Well here we are in Texas, sitting in our little cottage trying to relax after a very good but rather hot clinic in San Marcos after a great clinic up in Colorado with Raian Kaiser. It was great seeing some old friends again who came by for the Level 4 from all over, Dianne and Audrey down from Montana as well as Debbie Criddle from Californina and Susanna who has been a great ET supporter and practitioner for the past seven years. In all it was a very successful clinic which presented us with some 'new' problems which ended up giving birth to a whole new very powerful Equine Touch procedure which already I have had some amazing results with, so that will be in the new Level 4 manual as of January 1.
We followed this up with a symposium in Texas, so while Ivana took a sizeable class of Level 1, I had a ball with some more Level 4 students, working on a few horses at the Whole Horse Clinic. Once again the owner presented us with a horse, that she said "seemed to be fine". A train wreck! Once again showing no visible signs of pain or discomfort, the horse turned into an unpredictable mass of reflex attacks as the branding, palpation and body balancing were performed, revealing an unprecedented network of pain throughout the body. Thankfully the results were again amazing, which caused Tracy Green to make the comment 'This is the greatest clinic I have ever been on!'
Level 4 is developing and growing every year; no 2 clinics are the same as they are controlled by the horse problems that are presented at the time of the class. An interesting aspect of Level 4 is that the development of ET procedures is being brought about by the synergistic input of all the students in observing these soft tissue abnormalities and the results of the ET and the ET and Beyond procedures. As the founder of ET it is an indescribable thrill to work aloneside my kids trying to address presented areas of concerns with innovative combinations of ET moves - some old, some new, some coming right out of the blue.
GOOD NEWS: We have just seen the first cut of the new 'BRANDING' and 'PICKING UP THE LEGS' video. Looks good, hopefully it will be ready before the end of the year.
GOOD NEWS: The Monty Roberts video is also just about ready and the rushes are great. The only worry I have is that it will not be a wide screen version .....boy do I look rather 'wide', or as Ivana said 'Jocko, you look fat"! So needless to say I am once again on a diet, and the producer has been told to slim me down.
When I came up with the above slogan 'EQUINE TOUCH - THE NEW WORD IN HORSEMANSHIP' one of my instructors said that it could appear confusing if we said that. While I understand where she came from, I don't agree, and as this is my newsletter I can prattle on to my heart's content. Many of us have worked on horses that have problems, emotional and behavioral problems not just physical ones. We cannot work on troubled untrained horses if we have no knowledge of horsemanship and how to integrate our work into that field. Without horsemanship, no matter what the school, we cannot enter the world of the horse and we cannot understand the problem if we cannot understand the horse. Our art, our discipline of Equine Touch is just as deeply entrenched in horsemanship as any equine training technique that is out there.
GOOD NEWS: We have given up on Vista and bought two Apple Macs, the BAD NEWS is that after only a week the new system is driving Ivana mad and I am tactically running for cover.
Anyway, enough prattling, on with the news ........
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" The Supreme Court of the United States expressed the determined and settled rule to be "that no one can appropriate as a trade-mark a generic name or one descriptive of an article of trade, its qualities, ingredients or characteristics, or any sign, word or symbol which from the nature of the fact it is used to signify others may employ with equal truth."
To say that all who have heard that someone has trademarked the words ' EQUINE BODY WORKER' are stunned is an understatement. Everyone actually argues with me that it cannot be done, it is against the law, impossible, it is a generic term, etc, etc. The fact that it was registered in California may of course have something to do with it. The words have been described as appertaining to a degree. Now I may be rather naive but I always thought that a degree came through a recognized university not a small private company, but then it was trademarked in California. Sorry, I do love California but as someone from Texas said, "California, now that is a whole different world".
I will on a personal basis continue to call myself an Equine Bodyworker as will Ivana who as you know is a qualified vet. We will also still say that we teach Equine Bodywork and that is exactly what The Equine Touch is. Just a thought as it is always defined in trademark law 'it must be justice for all',are we going to have veterinarians who practice equine body work and advertise that challenged also?
Last week an official legal petiton against the trademarking of this name due to common usage was presented to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. We shall await the decision and keep you all inormed.
Please do not let this slip past. It is not my fight; it is about all of you in the industry, whether you are ET students or not. If this is allowed to happen then it is the thin edge of the wedge. If you believe in your own integrity and that you have the right when you place your hands on a horse to call yourslf an Equine Bodyworker, then do not allow yourself to be bullied; stand up and be counted. This is a travesty no matter what discipline or multi disciplines you practice. There are more Equine Touch students out there than in virtually any other modality. To date three of our practitioner/students have been threatened. Remember, we have a large collective voice, as does IETA. We must learn to use it and challenge every injustice that dares to infringe on the caring among us who try unselfishly to improve the wellbeing of the horse.
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Equine Touch and IETA cannot stand still. We must continue to evolve, to develop. ET itself is only 11 years old, not yet a teenager, and so must be nurtured and guided if it is to grow and mature into that respected discipline that all horse owners will want to learn in order to provide a better life for their horses, and the horses of others.
With this in mind we, in conjunction with IETA, are putting together a web site that will have features which will be available to all members worldwide. Such as full list of practitioners and students of each country who are members. This list will not be exclusive to members who are practitioners only; all members and their status will be presented on each country's roll call page.
The site will also feature general discussion groups pages which will be only accessible by members at all levels as well as a practitioner only forum.
IETA is an organization that Ivana and I cannot stress often enough that you join. Each country is putting together its own Chapter, and we are seeing the results as we travel around the world. IETA is not about money, or as one student said "What do we get out of it?' Equine Touch is about the horse and that is what IETA is about. No one makes money out of IETA, it is run by people who give up their time and who are dedicated to keep Equine Touch on the correct track, and give all the support they can to all of you who are out there.
The UK-IETA Convention was something to be proud of; soon we hope to emulate this throughout the world, but in the end it is all up to you. As soon as the web site is up we will let you all know, as will IETA, and once again we will do our utmost to create something you can all be proud of.
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Official figures coming in from all over the world show that for the month of September 118 students at all levels attended Equine Touch clinics. That is totally awesome. When Ivana and I cast our minds back to the start of our journey in 2000 there is no way we could have ever contemplated such figures especially in this current economical downturn that we are all going through. To all our Instructors a sincere and well earned congratulations.
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Rachael Fothergill & Royal Wonda (Jade) – Scottish Endurance Champions 2003, Diamond Thistle Graded Combination 2007 (100 miles in a day). Completion of four 2-day 100-mile Endurance Races, two 75-mile ER’s and over 6000 miles of competitive rides.
Jade and I have been competing in Endurance since 1995. We have achieved more than I could ever have dreamt of in this tough challenging sport and all this without any thing more than a minor set back or two. Yes I have been blessed with finding an amazing little Appaloosa, and I’m sorry to say up until a few years back I took it all for granted.
Then along came Sue Grout who very kindly asked if Jade could model for one of her Equine Touch case studies. The benefits were apparent from the first treatment. Jade looked so relaxed and chilled out during and after sessions and it was quite clear my horse was addicted. As a lecturer in Beauty and Holistic therapies I know and see the benefits of taking regular time out for yourself and highly recommended it to my clients. So why not advocate the same for a hard working equine? I thought about all the miles of traveling, hours of training, and tough competitions my Jade had been through over the years and decided it was about time to show some appreciation. I have now trained up to my Level 2 and can happily say Jade and her sister Cherie look forward to their regular Equine Touch sessions.
Does it help with lameness, lowering your horse’s heart rate, preventing tying up and dehydration, all the constant enemies of the Endurance rider? Quite possibly it does. I certainly feel that even doing the saddle area moves in a vet gate could help to relax your horse which in turn will help to reduce pulse rate. But are these not issues that as Endurance riders we get too hung up over? Should we not be thinking more on the lines of preventing these things from happening rather than treating them after it’s happened?
For me Equine Touch is about a preventative discipline I can use on my own horses. I used Equine Touch during the vet gates of my one day 100-miles last year having failed on 2 previous attempts. Did it help? I’d like to think so but then again maybe its just coincidence. It does however feel good after a hard ride that I can now give back a little something in return to thank Jade for all the hard work and dedication she has shown me. She is one of the older horses out on the Circuit (20 next year) and I’m pleased to say that she can still complete some of the bigger distance classes with the help of her Equine Touch sessions.
Just think how nice it feels to receive a massage or some other treatment yourself especially if you feel tired and achy. I definitely feel from having experienced the human version that it’s a great way to release tension and tightness in muscles which otherwise might lead into something more chronic. By making time to do Equine Touch sessions I feel it gives me time to actually bond with my horses and watch them for a change instead of quickly grooming them and getting on with the more important issue of exercising. It’s certainly a pleasant surprise to them when instead of a saddle the “magic hands” come out instead. With it being so gentle and a non invasive method of body work I never feel that I could be harming my horse in any way, and even if you don’t get it “quite right” all of the time you can tell by the reactions of the horses that its still appreciated and must be doing some good even if it's just for relaxation purposes. Every session I do and each different horse I work on comes with it's own set of reactions which is very satisfying after working on humans for years who don’t tend to be quite as expressive as horses thankfully! The course books, laminated move cards and DVD’s that accompany the course are brilliant resources and I often watch the DVDs to jog my memory. It's great to have a demo you can watch as often as you like.
Thank you Sue, Lyn, Jock and Ivana for sharing your knowledge and passing it on. I hope many more take the opportunity to learn and pass this gift on to their horses.
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BAD NEWS! SORRY.
Thought I would keep this for the last.
Ivana and I have worked hard for the past nine years to keep our own costs down so that we could truly live up to our intent and keep ET for the horse owner who cares. Unfortunately the oil companies, OPEC, the airlines and the hotels around the world do not care whether we help horses or not.
Average hotel price in UK per night 115 pounds plus 15 pounds a day for internet connection, and let's not forget the cost of petrol and food. Each country has its own structures but everything is going up when one is on the road 24/7. I tried to book flights from Hawaii to Australia last week, the quote was $7,000 each. So no Hawaii this year.
Alas, all of this means that Ivana and I have to put our prices up as from the 1st of January. Each country will be different and will be adjusted to take into consideration the internal cost of living and the expenses that we incur there. The good news is that we will not be putting the prices up on any student who has paid a deposit for a clinic with us or pays a deposit to secure a place on a clinic in 2009 before the 1st of January 2009. So if you want the old prices get in early. We will put out the new world wide prices in the next newsletter.
The cost of clinics with local and regional instructors however will remain the same. It is with deep regret that we have been compelled to do this and we hope you will all understand.
Aloha Jock
P.S. If you love horses raise your hands! If you care about horses, raise your hands, and then put them on the horse!
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