Well we arrived in UK at a very interesting time, the press and TV were full of the political mess the government is in until Sunday, when surprise, surprise 80% of the Newspapers forgot about the fact that we were in the biggest parliamentary crisis in history and concentrated on Jordan (she does like horses) and her marriage breakup. Lets hope we never lose sight of what is really important in our world ... the horse.

The UK tour looks to be very busy with a maxed out symposium in Norfolk at the World Horse Welfare, formerly known as the ILPH. As you can see by the clinic photos below the UK team are doing ET proud and the demand for Equine Touch clinics are not soaring on their own with the interest in VHT and Canine Touch growing steadily. (please note 3 men!)

This packed clinic was followed by an eclectic group of clinics at Lyn Palmer's in Somerset, advanced VHT and CT with Ivana. I taught an international clinic in advanced VHT. Along with students from Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales we had five students and practitioners fly across from France to continue their education. At the same time Ivana held a Canine Touch clinic with an assortment of dogs from Rhodesian Ridgebacks to the inevitable Jack Russe before we head off to catch up with Carola and Eva (who popped across the channel for the CT clinic) in Sweden. All in, over the ten days of teaching in the UK we taught over 50 students which is a great compliment to the UK team.

 

We will be back in the UK early September when we have a really busy schedule, at the moment we are working on a charity clinic where Ivana and I will be offering to all Equine Rescue and Charity Centers a free clinic for selected members of their staff, hopefully at Blue Cross. These sanctuary centers do so much for horses and have been so supportive of Equine Touch that we feel this is the best way we can pay them back for their devotion to the animals we care about so much.

After this special clinic we will be holding a Level 3 and ET and Beyond at Intelligent Horsemanship at Hartsop farm in Oxfordshire. then its the BIG ONE - THE IETA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2009 at the Newmarket Racing School. this is the big one and we are really looking forward to it. Not only are we both looking forward to seeing the fabulous presenters but also unveiling our whole new education system, the new look certificates, web site, manuals for the next decade. It is just over ten years since I first hit the ET teaching trail, and ten years since Ivana and I met so this will be a memorable time for both of us. We sincerely hope as many of you as possible will be there to help us celebrate this unique time.

By request we have had to change around our itinerary for the UK a little so here it is for all of you in the Uk and Europe to make a note of. As some of these are one day 'master classes' make certain you know which one you specifically want to attend and contact Adele at the NCC. The stretching class is open to anyone, ET and otherwise. All the one day clinics will run from 9am to 4.30pm and cost £130. If you wish to attend any of these one day master clinics please contact Adele at the NCC, as soon as possible as numbers will be strictly restricted.

Please remember that this Level 3 clinic at Horse World is the last Level 3 clinic of its type to be held in the UK. Interested? then come to the conference for the unveiling of the new education system which I am certain you will agree is a step forward in the evolution of taking Equine Touch to new heights of professional credibility.

Till next time, keep touching

Jock

UK September - Jock and Ivana
14, 15, 16, 17	Level 3 - Instructor Ivana	Hartsop Farm - Oxfordshire	Contact NCC
14, 15, 16	ET and Beyond - Jock	Hartsop Farm - Oxfordshire	"
19, 20	IETA - Conference	Newmarket Racing School	"
24, 25, 26, 27	Level 3 - Instructor Ivana	Horse World - Bristol	"
25th One Day	VHT Master Class - Jock	Lyn Palmer's, Practitioners Only	"
26th One day	Prescription and layering	Lyn Palmers, Level 4 Only	"
27th One Day	Stretching and Mobilization	Horse World - Bristol - Open Class	"

Look forward to catching up when we get back to the UK. Till then stay safe and keep on touching

Jock and Ivana

Put it in your diary, tell your friends, September 19, 20 its the 2nd annual United Kingdom International Conference held at the Newmarket Racing School which is the most professional venue for resenting our premier even of the year that we could possibly imagine. This is a weekend to really look forward to and you should really make a definite effort to be in their and support your association and its efforts to make us into the finest Equine Family in the world. In Britain we now have officially well over 1000 ET students at who gave completed the Foundation clinic, proving that ET is without a doubt the biggest style of Equine Bodywork in the UK. The IETA conference is our showpiece with the UK leading the way for the rest of the ET community, and while the recession we know is hurting many of you we are hoping to see an excellent turnout this year. Ivana and Jock will be flying in from overseas and as a result of the demand from last years attendees are looking forward to presenting and sharing some of their latest work and ideas with you, Jock will work on several horses and Ivana will give one of her inimitable talks as well as launching the Merrily Morgan Scholarship, the new education format, the Layering clinic and the Stretching and Mobilization clinic taking ET to new height of credibility. The committee are presenting other interesting demonstrations including Equine Osteopathy with Liz Launder D. O., Horses Inside Out' with Gillian Higgins, Equine Iridology with Lyn Summers and for the timid among us a self Defense Workshop entitled 'Fight Like A Girl'. So even if you are not a member (and you should be) this will be an amazing weekend, not only for ET but also your horse. Contact IETA or the NCC for full details. Both Ivana and Jock look forward to catching up with all of you there.

J&I will be teaching one human VHT and one horse symposium Level 1 in Czech this summer. The dates are: VHT: Foundation: Aug 15, 16, 17, 18. Advanced: Aug 22 and 23. Equine Touch level 1: Aug 7, 8, 9. The location of all these clinics will be Brno. If anyone from the UK is considering coming over due to the excellent exchange rate, direct flights from Stansted to Brno are available with Ryan Air. Clinics in Czech are always great fun, Jock does not speak one word of Czech, so as you can well imagine the rapport between he and Ivana will be more hilarious than ever.

Dear Jock and Ivana,
I am pleased to be writing this e-mail to you today. I wanted to let you know that the horse I purchased a month and a half ago has shown remarkable change in such a short period of time.  I had his feet trimmed a couple times, his teeth floated, chiropractic twice but most of all the ET and rehab work I have been doing with him has proven remarkable.  The chiropractor and my instructor didn't even recognize him with only one month between visits.  His top-line has improved so much, he can actually raise his back now and there is no longer a dip in his back in the lumbar vertebrae.  When I got him he had an uphill confirmation and still does.  But at first there was approximately a 4 inch difference between his withers and his rump, now it is approximately 2 inches.  His back has lifted, the vertebrae are more aligned properly and his sacrum is coming back into better alignment with the lumber vertebrae.  This has resulted into his withers appearing to not be so high and his rump has appeared to grow.  He can actually stretch down long and low at the walk and trot and enjoys it.  Has finally started to lift his back to carry a rider.  He has started to flex side to side better and resulting in putting more weight on the hindquarters to lift the front end and start to collect.
 
I can't even express how much this experience has not only given me more confidence in my own work, but with the bodywork it's self.  I have started to incorporate this technique with the cranial sacral and Reiki for humans and horses which has proven to be a very good combination. 
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us.
Casie Pelnar (Minnesota)

Dear Jock and Ivana,
I have a lovely "ET Success" story to share.  I am currently working on the St John's Ambulance mounted paramedic horses.  One of them had a shocking accident on Monday when a bridge collapsed, the horse went through, and landed suspended on a wire fence.  When the fence was cut away to release it, it suffered a laceration from under its anus all the way down, though the hind legs, to the udder.  The wound, whilst relatively superficial, had proved impossible for them to clean and treat - despite twitching and a crush.  They were faced with sedating the horse in order to treat it.  I went up to offer ET on Thursday morning to deal with swelling etc.  As you can imagine this mare went into a frenzy if you so much as looked at her tail.  I had not worked on this mare before, so just started offering tiny ET movements to establish my credentials with her.  She eventually allowed me to do her hindquarters and, after repeating the hindquarter movements several times she just suddenly "gave" herself to me.  I asked her permission, and was able to address the hamstrings, and she then allowed me to just touch the semimembranosus and do the move in my mind.  She sighed several times, and I suggested to the owner that she might allow me to clean the wound. 
I set up a predictable pattern for her of the HQ moves, followed by the semimembranosus, followed by gentle cleaning.  Once she got the pattern, I just had to move gently over the semimembranosus, and she would actually lift her tail and move it across to the side to allow me to clean her.  Every time I got to a sore place I went back and repeated the HQ moves and the semimembranosus to re-establish my credentials, and then she allowed me to continue.  We did this in the middle of her field, on a loose lead, much to the amazement of those previously involved in trying to treat her.  After dressing the wounds I completed the basic balance.  I have now done this horse for three consecutive days, and the worst reaction I get is that she will sometimes wave one hind leg in the air - always the one on the side away from me, and if I change sides, so does the waving back leg!!! 
It has been a lovely, very tiring, but extremely humbling experience - and, as if I needed it - reminded me of the power I have in my fingertips, thanks to ET.  
Best regards to you both 
Veronica Moore (New Zealand)

Q: Veronica asks, I have been trying the first rib release with the 'catch the fly' trick on a very stiff cold blood but I am having no luck with it at all. Any suggestions, and what else could I do to address this area? A: Cold bloods are always a problem from the point of using reflex to achieve positive reactions. I found out very early in my career that Clydesdales and Friesian would only on rare occasions react in the way that was required. You must remember why they were bred, war horses, cart horses, their skin had to be less sensitive to cope with pulling wagons, ploughs, knights in armour with swords and lances, and now Police horses because of their stoic nature. When I find that I cannot use the tickle to obtain the desired effect, I will often try this prescription of techniques. (Unfortunately some of these procedures are only taught in ET and Beyond): Forequarter (L1) Neck (L1) Serratus (L2) Subscapularis (L2) Foreleg (L1) Pectoral (L2) Brachiocephalic (L2) Advanced Neck (L3) Foreleg Rotation (ET&B) Spinnaker (ET&B) Tassie Tickle (ET&B) Duet Wing Stretch (ET&B) followed by a normal leg stretch followed by a cross over leg stretch, ending up with a normal ET supported forward leg stretch. I have had some degree of success with this procedure prescription. You can also encourage the horse to bring his head all the way round using treats. A few sessions such as this should pay dividends. This is one of the reasons why we have decided to introduce the new one Day Layering Clinic where we can introduce students and practitioners to the concept of putting together prescription address to work on specific areas of concerns and in which order relating to the specific area of address and what the horse has presented you with.

Q: Amana asks: Darcy, the horse, was a stiff, sore horse with unpredictable temperament. One day he come out of pasture with swollen glands at the throat region and a lumpy face, on top of his usual problems. After the ET session consisting of BBB and some AoC he become even more lumpy, his hair was standing on the bumps, exactly defining the location of the moves. What is that, is it dangerous or what to do with it? A: To the best of my knowledge this could be reaction to the manual pressure. In the subcutis there are cells called mast cells. These cells are full of granules containing histamine. When the pressure is applied on the skin or deeper they squeeze their contents into the surrounding tissue and heparin starts to produce many kinds of reactions: swelling, redness and itchiness as it causes vasilidation, which is often identical to an insect bite. These lumps are usually not painful and do not create any discomfort and disappear of their own accord, usually within a few hours. This sensitivity to fascia bodywork is known also from the human techniques. Studies with patients suffering from fibromyalgia and with trigger points showed that their tissue had greater amount of the mast cells and so those reactions was more occurring. Also clients with tighter muscles (especially under occipital) presented the reaction of swelling, redness and welts on the skin. Larger problems - greater reactions. Interesting, is it not? This humans finding responded to our case, Darcy had tight muscles and surely some trigger points, as he delivered some well aimed kicks' and squeals during the session which was the only way he could show that his body hurt.

Its a funny old world, I received an interesting newsletter the other day which really amazed me and I am certain will amuse if not distress all of you out there doing your best to help horses. We are all aware of the concern by some vets and veterinary boards at lay people working on horses, rightly or wrongly under many current laws that is there prerogative, luckily there are also many vets out there who agree with what we and others who work non-invasively on animals do and encourage and support us. However this is a new one even for me. Now we have a Chiropractic Board in Maryland objecting to, and taking action against, massage being performed on animals, other than by veterinary surgeons (or themselves). I am quite happy to offer a large bottle of Jack Daniels to the first student who can provide acceptable evidence of one chiropractor who will spend one hour massaging the soft tissue of one horse. Click on this link for the court findings. Chiropractic Bullying?.

Exciting, exciting, exciting! The first Equine Touch Foundation Dissection Clinic has been locked in and will be held on the 5, 6, 7 of December, at Lincoln University, Christchurch New Zealand. A bit far away I must admit except for ANZACS, but it is an ideal venue and will allow Ivana to present dissection for the equine bodyworker in the most professional of surroundings. She is already working on the accompanying manual for the clinic and we will probably spend the entire northern summer completing that. The coordinator for the clinic is the one and only Janice Clyma who is already taking bookings from New Zealand and Australian students at all levels, so those interested should contact her as soon as possible as numbers will be strictly limited. The cost for this initial three day clinic is NZ$800 and this is a bargain for those who are traveling from overseas due to the current rate of exchange with the NZ$. Please contact: janice.clyma@xtra.co.nz she will forward you the booking sheet for the seminar, and can advise or assist you in accommodation and any other information you may require. Although the University lecture auditorium is large the numbers will be limited to allow for close examination, palpation and photographs to be taken. As this clinic will be open to non ET students also my advice would be to reserve your position on the clinic as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. If you feel that you could, coordinate, host and present a Dissection Seminar for Ivana in your country in 2010 then please contact us or the NCC in UK or USA, their are various mandatory requirements to put on such a clinic, but unfortunately as Ivana and I are on the road most of the time we can be of very little practical help, however if you are interested and feel that you are capable of organizing such an event then we look forward to hearing from you.

	ET Ireland		ET Australia
	ET Sweden		ET Africa
	ET USA & Canada		ET UK and France
	ET Germany		ET New Zealand
	ET Holland		ET Denmark

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