Spa day 4/2/11

Bella is shedding GOBS of hair!  Its been much cooler than usual in CT this time of the winter, and much, much colder than TN where she came from. So I have been reluctant to shed her out much.  I brush her a bit, and try not to really get a lot of hair out.  Last week, the temps dropped again, and we had 3 days of cold rain mixed with snow, and below-freezing temps at night (down to 20) all week.  Poor Bella wsa looking quite bedrageled by the end of the week!

We are now getting nice 50's and 40's, and Miss Bella was SO relieved that  everybody got brushed today (after all, its been like a whole WEEK since the last time she was brushed, lol!)

Before (she also wouldn't stand still for her photo, she knew that brush was in my hand and I had to run backwards to try to get a shot in, this was the best one).

After an hours worth of brushing

Then I decided I just couldn't deal with her mane anymore.  Its just frizzy, and dirty. And her curls are in dreadlocks and all matted looking.  And when it rains, they stay damp for days and get a gross sour smell. So I decided to just do it, I cut them off (they'll grow back, I swear!)

This is her hunter, or western pleasure look.  I'll neaten it up some more tomorrow, and attempt to wash her mane, its soooo yucky.

Bella and the Herd 3/26/11

After work on Saturday, I came home and opened the fencing to allow Bella in with the rest of the girls.  They had been spending quite a bit of time hanging out over the fenceline, and Bella seemed so much more relaxed in her body and environment, and she looked longingly like she wanted to belong.

When I opened the gate, nobody did anything. They just stood around.  I waited for about 15 minutes, then coaxed her to the gate.  Then Lakota came up to visit, and the rest followed. There was a little bit of kicking and squealing, which lasted for about 20 minutes (on and off, of course).  Bella did as she was told, and when she was told to "go over there", she did.  When she was told to "stand here", she did, in a relaxed manner.  Hardly any fireworks at all.  I was surprised that Whinney was such a snot (well, not really, Whinney IS a snot, but they seemed so friendly, nickering to each other, over the fence before).  Jen keeps making faces at Bella, but that's all she does, Jen is all bark, not much bite.  April doesn't care much about anything and just goes about her business, and Lakota is happy if everyone is doing as she asks, and guarding the herd.

Then Bella meandered down in to the lower paddock that is less steep, and has much less rocks and stones. She had a good race across the paddock bucking and farting the entire way!  She is definately gaited, I don't know anything about soft-gaits but from what I can tell I assume she is foxtrotting.  I tried to get it on video, but each time she moved out it was off, then I would keep the video on and get bored at videoing her eat, and shut it off again.  Then she had a really good roll (which I did get on video) in the soft dirt, which she just loved, even with the other horses standing around, so she's really not nervous with them at all, just doing as she is told to do.

So, I am happy that she is fitting in so far (not to mention that it is less work maintaining one herd than two!)  And I'm sure she is happier too, and will have someone to hang out with, doze with, and groom with.

Here is Bella's video, you can see just a tad bit of her gait here, but its hard to tell because she's going downhill. And a good old roll, aaaahhhhhhh that felt good!

Bella's 3rd NMR/Reiki 3/25/11

Hi Michelle.

I apologize for being so late with these notes. 

Early on in our session, Bella said that she would like to be with the other horses. (Or perhaps she is already with them and she said she likes it?) In any event, she is no longer afraid. 

Her body is so much more supple and free than the first time I worked with her. Her spine, both in the saddle area and in her lower back, was a little bit stiff, but it released easily. 

I wasn't drawn to that pesky left shoulder like I have been before.

Her sternum had a lovely range of motion, as did her ribs and pelvis. 

Her neck was a little bit creaky, and I'm not sure it has full range of motion yet, but it responded nicely to gentle work. I was also drawn to work with her poll for awhile (Reiki). 

The feeling I got from her is that she is comfortable with the herd, that she feels she is home. 

Her energy seemed balanced and strong.

She seemed very happy.

Thank you for taking this gorgeous creature into your home and your heart. Clearly, your loving care is paying off. And thank you for allowing me to assist.

Let me know what you see.

Be well,

Pam

Pam Sourelis

Reiki - Animal Communication - Neuromuscular Retraining

Assisting compassionate animal lovers who want to help their animals heal

WingedHorseHealing.com

Guess what Miss Bella did yesterday?

My daughter and I were outside yesterday, visiting with the horses. I gave Miss Bella a scritchie and a hug. She stood behind me, wrapped her neck around me, lined her eyeball up with mine, then nuzzled my opposite hand.  It was all very sweet.  My daughter said to me "Mommy, do you think we can let Bella live with the other girls next weekend?"  I just said "Hmm, I'm not sure yet."  And what went through my mind was how Bella seems creaky, she doesn't move around much, the terrain is steep with lots of fist sized rocks that makes it difficult to even walk, and she really doesn't know the girls all that well yet.  My thoughts were of worry of her injuring herself running on the hill, or getting chased and tripping or twisting an ankle.  I then went about my business of shoveling the monumental task of cleaning up the last 5 months of frozen weather and many feet of snow packed manure.  A couple of hours later, as we put the Ranger and rakes away, the girls headed down the hill for dinner. And Miss Bella decided to CANTER downhill at warp speed, butt and nose tucked, and come to a screeching, sliding stop just in front of a huge few-hundred year old Oak tree.  My heart was in my throat for two reasons, one in awe of how she managed to canter down a steep hill over rubble-strewn terrain that she has only lived on for a few weeks, excitement that she is feeling that good and happy to do so, and terror that she run headlong into that tree!

But there you have it, she'll do just fine.

March 19, 2011 post Reiki/NMR

It was dark when I got home to feed last night, and I only got to spend a brief bit of time this morning before work. But what I did notice (and I'll spend more time out there tonight and tomorrow) is that she seemed to be able to turn and look behind over her shoulder a little better.  I can't say that there is a profound difference, but she just seemed somewhat less stiff and there seemed to be a little more of a gentle curve to her neck, rather than the severe angles she tilted it before in order to see behind her.

I've also noticed over the past week that she just seems "brighter".  She was friendly before, but there seems to be just a bit more of a bounce, or happiness, in her now than there was a couple of weeks ago.  She still nickers, and comes over, and tosses her head for her VR, but it seems more out of happiness now, than habit, does that make sense?  She is also wandering around her paddock more, moving up the hill and I'm spreading her hay around more now that I know she is moving and not terribly uncomfortable on the stones or terrain.  There have been no fireworks that I have seen with the other girls, she hangs at the fence near them. Sometimes Jen will start to flatten her ears at her, but then she just stops and stands there staring at Bella.  And Bella just stands there.  Very funny, Jen is extremely animated, and her facial expressions are like none I've ever seen on a horse before!  Bella has, I've noticed, bonded with Whinney.  Interestingly (although not really), I contacted an amateur AC before I even got Bella, just mentioned on an AC list that I was going to be bringing in a foster horse, and if anyone felt moved to chat with her to please do so.  Mary (who has spoke with my animals before, I should find the post and send it to you, about Smith my fish, and Bunner the goose! but has been very absent from that list for quite some time) apparently felt drawn to check the list that day, and she chatted briefly with Bella. She said that Bella would bond with Whinney. I had forgotten about that, but she was right!  Its kinda like the Golden Girls out there, lol!

Bella's Second Reiki/NMR Session

Hi Michelle.

Bella and I had a very fruitful session.

I began with Reiki and then gentle rocking rocking from front to back.

Like last week, I was fairly quickly drawn to her left shoulder. But rather than beginning at her hind, I began at the shoulder. Her whole body felt tense, but not nearly as tense as last week, and she released the tension fairly quickly.

I did Reiki with the left shoulder and then took it in very small, gentle circles, to show her the possible range of motion. At one point, I had one hand on her withers, one at the bottom of her shoulder and I was showing her the relationship between these two body parts. 

I then gently worked with her vertebrae and with the muscles along her spine (lifting and holding).

Still on her left side, I then worked with her ribs, mostly working on a very gentle bend, which she was able to do (which I took to mean that the right side, which had been extremely tight last week, had substantially released). 

I then moved to her lower back and gently "bent" her hind end around the L/S joint. OK, that sounds weird. It's a tiny, tiny movement. I bring the hind end towards me, with one hand on the lower back. It shows the animal the relationship between these parts and reminds them that the L/S joint is a joint, that it can move. 

Then I moved to her right side. 

I began with her hip and L/S joint, then moved to her ribs, then to her withers and shoulder. (I worked with these areas in similar fashion to how I had worked with the left side.)

Next, I took her sternum in large, smooth circles. Then, breathing deeply (to really open up her energy flow), I gently rocked her front to back from her sternum. Very nice, smooth, free movement.

Standing behind her, I played with her pelvis for a minute (pelvic tilts) and then visualized healing traveling up her spine to her poll.

Finally, I lifted and held the muscles of her neck and, as I did last week, said a prayer for a release of any tension around the vertebrae of her neck. (Has he neck movement improved at all?)

Let me know what you think, see, feel, hear. Thank you for allowing me to work with her. She is a real joy.

Be well,

Pam

Pam Sourelis

Reiki - Animal Communication - Neuromuscular Retraining

Assisting compassionate animal lovers who want to help their animals heal

WingedHorseHealing.com

March 15, 2011

This weekend, I re-routed cross-fencing to allow the girls access to what I call their "playground", the upper paddock where they like to go for a romp. The lower paddock is where I feed them, keep manure cleaned, and have a grassy area for a few hours a week grazing. 

I had Bella in the upper paddock, mainly because the way it is set up with fencing and gates, its easily accessible, but also 3-4x the size of the lower paddock with the barn, and it has a run-in shed (which she won't use anyway, neither did Leroy).

I moved electric fencing, making her a small-ish paddock still around the gate and run-in, but freeing up the gate separating the paddocks, allowing the girls access to the upper paddock and their playground, with just one strand of electric fence between Bella and the rest of them.

I opened the gate, and of course they all ran like demons up the hill.  Bella excitedly came right over to the fenceline to say hello!  As they ran around like idiots, bucking, piaffing, sliding stops, pirouettes, airs above the ground with the obligatory farting, Bella managed a trot UP the steep hill and over the rubble, I was quite happy to see her comfortable over that!  She watched them awhile, munched hay, watched some more, and was just totally nonchalant about the entire thing.  No stressing, no worrying, no hiding.  She and Whinney hung out for awhile, looking at each other and pretending to graze on nothing.  Jen came over and gave her a couple of her nasty faces ,but Bella ignored them and just looked at her, which caused Jen to perk up her ears and just look at her, lol!

She did really well, I was so pleased!!!!