I made a point of stopping by the barn at the time of their appointment, as I was curious, and wanted to see my old friend again. She worked with the horse, it looked like massage with a little chiropractic involved. So I went on out and rounded up Quzqo to bring back in for spa day.
When their session was done, the Bowen therapist came over to visit, and admire the horse (of course). Immediately she was struck by his "energy"....it was apparently radiating off of him like heat waves from blacktop pavement. She held her hands out and just "felt" all that "energy". I was a little amused because right then Quz had his head hanging down, his ears sort of at half-staff, and a hind foot cocked, probably just waiting to be escorted to his dinner.
She ooed and aahed, and put her hand to her face and exclaimed how HOT they were, just HOT from all that hot Arabian Energy...she touched my arm and yes, her hands were hot, but it was summer after all. But hey, I've witnessed some pretty unexplained things with horses over the years, to who am I to say yeah or nay (or neigh).
She tried to touch Himself on the neck, UP went the head, out bulged the eyes, No Touchee!!! She backed off and massaged the air above his back for a few seconds, keeping an eye on his head, looking for some signs of relaxation like licking and chewing or a big yawn. He obliged with a huge jaw-cracker of a yawn, which she celebrated as a "release" of tension and anger. Well, he was yawning when I brought him in from the pasture... maybe that was a tense situation he needed release from, I don't know.
Well, we caught up a bit, and she left, and I threw the horse back in his stall.
Couple of days later I came back to the barn, and as I was leading Quz back to his stall, just for shits and giggles, I stopped him, and put my palms against my face...okay, they were warmish. Got that. Then I held them about six inches away from Quzqo's side about where his heart would be... No B.S. now, I SWEAR I felt hot heat just pouring off of him. Like a radiator! It tingled! I put my hands on my face again, they were hot!! I touched the horse himself, his fur was cool, since we were in the shade. None of that blast furnace heat I felt seconds ago.
I didn't think Quzqo was in any particular pain, he's certainly not arthritic, hasn't sustained any injury other than his leg cut (which is still healing nicely, it was deeper than I originally thought, but the joint isn't involved). Maybe he torqued himself bucking me off, other than that, he hadn't exhibited anything out of the ordinary.
But when my friend at the barn scheduled another session with the therapist, she (the therapist) emailed me to see if I'd be interested in having Quzqo done. She thought maybe she could help with his hyper sensitivity (No Touchee!!!) and spooking behavior. I know what benefits massage, TTouch therapy and chiropractic helped my old horse, Tezlu, and Quz won't let me massage him, so maybe this might help out. Why the heck not?
So yesterday we had our appointment. She worked first with the show horse, lightly massaging him here and there, stretching this and that. The horse seemed to enjoy it thoroughly...VERY much, if you get my drift (he's a boy... hint hint), and at the end his head and ears were drooping, his tail was swishing slowly, and he looked like the most contented horse on the planet. I thought to myself 'if she can get Quz into that state, I'm sold!'
I brought Quzqo out of his stall where he'd been busy pitching a hissy because there was NO FOOD in there! He marched amicably down the aisle, and into the arena, probably wondering what his Monkey was up to now.
Uh oh, there was another Monkey in the arena. In his experience, that usually means an injection in some part of his body, and I could see he was tensed up, not trusting this new Monkey one bit.
She did some long-distance massage, again remarking on the amount of energy radiating out of him (he does crackle some days, for sure!), and showed me how to calm him by repetitively pulling my hand down the lead rope without touching the actual rope...somehow pulling the energy out of the horse and communicating like another horse. I refrained from making a remark about incense and aromatherapy, maybe some Yanni on the radio. But the horse seemed to enjoy it, and curled his neck around to snuffle at her, at which she pleaded "don't let him bite me!" I guess that's a common reaction she's gotten in the past.
He tolerated that for a few more seconds before backing away, like "Nuh uh, that's enough of that!". She repeated it, he enjoyed it for a bit, then backed away. At this she got kind of misty eyed and emotional, and proclaimed "he's saying it's nice you want to be my friend, but why would anybody want to be MY friend? I don't deserve it."
Course I teared up as well, my poor horsie! He doesn't have any horse friends, hanging out by himself in the field, and avoids the others in the pasture (especially that blue roan that pins his ears at him). My poor, poor boy!
So we kept reassuring him with the rope-stroke (oo, naughty!), and when he backed away, she'd go on to something else. His withers were tight, his poll was tight, his back was tight, he dragged his hind legs (he's always done that, I chalked it up to laziness...too much effort to lift those feet). So for the duration she massaged when he allowed it, massaged long-distance when he didn't, let him take breaks where I walked him around, back to rope-stroking and massage and forehead-tapping (he's supposed to like that she said, and he didn't draw away, so maybe he does). We lost count of the "releases" through huge gaping yawns, at least 20, maybe more. Plenty of licking and chewing, plenty of nibbling and nuzzling (and I didn't even have any treats).
At least three times I heard the bones in his neck and spine "adjust" with loud pops, though she was barely touching him (unlike the chiropractor with his mallet and rubber chisel). Things were progressing very well, until the inevitable happened.
The barn owner started wheeling the hay cart around. Game Over, man! It's DINNER!!! No, he wasn't agitated because he was stressed, he was stressing because all the other horses were getting hay and he'd starve to death trapped in the arena with the funny rope-stroking monkeys!!
I walked him and tried to find a spot in the arena where he couldn't see the delectable second cutting hay being handed out to all and sundry. The therapist worked a bit more, and once dinner service was over, Quzqo focused back on the task at hand, namely lipping at anything he could reach.
Put a gun to my head, I still couldn't say exactly what-all she did, but a few things she pointed out afterwards were different. His back looked flatter, he didn't quite have that deep a dip behind the withers that he had been developing. His butt was looser and flobbier, he had actual floppy man-boobs, being all relaxed on a muscular level. And his right fore hoof now looked at a longer angle than the left, because his shoulder was more relaxed.
I'm not supposed to ride him for 48 hours, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's different. Heck, the Rx is I'm not even supposed to TOUCH him for 48 hours, just the barest minimum such as putting on a halter, or putting Swat on his cut. No petting, no patting, no brushing, no full-body hugs. That will be harder on ME than him. But we don't want to disrupt the healing of the nerves and muscles. Of course he's going to flop himself on the ground and roll and roll, that won't mess up his fascia, but if I were to pat him on the neck...
So we shall see what happens, and if there's marked improvement in his behavior. Apparently the other horse had been dramatically changed from a bolting, fearful menace to a proudly cantering, on-the-bit paragon of equine performance. Don't quite color me skeptical just yet.
For more information on Bowen therapy, there's plenty online information!
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