Chiropractor

Yesterday I shadowed a horse Chiropractor. Her work is very fascinating and opened my eyes to the body of the horse. It is amazing that an imbalance in the rider can cause a horse to be insufficient in performance. This Chiropractor, Natasha, works with humans, horses and animals of all sorts. To see the relief and relaxation that she brings to animals and humans alike is inspiring. I did not know much about Chiropractic work, but here is what I learned. Your nervous system is centered in your brain and down your spine. If your spine is not aligned properly it can affect your nervous system and cause pains and problems throughout your body. It works the same for a horse. If the horses body is out of align due to a saddle, the rider, or an activity that may be strenuous to the horse- it affects his ability to perform. Once the horse is aligned he may be able to respond quicker to his rider and therefore increase communication.

The first stop with Natasha was a stable that had 2 horses. One horse was 26 years old, and you could definitely tell, swayed back, slow walking, and enlarged knees due to arthritis. The other horse was maybe 10 years old and in really good shape. It was easy to notice when Natasha relieved the horse, she would adjust a part of its body and the horse would seem to breath a sign of relief. Can you image how much easier it is for that horse to perform and to do task quicker after it is relaxed? It would be like having a pinched nerve and someone telling you to run that mile faster, you aren't doing it quick enough! We should do the same thing with our human partners, don't ask them to do something that might be impossible for them. If they seem resistant to doing something you want them to do, maybe you should take a second and think what might be preventing them from granting my wishes.

The second stop was at a lady's house and she wanted a saddle fitting. This lady was quirky but fun. She was talkative and seemed to really care for her horse. Natasha had her ride briefly to get an indention mark in gel. (She placed a gel mat underneath the saddle and had the lady ride, so she could see where the lady was placing pressure on the horses back- she could adjust things on the saddle from there) This lady rode off-center. She recognized this problem and has done things to try and correct this, but she has been off-center for her entire life; that is not easy to fix in just a few years. Natasha made the imprint and found where the lady was putting more pressure on one side of the horse than the other, and inserted some foam in that spot to help the horse be more comfortable riding. It was refreshing to see a 'horse person' so willing to experiment with different things. She was even so kind as to loan me a book to read. (The Tao of Equus) I feel that if you can be open to communicate with an animal in which you cannot communicate verbally with, then why can't some people be so willing to communicate with other people?

The third and last stop was at a stable in which Natasha spent time briefly with two horses. She did not do any chiropractic work on them, but she gave them a brief ride to keep them used to someone on their back. (I believe the owner has been out of town recently.) She rode this giant horse, over 17.3 hands, for those of you who don't know how big that is, image the top of a 6 foot man's head being even the the top of this horses back. This horse towered over me and her, but it was absolutely amazing for me to see that she still had control over this animal. The other horse was smaller, but full of enough energy for 3 horses. She was warm blooded and tested her boundaries every second Natasha was with her. A very important observation was that Natasha did not treat these animals exactly the same way. She was more stern and attentive to the second horse, the mare, because the horses 'horseanility' called for it. We should treat people this way too, when we communicate with them we should realize that it might have to be different depending on who you talk to. If someone if very sensitive you might want take that into consideration over someone who 'has thick skin'.

I did not get to volunteer at Hope Remains yesterday, because most of the kids were sick. It also rained and with few kids there were way too many volunteer and not enough for us to do. We went home but before we did that we gave a horse worm medicine. An exciting experience to watch since one of the horses DID NOT want to take the medicine. I learned that the horse needs time to get used to an idea that you want it to get used to immediately. The horse did not want to take the medicine just like a young child might not want to take medicine. But if you explain it to the child and do a little coaxing it eventually happens, without the entire amount of medicine all over you or the child. Once the horse got used to the syringe (it was just squirted into his mouth, not injected) he accepted the medicine and we all went on our way.

One important thing I have realized is that I have trust issues. I have a very wonderful and stable family, this does not stem from that, but more so because I have had many friend bail. I find myself expecting the worse when I meet a new person- or when meeting alone with someone I have not previously met- extremely nervous. But I think if I continued to work with horses this could change a bit. If I can trust a 1500 pound animal with my life, and trust that I can effectively communicate with it in situations to keep me safe, then why can't a trust a person? I think my intuition will improve with further work with horses. I will learn to keep my guard up, when I need to; not just because I meet alone with a man that I did not previously know.

I think that horses will tell me more about myself than I could learn otherwise. You can't be fake with a horse. He doesn't read your lips or your words he reads your body language. A horse can tell you intention, and tell whether you might be a threat. Working with a horse will tell you if you have issues with control, anger, shyness- it will eventually come out. A horse can also give you confidence. Once you can figure yourself out, you can learn the best way for you to communicate with other people. Sometimes you have to truly understand yourself, before you can understand someone else. Once a person can understand their strengths and weaknesses, they can then learn to communicate that with a another person.

Today was rainy, and there was not much I could get out and do. Arena would be just mud and the saddle would have the potential to be ruined, so I gave it a break for today. I read a bunch of articles and watched a 3 hour film by Tom Dorrance. His film was interesting, but very slow to develop and I couldn't find much to relate to my research. (Maybe something will click later, but I have yet to draw any profound conclusions.) Some of the articles I read were interesting though. One article on gender and the horse world was a new path for me to explore.
Mutual Corporeality: Gender and human/horse relationships
Important quotes from this article:

*"Our relationships with nonhuman animals are a crucial, but often overlooked, part of our social life"

*"messing around with horses allows them to be tomboys, and to develop self-esteem and confidence" ----This is very important to relationships with other people. If you are confident you may be more social and have more frequent relationships that are open.

*"In turn, participation in these activities helps to produce a sense of belonging to particular rural communities. In many ways, the horse and its specific abilities helps humans to shape their identities as horsepeople" ----These people work with horses and this refines their social group to mainly other horse people. This can show that their communication with people is definitely affected by their work with horses. They communicate more with people that have horses and less with 'outsiders'.

*referring to natural horsemanship " one NH student explained that she was "becoming a better person, learning not to think like a predator... [learning to be] polite to the horse"..."-----the context of this quote was not completely given. I can assume that she is referring to being a better person in reference to her horse (being a better person to her horse). But if she goes so far to say she is a better person, you can't help to think that maybe she thinks differently of herself on the whole.. and maybe wants to carry that in all aspects of her life.

*"Having a good feel means that both are sensing and making sense of each other such that sensation itself becomes an important mode of communication."---maybe this could apply to humans relationships with one another. Once you get a good feel for another person you communication with them can reach a new level.

These are just a few of the many idea that have floated through my brain in the past two days.