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Natural Animals - July 2007

digs cats sick health horse
from www.freefoto.com


I hesitantly used this title because I don’t want readers to go into paranoia and blame themselves for anything that has happened to their animals. This article is being written to help each of us understand the dynamics of energy between our animal friends and ourselves.

Having been a therapist now for nearly twenty years I am still amazed at how many insights our close environment gives us as to our own mental and emotional health. I want to share with you some of the thoughts of two authors I admire and how I have recently and loosely draw from them to add to my own working philosophy after reading these books over the 2004 Christmas break. David Suzuki with his book The Sacred Balance, and Linda Kohanov with The Tao of Equus.

Before I discuss our energetic relationship with our animals, I want to take a broader look at our place on this planet and this is what I will draw on David Suzuki to help me with. I was lucky enough to win a ticket to hear him speak in Sydney a few years ago, and I was struck personally by one comment he made. He discussed how if we pollute the earth, we pollute the food we eat and in turn are only polluting ourselves. If we pollute the water, which we eventually drink, we are polluting ourselves.

“Human beings depend on Earth and its life-forms for every aspect of their survival and life. It is impossible to draw lines and delineate separate categories of air, water, soil and life. You and I don’t end at our fingertips or skin – we are connected through air, water and soil; we are animated by the same energy from the same source in the sky above. We are quite literally air, water, soil, energy and other living creatures.”
David Suzuki, The Sacred Balance

What I am attempting to show you that nothing separates us. You and I may feel a touch more connected as you read my words, but in my reality, that connection has always been there and always will be. When I work with kinesiology on a spiritual level, this is even more apparent to me. I can sit in my loungeroom in Sydney and have the intention of clearing the energy of thoughts and emotions for a friend in Bend Oregon. She will notice when I have worked on her and her horse and email me promptly. We may be thousands of miles apart, separated physically by land and ocean, but energetically we are connected as much as we would be if we were in the same room.

David Suzuki draws another parallel I want to draw on as well, however where you read caribou, I would like to take some licence and insert horse, dog or cat. He is discussing The Law of Love:

“We are social beings – herd animals who depend on each other at every stage of lives. Like many other animals, we are born incapable to care for ourselves; we need a long period of care from our parents so that we can grow and learn in safety. As each of us develops, we need companions to define and extend our sense of self, and a community in which we find opportunities for a mate, for rewarding activity and for conviviality. These needs are absolute, inalienable, and where they are not met we suffer, even perish. Like the caribou (horse, cat or dog) that wanders too far from the herd, we cannot thrive in isolation from our kind. From the very beginning of life each of us is shaped for and by close relationships with other human beings.”
David Suzuki, The Sacred Balance

As our society today has so many of us living singularly, working long hours in concrete towers, isolated by negative experiences within our society, I believe our animals support some of the needs we are not having met. They are reflecting to us what areas of our lives are disconnected from the whole and in their own way taking on a role to help bring us back to a feeling of oneness amongst ourselves.

I will turn my attention now to our horses. Only today, and this conversation that in some form occurs frequently enough to not be ignored, I was speaking with a client who has a sick horse, it is one of those mystery illnesses science has not found a way to measure and define. This client has excellent veterinarians and draws on the skills of many therapists, including myself, and still the illness remains and difficult to label. As we were ending our discussion, and this is often when a client feels brave enough to ask this particular question, she asked, “Do you think Angel may have my disease?”

I replied that I thought there could be an energetic aspect of her illness that Angel was taking on. (and often if the origin of a disease is energetic, it will not show up in medical tests, as they are looking for something in the physical). She went on to tell me how she had suffered from heavy metal poisoning for many years, and about six months ago, she began to feel better. It was also around this time that she formed a strong attachment for Angel, and Angel reciprocated this attachment. It was not long after this that Angel started developing her mystery illness, one that is similar in clinical signs to that of her owner’s imbalances.

There are many ways to interpret this interaction and I have not yet explored it directly with this client and Angel and why I am using it as an example today. I haven’t formed a definite ‘opinion’ on their story as yet, so I have the flexibility to explore possibilities here.

If I was to explore it I would use my kinesiology skills to identify the thoughts and emotions that contributed to how this client expressed her illness. I would look for which of these aspects Angel had taken on to assist her owner, where she was holding them and use spiritual healing rays and sacred geometry to give them back to the client so she could heal these aspects within herself. To take it further I would then use the same tools to identify when this client first triggered this pattern and help her step out of it by replacing the negative with the positive aspects and rebalance both hers and Angel’s subtle anatomy from holding this energy. Some of these imbalances may be other people’s stuff, or vulnerabilities and weakness they both developed as a consequence, or some kind of biochemical upgrade.

Linda Kohanov helped to show me another perspective to this approach from a psychological approach. She discusses the horse as a socio sensual being and how the horse senses our emotional state and will ‘react’ to this until we own our emotions and become a congruent human being. Linda Kohanov discusses the sympathetic vibrations between horses and humans.

“I believe that one of the ways the autonomic nervous system interacts with the outside world is through resonance. Horses, who have a larger and more sensitive guts than humans, arguably have a much larger brain in their bowels – and more resonant surfaces with which to detect nuances of information.”
Linda Kohanov – The Tao of Equus

It is more important these days that we get REAL around our animals and then carry this through to other areas of our lives. The kinesiology I use to help you identify patterns of behaviour often helps you to discover aspects of yourself you may not have acknowledged or been willing to acknowledge in the past. Or a program developed by therapists like Linda Kohanov can help you deal with deep issues you may have suppressed but still ooze out of your energy field for the horses to see and feel.

I think for me with the work, the important thing for my clients is to consider that if they are having physical or behavioural problems with their animal and they are not clearing or healing, or they are reoccurring, what is that they need to become more real about in their lives?

I have struggled over the years finding a place within a logical patriarchal logic where our healing process “must” be justified and proven by science. However in my work I have relied strongly upon my nonverbal awareness of the horse and my human clients, thankfully these two authors have helped me find a space to next step off from, and David Suzuki, a scientist himself, provided me with a valuable quote from Albert Einstein.
Albert Einstein was asked one day by a friend “Do you believe that absolutely everything can be expressed scientifically?” “Yes, it would be possible,” he replied, “but it would make no sense. It would be description without meaning – as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation in wave pressure.”

© Catherine Bird

Check out www.youcanheal.com.au for more information on how you can learn kinesiology like I have discussed in this article
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horse treats nutrition



By Catherine Bird

There are horse people who don't treat their horses at all, other horse owners stay with the traditional apples and carrots while the more adventurous treat anything from a custard Danish to beer.


I had a week where the horses I was massaging were being treated to a wide variety of treats. I thought the horse I rode was spoilt rotten with his loads of apples, but what I will list in this article may "spoil" a horse in more ways than one.

Caffeine and Swabbing, want to risk testing positive for prohibitive substances?


A horse had a strained back from her rather large abdomen. I discussed her diet with her owner and it all seemed to be a fairly simple diet, not one that would cause her to be overweight. Then it came out that her favourite treat was a custard Danish. Well that's enough to help me gain a few extra kilos, so no wonder this horse was having trouble staying trim! Her owner was reluctant to deprive her of this treat, so a compromise was achieved - she got one every few months. Her horse's waistline found a new trim line and she was given some belly lifts to get her to strengthen her back muscles.

A high level competitor was distressed having to pull her horse out of a competition where she may have been swabbed as her young daughter gave her performance horse a large chocolate bar the day before the event. Feeding your horse chocolate can cause him to register positive for the presence of caffeine. Chocolate also contains theobromine, which is a stimulant that will show positive in a drug test.

These two incidences had me off on a quest to find out what sort of foodstuffs owners considered a "treat" for their horses. I posted a request to several mail lists on the Internet. The replies were surprising and in some cases alarming.

Tummy Aches and Bad Habits

Tina didn't personally feed treats herself but relayed a story of a friend who owned a very expensive Hanoverian gelding. She competed at medium level show jumping and was considering selling him, as the horse was capable of much more than she felt comfortable doing. However, this horse had a taste for licorice and jellybeans and one day was not well after a lesson and some of these "treats". A few hours later he was being rushed to surgery for colic. The veterinarian explained that these treats caused a lot of gas, and with the increase of gases, the bowel became twisted.

Jacqui's childhood pony had a taste for custard (a dairy product). He used to go to the kitchen window and drink the custard from the sink. This may be a case of bad behaviour more so than a dietary problem. Once a habit like this is developed you may find other delights disappearing from within reach of the window! A horse cannot digest dairy products, so you may be giving your horse a severe case of scours. And if your horse takes something he can't swallow he may choke.

This raises the issue of teaching poor habits. Feeding treats has to be done carefully as you don't need to be attacked by a greedy horse because he thinks you have a peppermint or sugar cube in your pocket. I was recently massaging a horse in a stable and he was normally a temperamental young horse. This day the groom felt bad that the horse was late for his lunch, though it wasn't bothering the horse, and she gave him a carrot while I was working on him. This got him excited about food and difficult to handle, and I had to ask the groom to leave the area so the horse would settle down enough for me to finish his assessment.

Herbivores, Not Carnivores


Ruth in British Columbia was giving her two horses "Mother Hubbard's Low Fat Dog Biscuits", usually a couple in the morning and a couple in the evening. They were much cheaper than the horse treats, however they had garlic flavouring so she did complain about the horse's breath. If you want to follow Ruth's idea check with the manufacturer first, as a treat designed for a carnivore such as a dog may have ingredients unsuitable for the herbivore horse.

Then there is Lin's horse, Brodie, who always enjoys a can of Coke but for some reason won't drink Pepsi. Sue had a horse that loved chip butties made from french fries and white bread. Samantha's horse had a favourite treat in pretzels, and one last contributor mentioned she fed her horse Kentucky Fried Chicken, with bone removed of course.

We have to be careful feeding processed food to any animal. They are not designed to digest it and don't have the digestive enzymes to recognise it as a food their bodies can utilise. And to be fair to the horse, they are not meat-eaters; they are, by nature and action, herbivores.
Caution should be used when feeding horses animal protein as it can increase the toxins in the body, and if the horse has a poorly functioning lymphatic system, you will find its body accumulating fat and becoming less efficient in energy production. Also, discarding bones for the dogs to chew on where a horse grazes could leave your horse vulnerable to botulism.

The same goes for sugar; horses do not have the enzymes to deal with it so it is difficult for them to metabolise and break it down in the hindgut. The bacteria needed to deal with these foods are not present and this can lead to imbalances over time. Low-grade infections that do not clear up, a higher sensitivity to antibiotics and irregular bowel movements, as well as a lowered immune system may also eventuate after long term feeding of sugar treats.

If you are feeding some of these foodstuffs you are risking the occurrence of malabsorption in the digestive tract and as a result your horse may suffer from something as simple as a dull coat or as serious as dehydration. Sugar imbalances can also make your horse prone to erratic behaviour. A sudden influx of a sugar into the system can hype a horse and make him unmanageable. An inexperienced rider who is new to horses and thinks he is giving his horse a treat may find the horse difficult to handle or even dangerous in its heightened state.
Putting all these poor dietary examples aside, let's focus on some good treats. If you are going to try your own recipes, still avoid processed flour and sugar.

These recipes contain molasses, a product of sugar, to sweeten them so be wary of feeding too many. When giving these to your horses, remember they are a treat and not their staple diet.
Horse Cookies
1 cup grated carrot
1 apple, grated
2 Tablespoons corn oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 tsp. salt
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheet. In a large bowl, mix CARROT, APPLE, CORN OIL and MOLASSES together. Then fold in SALT, OATS and FLOUR until well mixed. Spread dough out in one big piece on the cookie sheet. Score dough with a knife to make it easier to break apart after baking, or try rolling dough out and cutting shapes with cookie cutters. Bake for 20 minutes or until brown. Let cool, break apart and serve.

Microwave Horse Cookies
2 cups flour,
5 cups oatmeal,
1/2 cup corn oil,
1 clove garlic
1 cup diced carrots
Combine ingredients in bowl, form into small balls, press down with a spoon, place in microwave pan or sheet and microwave on high for 6 minutes per batch.

Fresh foods

Carrots are a moist, tasty treat and they also have health benefits. Carrots are high in Vitamin A and are a good source of potassium, vitamin C, and complex carbohydrates. They also are foodstuff that worms do not like. They are more effective against worms if added to feed grated, though your horse will enjoy just taking a fresh carrot from your hand. If you are buying carrots from a general green grocer, wash them before giving them to your horse, as they may have been treated or cleaned with harsh products before getting to you. Carrots have been traditionally included in diets by herbologists for their nutritive and antioxidant properties, and they are high in crude fibre, potassium, vitamin A and sodium.

Apples, like carrots, are a good source of potassium, vitamin C, and complex carbohydrates. Apples contain more moisture than carrots and are a quick and safe source of fructose. If you have a horse that is used to a high sugar treat diet, apples are an excellent way to wean him off these treats. This is a safer way of giving your horse an energy hit as apples contain pectin. The pectin in the apples absorbs the sugars and carbohydrates in the diet and releases them in the intestinal tract over a longer period of time, thereby increasing energy efficiency and producing a much slower rise in blood sugar levels. The added bonus from apples as a treat compared to sugary sweets is less erratic behaviour. Not only do apples taste good but also they contain flavonoids (naturally occurring plant compounds that have antioxidant properties).

Pears are a softer alternative for older horses. Some older horses with poor or fewer teeth find carrots and apples difficult to eat because they are hard on their mouths. Pears can be eaten without much effort, are moist and juicy, are sweet enough to feel like a treat, and are a healthy alternative to sugar cubes.

Others such as sweet potatoes are a less commonly given treat but they are nutritious. Sweet potatoes are high in vitamins E and A and as they are grown in the ground, they are a good source of minerals such as calcium, iron, and potassium. Other fruits and berries may appeal to your horse; some horses like grapes, mulberries, cherries, orange wedges and even some melons. Be sure that the treats are not chemically treated; organic is best.

Hand Grazing

A great treat you can give your horse is a stroll along a lane or quiet roadway that does not suffer a large traffic flow. They love the tall fresh grass and your horse may surprise you by selecting an herb while grazing. Most the our common herbs are considered weeds in this environment, though keep a watchful eye as some domesticated horses may have lost their instinctual ability to be able to distinguish between a good herb and a toxic weed.

Now that you have thought about the treats you would like your horse to sample, you need to introduce them slowly. Be careful when you start feeding your horse with a ration of carrots or apples. Carrots have a high glycemic index and recent studies suggest the sugars in carrots may be detrimental if a horse suffers Cushing's Disease. It is recommended no more than four or five carrots be fed a day. I prefer a horse to be 'treated' irregularly so there is not an expectation of a treat whenever you spend time together. When my box of organic vegetables arrived each week, I would keep the carrots and apples aside for the horses.

As a therapist I refrain from giving treats to any of my clients' horses. I do this because I don't want the horse to presume I will offer him a treat with his massage, nor do I want to give a horse a treat if doing so does not fit in with the owners' ideas of handling and feeding.

It is important that you do not give treats to another owner's horse. You don't know anything about the other horse; he may have an intolerance to certain foodstuffs, or may be on a medication that would be reactive to whatever you wish to give him. Recently there was a pony that lived in a paddock where school children passed by on their way to school. He was popular and many of the children fed their sandwiches to him each day. This poor pony got so fat you could see the fat deposits under his skin. This act of kindness placed his health at risk.

The key to treating your horse is to remember that a treat is a treat or a reward, not a standard food on demand that your horse has come to expect every time you go for a ride. That is a recipe for bad behaviour, because you leave yourself open to being nipped or having your horse misbehave because you have not got his sugar hit on hand.

Remember your horse thrives best on what he would eat naturally; the healthier the treat, the healthier your horse.


Recipes courtesy of Ohio Hooved Animal Humane Society (OHAHS). OHAHS is preparing a cookbook which will contain approximately 400 recipes including a section for "Horse Snacks", special treats for you to make for your horses, plus money saving recipes for fly sprays and washes. They would like to feature your recipes (along with your name) so dig up that recipe for fly spray, body wash, poultice, etc. and send them in. They would also like some "Trail Riding Snacks" and campfire cooking dishes. For more information and to submit your recipes, visit www.ohahs.org
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Doggie Food for Thought

July 22nd 2007 03:08
dog food puppy care herbs
pic from www.horsephotos.com.au Photography & Design
Good nutrition is the basis of a healthy lifestyle where the physical body is fed to help the whole dog stay balanced emotionally.

The focus of a diet for your dog is raw foods and supplemented to help with any dis-ease in the body.

If your dog presents with skin problems, behavioural issues, changes in the body due to age, diet will go a long way to help you and your dog.
When your dog is healthy and happy but used to a processed diet, having the knowledge to improve his nutritional intake and ability to utilise essential vitamins and minerals in the food you supply your dog with will improve the quality of his life.

As with most nutritional areas, there are so many opinions, it is up to the dog owner to find one that suits their lifestyle as well as meets their dog’s unique needs. If you are a person who is away from home a lot, there are some good naturally based dog foods now available, however if you area t home and have the time, it is worth preparing your dog’s meals for him. You never know his good eating habits may just appeal to you and you improve the approach to your own diet.

Don’t forget that exercise is also very important, no matter what your dog is eating, he still needs to be stimulated physically and getting outdoors is a tonic for his mental health as well.

Those of you who are interested in raw diets, a popular one developed originally in Australia (I think I am typing this away from my reference material) is the BARF diet, it is also very popular in Canada.

You can walk into most large bookstores now and they have a range of books so allow plenty of time to sift through the pages to find one that fits with your own philosophy.

Once you have your approach developed you can then add a selection of dried herbs if you animal gets a bit ‘off’ or you can easily add biochemic tissue salts. Another nice daily ‘give’ to your dog or cat is add a Bach Flower remedy to their drinking water, 7 drops is enough and you can stay basic with Rescue Remedy to help them with any stress in the house, or if you are working through a particularly issue, give them the same remedies to help their emotional body filter your stuff so they don’t get bogged down energetically.
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Essential Oils for Colic (Horses)

July 19th 2007 06:12
The word 'colic' is one most horse owners fear hearing. There are many clinical signs that can be associated with colic to give an owner an early warning. The most common include pawing repeatedly with the front foot, looking back at the flank region, curling the upper lip and arching or twisting the neck, repeatedly raising a rear leg or kicking at the abdomen, lying down, rolling from side to side, sweating, stretching out as if to urinate, kneeling, straining to defecate, distension of the abdomen, loss of appetite, and a decreased number of bowel movements.

aromatherapy colic pony horse health
offering essentail oils to inhale

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fussy pets numerology health animal
pic from www.freedigitalphotos.net


The number four pet needs stability and security, if you are traveling or commute between two houses, this is not the pet to have with you. He is not the suitable pet for the transient person


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training horse natural aromatherapy equine
Spider enjoying his essential oil


I was introduced to aromatherapy about two decades ago. At the time I was working at a natural therapy college and it came across my desk as a correspondence course. My skepticism was high, and I laughed at the thought of an aroma having an effect on anyone. Well, I then attended an evening lecture on the topic and found it more convincing and my first modality as a therapist became aromatherapy and I was soon lecturing at several colleges dispelling the same skepticism I had generated myself


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Winter Warmers for Riders

July 13th 2007 02:53
Winter Warmers for Our Riders
By Catherine Bird
First published www.naturalhorse.com Volume 8, Issue 6


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It is way too cold this winter! a little help for our animals
pic from www.freedigitalphotos.net


Fighting Viruses
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GETTING THE FEEL
By Catherine Bird www.happyhorses.com.au

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Patti is a friend of mine based in the US and is brilliant with her herbs, these ideas could easily be used with dogs as well, cats you have to be more careful with, if you are a cat owner it is better to talk with a herbalist to make sure none of the herbs you want to give contain salycilates or other substances that can cause an ill affect in a cat.

Allergies and Your Horse….by Patti Duffy-Salmon
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Seasonal Herbs for Animals

July 3rd 2007 03:59
A few years ago now Country Park Animal Herbs asked me to design some blends of herbs for them to assist their clients. Initially we looked at common issues and worked on that idea. But using herbs for good health can be quite limited if one becomes fixated on ‘disease’ so the concept was expanded upon and the idea to help you as animal owners get more in touch with the seasonal needs of your animal and in harmony with nature fitted more with the philosophy of going with the flow and taking the path of least resistance so you could gain the maximum benefit from herbs with the least amount of effort.

Following the flow of nature is not a new concept. Many streams of medicine and cultures follow a seasonal healing cycle, from the Amerindians to the ayurvedic practices of the Indian continent and the Toaist of Asia, even primitive tribes in Africa adhere to the flow of seasons. My traditional herbal training is grateful to the ideas of Culpepper and the like who can then be traced back the humours of Hippocrates that were guided by the seasons to help achieve better health


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I recently had a client who complained to me that her veterinarian had not asked her which herbs her horse was on before he was treated. I sat back and reflected on this later, and in all fairness to our veterinarians, it is not up to them to ask.

In Australia now, you will see articles and advertisements in medical journals our doctors subscribe to, warning them that 70% of Australians are now currently taking self prescribed ‘natural’ therapy supplements or seeing a natural therapist. Even with this high percentage of usage, not every doctor is embracing of this groundswell, and will not consider asking patients what other substances they may be imbibing


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