Magical Moments

NEWSLETTER Volume 2, Number 11, November 2005

Every so often when I’m around horses I experience one of those magical moments when time stands still and I have a clear sense of being where I’m supposed to be and doing what I’m supposed to be doing with my life. A couple of weeks ago I had one of those moments of clarity. I had returned to Montana’s Bitteroot Valley to take more advanced training in equine massage and to learn additional bodywork modalities that would give me more tools in working with a variety of horses. Coreen Kelly, owner of the Western Montana School of Equine Massage led me and four other women through a series of lessons designed to help us understand how to apply acupressure techniques and Reiki, the powerful energy healing system, to help horses dealing with a variety of issues. We learned approaches to help horses with physical ailments like stiff neck muscles, or injured stifles, and to help horses who have been neglected and abused find relief and balance in their lives.

There were no final exams, written or practical for this advanced level training, but we had several opportunities to apply our newly gained skills and knowledge to a variety of horses. For our final application, Coreen took the class to Lynn’s Quarter Horses www.lynnsquarterhorses.com We had asked to see the latest crop of foals and to visit with owners Rocky and Betty Lynn, who most of us had meet on our previous visit to the Equine Massage School. None of us were sure how this visit was going to work out. Coreen had not used the Lynn’s broodmares as “subjects” for her classes before and the mares had not yet weaned their foals, so that would add an additional complication. As it turned out, the experiment was a wonderful success.

Rocky and Betty selected five mares and we took them, followed by their foals, into a large corral. I worked with a lovely blue roan mare called Sage, who seemed to thrive on the experience from the beginning. After a brief visual inspection, I applied Reiki energy along a series of meridian lines to relax the mare, prepare her for bodywork, and get her used to my touch. Then I followed this energy work with a full body massage. Of course, there were times when the foals were rambunctious, or thought they should visit the wrong mare and had to be disciplined, but generally all the horses relaxed and enjoyed themselves. As I progressed with her massage, Sage dropped her head, half closed her eyes, and softened into the experience. A few minutes later, her foal came over to join us, but not to nurse as I expected. Rather, the little guy moved to the opposite side of his mother’s body from where I was working and began to gently nuzzle at the precise muscle that I was massaging but from the other side. I had a wonderful sense of connection with the two of them, mare and foal. It was one of those magical moments – the sky was an incredible blue, the first serious snow of the season had fallen at the higher elevations so the mountains were gloriously snow capped, and there was a freshness to the air that you only get with the first breath of the coming winter. When I had finished her massage, Sage, her foal and I all paused for a peaceful moment before they and the other mares and foals were returned to the large herd and their regular life’s activities, and I returned to mine.

Anna Banks, Editor womentalkhorses.com
editor@womentalkhorses.com
Moon Hill Ranch, Idaho