Featherlight Animal Wellness

Featherlight Animal Wellness Masterson Method® Advanced Student, Animal Reiki Practitioner, Equine Touch Practitioner Student

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05/22/2025

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After finishing a recent 4 day clinic, I was chatting to the participants near the arena. I wanted to explain one particular lesson to them which had made me feel quite frustrated. I said "if you don't own a mint, don't throw your money away". I'll explain why I said this.

There had been a young gelding on the clinic, probably somewhere between 1 and 2 years old. He was always looking for somewhere to go, fidgeting. He would push on people too. A busy mind.

Within 60mins, I had him standing softly and quietly. He was easily interruptible and aware of us and himself. He clearly had a settled mind.

This horse had had a series of sessions with a liberty trainer, once a week. I am pretty sure the sessions had been mostly about movement and direction rather than putting the horse into the right, soft, learning, frame of mind.

I explained to the owner that before we direct a horse at liberty, especially when we start changing directions and speed transitions, we have to put a very good basic foundation on the horse so that instead of just running around taking photos, it can understand what we will need to do around it. I’m guessing the trainer thought that this was not their priority.

The owner knew the red flags but just wasn’t sure how to fix them. That's totally understandable. She should have been able to ask the trainer though to address them.

I don't believe this horse had any problems. He was a very clever and fairly easy to adjust.

I think the choice of education was a bad one, and was more the problem.

Should trainers just do their training and not acknowledge how the horse is coping with it all? I don't think they have a right to - they should be getting paid to help horses be better, not get them good at their speciality but nothing else.

We, as horse owners, also need to reflect on what we are providing for our horse. Does that education benefit them? Have I invested enough into their foundational education?

If I could persuade every horse owner to appreciate that a good foundation is a minimal requirement before any other agendas, I truly believe most horses would progress so much better in whatever discipline they ended up in.

There are some basic essentials that we shouldn't bypass when handling and training young horses:

>> to have a quiet and stable mind that is easily interruptible

>> to trust and follow a lead rope thoroughly

>> to not be frightened of our energy or presence

>> to create the right balance of caution and curiosity

>> to be comfortable in their space and for them to be aware of our space

>> to be okay with being touched and handled all over the body without any signs of freeze

I see so many horses that are doing things on the ground or under saddle yet they don’t have these basics.

And we wonder why they’re struggling.

The above list is basic - there's more levels to it - but I encourage every one of you to look at this list again and really check to see if your horse can do these. If they can't, fixing these may end up helping with some of the other things you are working on. They are simple to address.

Good liberty is okay. Unfortunately I only see bad liberty: liberty that reduces the horses ability to have these basic foundational requirements.

Please, everybody when you choose to invest your money into your horse make sure the education is something that will set your horse up for life. Not for movement.

I have been battling a pinched nerve in my neck for the better part of the last year, but am hoping to do more than just...
05/11/2025

I have been battling a pinched nerve in my neck for the better part of the last year, but am hoping to do more than just studying soon. But wanted to say Happy Mother’s Day!

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04/21/2025

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The ethics of rehabilitation for horses

Ethics means, just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Let me explain that further, the horse in the pictures below taught me a very valuable lesson after years of believing I was helping horses. I had never considered that if there was significant bone changes from years of soft tissue problems or genetic issues contorting the horses body that those things are irreversible.

The horse below is martini, he is a Swedish warmblood bred for dressage. He was started at 5, ridden on and off but always having issues with anxious tension. He got some cracking scores early on and won a dressage series but as time went on the work became more tense and he got hotter to ride. He was great to trek out and super safe. Then his owner decided to sell him due to a lack of time. He was hard to sell because of how hot he was to school, so the price was significantly dropped and he was now sitting in a paddock overweight and out of shape. That’s when I bought him for cheap, I thought because he’d been started later(5) that he would have years left although I suspected I’d have metabolic issues to deal with because of how obese he was.

When I got him home the first thing I did was get X-rays of the knee down in the fronts to see how his joints looked and to check for any pedal bone rotation from the white line separation/inflammation of being overweight and lack of hoof care. Mild rotation of the near side front but clean joints and now I could show those x-rays to the farrier for remedial shoeing, for the barefooters….he was foot sore and I needed him to get moving asap, he went barefoot again later on. He developed a serious floating issue where he would fall over on the right side as soon as you moved forward but he was fine on the left side. I only learned about the floating issue on his first ride to the vets, the previous owner had only reported scrambling but this had progressed to actually loosing his balance and falling down when driving 1 metre forward.

Months of diligent slow rehabilitation followed, body work, Inhand work, lunging, diet overhaul, 4 weekly reshoes. His bloodshot eyes and pain face slowly started to fade and I felt confident we were making good progress. In this time he got a full dental that helped free his neck up immensely but a slight restriction bending right still remained. He was ready to start ridden work so I had a WOW saddle fitted to him, he had a large shoulder and short back that needed a set back panel. After three months we started ridden work, we did allot of hacking out which he loved and then we started schooling. We spent allot of time learning new postures to take the neck out longer but while ridden it was very difficult for him. It felt rather than he didn’t understand that he physically couldn’t because he would always oblige with what I requested for a moment and then retract.

6 months passed and that’s when I took the after photo below. Around this time I was listening to podcast of a person who rehabs horses and she planted a seed that started the doubt in what I was doing. She said, “Good work sticks and so once I’ve completed rehabilitation I turn the horses out for 1-2 months. when they come back to work they will normally feel better and have retained the work, horses with serious physical restrictions will have regressed to almost a starting point again”. She said “those horse are normally dealing with serious boney changes or deformities and the moment you turn them out the bones dictate the soft tissues”.

That was a light bulb moment for me because so often I had rehabbed horses at the charity I operated Stable to Stirrup or in my project horses and in their new homes it had fallen apart in a matter of months.

So I turned martini out for 2 months and slowly I watched his body go backwards and his behaviour decline. I had one ride to confirm what I had already suspected, he was back to square one…..in fact he was worse because now he protested to go forward. What I now know is that I had totally destabilised his physical coping ability and in that process made things worse. Horses compensate when things are hard and through the process of learning new proprioception I felt I had caused things to get tighter than before turn out.

Mentally he was always looking for danger around him, always jumpy at the slightest thing that didn’t upset my other horses. Then he would stand for hours in a corner away from other horses with his head down looking depressed. That’s when I decided this is no life for a horse and I made the call to put him down.

I was commited to the whole process and decided to dissect him as the final chapter in learning from him. I could have never imagined what this horse was coping with. My background in taxidermy means I am confident in handling lifeless bodies.

The findings as follows

ECVM (equine complex vertebrae malformation) unilateral C6, transposed to C7
Arthritis in every anticular process neck joint
Kissing spine
Sacroiliac disease
Boney growths through out the sacro lumbar junction.
Bone spurs on the lumbosacral junction that was restricting flexion of the hind.

So this is the next horse that I’ll bring you his story of learning! On his specific behaviours and physical restrictions I felt under saddle, there’s so much to talk about with this horse so your all welcome to ask questions but more will be revealed over the next few months.

He’s at rest now

*he was 13 when put down
*in the second picture he’s been clipped out as it’s the middle of winter and yes it does change the colour and visibility of his brand.

His story is available on patreon.

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02/08/2025

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I don’t think people realize just how many horses out there carry trauma with them.

With that, I don’t even mean severely abused horses that have been starved, or beaten heavily. There are plenty of those around, and those usually cause a lot of outrage (as they should).

What I am talking about though, is the horses whose trauma is never really recognized as such. The ones who tolerate humans and their requests, but never learned to trust them. Those who get extremely obsessive about food which are labelled as “bossy” or ”dominant”. Those who deal with severe Separation anxiety, which are said to be “dramatic”. Those who cannot self-regulate, or co-regulate and constantly carry tension. Those who try to express their pain, which get punished for it because “just a mare”.
Those who are “perfect” until they finally get a choice.

Between Unethical weaning practices, unsuitable welfare, constantly moving homes & and ownership, and aversive training/handling approaches, most horses at some point experience trauma. And this trauma can present itself in a variety of ways. Some are more subtle than others.
Trauma doesn’t have to be this huge explosive reaction. Just like people, horses can carry trauma and move on with their lives fairly normally. It can shape their personality just like it can shape ours.
However, that doesn’t mean doing so is healthy.

The horse that has been in 6+ homes before the age of 10, and thus can’t cope with changes. That is Trauma.
The horse that has never had consistent companionship and becomes obsessive with certain herd mates. That is Trauma
The horse that has only known corrections when they tried to express their confusion, fear, or dislike, and turns from “a perfect beginner’s horse” to “Don’t touch me” the moment you stop using corrections. That is Trauma.
The horse that never had a chance to learn from other horses or connect with people and thus can’t trust people to make good choices for them, can’t self-regulate or co-regulate, and can’t think their way through a situation. That is Trauma.
The horse who was only ever fed 2 times a day and was left without food for 6 hours each night, and has thus become food-aggressive. That is Trauma.
The horse who experienced highly aversive training techniques, and thus now gets frustrated, tense and severely stressed out anytime they are handled in a similar manner. That. Is. Trauma.

Sometimes, awareness of this can be a frustration and defeating realization. I think as equestrians we are often blind to this reality, because sadly, it’s just so common to see horses like that.
It’s not until you work with young, untraumatized horses, or rehabilitated horses, that you realize: “Oh! This is how it should be!”

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02/03/2025

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Enroll in Equine Balance’s in-person craniosacral classes. Experience detailed training on craniosacral techniques, horse anatomy, and hands-on practice. Sign up today!

I have been recovering from pinched nerves in my neck and am finally on the tail end of therapy.   So I spent a lovely w...
01/27/2025

I have been recovering from pinched nerves in my neck and am finally on the tail end of therapy. So I spent a lovely weekend getting a Masterson Method refresher and working with some wonderful and lovely ponies. Eager to get back out there with more regularity. Having to rest and heal has been hard on my mind and soul. 💕🐴🪶

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01/18/2025

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How deep can healing really go?

Our bodies have an amazing healing ability when we give it what it needs.

Our body is not just chemical and mechanical pieces of body parts. We have this huge part of our anatomy that does not get the credit it deserves. This is our internal fluid body that is electrically charged.

Albert Szent-Gyorgi was the first one to discover that when water comes to a surface it takes on a different structure. Dr. Gerald Pollack since found that the water that our mitochondria makes changes into a coherent domain structure as soon as it comes into contact with a hydrophilic surface (every cell, every protein, everything inside of us). Veda Austin has thousands of examples of water's ability to communicate through images. Masaru Emoto proved that water structures differently from positive thoughts or negative thoughts and also found it has memory. Viktor Shauberger spent many years studying water in nature and found it to be the most intelligent and important structure on earth.

Our own internal fluid body relies on frequency for information. We use light frequencies, sound, vibrations, oscillations, basically any kind of electromagnetic wave or frequency our body senses and uses these signals to gather information and carry it around the body. The negative charge in our water is what tells our cells their job and keeps them optimized, keeps our nervous system flowing. Orients our cells, protects every hydrophilic structure from anything entering it that shouldn’t be there. It plays a huge role in our health. It holds memory, forms geometric patterns, and can also de-structure and hold stress and trauma.

Every little thing in our body is surrounded by water, every cell, every protein, inside of cells, between cells, the lining of our blood vessels and arteries are coated in coherent domain water. Our CSf, our blood plasma, all has exclusion zone water that resonates. We even have whats called a biosphere or biofield that goes from our skin to about 3 feet around us. There is a group of scientists studying this and all of it’s magical qualities. One thing they find is that problems inside of our body can be found in the biofield first! Some believe our biofield is how we receive intuitive information that travels directly into our fluid body. And some studies show that our melanin is also a receiver and transmitter of information. NASA is actually studying melanin because it has many abilities due to it's unique water structure and ability to use light as information and energy. One being photosynthesis!

These are just some examples of our quantum anatomy.

So when it comes to healing, or treating a condition, how deep and how subtle can we go?

We have people like Dr. Michael Shea who does biodynamic craniosacral on the cardiovascular system and has written books about it and has years of experience of helping thousands of people heal their hearts, vascular structures, and arteries just by using a light touch, his knowledge of anatomy, and a certain mindset connecting to the healing rhythms of primary respiration.

There are people who use tuning forks on our biofield to help restructure our exclusion zone water to reshape the biofield back to health.

I have heard of miracle cures from distance sessions over zoom or even without zoom.

We have surgeons and doctors who focus on the chemical body and our structure probably the most common and accepted type of healing, who also do miraculous things.

Chiropractors working on the skeletal system, and osteopaths incorporating viscera, acupuncturists working on meridians, all working on different aspects of our body.

We have biomechanical craniosacral practitioners working on cerebral spinal fluid flow and the rhythmic motions of the skull and sacrum.

Biodynamic craniosacral practitioners working on the fluid body also helping to restructure exclusion zone water so the internal body can find its rhythm of health.

And so many more..And the healing goes deep.

Whose to say one doesn’t work or heal deep enough or is impossible? When the body is flowing like it should, the nervous system is healthy, the exclusion zone water is in a coherent state, the environment is safe and healthy, all kinds of magic can happen. Maybe a parasite or toxic burden is cleared, maybe new tissue can begin to regenerate, maybe an autoimmune conditions goes into remission leaving physicians scratching their heads, maybe the spirit finds peace which that alone can create life changing physical healing.

I have seen miraculous changes in biodynamic craniosacral work that lead me down the quantum world in my search for why and how. Not every single session…Some sessions are subtle then some the healing went beyond what I could possibly imagine.

A limited belief system effects us on a cellular level from a quantum perspective. The most important part of healing is not only our own mindset, but also that we have resonance with the person we are working with. I don’t think healing can happen without this. I have heard of surgeons calling their patient to make sure they were “feeling positive” about their surgery the next day otherwise they canceled it. I myself have shown up to appointments and knew it wasn’t right and didn't want them to spend their money because there was zero resonance.

Same goes with learning healing modalities. I see people asking who to go to for this or that. Recommendations are good but in the end you have to resonate with the teacher, or the vet, or whatever practitioner is working on your or your horse.

With resonance the sky is the limit when it comes to healing.

This picture is one of my regular sweet clients. One of our sessions (not this one) she was in a full blown PSSM muscle tie up type situation and after our session she went back to normal with no signs of having any issues. I would never advertise that the work is "curing PSSM episodes" but it was just one of those moments that kept my own faith going in this work.

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01/16/2025

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01/07/2025

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Organs, Emotions & Lameness

Organs are a leading cause of lameness and they will dominate soft tissue and bone. In osteopathy this well know relationship is called “Visceral Somatic Dominance”.
Every organ when is dysfunction will exert a local and referred physical torsion.
A central theme is that when an organ is out of position, in spasm; its metabolic function is impaired. Or currently more common, when an organ is metabolically impaired, it will go into an inflammatory spasm, and will have reduced movement in all motilities, and create spasms in surrounding tissues, and entrained muscles/bone/fascia. Essentially, organ dysfunctions create predictable physical holding/lameness patterns and the severity of these patterns is proportional to the degree of organ dysfunction.

E.g. when addressing a severe renal dysfunction, the involved kidney will feel like a hardened board or even steel plate, have no motility, and have enormous spasmatic structural spams in a very large area. The psoas muscle on the side of kidney dysfunction will be in spasm not because there is necessarily a psoas muscle strain, but because the psoas muscle is entrained to the kidney. I clear psoas muscle issues 100% of the time and it's rarely a "Muscle" issue, rather an organ issue.
Clearing the “Downstream cascading effects”, helps but does not solve the core issue. In the very common example of an ulcerated stomach, masking the symptoms, or alleviating the acid content with beta blockers, and herbal compounds is and may be necessary, but it will not in any way clear the issue. An ulcerated stomach will severely torsion T12 ventrally making impulsion all but impossible. If one were able to reset T12 (unlikely even with the best of equine DC’s) without resetting the core stomach dysfunction, T12 will retorsion within hours as the stomach absolutely dominates it.

Therefore, any practitioner worth their salt, must have a good understanding of organs and visceral somatic dominance in their repertoire.
By resetting an organ, corresponding muscles, nerves, and bone can reset as well.

The most drastic organ dysfunctions are emotional cysts!
Specific emotions when in imbalance tend to settle in specific organs, hence, organs are the predominate tissue where our unsettling biography settles, or particular emotional/belief impairments hang out.
Many times I'm just working through the body and come upon an organ that is difficult to rebalance. That's a clue that there is likely an emotional cyst holding the organ in spasm. One must then direct intention and intuitive insight into sensing the essence of this particular emotional/belief cyst, and bringing this aspect of "Shadow" to the surface ( IET Equine Craniosacral Courses). Dialoguing with the horse to fully face it, embrace it, understand its message/lesson and ALLOW it to transmute and leave.

It is here that horses will often defer and redirect to their human if they're mirroring the issue. If the horse is mirroring a deep emotional issue, clearing the horse only will never hold, it may release for awhile, but never leg go and be done with it.
Many horses will utilize the hand ting points as a bridge to bring the session focus to this core essence early on (see previous post)
These emotional/belief cysts are the key lameness and metabolic areas. They are representative of where the horse/human got off their path, or their soul's purpose.
These physical/emotional/spiritual areas always contain a central core where they 24/7 emanate noncoherent energy waves in a spherical shape. It is rather easy to teach students to pick up these waves and then locate the exact core space its working from. Then one can easily nudge this cyst and the organ back to vitality.

“You don’t always realize how far you’ve come until you look back at where you’ve been. And then it hits you. You did it...
01/01/2025

“You don’t always realize how far you’ve come until you look back at where you’ve been.

And then it hits you. You did it! You made it.

Through the storms you did not think you would survive. Over the mountains you did not think you had the capacity to climb.

But you did.

And you’re here.

And that within itself is worth celebrating.

YOU ARE WORTH CELEBRATING.”

-Alysha Waghorn

Happy New Year!!! 🎊

Looking forward to all the possibilities in 2025.

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12/30/2024

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Are you electron giving or electron stealing from your horse?

Every cell in our body except red blood cells are packed with mitochondria. Mitochondria make the vast majority of the energy your cells require to function.

Mt extract electrons from food via the TCA cycle. These electrons run through the electron transport chain (ETC), which allows Mt to act as batteries that separate positive charge (protons) from negative charge (electrons). This then powers the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which is chemical potential energy.

Saturated fats generate the most ATP, and carbohydrates generate the least, on a per carbon basis.

But we also get what’s called free electrons from grounding to the earth and also through sunlight. These free electrons also support energy production.

Mitochondria make metabolic water which is the primary driver of cellular hydration. Cellular hydration equals life. The water we make is much more important than the water we drink. The amount of water produced by our Mt directly reflects how well they are functioning.

Mitochondria also make, emit, and sense light. Electromagnetic frequencies communicate to mitochondria which gives them the signals to create light and water, or to shut down that process.

Sources of natural EMF’s that signal our mitochondria to make light and water come from the sun, and the earth’s Schumann resonance. And also cold exposure increases mitochondrial production. Red and IR light from the sun stimulate chromophores in complex IV of the electron transport chain.

Unnatural EMF’s come from sources like WiFi, 5G, bluetooth, artificial light, etc. Unnatural EMF’s inhibits complex IV of the ETC (PMID: 36724628). This non-native light sensed by mitochondria have been shown to increase the production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species within Mt creating oxidative stress. (PMID: 30023251). Fun fact: snoring is our body’s natural response to this and natures way to try and restore mitochondrial function by changing the air that we breathe.

As electrons move through the electron transport chain, biophotons and other wavelengths of light are emitted which is how our light body communicates endogenously and exogenously.

The electron transport chain is important in facilitating the production of water and energy. Dr. Doug Wallace did a lot of research on this very important part of our biology.

Our modern world is causing us to be electron deficient. When we are electron deficient, our mitochondria actually STEAL electrons from wherever they can get it. Even from other more healthy people, and also from animals. An example is when a baby is sick and their mother holds and rocks her baby, she is essentially giving her baby free electrons.

Or have you ever spent time with someone and felt completely drained afterwards? or the opposite and spent time with someone and you felt fully energized? Electron exchange taking place.

The pulse of the Schumann resonance is 7.83 hertz, which is the same as the alpha wave in the human brain. The alpha wave is associated with meditation, creativity, and relaxation. The Schumann resonance has been shown to influence circadian rhythms as well. A lack of connecting to this resonance and grounding mixed with exposure to nnEMF’s have been shown to cause immune dysfunction, fatigue, and increased inflammation putting us also in an electron deficient state (PMID:36681118).

We also live an indoor life under artificial lighting, then when we go outside we put on rubber soled shoes and sunglasses. None of this is giving our body what it needs in order to thrive and be electron donors.

How do we take care of our quantum super highway? Connect back to nature. Go outside at sunrise with bare feet and have your coffee or tea. The rising sun signals your pituitary gland to wake up, tells your hormones to start producing. Bare feet on the ground replenish the electrons that were depleted from an indoor life surrounded by WIFi.

It is that simple.

Block artificial lights at night. Either get amber lights or wear orange blue blocking glasses. Turn off the tech. Turn off your WiFi at night, keep your cell phone on airplane mode. As you carry it on your body your electrons are slowly diminishing and your mitochondria slowly dehydrates.

Stop wearing sunglasses. One way to set your physiology up for failure not to mention your nervous system!

Throw away your bluetooth headphones. Another nnEMF stealing our electrons and dehydrating our cellular water.

Intuition physician has a neat little grounding tool so you can test to see if you are grounded. Hydration helps too. Hydrate with minerals.

Go outside barefoot as much as possible, touch trees, ground. I use a grounding sheet that is connected to an outdoor stake AND turn off all electricity in my bedroom. Don't let your grounding sheet be a source of dirty electricity to ground.

If you are a caretaker, or a body worker, therapist, steward of any living being, it is imperative that you get as many electrons as possible. Otherwise you can inadvertently become a drain on the one you are caring for or treating.

When your electrons are depleted, your nervous system never finds harmony.

The earth and sun are free resources.

Don’t be an electron stealer. Be an election donor. (Credit to Dr. Alexis Cowan for teaching me these things)

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