"... I don't DO massage..."

This morning Sara started our discussion of Equine massage by explaining that she "...listens a massage..." instead of "doing" it. I thought that this was quite a powerful distinction, and is in-line with my objectives of "Finding quiet". Although she has been trained in traditional Swedish massage, she lives and uses her training in Shiatsu and Myo-fascial release. We then did some work on each other, putting our hands on our partners' shoulders and listening. Initially, this was a challenge, and a situation where I could see my training (albeit limited) in Swedish massage to potentially be in conflict. It reminded me a bit of my training in Theraputic Touch, except with touch. :)

This practice of listening, and doing body work based on intuition and my hands will be great. I feel very fortunate to be able to do this work, and additionally excited to be doing it with horses!


This picture is of the Devil's Backbone rock formation (and a little extra anatomy lesson) which is one of the landmarks that we navigated by on our way out to Glade Farm, Rick Noffsiger's training facility for our Quieting and Handling class. We discussed some concepts of horsemanship [sic] which we are studying and then did some groundwork in small groups.

This is Baloo, a 30-something year-old Welsh pony gelding. And, just so you can be assured that I am learning horsemanship, here are a couple of other pictures of me working with him on "approach" and "leading" (and leading in reverse.)He knew the difference between one of us (students) working with him or Crystal (who works with Rick), but it was very interesting to work with him:

• Getting his attention and approaching him as he waited for me;
• Gently putting on the rope halter, including softly turning his nose toward me;
• Asking him to lead, and sending energy down the rope to make sure he didn't get too close;
• Asking him to stop, either with the rope or body language;
• Getting him to back up with communication through the rope and body language.

I expect that it wasn't too exciting for him (especially since he went through it with all 5 of us in the group), but it was a great place to start for me. Learning, learning, learning!

Finally, I'd like to emphasize, one more time, that I appreciate the fact that my roomates and I get along very well. We enjoy cooking, eating and even grocery shopping together.....