Hello Fellow Horse Lovers! 

Happy New Year to all of you and your horses.  Hopefully you are having a comfortable and peaceful winter season.  It's been awhile since I corresponded with you. I have been recreating my personal and business life toward a career in training Thoroughbred racehorses and pre-training young race prospects with a holistic approach.

There are more and more women involved in racing every year and with this change, I have observed, goes raising the consciousness of how horses are handled, treated, fed and cared for.  It's refreshing to talk with other women on the same path and putting the horse's needs first.

Many women are put off by racing horses.  It is my hope that through more and more women being directly involved in breeding, training, owning, racing management in leadership positions, negative stereotypes and perceptions will be shifted to positive support.

We breed horses for purposes whether it be racing, jumping, dressage, cutting cattle, ranching, trail riding, driving and myriad sports.  It is our responsibility to give horses the opportunity to express themselves and show us what they love to do.  Many, not all, Thoroughbreds are bred to race and enjoy it.

I love seeing young Thoroughbreds learning their lessons, showing off what they are capable of and enjoying their time with me and my staff.  If you support the horse's insides with healthy nutrition, support their growth and performance needs with minerals, vitamins, herbs and roots and give them the therapy support they need mentally, emotionally and physically as they learn and perform at a higher level each year, they will reward you with affection, respect, communication and a high rate of performance and soundness.

You can create a free virtual stable on equibase.com and follow me as a trainer.

Thank you for listening to your horses.

Happy Riding!

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  I think we may have all met a horse or two or many with these symptoms and it's hard to know where to start to find out the underlying reason this horse just isn't quite present.

Hopefully the horse will allow you to catch them and you can safely tie them or have someone hold them while you begin your investigation and work.  The horse may be spinning and jumping around one minute and shut down the next so be careful the neural pathways are shut down!

  Always approach the wither's of the horse with your first touch then slowly work your way up toward the head.  Go as far as the horse will let you while maintaining safety and relaxation.  Don't press ahead, just touch and stroke forward toward the head.

  When you get to the head slowly take your hands and see if you can touch the nostrils and mouth.  Each horse is different but they all need to have this area comfortable and accepting of your hand.

Place a dab of The InBalance Horse essential oil blend on your hands, rub together and place your hands around and inside the horse's nostrils, muzzle and upper gums. Do this on both sides.

  Now you are prepared to work with the horse and unlock the brain, brain chemistry and neural pathways.

   Begin by rubbing the horse's head between and above the eyes. You may notice how tight the forehead muscles are and perhaps they will be unbalanced left to right.  Make notes of any differences from side to side.  Massage the forehead muscles for a minute or so to relieve any headache or compression the horse may be feeling.

  Next move to the TMJ area.  Massage the area around and under the joint.  You may feel tight "ropy" muscles and soft tissue in this area.  If the ropy feeling bands are vertical then stroke them horizontally to start releasing tension.

  Move on to the jowls and between the jowls.  You may feel lots of swollen grapes which are glands that have been overworked assisting the immune system.  Massage those grapes in ways that help them to drain and shrink.

  Now give the horse a minute or two to do whatever they need to do since you have opened up a few pathways and compression.

Place the side of your hand like you're giving a karate chop to the area below the ear between the jaw bone and neck bone.  Normally this space will be about 2 inches or more wide. If it is narrow and tight you will need to open this up.  Start below the ear, press inward with the side of your hand and slide down between the bones all the way to the esophagus and throat latch. Continue starting at the top and stroking down until you feel this area open up.  The horse may stretch, yawn, lick and chew, shake, jerk upwards or lower the head to release the tension and feel the opening occurring.

  You are literally opening up the flow of cognitive energy, mental information, chemicals and neural pathways all the way through the spine.  These pathways may have had road blocks and interruptions which led to misunderstandings, inability to process or think clearly, imbalance of chemical health to the brain and brain atrophy.

Finally massage around the ears, in the tips of the ears and around the poll area to complete the process.

Now let your horse process and rest for about 10 minutes uninterrupted, tied up or held.

  You may be amazed how much your horse will change just with one application.

  Do this every time you groom or give attention to your horse until you have a consistently relaxed and thinking horse.  We want thinking versus reacting and acceptance rather than defensive behavior.

Check the space in the throat latch area often to make sure the horse is not compressed again as something may have happened to cause stress and tension.

Tip of the Month:

Watch out for Dehydration in Winter

We may think more about dehydration during the hot months but it is equally important during the winter.  If you can when feeding grain add warm water. I always feed wet year round so I know my horses are getting additional moisture. 

When cold weather hits us water becomes crucial as it can easily freeze. If using automatic waterers bury  pipes deep to avoid leaks, freezing and explosions. With regular water buckets you will have to dump them at least twice per day and refill with hot or warm water.  Or if you have a way to have water constantly dripping or running into a container or in an open trough horses will drink sporadically and learn how to time their drinking throughout the day as it fills.