Danishka had no intentions of being polite while checking to see if I could pick up her hind feet safely. She pulled up on her hind left as I proceeded to give it a try but this long legged filly would have nothing to do with me handling her let alone pick up her feet. So, now I could figure out why Danishka’s owner had the vet out earlier this day to sedate her so the farriar could trim her with out fear of being injured. My body frame was possibly half of what her farriar’s was so if this was her true intent, to take me out too if I proceeded to insist she pick up her feet for me, she would have no problem’s whatsoever in doing so. I said okay to her if this was the way she wished to be. I would just dig into my took box to find another way through the back door if you will, to get her to pick up her hind feet politely, without any assault from her put upon me. The first thing I selected was a grounding blend of essential oils which included Balsam Fir and Rosewood. This aromatic scent immediately caught her attention; there was no need to offer another. After observing her eyes soften and relax I rubbed some on her chest and around her neck area, lightly passing my hand over her muzzle which she then pushed lightly into. I set down the bottle of oil then placed my open hands against her withers and proceeded to run them down her back and up against towards her neck. Her eyes were definitely focused on me once again.

As I proceeded to run them down towards her quarters I could feel her tense up and she started to tightly contract her hind end while lifting her hind foot off the floor; a warning. So, doing the smart thing, I respected her warning and went back to my tool box, looking for anther way to get to her through the back door. I decided to test her meridians to see if I could find any out of balance areas. To no surprise really, both her lung and heart meridian felt congested with no energy moving through them. I lightly rubbed an aromatic sports massage oil blend along her top line to alleviate some of the spasms I had discovered. She like it! So as not to be too invasive in this positive place we had found I pulled out a light therapy torch that I use in my practice and worked it along her top line, neck, belly and front legs. Then came the challenge to use it around her hocks and hind feet. To my amazement, this non-invasive modality did not give her any reasons to move away from me. Great success so far!

I had decided to put the light away and softly use my hands on her. I palpated what was once her more sensitive areas which told me she had been stressed both physically and emotionally to find them completely gone. Her eyes, as in all horses that are accepting of a healing, were calm and relaxed. I felt confident to once again ask her to kindly pick up her hind feet. I slowly ran my hands down her hind leg massaging lightly and bingo, suddenly they were resting lightly on her coronet bands. I applied more of the Balsam Fir and Rosewood essential oil blend to this area and rubbed the oil gently in with no reaction other than picking the hoof off the ground only inches once or twice and then resting it back down again on her toe, in a completely relaxed state. What came next was the reason I do this work, as challenging as it may seem to be at times. I asked her to pick up her hoof and extend her leg back so as to clean her feet; there was absolutely no resistance at all! We had come to this place of beautiful understanding that she was safe to do this quietly and that she had no reason to be so protective any longer about this kind of handling. The owner stood and watched in amazement. I encouraged her to take the time to do as I had done this day which took about 35 minutes to get the filly’s complete cooperation, and practice it daily. Of course the suggestions to invest in some of the essential oils would only make this a lot easier for both of them so a nice order of product was placed later that day. I have not heard back recently how things were going for them but do know the owner was excited to put this practice into place. Danishka was a lovely filly at heart; well bred being part draft and warmblood cross. My concern today is of these remarkable horses with so much talent that somehow get classified as dangerous; and when this happens horses like these very well could have the potential to being put down so as not to risk injury to their owners, caretakers or others that attend to these animals daily. Is it not work a few steps of intervention such as what Tanishka experienced at this young age, to prevent these kinds of horses from getting the bad wrap and being labeled dangerous horses? I think so.

Case Study ~ Shasta