Aloha Everybody

Monday morning, sitting here in Toronto International Airport, heading to Newark, a few hours hanging out there, then off to UK to start our European tour. Canada was an excellent experience, the venue first class and the host Donna did a great job of looking after us. We were joined by Raian as the majority of the students were from her classes as well as two dear friends and students from Michigan, Pam Gardner and Jeannie Shepherd who we had not seen for a couple of years. Although a good deal cooler than Texas the sun shone after a couple of days and the surrounding countryside had to be seen to be believed (No wonder the Scots colonized it!). I had the chance to work on Frisco, perhaps one of the biggest horses I have ever put hands on. An interesting project who had a litany of problems, but as soon as he felt the first effects of the work he just started to lean in and love it. Lifting his hind legs with my dodgy lower back was a bit of a worry but he was in there helping, picking them up for me the second he guessed that was what I wanted.

Ivana's worries about having problems at the immigration counter were unfounded and our passage into Canada went smoothly. There is always a worry for Ivana as a Czech citizen going into certain countries due to the Czech gypsies having been there first and spoiled it for the rest, but luckily our green cards now seem to have solved that problem.

As I mentioned above it was a great experience, Raian and Colette have been doing a great job up there in Canada with some excellent hosts supporting them, and both of us look forward to returning whenever they want us.

We are expecting a busy time in the UK during June and September, with all our clinics sold out and working with our instructors on the new education system which we will be introducing to the UK IETA Conference in September. The new system coming into force on January 1, 2010. Although we are pretty positive we have got it all covered we will no doubt have to nut out any wee hiccups or glitches which we may have missed.

We promise to keep you up to date on that and all other relevant subjects. Remember check with your friends that they are receiving this newsletter and if not get them to join up via the International web site. Also please keep these questions coming in. Natural Horse Magazine like it so much they want to make a monthly feature out of them. So c'mon kids. send us a few posers, so we can get the word out even more.

Till next time

Jock and Ivana

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EXTRA LEVEL 3 CLINIC WITH IVANA: Due to both level 3 clinics (June and September) being sold out and the demand from other Level 2 students who wish to finish their Practitioner Route education before the new system kicks in we have agreed to hold an extra Level 3 clinic in September in the UK. The dates will be September 24, 25, 26, 27 and it is hoped that the venue will be in the West Country at Horse World. This clinic will allow all our current students the chance to complete their education on a level footing with their predecessors, and the new students to start off as equals under the new system. Please remember this is the last Level 3 of its kind that will be held in the UK .

MOBILIZATION AND STRETCHING CLINCIC: At last after years of promises we are going to deliver. The Equine Touch mobilization and stretching manual is completed. The DVD has been available for some time and we are now ready to teach a practical one day clinic for our students and practitioners on mobilization (passive and active) and stretching, the ET way, and we hope you will agree a safe way for the worse and the practitioner. We will be training selected instructors precisely how to do this over the summer and these clinics will be available to anyone at any level. The first clinic is scheduled to be held in the West Country either at Lyn's or at Horse World, on Saturday the 26th of September and will be taught personally by Jock, numbers will be restricted so book early. This clinic will also be acceptable for OPD credits. Cost in UK £130

ALL NEW LAYERING AND PRESCRIPTION CLINIC: Sunday 27 September - This is a one day event master class with Jock that has been in the dreamtime for a year or so, and is designed specifically and exclusively for students who have successfully attended ET and Beyond seminars.It will be held at Lyn Palmers or Horse World. At this level the student or practitioner has many tools in their tool box with which to address areas of concern often the perplexity is where, when, and in what order to use them. The answer is of course to make a prescription of techniques based upon what the horse has presented you with and to deliver them to the horse in a synchronized flow. The mission of this particular clinic is to make you not only think, but to listen to your inner voice and to use other skills such as muscle testing to decide on what you are going to address and what you are going to address it with. The statement has often been made by students and indeed practitioners 'I have all these wonderful techniques at my disposal, what I need to know now is just where when and how to put them all together and use them to achieve the best results'. This master class is designed to do just that. Numbers for this class will be strictly limited in order to keep the hands on instruction to the highest level and to allow the students to focus on the problems presented by the subject horses. This clinic will also be acceptable for OPD credits. Cost in UK £130

For all these above clinics in the UK please contact Adele at the UK NCC for final details.

' Its not what you can do to a horse that matters, it is what it allows you to do to it that is of consequence ' Ray Hunt

These words in fact say it all. We can all fight with a horse, make a competition out of it, try to perform a move which will have so much resistance, emotional and physical, attached to it, and even successfully complete it. But at what cost? Win the fight, feed our ego and lose the war as ultimately the horse will always win - either by running away, fighting or shutting down and the work having as much success as a whisper in a storm. Far better to bring in the principles of gentle horsemanship combined with the integrity and patience of Equine Touch to assure the horse of your intent and thereby encouraging him to work in harmony with you and your Equine Touch address. The results on a horse that resists and fights unwanted work by a practitioner are inconsequential in comparison with that achieved on a horse that understands and allows you to work in harmony with it to address its problems. TIP: When working on a troubled or suspicious horse always allow your integrity to precede your intent. The horse is initially far more interested in what you are than what you are about to do. Gain its trust first before invading its space with your intent.

Q: Judy asks Jock: My 11 year old gelding developed eczema some years ago and it has always taken a great deal of veterinary intervention to clear it up though it kept coming back. A few months ago I completed my Level 1 and returning home I practiced on Szabo who was having an outbreak at the time and was amazed when after three days his coat had cleared up and it has stayed that way ever since, though I do give him an ET session at least once a week. Why has it had this amazing effect? A: Many skin problems are caused by stress and a low immune system. Equine Touch has been proven with its powerful ability to relax the horse to be the antidote to stress as well as being a proven booster of the equine immune system while encouraging the flow of blood, enhancing the lymphatic drainage network and thereby aiding detoxification. All of this has can have a positive effect upon the skin and coat of the horse. Often when a horse that has been worked on is returned to the herd one has only to glance at the whole group to immediately pick out the glowing horse as the one that had experienced ET. In the first ET clinic that I ever taught way back in 1999, to vets in Czech, I was presented with a bad tempered horse which had chronic eczema, although all I was teaching was Level 1. The horse calmed down after about 15 minutes, went into 'deep trance' and full relaxation. Amazingly after the three day clinic was over this old tree pulling horse from the forest had virtually no sign of eczema. The scars were virtually disappearing before our eyes. That was the first time I had run across the problem and have worked on many more since without the intent of 'curing' the disease, however in many instances the skin problem, almost as a byproduct of the main intentional address, cleared up. Always remember that ET is a gift to the horse, and it is the horse which ultimately decide what he wishes to do with it.	Q: Jenny ask Ivana: I have been working on a horse that ' snaps'. It does not bite or attack as such, it snaps, at anything and everything, even nothing, in front of its face with every single move I do, no matter how light. It is almost like a reflex action. If I repeat an area gently several times it will eventually stop the snapping action, however as soon as I move on from that area it starts again. I am being so gentle, my handler has to be on her toes all the time. Do you have any suggestions, as to why, and what I can do about it? A: Without seeing (and mostly important without touching the horse)it is very hard to say what is the problem. But let me think 'out loud'. I had a horse 'snapping' like that and he was very sensitive. I generally work very gently all the time but even my light touch triggered that reaction. So I started to use my whole hand and performed the ET moves with that large working area, which dispersed my pressure even more and horse kindly accepted my work. Try that first. Some horse can be so sensitive due to a systemic inflammation reaction, when the whole body is 'sore' and stiff. This is linked with leaky gut syndrome, and must be sorted from inside - normalized the function of the intestinal wall and diminish the inflammation around the gastrointestinal tract. A veterinarian and nutritional can exclude this case, by analyzing his diet and observing his body. I have also on my mind one case, when I was working on thoroughbred which was nervous and snapped around. I do not like to do so, but in this case the owner advised me to cross tie him, which calmed him immediately and the snapping stopped. The horse was used to that habit, and standing with a loose lead rope push him into a distressed behavior pattern. Try the hand work, you and the 'holder' be extremely careful, ask the owner if the horse exhibit this kind of behavior before or in certain situations, if yes, try to avoid that situation and work in another environment - arena, or round pen. Looking at his food may also bring some light if but perhaps he is over sensitive, and generally sore - you have several possibilities to eliminate in this situation.

PS: An edit from last months Q and A. In Ivana's reply rgarding working on pregnant mares, the answer should have read "we have had no negative reports'. Czenglish! Sorry.

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Change is inevitable. Change is natural. Change is a pain in the neck! One thing that Ivana and I will never allow to be changed is our mission statement: 'TO HELP HORSES BY EDUCATING HUMANS" It's short, its simple, it is not open to interpretation or influence and it is definitely not open to change.

The educational setup relating to the structure of the educational program for those who wish to become Equine Touch Practitioners has to change, it has to achieve credibility in the eyes of the beholders and unfortunately the bureaucrats who control our equestrian health world. These students who care about the horse and wish to devote themselves to a career of going out and working on other peoples horses for their betterment need support. That support comes from education and their recognized qualifications in that discipline. Credibility is what counts in today's horse world and so the new ETF educational systems and protocols which are being brought into place, under the guidance of Ivana and our team of advisors and education committee, are being designed to do just that, thereby bringing greater credibility into the hands of all our ET practitioners.

But the Mission Statement will never change. Our primary focus will always Level 1, the foundation where we educate the humans to help their horses by understanding that these amazingly spiritual animals suffer in silence, they bond with us, stand beside us, give their all for us and yet so often we have not even the faintest idea they are in pain. If we, the Equine Touch Foundation can educate horse lovers everywhere to put their enquiring integrity filled hands hands on a horse and have that horse reveal any pain that they may be concealing from our eyes, then we have achieved success. If we can on top of this, educate the horse lover in the basics of our simple discipline to try to help reduce that pain then we have not only achieved a higher level of success then we have stayed true to, and fulfilled, our mission statement to the last letter.

Ivana and I would like to assure all students of Equine Touch who do not wish to take the Practitioners journey and who's focus is just to help their own horses have a better quality of life that all Equine Touch clinics, at all levels are and always will be open to them as before. We will be publicizing the new routes after the IETA conference in September. It is a credible development and along with our new stretching and layering clinics, not to mention the ETF equine dissection classes which we will start later this year we will continue to present Equine Touch as the leading Equine Bodywork discipline for horse owners and professionals alike.

 

 

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