So, as a I matter of interest I gave homeopathy a try...

having spoken to a friend at the last dressage they indicated they'd tried some homeopathy on their boy and had noticed the difference in stress levels in him etc. The lady they used is in Nelson so handy enough I decided to give her a ring and see what happened.

After lengthy discussion we decided to start with a remedy to help release the past abuse stuff and then see how much of his usual tension was linked to that as to whether he needed anything different.

He had his first drops on Friday and on Saturday I had an incredibly "soft" horse, very soft in the eye, still alert and interested in what was going on around him but very soft and smoochy. It was a pretty windy day too and Mac HATES the wind, but we had a split second of tension as the first 2 gusts hit and then he was fine and on a long rein even into a BIG gust head on (normal semi bolt material) and NO lifting of the head at all, so very soft and accepting.

Saturday night however brought a "I'm not sticking around" for his cover to be thrown on (another hate of his LOL) and for no good reason he took off from that. Another lovely soft and giving ride on Sunday and I thought we were full steam ahead, but at our lesson today, we had nothing but arguing the rotten darling! He just didn't want to soften, he didn't want to give or do as asked so obviously his stubborn streak is not abuse related hehehe (not that I thought it was!) Stubborn and contrary just like his mum damn him!

So will give a report to Vicki the homeopath and see what she recommends from here and just see how much relaxation for him we can pull out of a bottle (not much I reckon, the boy likes to make me work for what we get!)

Sunday resulted in a bareback session for Smokey too.... just right back to baby steps and a good few mounting and dismountings with hubby just standing at his head for a safety net for Smokey. Then a couple of walk arounds on just a 10 metre circle before another dismount and mount. As per everything else, he just took it in his stride :o) REALLY looking forward to doing heaps of bareback with him, I do miss that!

On a down side, Pete's mum has found out her cancer has not gone after chemo and radiation but has in fact spread, which has resulted in my "hold everything in" husband having anxiety attacks he thought were heart attacks, so working on helping him open up and deal with things. Mum in Law is waiting to hear what they'll do chemo wise for her but hopefully this time round we might actually have a shot at getting her to try some more natural help too, even if it's just in the form of vitamins/minerals etc to boost the system. Eating broccoli just isn't gonna cut it now!

a couple of websites of interest...

great work by Rachael and Danny De Hek, the sites are incredible! Check them out people, have fun getting lost in there and looking around :o)

NZ Information Network yep, that's a listing of mine in there!

And their equestrian forum:

NZ's Equestrian Network

Great sites, great work guys and some good chatting going on there! Come on over and say hi anyone who is interested! A HUGE range of forums on the New Zealands Information Network too, German Shepherd Rescue have a forum in there for the dogs :o)

Auckland Visit 2nd Week of November

yep, time to head north again. Will take the young fella up to see his Nana in Auckland so if anyone is wanting to book a consult while I'm there there will be limited availability. Also time (although limited too) to meet up for coffees etc so drop me an email if you'd like (email through the website :o)

Dressage Come and Gone again and now "Questions"...

rotten scores but am very happy with Mac's attitude on the whole :o)

Was talking to someone there who is just trying some homeopathic drops on their pony as he gets a bit stressed at dressage and doesn't cope as well when the rider puts the pressure on (he is Open Medium!) and they said they noticed the difference in him over the weekend.

I've emailed the lady and will ring her tonight to discuss Mac and will give it a go....

Somehow it feels like cheating though! I would never consider taking Rescue Remedy, or a hipflask or anything else, to me that is removing your chance at learning, however I'm happy to take vitamins LOL. So is it cheating to give something like that to a horse to take the edge of the tension he puts on himself (or rather that I probably put on him) or is it doing a good thing and trying to remove the tension that I may have caused? My fault so mine to help solve? I don't know.....

It's not drugs, it's not even "herbal" it's simple homeopathy but I still feel like it's taking short cuts..... would love others feedback on this because I'm truly in a quandry about it!

Some videos of the boys :o)

Much as I'd love to blame Pete for not zooming in, these were taken on the normal camera and if you zoom in they go all grainy so Pete's been told not to zoom for vids LOL.

Boring circles, but I'm proud of both my beautiful boys so here they are... complete with some dogs and goats thrown in for good measure :o)

and just because it's been a while

and I use the need for them for the blog to get hubby to man the camera ;o) here are the boys in action today...

My Main Man Mac ...

and my Beloved Boy, Smokey...


I had been doing a pick a spot and ride to it on Mac, where I would look the completely other way (as much as possible) but hubby is a bit challenged with doing good vids and sad to say they really didn't turn out well. Came after talking about subtle body shifts with mum while riding and how even turning your head (the heaviest "limb" of your body) can alter your balance to shift your horse under you, so thought I'd DISprove that in relation to riding with the mind, by using opposite body position, looking away from the point etc and still have Mac go straight to it. Worked! Just the videos didn't LOL. Ah well he did get some nice trot circle vids of the boys so will load those up too :o)

Meant to be????

Well I am a firm believer of "everything for a reason" and believe too that all the major stepping stones in our lives are preplanned and pretty much cannot be avoided, however how much do the little things affect us when they deviate from the "plan"?

huh?

LOL. I had the chance to talk with a cat just the other day, who had had a leg and a tail amputated. He wasn't really a happy boy but the loss of the mangled leg didn't worry him, but the loss of the tail upset him hugely! He was very much "the tail should still be here!" I sent him some energy for healing as was appropriate for him and funnily enough when I sent it to him this energy was going to the nonexistent tail!!! It didn't go to the missing leg, it's like it knew the leg was meant to go, but the tail should still have been there so the energy still went to the psychic tail if you like.

Was very strange! So had to give the boy a pep talk or 2 and remind him that we can't turn the clock back and bring his tail back for him and work thru a couple of things he was hanging onto around the whole accident and vet visits. Thankfully from the initial feedback from mum his mental attitude has relaxed and with some accupunture for some blockages and pain issues and the bioptron for an area he was licking raw he should come to terms with a slight deviation from his chosen path LOL.

We have spring rains happening which is just as well since they've said we may get droughts this summer, and Mac is going well, I'm still working hard on getting myself right, Smokey is a doll as per usual and Princess Roger is enjoying his new name (dear me!)

Dogs are good, child has his 4th cold, I've just had my back cracked after a weekend of agony and locked up muscles (till I remembered to use the bioptron on myself too!) and now feeling good :o)