While there are numerous complaints clients can present with and probably an even greater abundance of ways to treat these ailments, the majority of practitioners would most likely agree that the majority of them stem from the relationships that people find themselves in. Or perhaps, these present relationships are reflections of the more formative earlier ones. In either case, there is no shortage of methods to help people better understand themselves and their relationships.
One of these methods of fostering self awareness is equine therapy. And like many other forms of treatment, working with horses has taken many forms. While some organizations focus solely on creating and implementing exercises for clients to perform with horses, others attempt to generalize the client’s behavior with the horse to other, more fractured areas of his/her life. The thought in both cases in that if the client can learn how to alter his/her behavior across a multitude of situations, the outcomes will be different, and hopefully, more satisfying.
The benefits of these methods of equine therapy, are not to be missed, however, what is often overlooked is the relationship with the horse that is transpiring in the present moment. Within this relationship, the client, with his complexity of both conscious feelings, and the more misunderstood, unconscious ones is available to the horse. This is an important point because in human relationships, unconscious feelings, drives and motives greatly affect the outcome, albeit under the conscious awareness of the people who are affected. Horses, on the other hand, cannot avoid being aware of unconscious feelings, as they have physiological ramifications within the person, and horses communicate almost exclusively through physiological cues and signals. So while people respond to the conscious presentation of a person, a horse responds to the unconscious presentation.
What of course this means to the practitioner is that the horse, through his response to the client, provides a window into the unconscious. Armed with this information, the therapist can then have much greater efficacy in helping the client understand himself, and his relationships. And this, after all, is the purpose of psychotherapy.
Have you ever been frustrated by how much time you spend making sure your horse has all the necessary supplements and wished there was a way to simplify the process? After all your research, are you confident your supplement program is designed to deliver results and that the individual supplements will work together? Well, you aren’t alone. Lots of horse owners feel the same way.
For Marian Nilsen, owner of Healthy Horse Boutique, a company that prides itself on caring for horses with healthy, safe, effective methods, finding a solution to the supplement jungle became a mission.
“One day I was in the barn mixing and measuring when I really wanted to be riding, teaching and training. I just felt like there had to be an answer. So, I approached equine nutritionist Gabriele Sutton of KAM Animal Services, a company that focuses on therapeutic supplements for better health, to see if she had any clues on how I could simplify supplementing my horses.”
Lisa Wilcox and Pikko del Cerro HU rode away as the Vita Flex Victory Pass Award winner at the International Horse Sport Dressage Premier in Wellington. Gustavo Martinez holds the Vita Flex Victory Pass prize. (Photo courtesy of JRPR)
Wellington, FL (April 5, 2011) – Thanks to a brilliant ride in the Intermediaire I class at the International Horse Sport Dressage Premier, Lisa Wilcox and Pikko del Cerro HU rode away as the Vita Flex Victory Pass Award winner. Sponsored by Vita Flex Nutrition, the award is given to a horse and rider who display remarkable skill during a show.
Wilcox, an Olympic bronze medalist, has recently taken over the ride on the eight-year-old bay stallion by Pik L. Considered a horse to watch, Pikko del Cerro was the 2009 FEI Six-Year-Old National Champion.
“This was Cerro’s first Intermediaire I class and he was excellent and I was really, really happy with him,” Wilcox said. “He has some moments where he was getting tired but he really stuck with me. His extensions were exceptional and in general he was with me. I know it is a hard test and he is still developing, so it’s exciting to see this.”
Wilcox, who operates out of Wellington, Florida, said she hopes to qualify Pikko del Cerro for the Pan Am Games and the Developing Horse classes. “I hope to do my first CDI with him in March,” Wilcox said.
NO SECRET SO CLOSE is the story of a the most unthinkable betrayal humanly possible — at only 24 years old, Claire Dorotik’s father has been murdered, her mother arrested, and now, in a sinister twist of fate, Claire’s mother points the finger at Claire, accusing her of killing her own father. Battling the feelings of loss, abandonment, terror, and dissociation, and also learning about them, Claire struggles to stay in her master’s program for psychotherapy. However, when Claire’s brothers also betray her and side with her mother, Claire is left all alone to care for the 18 horses she and her mother owned. As the story unfolds, what is revealed is the horses’ amazing capacity for empathy in the face of human trauma, and the almost psychic ability to provide the author with what had been taken from her. Arising from these horrifying circumstances, the most unthinkable heroes — the horses — show Claire that life is still worth living.
Excerpt #13 from NO SECRET SO CLOSE:
In the end, it was she who made the first move. Stepping up to the car, she handed me a piece of paper. “Claire, your dad’s not back from his run,” she said, her voice trembling. “You need to call the police sergeant right away. Ok? He wants to know Bob’s running routes.” On the paper, she had scribbled the name, Sergeant Brady, and a phone number.
I had run with my dad enough to know there could only be one reason he hadn’t returned. He’d been hurt. My body went numb with the thought of what, or who, might have overtaken him. I had felt that strangeness in the area any number of times while running, and knew he had too. We’d never exactly spoken about our fears. But we had all kinds of names for the strange types we’d see while running.
It could have been me, was all I could think. Why him and not me? I would have been an easier target, certainly.
For as long as the diagnosis of ADHD has been recognized, there have been experiential methods to treat it. From wilderness excursions to ropes courses, therapists have looked for ways to help those children burdened with high anxiety, short attention span, inability to focus and complete tasks, and heightened excitability, learn to understand and manage their condition. However, one of the difficulties that has been encountered repeatedly in working with ADHD children is a way to teach them the necessary social skills to develop effective relationships. As often those around ADSHD children will complain about their apparent lack of interest, difficulty in carrying on a meaningful conversation, and maintaining accountability, relationships are often strained. And while they may be able to learn to use goal and completion charts to organize and complete their own tasks, children with ADHD may continue to struggle with face to face interactions. While verbal reminders have fallen short, therapists have turned to non-verbal methods to help these children identify how they present and the impact that it has on those around them. This is where equine therapy has, of recent, been utilized quite intently.
So how is it that being around a horse can effectively help a child who has trouble focusing in the first place? To answer this question, we must first understand that ADHD is expressed as a hypervigilance to the environment. While the attention of those not affected by ADHD can be held quite sufficiently by one component of their environment, ADHD children are constantly switching their focus from one thing to another, and digesting little feedback from the world around them in the process. This hypervigilance is very similar to the physiology of a nervous horse. However, the difference is that for a horse experiencing this kind of heightened arousal, the pertinent response would be to run. After all, fear initiates flight. And in fleeing, the physiological components of arousal would be actualized and the system reset — essentially, the horse would calm back down.
My Northeast Florida Dressage Association (NFDA) club’s Dressage on the First Coast Spring 2011 show is coming up this weekend (April 9-10th) and boy has there been a flurry of work to do to get everything ready for it. Everything else has had to be put on hold, even getting my newsletter out before the end of March. My attempt to get it out the week before that was thwarted by a frustrating technical issue of my ESP not ‘talking’ to my ISP which took me 4 days to finally get resolved. Hence my March newsletter has become my Spring newsletter or a March/April newsletter.
My wonderful husband offered to do an advertisement for the show program as the EVP of HorsesintheSouth.com. We were trying to decide what he would say in the program ad as I already have an ad for HorsesintheSouth.com in it, so we decided that we would just thank all of our current clients, banner advertisers and affiliates. My graphic designer, Beth Webb, who also did the show program for us on a last minute notice just told me to write up some text and she would make an ad out of it. Well, 3-4 hours later, I came up with this huge text-heavy ad that feels like I am thanking everyone for an academy award or something, it is so long! I didn’t know where to stop, I am so lucky to have such wonderful clients and advertisers. And, these are just the current ones! So I figured this would also be a good editorial so that all of the HorsesintheSouth.com readers and AHorseBlog.com readers will see these accolades instead of it just being confined to a horse show program.
It reads like this, but the layout that Beth did is gorgeous, as is the show program that she did for the Dressage on the First Coast.
ALGGraphics.com – Flexo and Screen printer of specialty labels.
DogwoodSportHorses.com – Breeders of excellent bloodline European cross warmblood sport horses for sale; featuring the branded Westfalen, and approved RPSI breeding stallion, Freedom Hall.
DressageontheFirstCoast.com – The website for the twice yearly recognized show; started for the 2005 Region 3 Championships held at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center.
Feedin’ Time – Animal feed & supply store. See the store link on HorsesintheSouth.com/feedintime
FloridaMaritimeLawyers.com – Florida-based law firm which concentrates in trial litigation in the field of admiralty, cruise line and maritime law.
James “Shea” Walsh – HorsesintheSouth.com/sheawalsh; 1988 Olympian represented Ireland. Instruction and clinics locally and abroad.
KDEquine.com – Kathy Daly — Classical Dressage trainer, clinician. USEF “r” Dressage judge; my first website started in 1997. I wanted to give back to Kathy for all of the wonderful training she had and has done for me and my horses. We still get many “phone” training lessons and I used to get “Kitchen Table” lessons when she would stay with me when I lived in Jacksonville and she would get to my place too late for a lesson. One day I am going to write a book for her on these lessons, she is that good at explaining what to do!
Sundance Farm – HorsesintheSouth.com/sundancefarm; Featuring Swedish Warmblood, AWS approved stallion, Synchronicity; Lupe Guarderas, owner, competitor, trainer and Dressage judge.
SuncoastBedding.com – Premium ultra-compressed pine shavings animal bedding.
TripleKBarC.com – Preserving the “Last Chance” naturally-gaited, old-time Albert Dement foundation line of Tennessee Walking Horses. Dement mares for sale to selected breeding homes.
Current Banner Advertisers and Others that we Support:
CanterburyShowPlace.com – Central Florida’s nicest equestrian showplace with an indoor covered and lighted arena, and 3 outdoor rings, 5 show barns, clubhouse and more!
ClassicCompany.com – Show management that we support; production of multiple shows throughout the South.
FlashpointMediaServices.com and FlashPointPhotography.com – Robbie and Greg Meisel who we love and support, specialize in performance and event portrait photography, and press releases for Classic Company, LLC show management.
JaneHeart.com – Gorgeous equestrian and dog lines of jewelry including Secretariat™ and Barbaro™ licensed jewelry.
KAMAnimalServices.com – KAM’s Equine Learning Circle offers FREE webinars every month and we list weekly tips each Monday and support them with a banner link.
MahanFarm.com – 113 acre boarding, show and clinic facility in Tallahassee, FL. Summer camp held in conjunction with Feather Oaks Farm. Brett Barteld, Owner
NagHorseRanch.com – Home of the Nose Shade, formerly called Nag Nose Shade to stop sunburned horses’ muzzles.
NFHJA.com/ North Florida Hunter Jumper Association – We support them, especially during the Jacksonville Winter Series.
RavenwoodFarm.net – Ravenwood Farm Foundation non-profit rescue corporation
SouthernFarrier.com – Brett Barteld; 2nd Generation Farrier; 1990 Oklahoma Horseshoeing School -Certificate Graduate Professional Horseshoeing; Brotherhood of Working Farriers Association Certified; American Farrier’s Association Member
SunHorseTack.com – Fancy and custom-made horse halters and stuff!
USET.org/United States Equestrian Team Foundation – We support them with a non-profit banner advertisement.
And, we have too many blog contributors to list here, so please see the Contributor category on AHorseBlog.com as these keep growing every day.
Jerry and Teri also wish to thank Sheila Van Dusen, honorary EVP, for all of the assistance she has provided since our beginnings in 2000, plus Jason Ellerbee, for his assistance as our Associate Editor and analyst, Chris Dunn and Linda Bourdow for their accounting assistance, Rob Bowman for his amazing photography, Charles Bryant for his amazing programming work on our website and blog, and Beth Webb for her amazing graphic design skills and assistance. Without their help, we would not have been able to keep this monster of a website and blog, plus our client sites and advertisers functioning.
We don’t know if we will be physically affected by the after effects of the tsunami that hit Japan. But let’s face it; the world is talking about radiation. Radioactive fallout is a buzz phrase these days. Hopefully, it won’t be something we ever have to worry about but there are steps that can be taken to help protect our horses. It’s called KAM DTX-Formula, a new product recently created by KAM Animal Services.
Even before the radioactive fallout buzz began, KAM Animal Services was often approached by clients asking if the company could create a product that would protect horses against environmental toxins. The combination of man-made pollutants, contaminated feeds and water, and natural stress, such as storms or draught, result in their bodies becoming toxic. So, it’s not just radiation that can create toxicity in horses but so many other environmental situations.
KAM felt there was some merit to those requests and so the staff began research to find the right combination of ingredients to detoxify toxic horses. As important as that product was, it kept taking a back seat to other projects until now. Since KAM has been inundated with emails and phone calls recently asking if it has such a product, KAM DTX-Formula became the priority.
Arenus, a premier provider of innovative health and nutritional products for pets and horses, is pleased to announce that Olympian and international dressage rider Steffen Peters is now an official Arenus Ambassador. (Photo courtesy of Susan J Stickle)
St. Louis, MO (March 31, 2011) – Arenus, a premier provider of innovative health and nutritional products for pets and horses, is pleased to announce that Olympic Dressage rider Steffen Peters has joined Arenus as an official Arenus Ambassador. Peters, who is fresh off a staggering victory at the World Dressage Masters in Palm Beach, Florida, exemplifies talent and horsemanship. Scoring an impressive 84.550% in the Grand Prix freestyle, Peters and his mount Ravel, owned by Akiko Yamazaki, continued a winning streak that has made Americans proud over the past years. Peters made history at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky when he rode Ravel to the bronze medal in the Grand Prix Special.
Peters, a native of Germany, became a United States citizen in 1992. He competed on his first U.S. team during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when the team took home the bronze medal. At the 2006 World Equestrian Games, Peters and Ravel helped the U.S. team capture the bronze medal. At the 2008 Olympics, Peters and Ravel finished fourth but set the dressage ring on fire a year later when they won the FEI Rolex World Cup Final in Las Vegas. Peters and Ravel then went on to sweep the Grand Prix, the Special and the Freestyle at Aachen, a feat never before mastered by an American rider.
NO SECRET SO CLOSE is the story of a the most unthinkable betrayal humanly possible — at only 24 years old, Claire Dorotik’s father has been murdered, her mother arrested, and now, in a sinister twist of fate, Claire’s mother points the finger at Claire, accusing her of killing her own father. Battling the feelings of loss, abandonment, terror, and dissociation, and also learning about them, Claire struggles to stay in her master’s program for psychotherapy. However, when Claire’s brothers also betray her and side with her mother, Claire is left all alone to care for the 18 horses she and her mother owned. As the story unfolds, what is revealed is the horses’ amazing capacity for empathy in the face of human trauma, and the almost psychic ability to provide the author with what had been taken from her. Arising from these horrifying circumstances, the most unthinkable heroes — the horses — show Claire that life is still worth living.
Excerpt #12 from NO SECRET SO CLOSE:
I don’t think I’ll ever stop replaying that day in my mind. As if I could somehow make it come out differently. Makes no sense, of course, but I couldn’t stop the endless spooling of memory. If I could, I’d have to let go, I guess of wishing I could have prevented it.
I paid the toll and entered the 405 freeway headed for home looking down at the speedometer, I saw I was going too fast. I’d stayed longer than I wanted to at my aunt’s house, and it was getting late now. The weekend with her had helped clear my head as it always did. Lately I’d been too busy to think. Only one semester away from receiving my undergraduate degree, I was already two semesters into my graduate program. That’s just the way things were: Up at five a.m. to train clients at the gym three days a week, followed by a rushed car ride to school the five jumpers I was training before it was too dark to ride, then a quick run down to the lake and back home by nine p.m. The other two days were back-to-back classes.
With equine therapy abounding, it has quickly become a status symbol among the country’s most prestigious treatment centers. However, while promulgating their use of horses to uncover the hidden emotions of substance abuse and dual diagnosis patients has become popular, many centers have also struggled with how best to offer this valuable treatment.
When equine therapy first emerged on the forefront, there was really no set protocol to be followed. While some centers purchased their own horses — and further advertised the availability of the horses on the grounds — others contracted out this modality through an independent provider. Further complicating the matter, some employed the use of both a licensed therapist and a horse handler, while others simply utilized the horse handler, or the psychotherapist who happened to “like” horses. However, as one can only imagine with any new, relatively unproven, modality, the outcomes were scattered and accidents happened.
And even when there was a clear method to follow, as presented by the Equine Growth and Learning Association, or EAGALA (www.eagala.org), work with horses wasn’t free of harm. To be sure, over the past five years, EAGALA reported more accidents than any other equine therapy approach. (Reports on any psychotherapeutic harm that may have occurred as a result of the inappropriate “interpretations” of untrained horse handlers are not available.) Yet perhaps due to the presentation of exercises such as “temptation alley” that correlated with what substance abuse and eating disorder patients might be experiencing, EAGALA was also the most popular method of practicing equine therapy.
