15/12/2023
You know when there is a difference between knowing in theory and really knowing, because you have experienced it? So I know that Equine Touch works, but now I really know it works, because my lovely friend/fellow VHT (human ET) student and recently qualified ET practitioner, Helen Duncan, came to my rescue with an emergency VHT session for me.
To explain, for some inexplicable reason I developed excruciating lower back pain - I honestly could not sit,lie or stand in any position which did not hurt; even GP prescribed analgesics did little to dull the pain. I have never felt anything like it and nor do I wish to again. Helen immediately offered to come over and gave me a session the next day. Straightaway there was some relief and the following day the pain was reduced further to a slight ni**le if I sat too long or just when I got up. No drugs were needed at all after her visit. There was also a further session a few days later -so by the time I saw the physiotherapist that the Dr organised (1st appointment 1 week after this started), I was pain free. Could I have waited a full week to see the physio in that amount of pain ?? No I could not!! Obviously I sang the praises of VHT to the physio who fully concurred that fascial release is extremely effective at reducing tension and pain.
So just something to think about for yourself and your equines. I have the benefit of speech and am able to articulate my suffering (and I did!!); can they, and if they do, do you understand, or put it down to bad behaviour?
I am not aware of doing anything particular to trigger this episode -no slips or falls, but I had been doing some decorating. Turns out I have been compensating for a weakness in one area, but since my injury over 4 months ago, this weak area has had to take more strain, and suddenly everything had had enough.
For your horse/pony, if it is already compensating for some weakness, old injury or tension, can it cope if asked to do something new or work differently? Just pulling through the mud can set something off. There wasn’t any heat or sign of trauma to cause my pain, so just because you cannot see it, it doesn't mean that your horse is fibbing when he/she is telling you something hurts.
The other point to takeaway is that I found immediate relief after 1 session, but was further improved after 2, and these sessions happened very promptly. If I had left it longer, it would almost certainly have taken longer to ‘undo’ as the body is very good at finding ways to cope which then ‘stick’. Equines are prey animals and therefore conditioned to hide physical weaknesses from their predators. They are likely to be suffering for quite a while before they ‘say’ anything and it is also likely, that however well intentioned we are, it will be a fair while longer before we notice that they are trying to tell us something. It is unfair to expect one session of any type of bodywork to ‘undo’ all the tension and compensation patterns that have built up over this time.
Peel the onion, one layer at a time.
