From Linda's Desk
TTouch and Heart Hugs
Linda Tellington-Jones
TTEAM Connections Volume 10 Issue 1 January-March 2008
TTouch for You & Your Horse - Hawaii
2008 is off to an inspiring start with another super group attending the TTouch for You and Your Horse - the Hawaii Experience. We had folks from eight states and Canada, Germany, the U.K. and Australia. Every year I say, "This is the best, most congenial, passionate, dedicated, fun group we've ever had, and each year the time we spend together in the week just gets richer. One of the clinic participants, Sylvia Fascio has a ranch over 100 miles from the closest town in Nevada where she breeds Arabian horses. It was fascinating to hear her say she first read about me over 50 years ago in Western Horseman!! And was always fascinated. This is her second weeklong training and she says she is going to treat herself to a clinic every year. She and I are the same age and she looks like a movie star - not a Nevada rancher! Sylvia has a B & B at her ranch, so if you are ever headed in the direction of Gerlach, Nevada and want to have an experience on a working ranch with a fascinating woman and lovely horses send her an email at franchtwc@spcglobal.net.
Heart Hugs Save the Day
The first day was TTouch for self-help and one of our participants discovered the gift in her hands the following week when she went scuba diving for the first time in four years, just as she was starting to suit up on the boat had what felt like the beginning of a panic attack and was about to tell her husband she couldn't dive when she thought of the Heart Hug. She did only a few and immediately felt calm again and had a super time under water for the whole morning. The power of those Heart Hugs is really something special. If you have a Heart Hug story to share I would love to hear it. We are collecting some really interesting stories from many corners of the globe.
A TTouch of Magic to Calm Odayin
As usual we worked at HorsePlay Equestrian Center just a ten-minute drive up the mountain from our home. The days were a perfect 72 degrees and we had a wonderful variety of horses to work with. Sheila Cox read about the training on our website and called me about her very difficult horse which I invited into the clinic. He is a 10-year-old Quarter Horse gelding, (previously known as Axel but now called Odayin), whose previous owner had him only a few months. He was planning to use the horse for cutting, but determined he was not suitable and put him up for sale.
Sheila was told he was spooky and head-shy when she bought him and that was certainly true. She said he spooks easily and when he does he spins and bolts and has left her on the ground several time. She feels he is a sweet horse and hoped we could help him. To say he was head-shy was putting it mildly. He was extremely reactive to any movement around his ears and upper neck, and twitchy all over the body. It took a bit to get his head lowered and get him trusting, but in the two days he was with us and worked by "teams" he developed a totally different attitude. Sheila was thrilled and wrote: "I cannot thank you enough for letting me bring my horse to your workshop this week. Learning that the issues my horse has been demonstrating are related to medical problems and a poorly fit saddle was such a revelation to me. I truly thought he would never overcome his head throwing, tension, anxiety and spookiness. But what a difference, in just two days, due to the TTouch methods that were used on him. I am so grateful for the amazing gift you have and share with all that attend your workshops. My only regret is that I didn't hear about your wonderful, caring approach to horse training sooner. I realize that I have a tremendous way to go in improving my handling and riding skills but I'm dedicated to doing this and will continue to learn and practice TTouch Now I know that as he becomes more comfortable we can look forward to great times ahead."
Not only were the horses great, but the dolphin swim off "Sunlight on Water" power boat was all that everyone had hoped for. The cruise began with us circling up for a Hawaiian blessing by Captain China and concluded with time spent with a mama whale with a very newborn calf accompanied by her male escort. We had a fabulous swim with countless dolphins cruising around and below us on a perfect sunny day with calm waters. And as usual, chef and videotographer Andre Freiling blessed us with his really delicious sit-down dinner for 28 people at our home on the last evening. This is the fourth year he and Karin have traveled from Germany to assist me with the trainings.
Spirits in Transition at Equine Affaire - Pomona, California
A few days after the training I headed for Pomona, California to present at the Equine Affaire expo. As usual, Kirsten Henry had everything well prepared for our booth and was assisted by Kathleen Aspen and practitioners Vicky Cook, Sue Brusso and Ella Bittel. Ella began her TTEAM Training, over 20 years ago, the summer she graduated from the University of Hannover, Germany veterinary school when she spent the summer driving me, from clinic to clinic, all over Germany and Switzerland. She has developed a new program for animal hospice which you can check out on her website www.spiritsintransition.com. Ella presented the program at our CELLebration and you can order the DVD from our Santa Fe office. I really love presenting at expos because I get juiced by all the stories we hear from visitors to our stand and I am always thrilled and amazed to hear how long many people have been using the work and I get to walk down memory lane with folk who remember events I've done in the past that I have completely forgotten about. On Sunday Carol Tice, the Southern Regional Director of the California Dressage Society, stopped by my booth to tell me that her students have been using TTouch on their horses for years during the winter when they can't ride and that on this weekend she had an emergency situation where TTouch really helped. Her horse had colic surgery January 11th and had been home for three weeks and during his recovery time they have been doing a lot of TTouch on him while he was in stall rest.
Colicy Horse Benefits from my Ear TTouch Demo Friday evening while Carol was at the Equine Affaire in Pomona, California she received a phone call from a student saying that her horse was acting stressed again. Four of Carol's students had attended my demo Friday afternoon where I had talked about the benefits of TTouch on the ears while waiting for the vet to arrive to care for a colicy horse. When they found Carol's horse acting stressed one of the students simply followed my instructions for ear TTouches and the horse relaxed. Saturday the horse really crashed. He was apparently spasming and sweating and thrashing around so they could not even get a pulse and respiration at first. Three of Carol's students TTouched him all over and calmed him enough to get into the trailer and to the veterinary hospital. Carol came by especially to tell me that she was sure that if her students had not been at the lecture they most likely would not have known what to do to help her horse. I really enjoyed hearing the feedback from Carol, and it brought up so many memories. Very few people know that I was a founding member of the California Dressage Society back in the 1980's when there were only a handful of us riding at 3rd level!!!! Hard to imagine now.
Winston Churchill Stars at Equine Affaire It's always a challenge to choose the horses to use for demos at expos. I had three horses to work over the three days. Amy Beauregard who is now organizing two TTEAM clinics a year for me to teach at her beautiful Vigne Farms nestled in the redwoods just north of Santa Cruz, California, had called to ask if I would be sure to accept one of her students into my demos. The horse is a 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding named Winston Churchill. He was extremely noise and movement sensitive and so nervous the first afternoon when Adrienne brought him out saddled said she felt much better if we would work him from the ground first because of his tendency to bolt under saddle when startled. I began by loosening the noseband and putting a halter over the bridle, thinking he would settle enough to ride. However, he was so nervous for the whole first session that he could barely be touched with the wand. Ella worked him in the labyrinth to calm him and get his head down while I worked with another horse in the beginning and its important to note that he could not lower his head until the girth was loosened. A fact that very few horse people seem to realize. The second day I decided to still do only ground work with Winston. He was already much improved from the first day, so that I could use the wand on him for Dingo and stroke his back legs without him being stressed. He went over the platform and cautiously between bales and the audience could see him begin to think and make some good decisions.
I t was a pleasure to work with him, and lovely to have Ella working with him at the start of session so I could concentrate on other horses first. I decided to take him again on Sunday morning even though the demo was to be TTouch in a small arena where Adrienne thought he might be terrified. However, there were quite a few spectators who had been to all three demos and they could clearly see the change in the horse. Adrienne's email to me tells it all: I bought Winston in Germany in November of 2005. He was doing about 4th level work at the time, beginning to school Prix St. George. We competed at PSG in 2006 and at Intermediare I in 2007. I am hoping he will move up to Grand Prix later this year. We did pretty well in the end-of the-year standing both years considering all the issues we've had.
The people that I bought him from said that he sometimes does great at the show and sometimes does terribly. That has been my experience. If there's nothing that scares him, we do really, really well. He's super talented and a great mover. However, if he gets nervous, he loses his concentration and we will have some small mistakes (ie with tempi changes). If there is any noise that he finds bothersome, then our test is terrible .That's when he shies, spooks or bolts, I can't thank you enough for working with Winston at the Equine Affaire in Pomona this past weekend. Winston is my dream horse--the one I've waited for the 30 years I've been riding. He is such a gifted dressage horse, but we've had so much trouble because he has been so sound-sensitive and so nervous at our competitions.
Last year in our first high performance class--a qualifier for the Pan American games--he became so upset by the background music playing over a loudspeaker that he kept spooking and bolting until I decided to excuse ourselves from the show arena. Since then I've been trying to expose him to sound in small doses to "desensitize" him, but it was clearly not working. Even at smaller shows, a strange sound may frighten Winston so much that I can't regain his focus for hours. I had been so discouraged, wondering if I would ever be able to take this beautiful and talented horse to the "bigger" competitions, but I didn't know what to try next. A friend recommended your techniques. It must have been meant to be, because soon after I heard that you would be coming to Pomona! I can't stop telling all my stable friends about my experience. The first day I could barely lead him into the arena to work with you...he kept leaping and spinning and running backwards. (The crowd and the level of activity at the Equine Affaire was so much bigger and more intense than anything he'd ever seen.) The change in Winston by the end of the session was unbelievable--I literally felt "all choked up." He walked out of the arena slowly and with his head lowered, breathing normally. I was so happy and relieved and proud and grateful--all at once! And I wasn't alone. The next day, people who had seen him the first day could not believe it was the same horse. And by the third day we were able to walk Winsty down a long sidewalk next to the interstate into a small demo arena surrounded on three sides by metal bleachers with children running up and down! I would never have thought that was possible for this horse! I've started working on the TTouches at home and I can see the difference in Winston even there. Things that he's always shied from don't seem to bother him any more. I can't wait to see how we do in the next show year! And I can't wait to work with you again in the future. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I can't wait to see how he does this year! Adrienne Bessey
Heart Hugs for Mother and All
Tomorrow I begin the 10th annual TTouch for You - Hawaii, and I decided this would be a good opportunity to send Heart Hugs to all corners of the planet each morning. So I sent out an email to as many of the email groups as I could find on my computer, inviting everyone to join us and to use these daily meditations to send light and love and empowerment all together, and that anyone who wanted their name to be put in our healing bowl, or anyone who has a vision they want put in this light, should send me an email. Within hours I received many responses from as far away as South Africa, and we will be bringing Mother and all of you into our circle.
Aloha and many Blessings and thank you for joining together to Change the World One TTouch at A Time.
Alohanaielele (Linda TJK)
