Do No Harm
By Robin Davis
When we consider helping a horse to heal from a chronic or acute injury or illness, what does it really mean to do no harm? Can our thoughts have harmful effects? What if we explore the effects of being in harmony and holding that intent as part of our complementary care?
The Holistic Horse Care Cooperative held a Meet and Greet at Mustang Hollow, near Nunn, Colo., on April 17 and featured William (Bill) Pelkey as the presenter. Bill has given his form of working with horses the name Equigetics™. Equigetics™ is truly looking at the horse, the owner and the environment as a whole and navigating through this dynamic in a way to help the horse function at its best capacity while being in harmony.
When Bill arrived at Mustang Hollow, he gave himself plenty of time to feel the energies of the land by arriving early. He sat where he could just watch and listen to all that was going on around him before he had to interact with the horses or the humans in the area. Essentially, harmonizing with the wind, the current horse herd dynamics and the other normal activities on the ranch.
As people began to arrive and interact, Bill met them as a clean template. He did not project his personal stories. He listened to them and asked questions to draw out information so that he could learn how best to harmonize with all of the energies around him before working with the horse.
When it was time for Bill to meet the horse for his demo he began to share a little of his story: how his background as a biostatistician, coming from a purely scientific mind, as well as his many years of studying and practicing Aikido, being in harmony with energies, allows him to achieve a blend of both left and right brain in his works.
When the horse was brought out, Bill began to assess her needs from a physical as well as energetic standpoint. He asked the owner about any histories or concerns as he stroked the mare. He was feeling for any muscle tightness, heat, coolness or other sensitivities, all the while ‘listening’ to her own version of the stories. After this initial assessment he shared what he saw on a physical level. He pointed out any imbalances in her conformation and/or posture, then he shared what he had felt under his hands while stroking her. He spoke in terms of deficient and excess ‘chi’. He expressed his desire to help the mare be as balanced as she is able without projecting his own idea of what that looks like.
Bill combines massage therapy, acupressure, Reiki, craniosacral therapy, and other modalities in his work, thus coining the term Equigetics™. He is quick to let us all know that no matter what kind of work we are doing on or around our horses, we are all energy workers. Horses are immensely sensitive to all of the energies around them, so being aware of the energies that we are projecting is paramount in helping our horses be the very best partner they can be, no matter the job they are asked to perform.
As Bill took us through a tour of the meridians and connected them with the way the muscle groups functioned, he also shared information about the chakras and how any physical imbalances could affect the clarity of the chakra associated with an area.
Using myofascial release along with massage therapy and acupressure, Bill began to help the horse find a better way of movement, all the while listening to her needs, never projecting his ideas of wellness upon her.
While working with his hands in this physical way, Bill shared his ideas on how much our very thoughts can effect change, both in a helpful way and in a non-helpful way. When we think of our horses as the best they can be, both physically and emotionally, they feel the positive vibration and will respond to the best of their ability. Holding this good intention for your horse will help the horse to continue to heal and to thrive.
It is important to remember that not all horses can respond to our human ideas of what a fully healed state looks like. It is essential that we allow the ideas and intentions that we transmit to be in harmony with what the horse is able to do. Our standards of perfection are not always what is perfection for the horse at that point in time. Bill reminded us to allow a desire for harmony to be the ultimate guide in how we help our horses heal.
After Bill finished working on the horse, he gathered all of the human attendees and had us pair off. He asked us if we really believe that we project powerful energy through our hands. Some of us nodded with a resounding, ‘yes’, but others just looked at him like, ‘he better have something good to show because I’m not really believing anything about these energies he keeps talking about!’
Bill began to show us an exercise to prove how much energy we can project from our hands. With our partners, one of us stretched out our strong arm with fist closed. We were instructed to keep it strong with the intent of not allowing the other person to bend it. The partner then placed their hands, one on top of our bicep and the other just below the elbow and underneath the forearm. They were instructed to exhibit enough force to bend our arms. Everyone’s arm eventually got bent by their partner. Bill then had us open our fist and leave the hand idly stretched forward. We were then to visualize a strong stream of water moving through our arm and out our hand and to not use physical strength to keep our partner from bending our arms. Not many arms were bent with this part of the exercise. Even the skeptics were believers after this.
All in all, the take home message was this: to do no harm we need to be in harmony, and to truly be in harmony we need to understand how much impact our thoughts really have. Special thanks to Moka, Sloan, Bill, and Holistic Horse Care Cooperative for a fun and inspirational Meet and Greet.
For more information about Bill Pelkey and Equigetics…..
Equigetics™ is a complementary care modality. Please consult your veterinarian before adding any complementary care to your horses’ wellness program.
Mustang Hollow: whose mission is to, with the help of horses, promote self-awareness, create relationships with nature, and teach about sustainability and natural ways of living. For more information see www.MustangHollow.com.
To see more photos go to the Holistic Horse Care Cooperative Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Holistic-Horse-Care-Cooperative/124656070879210
