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
Early on, when I got started with horses, I learned traditional ways to care for them. This involved chemical fly sprays, ointments that contained potential carcinogens and other questionable chemicals in a variety of products including their food.
Along the way, as I was learning, I was drawn to more holistic ways of caring for my horses. Following my heart, with regard to these ways, has led me on a path of discovery, healing and much healthier horses!
When I first got Calli, every year she would get bit up by the little No-see-ums that come out in May at our wooded home. They would bite her on her underside and she would end up having a crusty line of gunk from her chin to her udders! Definitely gross and I'm sure uncomfortable for her.
Things started looking up when I started using a plant based cleaner on these areas of her body. The crusty stuff started disappearing and there was not as much of it covering her underside. I was super happy about that! I had been learning about these new holistic care options and part of that process was removing the products that had toxic chemicals in them. The fact that I was reducing the amount of toxins in her world was making a difference for her and helping to keep these bugs at bay.
Adding an essential oil to her daily feed was another thing I did. It served to improve her immune system. It is such a huge benefit at a very small price! Adding the oil along with the spray (which also helps to improve her immune system) really made a huge difference for this "seasonal" problem.
Another piece of this puzzle that was beneficial, because it removed toxins and sugar, was getting rid of the processed grains that we had been feeding. Processed grains have chemicals and toxins added to them along with a significant amount of sugar (which causes inflammation). All of our horses are on an anti-inflammatory diet. It is better for joints, over all wellness and, I believe, makes them less tasty to the bugs too!
As we are now into another May, I am happy to say that its been quite a few years since we've had to deal with the crusty underside! And there are few and far between reactions to bug bites now that we have addressed removing toxins and improved immune systems.
If you're interested in knowing what products I used, check out this brief video...
If you're interested in more holistic care information for your horses, join our community...
As I look back over the years, I realize I have had experiences with some pretty mysterious origins. There have been accidents, failures, even chronic issues in my body that could not be explained. What I finally figured out was, my emotions were controlling my body and my world! Let me share with you a couple of memorable experiences I had, that were very puzzling, but have shown me just how connected our emotions are to our bodies and our everyday experiences!
My first experience that showed me the power of our emotions on our physical world was the sale, or rather the lack of, of my house. It was my first house that I had purchased soon after finishing college. I lived there for about 17 years. After getting married, and not needing two homes, we put a lot of work into the house and listed it on the market. The home was lovely with many custom, rustic features added. But Not-One-Person looked at the house for the multiple years we had it on the market! I even did the “ bury the St Joseph statue” ritual in hopes of making something happen! What I came to realize was that I had not been ready to let go of the house. Emotionally, vibrationally, I was holding onto it. This realization came when there was a shift in the way I felt about the house and property. As soon as that emotional shift happened, we had multiple people looking at and making offers on the house, after so many years of trying to sell it!
Another powerful experience happened during my transition from trimming horses to educating about using essential oils with animals. My excitement about the oils was growing while my interest in trimming for others was declining. But I kept on trimming. Soon my right hand thumb started to freeze. Like it didn’t bend! That meant I was having trouble using my nippers. At this point, I hadn’t made any connection with the way I was feeling about wanting to pursue a new area of interest and my thumb. All I knew is that I was just frustrated and angry! I decided I needed to stop trimming. The very day I declared I would stop and pursue my new passion, my thumb returned to normal use! Crazy right?! Well I discovered through doing some research that the hands are governed by the heart energy center. Some of the feelings that reside here are confinement, the inability to cope, injury, distress. I think all of these were applicable to my situation at the time. It is easy to see now… that once I followed my heart’s desire, the physical issue I was having disappeared and all was well!
Over the past few years, as I have been exploring the path of gaining better connection and understanding with my horse Calli, I have come into contact with ideas that have expanded not only my mind but my everyday life with my animals! Much of this particular subject about emotions, for me, started with a collection of CD’s called The Law of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks. The idea that we could create the life we choose by the thoughts we think and the emotions we attach to those thoughts was both thrilling and motivating! It lit a fire in me to learn more. It is THIS feeling, this excitement and exuberance that manifests and tells us we are on the path to big and wonderful things! I was lead to other resources such as, Releasing Emotional Patterns With Essential Oils by Carolyn Mein. This book really solidified the idea that our emotions reside, vibrationally, within the different energy centers of our body.
As I was doing my horse workshops, helping people to understand how to “read” what their horses might be feeling and how it affects their body, I found that I needed something to refer to that had the body systems along with the emotions and suggestions for essential oils. I couldn’t find anything like that, so I created one! It’s a downloadable pdf called Connecting Emotions, Energy Centers and Essential Oils and is included in a mini course with videos explaining each section of the ebook. It includes a chart with the emotions, body systems and essential oils for each energy center, graphics of the horse, dog and human showing energy center location, an explanation of how and why to use this resource, tips and techniques, an observation and notes template and additional resources. There are also videos on how to use a pendulum as well as the application of the Feelings Kit oils to a horse.
Knowing the extent to which emotions affect our bodies, for us and our animals, I think it is so worth the time to pay attention and explore this subject! I know for myself, I now choose my thoughts and emotions to create positive experiences and manifest life goals. When caring for my animals, I now have greater insight into their feelings and can provide better support for their health and well- being.
If you’re looking to know more about emotions and the body, and specifically horse related topics, join my community The Hearts of Horses; Empowering Through Holistic Care.
All the best,
Marta
Before I discuss the five ways to help calm your horse holistically, I’d like to give you two key characteristics to keep in mind that are necessary for raising kids, training animals or running a business--- Honesty and Consistency. With these two qualities you will surely have success, especially with your horses. Animals are honest…they know no other way. It is one of the reasons they are so good for us. They help us to become better for ourselves and for them. The consistency part can be difficult for us. It means doing the same thing, in sequence, repeatedly. It also means offering the same (non-emotional) response to undesired behavior. Horses learn patterns 7 times faster than humans. So be sure to pay attention to what you are doing BEFORE, because they’re already 7 steps ahead!
Now let’s talk about the 5 ways to calm your horse, holistically…
1. Get your horse out of the stall and moving! Horses are herd animals who live in small bands that cover approximately 25 miles a day in their wild setting. Their range revolves around the water hole. There are also a variety of “events” within the range that keep the horses moving to the next one! Knowing what these are and incorporating them into your horse’s environment will contribute to a more balanced emotional state. There are “events” like the water hole, the bathing/grooming area, a resting area, a salt/minerals lick and more. The “vices” that come into play with horses in stalls, become virtually non-existent when they are allowed to move as a herd.
2. Play with your horse! Get to know them on the ground and learn to have a conversation with them. Allow them to have a choice and a say in what you are doing. Remember you are developing a friendship/partnership where you each have responsibilities. Can you imagine hanging out with a friend who is always telling you what to do and never asks what you like or want?!
Asking your horse to change directions gets them into their thinking (left) side of their brain instead of the emotional (right) side of the brain. So if your horse is getting all wound up and excited, AVOID the lunging circle! Get your back to a fence and get them changing direction. They’ll soon come off their adrenaline high and begin thinking again. Asking your horse to move backwards and sideways also requires using the thinking side of the brain. These two movements are definitely a great thing to incorporate into your regular routine with your horse!
3. Feed your horse like a horse! It’s so easy to want to give our horses all the things. Admit it, it makes us feel better. The fact is most grains and treats are loaded with sugars and can be deadly to our horses. Horses are browsers. Browsing for small amounts of plants while moving all-day-long. Setting up the environment so they can eat this way will reduce many of the “problems” we see with traditional horse keeping. It could be as simple as spreading the hay into many piles (instead of one or two) so that horses can push their herd mates to the next pile. There should always be more piles than horses!
Another key part of nutrition are the minerals. This is often overlooked and one of the key pieces of their overall emotional wellness. Magnesium plays a large role here too! Get your hay tested to find out the minerals you will need to supplement. For more information on providing a good foundation of nutrition for your horse, get this guide.
4. Use essential oil blends and singles daily for your horse’s emotional fitness! A few of my favorites are Peace and Calming, Valor and Stress Away. They were instrumental in my hoof trimming business for helping to settle an unsettled horse (and owner too)! I could offer a drop in my hand to the horse and depending upon their need; they may sniff it, lick it from my hand or sometimes they’d grab the whole bottle! That seemed to happen a lot with Stress Away. There are a few other oils used in protocols that I have found to offer incredible emotional releases and help to balance the horse’s energy. These are the Feelings Kit, Freedom Sleep and Freedom Release Collection.
5. Lastly, incorporating Healing Touch for Animals has forever changed my animal care for the better. I can help my animals to be calm and release experiences that are causing them to feel or behave in unwanted ways. Learning the techniques from the Level 1 online course have allowed me to not only help my horses (dogs and cats too) live better… I have been able to help other people’s horses to feel relief from traumatic events, to release traumas they have carried and to get their energy open and flowing again. If you have horses (or any animal) the Level 1 is a wonderful addition to your holistic care tool box. Click here for more information about the Healing Touch for Animals Level 1 online course.
Having a calm horse is something virtually anyone can achieve. By taking the time to understand the things that motivate a horse (and are innate in them), you can begin to put each facet in place in their environment as you care for and interact with them. For me, each of these has contributed to the emotional balance of my horses as, over the years, I learned and incorporated them into my life with horses. I am forever grateful to have learned these holistic care ways. I hope you take the opportunity to incorporate some of them too!
If you have questions or choose to learn more, join my free Face Book group...
