Helping Hands, Helping Horses

25/07/2024

Emily Dickinson wrote:-

"A horse is like a poem:
He is free, he wanders around,
His mane is like a cloud of smoke,
His hooves make the sound of thunder,
He gallops, leaps, flies."

I have long believed that horses should not be used to satisfy some humans desire to win competitions. There surely cannot be anything further away from the true desires of a horse, which I suspect are to live peaceful lives and not get eaten doing it, period. Otherwise we would see them setting up races and competitions in their fields for themselves!
Charlotte is not the first to be outed and probably not the last, but by far and away this incident will have the most effect of any. I feel like I’m on a seesaw of optimism and depression about the effect this may have in the equine world. There should hopefully be a change for the better, for the horse. We are in a time of improved understanding of horses and know better what they need at a basic level to thrive, but are also beginning to listen and communicate with them in ways that were not talked about much 50 years ago. This should lead to an even greater understanding and empathy between us and then who knows what we shall be capable of achieving together. The cross-species partnership could be totally amazing, given a chance, but we have to learn to listen harder and learn from mistakes, not just repeat ad infinitum. It's not easy but we must try.

11/06/2024

It was a 2 4 1 day today for Rocky and B, a bit like a couples spa treatment they both enjoyed some light touch aspects of the Masterson Method® out in the field then enjoyed a lovely snooze in the sun

23/05/2024

It's great to see improvements in range of movement when you next see a horse, so rewarding.

Sometimes too the process of working with a horse can be very different from one session to the next sometimes straightforward, sometimes challenging. Each session is a learning experience.

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to study and become a Masterson Method practitioner after retirement from a very different lifestyle.

It's never too late!

09/05/2023

04/03/2023

The newest episode of the Feelin’ Fine Equine Podcast is out NOW! Make sure to listen because Jim and Morgan chat about some key things of the Masterson Method and Jim gives great insight to horse behavior. “Horses don’t stop and think about things intuitively. So slow down and give them a chance to.” -Jim Masterson

The Masterson Method, Integrated Equine Performance Bodywork

Podcast is available on ALL podcasting platforms. Link is in Stories 🤗
Happy listening 💕🐴

03/03/2023

It's such a humbling process to work with a horse like Frizzell. He is a para dressage horse who lives at RDA in Cheltenham. We have worked together twice and are beginning to get the measure of each other and move beyond his worries about 'feeling' things. He worry comes through as a constant need to connect to you or anything else available, with his mouth. Our last session consisted of me dancing out of reach and not getting much done! I resorted to tying up but that just seemed to add to his concern. This time I put on my thinking cap and brave pants and decided to not even put a headcollar on. The 1st half hour consisted of me trying to connect in the way he wanted. I had no expectations of doing anything other than light touch work so was delighted to include some front leg releases when the opportunity arose. A small win for a small person with a 17hh fidget!

22/01/2023

15/09/2022

My new 3yr old arrived from Ireland yesterday and after a day of settling in, today it was time for vet check, blood tests, vaccinations and wormers. Bear in mind I only met him yesterday and he had quite a stressful time with a long journey by sea and road. I decided to demonstrate Masterson Method at a distance on my 28yr old Tara and I could see Rocky visibly relaxing in his stable. Having spent the morning grooming and getting to know him I decided to see how he felt about a treatment, pre-vet, to see if that would help it all go well. I am constantly surprised by Masterson Method, after all the time I've been using it, that it works so well but today was a bonus surprise when the vet said, after listening to his heart 'well he's either very relaxed or a very fit 3yr old whose had no training yet!' How lovely to get confirmation of yet another good use of this amazing bodywork system, especially from someone who had never heard of it before!