Category Archives: Publications/Media

Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Publications/Media

NO SECRET SO CLOSE excerpt #5, by Claire Dorotik

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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 #5 from NO SECRET SO CLOSE:

“I only know one. But he’s very good.” Two years before I had been sued. I was trying to sell my first horse Cheers, when a woman and her daughter saw him at a horse show and asked if they could take him on trial. I was naïve, and they seemed nice. We wrote a contract on the back of a show entry and shook hands. “The buyer will have two weeks to try the horse, at the end of which time she can either purchase him for the agreed price of $10,000, or give him back.”  That’s what it said, word for word. It didn’t say that if I took my horse back when they didn’t buy him that it would result in “emotional damages” to her daughter. When the woman chased the hauler down the freeway in her Range Rover, honking and swearing at him, I thought he was the one who would suffer emotional damages. She wanted longer than two weeks, but didn’t want to pay for the horse. I just wanted my horse back. But she sued me anyway and hired a prestigious attorney. I had no money. I couldn’t even decipher the papers I had been served with. When I showed it to the trainer I was riding for at the time, she said, “You gotta call Mike, he’s the best.” I took the number and the papers and went to see him. When he saw the name of the woman’s attorney, he told me I was in trouble. But he took the case for $500. It was a pro-bono for him. I thought it was an act of sympathy.

So I gave him a call. He didn’t hesitate. He also didn’t ask questions. Another act of sympathy. “Kerry Steigerwald. Call Kerry Steigerwald.”

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Contributors/Press, Equine Assisted Therapy, Publications/Media

Equine Therapy: What Is It Good For? by Claire Dorotik

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While those familiar to horses would contend that horses, in general, are good for any type of person, therapists, for whom which equine therapy is a new, untested field, have not been so quick to jump on the bandwagon. Many of the concerns expressed have surrounded the relative lack of evidence available indicating the efficacy of work with horses, but also, lack of clarity as to what particular diagnosis may be helped by equine therapy. Certainly these concerns are not without validity as we have learned that with the fertile emergence of all types of experiential therapies, some approaches are not helpful, and in some ways harmful, for certain types of clients.

So in considering the introduction of equine therapy for clients, we must be clear just who can be helped by our equine friends, as with other experiential methods, equine therapy is not for everyone. However, from the beginning, equine therapy was promoted for all types of clients, with the largest and most prominent usage surrounding eating disorders. Remuda Ranch, in Wickenburg, Arizona (www.remudaranch.com), has in many ways been a trendsetter in this movement. This particular center, which is designed exclusively for the treatment of pervasive cases of eating disorders, incorporates horses with every client, and the equine therapy program enjoys a large share of treatment time.

Of late, equine therapy has been espoused as an effective treatment for addictions, with the majority of centers promoting this, among other experiential therapies as a way to engage and ascertain information from clients who might otherwise be treatment resistant. The frontrunner in this approach has been Sierra Tucson, (www.sierratucson.com) the prominent rehabilitation center in Tucson Arizona. Like Remuda Ranch, equine therapy is a part of every client’s program, and the center’s sister site, Miraval (www.miravalresorts.com), a less intense and more akin to a “health spa,” uses equine therapy in majority to restore balance and wellness to clients’ lives.

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Art/Photography, Awards, Breeds, Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Events, Products/Services, Publications/Media

Secretariat “Voice of the People” Award to Zenyatta, by Jane Heart

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Personal Appearance, Saturday, February 5, 2011, Santa Anita Park, California

Mrs. Penny Chenery has established the Vox Populi award for the “voice of the fans to honor the horses they love”. The first award will be presented to the Zenyatta team this coming Saturday.

Mrs. Chenery will participate in a special poster signing to commemorate this historic occasion. Scheduled to join in the festivities are Zenyatta’s owners Ann and Jerry Moss, trainer John Shirreffs, and jockey Mike Smith. Kate Chenery Tweedy will also be in attendance signing copies of her newly released book “Secretariat’s Meadow.” Join Penny Chenery as she presents the inaugural Secretariat Vox Populi Award to the Zenyatta team on February 5th at Santa Anita Park.

I am delighted to be a part of this inaugural event as well as displaying my jewelry for Secretariat and Barbaro. Visit with me on Saturday and Sunday February 5 and 6 from 10:30 to 5:00 at the Champions! Santa Anita Gift Shop entrance. It will be a very special day indeed.

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Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Publications/Media

NO SECRET SO CLOSE excerpt #4, by Claire Dorotik

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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 #4 from NO SECRET SO CLOSE:

But then I did finally get a call from a trainer interested in Cat. Not the one I want to sell. Not my Cat. But I had to show her the horse. The horses needed feed, and there was no more money for the attorney. Kerry, the same attorney that had accused me. Kerry, the same attorney that had publicly defamed me. But pay him anyway — he’s defending your mom. After all, she didn’t have any other source of income, and Cat was half hers. But, he was, by far, my best horse. He’d been such a solid performer — always there when I needed him.

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Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Publications/Media

Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy: Working in the Unconscious, by Claire Dorotik, M.A.

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While there is no debate among those who work with horses that the truth about people cannot be masked when around them. It seems that even those who seem to project one emotion will frequently be found to have another. An apparently confident person can struggle mightily with the simple task of placing a halter on a horse. And often, under circumstances such as these, those around the otherwise unchallenged person will stand back in awe of what was previously unbeknownst to them. Such is the nature of the unconscious. It is an all together present, and yet wholly ignored, facet of the human equation. Sometimes called a “gut instinct,” there have been some who have suggested its wisdom in everyday decisions, and absolute importance in the more pressing life and death situations. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of “Blink,” for one makes a very elegant case for utilizing the prescient nature of the unconscious in predicting satisfaction with all sorts of life decisions.

Yet for as much as the unconscious can offer, it is, for the most part, outside of the everyday awareness of the masses. However, that is not to say that the human system is not affected by unconscious drives, fears, and motives. Those in the field of trauma will strongly argue that in the case of overwhelming traumatic situations, while there is often no conscious memory, there remains a physiological imprint of the trauma, called a “body memory.” In a case such as this, a person will experience physiological reactions, such as increased pulse, elevated startle response, and muscle tension despite the absence of any noticeable stimuli. And here again, while the remnants of the trauma are register physiologically, and hold the truth about the trauma, they are not responded to, as consciously, the person has no reason to.

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Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Publications/Media

NO SECRET SO CLOSE excerpt #3, by Claire Dorotik

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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 #3 from NO SECRET SO CLOSE:

But I wanted to believe that my mother was kind and loving. I’d see her with my brother’s friends, and think that she was a great mom. They’d all talk to her about what was going on with them, in a way every parent hopes their teenager will talk to them.  She’d sit and listen for hours. And they’d all say that they wished they could talk to their own parents this way. I’d watch, just sitting around the edges, wondering why not me? Why can’t I be listened to like that? But maybe Dad was right; maybe I was the source of the family’s financial strain. Maybe we would’ve been better off without the horses.

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Contributors/Press, Equine Assisted Therapy, Publications/Media

Can Equine Therapy Be Useful for Trauma Clients?

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By Claire Dorotik, LMFT

“The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man.”

If this statement is really true, there should be many uses for equine psychotherapy. However, being that the field of equine psychotherapy is relatively new, do we know if this is an appropriate method of treatment for trauma clients?

Sure, there have been many alternative forms of treating trauma clients — EMDR, biofeedback, meditation, even yoga — to describe just a few. What these forms of treatment share is the task of engaging the client’s awareness of both emotional and sensory responses to traumatic events.

In doing so, these methods attempt to identify the client’s emotional personality (EP), or the part of the personality that develops in response to being emotionally overwhelmed, and provide a means through which the client can integrate the EP with the apparently normal personality (ANP), or the part of the personality that develops in order to function on a daily basis.

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Community/Charity, Contributors/Press, Dressage, JRPR, Publications/Media

Dressage Rider & Bestseller Tami Hoag Unveils New Novel to Wellington Horse Community

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Tami Hoag is joined by her longtime friend and dressage trainer Betsy Steiner during Hoag’s book signing at the Wellington dressage boutique. (Photo courtesy of JRPR)

Wellington, FL (January 18, 2011) – Dressage rider and New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag knows how to write a spine-tingling murder mystery and she also knows how to bring in a standing-room only crowd when unveiling a new novel. Hoag did just that recently, when she unveiled her newest novel Secrets to the Grave to the Wellington horse community while on a book tour that had her stopping at the Wellington dressage boutique Sho Clothes and their monthly “Shop Talk” gathering.

Hoag, who has 15 New York Times bestsellers to her name, shared the secrets behind Secrets to the Grave and also signed her novels after her talk. While Hoag has fans all over the world, she makes her home in Wellington and is well known in the equestrian community as both a writer and a rider.

“It was an impressive crowd and a lot of fun,” Hoag said, about her evening at Sho Clothes. “My longtime trainer Betsy Steiner came to the book signing, as well as many old and new friends. It is always good to catch up with all my riding buddies.”

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Contributors/Press, Publications/Media

Direction of Attunement in Equine Therapy, by Claire Dorotik M.A.

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Horses have, for some time now, been showing promise as a complementary modality for humans experiencing psychological distress. As the unconscious guarding that is so typical of human interactions is absent from these horse-human relationships, people often develop an affinity and camaraderie with their equine partners. Especially in the case of trauma, the hallmark neurobiological changes, such as increased excitatory neurochemicals, and exaggerated startle response, tend to obfuscate human social dynamics. As these particular individuals often feel outside of the human experience, and even detached from the self, they typically find a kinship with horses that extends beyond a cognitive congruence. Physiological changes register a calming response, and mitigation of some of the trauma effects while in the presence of horses.

Similarly, several studies have indicated that human-animal touch, and the resultant syncing of mind and body responses to be integral in trauma recovery, (Brooks, 2006; Perry, 2006; Van der Kolk, 2003; Yorke, Adams & Coady, 2008). This response has been particularly strong in human-equine interactions, (Bass, Duchowny & Llabre, 2009; Davis, 2009; Schultz, Remick-Barlow & Robbins, 2007).

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Contributors/Press, Publications/Media

NO SECRET SO CLOSE excerpt #2, by Claire Dorotik

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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 #2 from NO SECRET SO CLOSE:

When I entered the house, there was no warm smell. Only the faint odor of dog pee. My mother’s dog, Simone, hadn’t taken the news lightly. She was permanently planted on the couch. Her couch. She had done this before. Whenever my mom left her alone, she would retaliate. She’d claim the couch, and adorn it with whatever she wanted. Houseplants, her dog bowl, my mom’s underwear. Alex’s friends had tried to move her. But she snapped at them. Even though she wasn’t particularly a large dog, her bite was intimidating nonetheless. She was my mother’s negotiation. After years of breeding Irish Wolfhounds and discovering that an unmanaged pack of them became aggressive toward the neighbors pets, and even the foals a few times, she thought she should try something different. Simone was a Russian Wolfhound. They are lighter and supposedly more docile. Of course it wasn’t until the last of the Wolfhounds died, five small dogs and one foal with a slashed side later, that my mother thought it might be time for a change. One of those small dogs was mine. My little Rudy, a perfect little white Maltese that I’d got from a rescue. His previous owner had died, and I felt like I had won the lottery. I had always wanted a Maltese, but you never find them at the rescues. If you do, they don’t really look like a Maltese, and the rescues are just trying to pass them off as purebred to get them adopted. I had him only six months. But I should have never brought him home for Christmas with me. Merry Christmas. All I wanted was for my mom to stop the Wolfhounds from killing other dogs, or get rid of them. But my pleas, like many things, fell on deaf ears.

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