The winter can be tough to spend time playing with or riding your horse, especially if you don’t have access to an indoor or good footing. But don’t fret, there are loads of things you can to with your horse! These activities will help to develop your relationship as well as improve your horse’s mental, emotional and physical wellness.
Here is a list of a few things I like to do with my horses when its cold or I’m short on time…
Just be with them. Put your hands on them and breathe. Let your breathing and hearts get in sync. Talk quietly with your horse. Tell them your secrets…
Do stretches. Lifting the front leg with a little stretch forward is great for their shoulders. Tickling the belly with your finger tips is great for getting them to lift their top line. A hind leg, cross in front hold is great for the hind end and balance (there’s a great video of this in Guide 9 of the Hearts Of Horses group).
Ask for yields. Using the lightest of touches, or maybe even just a thought. Ask your horse to move their hindquarters or crossover their front feet moving away from you. Have them back up or move sideways away from you. A challenge…ask them to move sideways toward you!
Pick up their feet and check them. Do a quick clean out and inspect each foot to make sure all is well. A quick spray with Thieves Cleaner goes a long way for keeping the frogs healthy too!
Assess their energy centers to see if all are open and flowing. Not sure how to do this? Watch this video and learn to use a pendulum.
Use energy healing techniques from Healing Touch for Animals to clear away congested energy and blockages from their system. To me this is the most overlooked part of our care for our animals. If you'd like to learn more about energy and vibration tools read my recent blog here.
Use light therapy (red, green and blue). Apply the light to wellness points on your horse for a preventive approach to their care. Use the light on the carotid for 10 minutes to cleanse their blood!
Apply essential oils. Do a RainDrop Kit session to promote relaxation, cleansing and immune system stimulation. Spend a month applying the Feelings Kit daily and you’ll be amazed at how much more harmonious you and your horse will be together! It will bring your partnership to a whole new level!
If some of these things are new to you, or you’ve never heard of them but are interested in learning more, I encourage you to check out the Guide section at the top of the page in our community, The Hearts of Horses, Empowering Through Holistic Care.
Stay warm and enjoy your time with your horses,
Marta
My girl, Calli, came to me with a predisposition toward showing signs of colic when the barometric pressure changed. With any storm coming, she was giving the usual signs of a curled lip and looking at her sides. This was in the early days of my learning about horses and how best to care for them. It was a crash course!
I’ve learned so much over the years and we no longer deal with those bouts of stomach upset. It’s been pretty smooth sailing for all my horses simply by keeping these 5 habits as part of their healthy, holistic lifestyle...
- First and foremost, allow your horses the freedom of movement! The more they can move and forage for their food, whether it’s on the ground or in hay bags, the better their digestive system functions. A track system is ideal, but if you’re not there yet at least spread the hay out in their space to encourage them to move to new areas.
- Make sure your horses are drinking plenty of water. In the cold temperatures adding a heat source to keep the water drinkable is necessary. Even making the water more enticing by adding a favorite oil flavor like lemon or Citrus Fresh would help them to drink but would also support their immune system function.
- Free choice granulated salt or adding it directly to their food is necessary for many body functions but will also encourage drinking more water. The average horse needs at least 1 oz of salt per day in the winter. It is responsible for such things as intestinal movement and fluid balance, absorbing nutrients and muscle and nerve function.
- Get rid of the processed grains! They are often loaded with sugars and ingredients that are hard on the gut. Go to forage-based feeds and whole foods like flax, chia and hemp to add to your horse’s nutrition regimen. Adding water is a benefit year-round but adding a bit more, and making it warm, for the extra cold weather is a good thing. If you have a hard keeper, of course splitting meals into more and smaller proportions is the safer thing to do for them.
- Adding the essential oil blend of Digize, from Young Living, has been the saving grace for us. I use it daily in their feed, year-round. I believe this is a big part of why Calli no longer has stomach discomfort. The blend of oils serves to help the gut to achieve a homeostasis or balance. We are never without it!
Wishing you a safe and healthy winter with your horses. And if you’re looking for more holistic care information to help you care for your horses, join us in our community in the fb group The Hearts of Horses, Empowering Through Holistic Care.
All the best,
Marta
Are you not sure what that even means?
That’s ok. I wasn’t either until a few years back…
Everything carries energy and vibration… plants, rocks, animals and people. The higher the vibration, the greater your health. Generally, a healthy body enjoys a frequency range measured in Megahertz of 62-78 MHz, while disease or illness begins at 57 MHz. Clearing old negative energy away and adding new increased energy to ourselves and horses improves wellness. Below are a few of the ways I have incorporated vibration and energy work into the care of my horses… and myself!
I have always loved plants. The first things I did when I bought my first house was to plant a big vegetable garden and create herb/flower beds. Years later, when my daughter was in high school (we were homeschooling and purchased a home study course), I began studying and learning more about the medicinal nature of plants. I began using herbs regularly, even including them in the care of my horses. I loved mixing herbs for teas, learned to make tinctures and salves and still have a favorite lotion recipe that my husband enjoys.
It wasn’t until I got into horses and my trimming practice that I was introduced to Young Living Essential Oils. The emotional impact that blends of oils had on horses was incredible and undeniable! I began using them daily for my horses and the more I learned, the more I was using them. I soon was using them in their feed and trading out all the usual horse products I had for these essential oils. If you're looking for the highest of quality essential oils and oil infused products, check out the ones I use here, Young Living Essential Oils.
Along my journey of beginning with horses, there were signs and introductions to such things as dowsing (using a pendulum) and muscle testing. I had the opportunity to observe people using these techniques at a friend's barn. To me it was fascinating, but I wasn’t quite ready at that time to investigate those areas.
I needed more work on cleansing myself and my environment. As I made changes in my daily life in these areas (reading food labels, eating cleaner food, using products without harmful toxins), my vibration increased (low vibration = sickness and disease) as did my intuition.
With this raised vibration from cleansing, my fascination with crystals started to blossom.
I had a very old necklace that was my great grandmother’s. It had been hanging on a picture, over my dresser, that I walked by every morning and evening. It is a beautiful, tear drop shaped stone of Lapis Lazuli, on an antique chain. When I’d pass by it, I found myself stopping and touching it. I eventually started wearing it. Lapis is a stone that promotes your intuition. It is also known for harmonizing the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of a being. Lapis also brings objectivity and clarity.
From this beginning, my love of crystals grew… learning more, collecting and carrying them. I am now starting to incorporate them into my Healing Touch for Animals work. I was so excited to have had a conversation/interview in my horse community about using crystals with the founder of the HTA program, Carol Komitor. If you’d like to watch that, you can find the video in the Guides section of my Hearts of Horses, Empowering Through Holistic Care community.
I learned about a new crystal application tool this past fall, when I attended an online Animal Conference that included a variety of speakers. Through one of the presentations, I learned about these crystal mats and their healing abilities. The crystals raise your vibration and can increase circulation and reduce inflammation. There are mats you can lay on as well as wraps to apply to the body. I can see many uses for this for myself as well as my animals. I am excited to delve more into learning about this tool in the coming new year!
Light therapy is another tool I use with regularity and see a multitude of benefits. I use it proactively, as in promoting the immune system as well as for emergency situations. You can hold the light on your carotid artery for about 10 minutes and thoroughly cleanse your blood!
My red light came in pretty darn handy when my dog, Zeke, got hit by a car a few years back. It’s also great for the cuts and scrapes the horses get on occasion. The light therapy also offers green and blue along with the red with each having its own unique health benefits. I love the one I have as the company offers such great support and education around using the tools and resources. Check them out if you'd like to see what they offer...Photonic Health.
The next thing I found was incredibly powerful to me. A few years back I was fortunate to have attended the Animal Conference at Young Living’s Mona, Utah Farm. There were many terrific demonstrations and information about using essential oils, but the one that captivated me the most was the demonstration with Carol Komitor and Kate Brown on Healing Touch for Animals. I was drawn to everything about it, including the use of the oils, but the desire to know more about influencing the energy of an animal to promote faster healing was so exciting. I had made up my mind right there that I would learn more by taking the Level 1 online course! I have since completed that along with an in-person Level 2 course. If you're interested in learning more, have a look here at Healing Touch for Animals.
Introducing each of these vibration/energy tools into my daily use has been a process over time. Each has proven to be an incredible addition to provide wellness to my family and animals. I am excited to keep learning about more ways to help my animals. If you’re ready to learn more about these energy healing modalities I've talked about above, be sure to find the information on each in the guide section in the Hearts of Horses, Empowering Through Holistic Care community. I'd also be happy to talk with you personally, so feel free to reach out and contact me!
Happy New Year and see you in the Hearts of Horses community...
Marta
There were many times during my full-time trimming days that I felt like a broken record, saying the same thing over and over to clients when it came to taking care of their horses’ hooves…
Often when something is happening to our horses, we just want to make them feel better. So doing something quick, easy and topically is the norm. But there is usually more going on and if we just look a little deeper, we can get at the cause of the problem. Then take steps to remedy it.
Before we get into the solutions, let’s take a look at what is happening in the hoof in terms of an abscess. The connection between the hoof wall and internal structures is made up of laminae. These are finger-like protrusions that when healthy, have a very strong bond and hold the outer wall tight to its internal structures.
When we look at a healthy hoof, we can see smooth, tight hoof wall growing down from the top at the coronary band. When the hoof is fed well with adequate minerals it is a work of art! It is when imbalances occur that inflammation can result causing the laminae to become weak and lose their strong connection. In this weakened state, it is easy for an overgrown hoof to work as a lever to pry the wall away from the sole at ground level. When this happens, it is easy for dirt and debris to make its way up into the hoof.
If you’re a little fuzzy on some of this and would like to know and see more, check out the free workshop in my The Hearts of Horses: Empowering Through Holistic Care community. There are videos that introduce you to the parts of the hoof as well as the internal structures as shown on a mustang cadaver hoof.
In order to get at the source of the abscess issue, we must deal with the inflammation first and remove the cause of it. The number one thing, that many do not realize, is the amount of sugar in our horses' lives have everything to do with their hoof health. Finding the sugars in their hay, grass, grains, supplements, trees containing sugar in their bark within their living space, treats… and removing them will stop the inflammation. Each horse will be different in their thresholds but as their caregiver, it is up to you to figure out their specific needs.
Once the sugar has been removed, make sure your mineral levels are good. Test your hay to see what may be low or missing in your area. Feeding a good supplement is helpful (we cover this in the holistic care community too!). Feeding the hoof is everything!
Another helpful piece to this abscess puzzle is movement. A key part of helping a horse to move out of the discomfort of an abscess is to allow them to move (vs. stall rest). The more the movement, the more the blood flow, the quicker it resolves. Generally, an abscess will last 7-10 days. Set up your horse’s environment so that he is allowed to move yet protected from harm from the other horses.
A third, key piece to this puzzle is their trimming schedule. Getting your horse trimmed based upon their rate of growth and how much they self-trim is beneficial to them. Knowing when the hoof needs to be trimmed is something you must learn to recognize (check the free workshop for help here too!). This will help you to know the appropriate time frame for trimming your horse.
Learning more about the hoof so that you can have a conversation with your hoof care professional will be a huge benefit. You see your horse daily, do all their care and can recognize subtle changes in them. Being able to have a conversation with your hoof care provider about any changes will be most helpful to them for your horse’s care.
If you’re interested in learning more or would like to learn to trim your own horses, grab my course here. It will give you all the tools and information you need for you to learn to trim your own horses’ hooves. When you use the code 50off you can purchase at half price.
Finally, soaking the hoof that is experiencing an abscess. I have found soaker boots extremely helpful and easy to use. As a former EasyCare dealer, I started with the Easy Soaker and really like it. I also use an Rx boot when I need to keep things clean and covered up.
A few of the items I have found most helpful in the soaking process are Epsom Salt, Thieves Household Cleaner, an essential oil blend called Melrose for cleansing and Wintergreen to help with the discomfort. Just a ¼ cup of the salt, half a capful of the Thieves Cleaner, 4-8 drops or so of Melrose and the same for Wintergreen. Add warm water (about a quart) and pour into the boot (which is already on the foot!). I let them soak for 20-30 minutes.
A few of the items I have found most helpful in the soaking process are Epsom Salt, Thieves Household Cleaner, an essential oil blend called Melrose for cleansing and Wintergreen to help with the discomfort. Just a ¼ cup of the salt, half a capful of the Thieves Cleaner, 4-8 drops or so of Melrose and the same for Wintergreen. Add warm water (about a quart) and pour into the boot (which is already on the foot!). I let them soak for 20-30 minutes.
I hope this has been helpful for you and if you haven't already, I hope you will join us in our holistic care community.
Marta
There’s probably a good reason that someone made up that old saying of “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. My guess is because apples are loaded with all kinds of good nutrients for your body… like enzymes, minerals, trace minerals and potassium. And after all, our horses love them too! These important life building nutrients are all contained in Apple Cider Vinegar.
Quite a few years back I changed how I was eating due to the physical discomfort in my body. I did a fast (3 days without food!) and learned to gradually reintroduce certain healthful foods back into my diet.
As part of my new regimen, I learned about the many health benefits of and started using Apple Cider Vinegar, the good stuff with the “mother” in it! It contains an enzyme that “eats up” the toxic waste in the body.
Some of the amazing benefits I’ve learned about ACV include…
- Detoxifies the blood stream and organs
- Helps to achieve and more balanced pH
- Assists kidneys, bladder and liver
- Promotes circulation
- Supports digestion
Also for animals (including the above)…
- Deters fleas, ticks and mosquitos
- Relives skin and ear problems
- Promotes a healthy, shiny coat
I started drinking ACV in a tea first thing in the morning. One of the things it does is jumpstart my digestive system. All I know is that I am feeling so much better by starting my day with ACV/Thieves tea with honey!
At some point along the way I decided that it was doing so much good for me that I should give it to my horses too! I was already using it topically for their hooves for thrush by soaking and spraying. The ACV can be added to their water for drinking, but for me, I just add it to their daily feed. I add about a third of a cup of ACV to a liter bottle and fill the rest with water. Then I mix some into their milled flax and supplements.
Potassium is one of the key constituents offered in ACV. Did you know 75% of the body’s potassium is found in skeletal muscle and is necessary for function? Horses are able to excrete excess potassium through urine or sweating but when there is a deficiency in the body, there can be some pretty detrimental effects.
A horse with low potassium will exhibit…
- Muscle weakness
- Fatigue
- Reluctance to exercise
- Decreased water and food intake
- Restlessness
- Spookiness
Offering your horse a lifestyle with unlimited forage will help to avoid low potassium issues. It’s always good to test your hay to know what the levels of minerals are contained within it. From there you have a clearer picture on what to supplement.
An excerpt from the book, Apple Cider Vinegar; Miracle Health System by Paul Bragg ND PhD and Patrice Bragg ND PhD…
Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, in 400 B.C. treated his patients with amazing raw Apple Cider Vinegar because he recognized its powerful cleansing and healing qualities. It is a naturally occurring antibiotic and antiseptic that fights germs and bacteria in the body.
I have found that adding Apple Cider Vinegar to my horse’s daily routine has been a great boost to their health. It has added another beneficial layer to their holistic lifestyle!
Give it a try and see how your horses like it.
Marta
