of concern, without any intent to perform a move. Go for a win - win situation . If you make your goal simply to place your hand on the area of concern and you achieve this, then you have won. Make this your goal for one week, then try to slip the move in without focusing on 'doing the move'. Then slowly bring your focus and intent into play as you build up the trust of your horse.

Always remember the horse is trying to read you all the time, once you build up his trust and he is prepared to allow you to openly work on his neck, he will be a changed animal and should shortly afterwards even begin to present his neck for you to work on.

Q: Lisa asks: Is it safe and what advantage is there to performing ET on new born foals?

A: During the pregnancy the foal is compressed and folded up inside the womb. The legs are bent towards the abdomen and the neck is bent over to one side which means that the soft tissue on one side will be quite different for the other. The birth itself can also be a source of traumas. As we ALL know, the mare prefers to give birth during the night, without any disturbance or audience. If the mare is in a hurry and the birth canal is not open wide enough the foal may be jammed within the bones of the pelvis. The thorax of the foal is its widest part and is the area which can show signs of trauma: we all know girth sensitivity. Girth pain can be caused by many things, but young and unridden horses can carry this trauma from birth. As soon as the sensitivity and tightness is released the foal can use its body in truly symmetric manner, without favoring one leg. This picture is also very common – a young horse grazing with the same foot constantly out in front. This pasture habit can be rooted from sensitivity at the girth area and pain in the muscles behind the shoulder, and if carried for a long time it is very hard to change. Actually the horse will develop two different feet and uneven shoulders, and when the problem becomes structural it is hard to reverse.
I would not work on the foal directly after birth, if there is no obvious problem. Leave the mare and foal together, and do not interfere with their interaction. The second day is a great opportunity to gently approach the foal. Making the session very pleasant for the foal (and mare), you can perform the TMJ procedure on the mare and then gently address the foal.  First make gentle contact, placing the hand on the foal followed by  gentle branding. Search for any tightness, especially in the neck area, and for any sensitivity in the girth area and withers. Perform the ET move wherever you can, just get the foal to feel the move and your calm, quiet hands. TMJ procedure or BBB may be beneficial, but perform the procedures without observation periods. Perform the whole ET session with feel and listen to the foal (and mare). Most youngsters do not have patience so sometimes less is really best, try to avoid placing any stress upon the mare or the foal.