 Equine-Facilitated
Psychotherapy & Learning EFP/L |
June 2009
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Upcoming Workshops
Energy & Grace:
Human & Horse
Chehalis, WA
July 24-26
Energy & Grace:
The Horse-Human Connection:
Cornwall, England
August 21-23
Horse-Human Connection:
Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy & Learning
Newtown, Wales
August 26-28
Advanced Invisible Horsemanship™
Newtown, Wales
August 29 & 30
Full 2009
HEAL Schedule
on our
Website
be sure to check for the latest events
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To Friends of HEAL,
My colleague and good friend, Kathleen Barry Ingram arrived a few days ago and we're preparing to begin the 2009 class for HEAL Facilitator Training. We are excited to launch a new year in the HEAL Facilitator Training and consider this to be a momentous time for our field. Thanks to the efforts and passion of so many, including you, EFP/L is growing in both sophistication and professionalism. By sophistication, I mean the rich cross-pollination of ideas and techniques that offer qualified practitioners better access to continuing education,credentialing, and emerging research which helps guide and inform our practice with clients. By professionalism I mean a growing ability to articulate our principles, values and practices to the public. These qualities establish EFP/L as an informed and legitimate way to help people in need. There is still much to do, but as leaders in this field we can look back over the last decade and see how much has been accomplished. Congratulations to our students on making this investment in themselves, and this commitment to the highest service for their EFL customers.
Speaking of public awareness, HEAL is sponsoring several introductory public presentations/mini-workshops and demonstrations in HEAL's home territory of Washington State in July and in the UK during August. I'll also be presenting my research and work with EFP for PTSD as part of a panel of distinguished practitioners at the International Congress of Therapeutic Riding in Munster, Germany, August 12-15. In our June issue you'll also find a soul perspective on long-term human/horse relationship, and receive Nickers from Tami Strom, who provides excellence in hoof care to the HEAL herd. And you'll find links of interest to books and websites of interest to students, practitioners and all seekers on the Path of the Horse.
Enjoy the reading... and thank you for your interest and your contribution to this field however big or small. Let's keep striving for excellence!
Sincerely, Leigh
Leigh Shambo, MSW, LMHC
Human-Equine Alliances for Learning (HEAL)
360.266.0778
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Guardian Angel
a poem by Ricki Martin
Liquid brown eyes
The color of chocolate
Sinfully sweet
Body the color of moon beams
Earth bound for now
Raven's wing hair
Flows with movement
Of a guardian angel
Sent here to teach
The way of the world
Through my horse's eyes
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Nickers... from Tami Strom
HEAL Farrier & Barefoot Hoof Trimmer
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My name is Tami Strom and I'm a barefoot hoof trimmer. When I say that out loud it still seems a little unreal some days! I could say that horses are my life but that wouldn't quite cover it. I have a husband of 20 years, two teenage daughters, and a large extended family that includes, 3 horses, 3 dogs, 2 cats, and 3 fat goldfish!
I have had a few different jobs in my life. I worked in my family's hardware store on and off for almost 25 years. During that time I also spent a few years as a jet engine mechanic in the Air Force Reserves and worked part time training horses. I have wonderfully fond childhood memories of my Welsh pony, Diego, who taught me that sometimes doing nothing or just listening is best.
 My transition to barefoot hoofcare began in 2004 when my mare, Lady, seemed to run out of options. She had been diagnosed with navicular by a vet a couple years before, and we tried shoes, pads, all the things the vet recommended. Eventually Lady's condition worsened, and she was unable to walk. I was desperate and began searching online for things that seemed impossible, things like a "navicular cure." What I found was an incredible world of people trying to make life healthier and more natural for both horses and themselves.
When I transitioned Lady to barefoot, I became very involved and wanted to learn everything I possibly could. This began a new road of education for me; one that fueled my desire for healthier (and happier) horses, and one where I could directly make an impact one horse at a time. I initially studied with only one mentor, and since then I have been fortunate enough to study with many other fine trimmers and horsemen.
I met Leigh in 2008 at "Celebrate the Horse" and attended her demonstrations at the event. We had a couple of short conversations there, but what I didn't know at the time was how much her work could help me in mine. In my eagerness to learn everything I could about the horse and the hoof function, I sometimes rushed in without taking enough time to have a calm approach; sometimes I listened too much to the owner or handler and not enough to the horse. With Leigh's help I'm improving my overall ability to stop and appreciate those that come into my life, both horses and people alike. In return I'm getting better feedback and responses, and I'm seeing some really good results. Always in the background, I can see Diego's calm, knowing eyes. He knew all along.
You can reach Tami at 360-280-2901 or barefootponies@hotmail.com
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Soul Work with Horses
Enduring Partnership: Frieda
By Leigh Shambo, MSW, LMHC
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 For those of you who have never owned a horse over a long period of years, I can assure you it is a remarkable experience. First comes the shock one day of just adding up the years, in the case of Frieda who has been my equine partner for, um.... Just over 22 years. All horses have the potential to teach us something significant about ourselves. But the horse that chose me, and then chose to keep me, for such a long time has had a lot to say that is uniquely for me, about me, and to me.
Not only has Frieda had MUCH to say over the years, she's had a very strong way of saying it as well. She is kind, really to the point of tolerance on most things, but when she feels strongly she does not often back down, and makes her points with emphasis! Hmmm, does that sound like someone I know? Suffice to say, we butted heads strongly on many an occasion. She has never been unkind to me, but neither would she bow until I listened to her most important messages and viewpoints.
One was: check your ego at the door. In our early days together, we were athletes training together. Riding is the most intimate sport, a dance between two beings joined limbically and physically. Practicing together almost daily, we become more perfectly attuned in some ways... but some stubborn dis-harmonies would persist as well. In most cases, I was the one being less than artful. When I became too forceful, when I tried to muscle or manipulate, when I lost the thread of connectedness... Frieda's resistance to such treatment was always equal to my strongest efforts. Strongest NOT necessarily being my highest! Somewhere along the way, I learned to let go and trust her feedback. When I learned to be humble, trust happened for both of us. When trust happened a deeper relationship happened, and then performance followed.
Perhaps Frieda's most healing lesson for me is the lesson of forgiveness. I have always felt love, and patience from her, even on those days where I pushed too hard, or lost my temper, or simply lost my way, piloting her back to my farm long after dark (another situation where I probably would have returned timely if I'd been listening!) In every case when I showed up in the barn the next day, she showed just as much affection, just as much willingness and heart, and just as much determination to teach me my place in the web of connectedness and communication.
Years of caring, each of us for each other. Years of compromise and deepening. Years of companions who came and went, some equine and some human (canines and felines too), leaving both of us with loss but also a friend to feel our grief. And over the years I watched her become a matriarch in our herd, the kind of benevolent and respected lead mare who keeps tabs on the herd and that the others horses count on.
Some years brought injuries to one or both of us, and the effects of cumulative years passing. Frieda is now retired from riding, and I spend my riding hours (many fewer now than they used to be) on younger horses. Our partnership is richer than ever with the groundwork and reflective sessions typical of EFP/L, and the bond between us has extended to reach and contain the many people who come to HEAL to study relationship and emotional wellness. Every day is still a day to learn to listen to her and trust her, and I learn more from her all the time. I am as grateful to this beautiful equine teacher as to any important professional mentor, and we know each other as intimately as family. I feel her gratitude as well, in those quiet moments of shared sighs, contented chewing, or a soft greeting nicker. Thank you, Frieda.
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The Horse Boy
A book by Rupert Isaacson
 The parents of an autistic boy trek to the Mongolian steppes to consult shamans in a last-ditch effort to alter his unraveling behavior. Author Isaacson and his wife, Kristin, a psychology professor, were told that the developmental delays of their young son, Rowan, were caused by autism. Floored, the parents scrambled to find therapy, which was costly and seemed punitive, when Isaacson, an experienced rider and trainer of horses from his youth in England, hoisted Rowan up in the saddle with him and took therapeutic rides on Betsy, the neighbor's horse. The repetitive rocking and balance stimulation boosted Rowan's language ability; inspired by the results, as well as encouraged by such experts as Temple Grandin and Isaacson's own experience working with African shamans, Isaacson hit on the self-described crazy idea of taking Rowan to the original horse people, the Mongolians, and find shamans who could help heal their son. The family went in July, accompanied conveniently by a film crew and van, which five-year-old Rowan often refused to leave, and over several rugged weeks rode up mountains, forded rivers and camped, while enduring strange shamanic ceremonies. Isaacson records heartening improvement in Rowan's firestormlike tantrums and incontinence, as he taps into an ancient, valuable form of spirit healing. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Leigh is Featured Clinician at Celebrate the Horse!
June 27 & 28 in Puyallup, Washington
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Celebrate the Horse, Western Washington's premiere equine event is back again this at the Puyallup Fairgrounds, WA on June 27th and 28th, 2009. This is our second year being a part of this horse expo. Celebrate the Horse is an enjoyable festival for all ages celebrating everything equine!
 Enjoy watching local clinicians, sporting and breed demonstrations, seminars, and more. The event's roster includes People Helping Horses' Spokesperson and RFDTV star Ken McNabb, regional trainers such as Barb Apple, Sus Kellogg, Alice Trindle, Leigh Shambo, Marybeth Wiefels, and Missy Wryn, and breed demonstrations of Arabians, Gypsy Vanners, Icelandics, Nakota Mustangs, Saddlebreds, and many, many more. Visit the exhibitors booths. Bid on items created by equine artists for the Art Walk and Silent Auction. In the Kids Corral the kids'll enjoy stick horse races, face painting, a scavenger hunt, and coloring contests.
Celebrate the Horse is a fundraiser for People Helping Horses, a locally based, nationally recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the horse-to-human relationship through education, rehabilitation, and support for the equine community. All proceeds from Celebrate the Horse will benefit People Helping Horses and its service programs.
We loved seeing so many of our long-time supporters there last year and truly enjoyed making many new friends, as well. Please stop by our exhibit and join us for our demonstrations this year. We look forward to seeing you there.
For event details - www.celebratethehorse.org
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