Tuesday's Touch: An Introduction
10. Nov, 2009 
0 Comments
I’ve been thinking about this new series of posts for a long time. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean I have perfected the concept before I deciding to bring it to you. So I ask your patience as I refine my ideas.
Each week I plan to introduce and discuss how body work can enhance your horse’s life with reference to either a particular part of the horse’s body or a common area of soreness. Often, simple bodywork procedures can alleviate behavioral issues related to pain and fear of pain in those areas as well, and I will recommend those.
As we all know, finding suitable images for use online will be tough, but I hope to get permission to use what I need to demonstrate the all-important HOW TO segments.
This will not be an extended lesson on Tellington TTouch. While it will figure prominently (it’s always nice to write about what you love), there are many other bodywork methodologies that appeal to a wide audience, and I’d like to explore a great many of them.
WHAT TOPICS WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE COVERED ON TUESDAY’S TOUCH?
This will evolve, as all blogging projects do. Please let me know by commenting here if there’s a topic or a particular area you’d like to see discussed here, or if there’s something you would like to add. Guest posts are welcome!
© 2009 enlightened horsemanship through touch and Kim Cox Carneal
website
I love this idea! What a useful series of post this will be. Can’t wait for the first one! Hope your trip went well.
Like Michelle and I am sure the rest of our blogmunity, I am looking forward to this new series. I would be interested in use TTouch as a means of desenitizing (sic) a horse to their environment. Things such as gunshots, riding lawnmowers, killer plastic bags blowing across the arena, etc.
Have a great time on the reminder of your trip.
Also, a quick update on Tally. One day a week, which she picks at random, she has to walk, then trot, then gallop away from me. I am working on relaxing into this. Sunday, I was teasing her about letting a little (14 hands) Arab outrun her.
Randy
Randy
Great! You can get a start here by reading this post: http://enlightenedhorsemanship.net/2008/06/17/on-desensitization/. TTouch works on the horse’s spooky tendencies by allowing processing time in a stress-free environment, leading the horse through non-habitual movements a la Feldenkrais, and bodywork targeting the limbic system to teach the horse to THINK and accept new circumstances rather than to become inured to them. What you then get is a willing partner who is curious about his surroundings rather than a horse who is shut down to outside stimuli. It works.
It’s too bad Tally’s flight days are random. Maybe you should respond with random changes again. Or consult with Bonnitta about alternative methods for leading Tally. Her work is nothing short of miraculous, and a beautiful thing to watch.
Sounds like a winner to me! I’d be interested in everything from actual bodywork, to simple trust touch, to stretches and ground work focused on acceptance of differing uses of touch.
I think it would be cool to have a featured horse with an issue, and the kinds of touch/work that worked with that horse and that issue.
Not that I have an opinion or anything. Can’t wait.
you? an opinion? never! I”m so glad you have weighted in on this topic.
What you suggest is actually what I have planned, though I may have trouble getting my hands on a horse much of the time because I work sitting on a chair instead of sitting on a horse, sadly.
If I can convince the boss that this is a good idea for the collection of case studies, then maybe we can work something out!
So now, Miss-No-Opinion, do you have a horse with an issue you’d like to offer for the first installment?
I’m interested to read the posts!
We’ve got an older gelding (around 30) who has a huge bone spur on the top of his neck, about halfway down. He’s a pasture pet, and it doesn’t seem to bother him, so the vet hasn’t been too concerned about it. However, I’ve wondered if some stretches or body work could make him more comfortable.
I’d especially be interested in anything especially relevant to younger horses (weanlings and yearlings). This is probably more related to some of the TTOUCH ground work exercises, but from what I know, sometimes the bodywork is incorporated into the groundwork. Anything that will help the young ones learn to work calmly and relaxed and improve how they use their bodies.
Mary H.
http://stalecheerios.com/blog
Can’t wait to read this series. I’m ALWAYS interested in bodywork techniques that can help release tension. Freedom is an anxious horse and a cribber . . . I work on him almost daily and it’s made a big difference.
Super! Can’t wait to read and open to learn…
Anything…
Everything!
As it happens….(are you laughing yet?) if I can get my life together, which has felt questionable the last couple of months, Greta has asked me if I’d be willing to work on Hercules, the horse I wrote about who seems fine, then freaks out for no apparent reason. I’m going to do it. He doesn’t scare me, and I love that horse.
If only I was a real body worker. He’d be a great case study!
Hercules sounds a bit like Octango, the Grand Prix horse of Barbi Breen-Gurley, whom I got a chance to see and work with last week. What an incredible opportunity. This horse is beyond intelligent and too sweet and giving for words.
So now I have some ideas for Mr. Hercules and Miss Jane. Awaiting further info from you.
Michelle
I’m glad you are anticipating this with pleasure. You may have to wait two weeks rather than see one next Tuesday, because I will still be in Sonoma at a TTouch training and might not have time for the research, etc.
I too am looking forward to it because I enjoy the compilation and weaving together of all the facts.
Mary
Do you know if there are adhesions to the bone spur?
Re the yearlings and weanlings, there is a lot of ground/bodywork you can do to set them up for success in training when the time comes. I will not be attempting to cover any of that because I’m not really qualified and it would be giving away too much information that I don’t own.
But I have to tell you I just spent a week watching and participating in ground/bodywork with a young horse (age 3) and again I was amazed.
Basic awareness of all the parts of the body and how to use it effectively eliminates a lot of early confusion and “misbehavior,” leading to a young horse who is more in control of both his mind and body.