I have been busy studying and experimenting with all the new things that I have been learning and the animals have been great teachers! Yesterday I was fortunate enough to work with a beautiful thoroughbred gelding ‘Blue’ who has been expressing some emotional tension and has a history of injuries.
After a zoopharmacognosy session we finished with some energy work and left Blue feeling very relaxed. Blue’s owner will continue to offer Blue the remedies that he selected during our session. I have compiled a short video showing some of Blue’s responses. It was beautiful working with Blue as he was very expressive and clear about what he wanted.
Here is a description and link to the video:
Blue – 11 yo Thoroughbred gelding
This video shows a few minutes of an hour long AZ session of myself working with Blue. When offered green clay, Blue turned his head and pointed towards his back leg with his muzzle. Without judgement I followed his direction and discovered a small fresh wound just below his hock. I placed some clay on my hand and with the back of my hand slowly moved down his leg and watched for signs of where Blue wanted the clay applied. Signs include increased blinking, eye softening, lowering the head, snorting, yawning, etc. When I reached the wound Blue’s eyes softened and his blinking increased. I covered the wound in clay while Blue stood relaxed. Blue’s owner advised that normally he does not like his legs being touched and would have moved away. Green Clay is a fantastic wound dressing with antibacterial and adsorbent properties therefore it was no surprise that Blue pointed to his wound.
The next part of the video shows Blue again turning towards his back leg when offered Comfrey macerate. Comfrey is known as “knit-bone” for its amazing healing and anti-inflammatory properties for bone, tendon, ligament and soft tissue damage. I again offered to apply it topically after Blue pointed towards his leg and this time the signs indicated that he wanted the comfrey applied on the bony protrusion on his hock, just above the wound. It is likely that there was some bruising and pain in this area, given the fresh wound just below.
The last part of the video shows Blue working with Ginger essential oil. Ginger works on the digestive system and is very warming. Blue selected several ‘warming’ oils. Before the session I examined Blue using Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) principles and discovered that Blue had ‘cold signs’ including a pale, swollen tongue and slightly weak and deep pulses. Blue’s owner advised that he feels the cold and often shivers in cold weather. It was interesting to correlate Blue’s subsequent choices for the warming essential oils and showing no interest in cooling oils such as peppermint (which is normally very popular with horses).
You can find more videos of AZ sessions here.