Category Archives: Reflections & Connections

A RANT —

A bit of a rant this morning — I’m seeing alot of information about mechanical and topical care for hooves that are dx’d as ‘navicular’. Navicular has become the catch-all word for heel pain. TRUE navicular ‘disease’ is something different than navicular ‘syndrome’ but the proper and EFFECTIVE treatment of balanced hoof trimming as well as other topical, systemic and mechanical relief is basically the same.

With respect to Homeopathics … navicular may or may not be ACUTE – remember, acute is a condition that will repair/resolve itself with no intervention. Chronic is long term condition that will NOT resolve on its own and Constitutional is something within the individual that is needing proper life force balancing.

That being said, ALL ASPECTS aka the WHOLE individual MUST be tended properly for complete recovery/cure.

Now, I see ALOT of stuff being thrown around in recommendations for treatment of Navicular – like the brand of minerals, feed choices, supplements etc. Let me say something — anything that is manufactured, processed, etc is going to inhibit healing! It may appear to help for a bit, but then, long term, after the ‘condition’ is apparently resolved, the ‘symptoms’ WILL re-appear again if the WHOLE individual, including stress control via herd management and husbandry, is not addressed properly – that is, organically.

I’m speaking from over 60 years of living with horses; 36+ of them tending hooves with the last 20-25 yrs of my care being resolving/restoring/recuperating SEVERELY pathological hooves. Pathological as in all 4 coffin bones dropping through the soles at once in severe founder. Navicular that was deemed ‘incurable’ by multiple vets/farriers … etc. NONE of the hundreds of horses over the years whom I treated would have recovered if the owners were not diligent about the care they gave. NONE of the horses would have recovered as well as they did if they remained on chemically processed ‘specialty feeds, supplements, injections, etc. and in shoes. NONE … and I say that in complete confidence because – I was always called in as a “last resort” because – NOTHING had worked prior to my treatment. Sometimes YEARS of treatment and the horse was still not recovering.

Now, granted, when I began this work, specialty feeds for PPID, IR, etc were just being developed and introduced to the public. I was against them then and am even more vehemently against them now. Our commercial feeds are tainted horrifically with all sorts of chemicals, additives, preservatives, artificial coloring and flavoring — being manufactured from “franken-grains” …

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT is a well-known adage and IT IS TRUTH! The horses MUST be fed organically with nothing but FORAGES … specific veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds along with individually determined herbs for healing bone, ligaments, tendons, antiinflammatories etc. This is to complement free 1st cut good quality HAY, all-round NATURALLY chelated minerals, sea or himalayan salt and fresh water. The stress must be reduced with natural environment … that means NO STALLING for extended periods of time. … turnout on VARIED terrain with other horse or horses … NO PAIN RELIEVERS …the body’s way of keeping an animal from injuring itself further is to produce pain …

By emulating the NATURAL lifestyle of a horse healing can take place and the homeopathics chosen can work to their fullest exent and they WILL restore the animal to a balanced state of being — Homeopathic CURE. It is the ONLY treatment known that can. But only when all the other parameters are met as to the NATURAL WHOLE horse with diet being of paramount importance. RANT OVER.

Never Give up On Your Dreams!

HORSELOVERS!

Never Give Up on Your Dreams! … are you a beginner horse lover over the age of 18 who has little to no horse experience and would like to learn the beginning foundations of horsemanship?

Or, perhaps you’ve not been around horses for years and would like to get connected with them again? Have you always wanted to learn “natural” and kind horsemanship – learning how they think and feel and how to relate to them on a higher level?

Are you an older or Senior Lady who would love to live out your little girl’s dream?

Having recently moved to Canterbury, CT we at PENZANCE Equine Integrative Solutions are now ready to accept private and semi-private appointments that cover the foundational aspects of horsemanship including handling horses, grooming, leading, controling the hooves, how horses think and equine behavior and much more.

No riding involved.

Private and semi-private sessions (1 – 1/2 hrs each sessons) and small groups (up to 4) 3 hr sessions.

A series of (3) sessions: Private $75 per session; Semi-private $50 pp per session. Groups $150 pp per 3-hr session (with 4 participants).

3 Session Program – Packages for 3 sessions paid in full at least 2 weeks prior to start of program – PRIVATE $195 Semi-private $140 pp, Groups $400 pp for (3) 3 hr. sessions. $50 of full payment non-refundable up to 1 week prior to start. Total unrefundable within 1 week to the start and after program begins.

WINTER sessions begin December 10th on Mons, Tues. and Fridays in Canterbury, CT.

In the case of inclement weather sessions are postponed to following week.

Contact Gwenyth Santagate at gwen.santagate@gmail.com or call (860) 556-9199 and leave message, please.

TODAY ONLY! 11-23-2018

With a $100 or more donation, choose your HOME STUDY COURSE and learn in the comfort of your own home! Just go here: www.thepenzanchorse.com and make a donation then shoot me a PM to tell me what course you’d like to study. 🙂 Any questions, just holler at me! 🙂

WORKSHOPS & CLINICS COMING 2019

I and PENZANCE Partners are now in the planning stages for 2019 Workshops and Clinics.

  • NEUROMUSCULAR DENTISTRY FOR HORSES
  • NATURAL HOOFCARE
  • CONNECTING WITH THE HORSE (PENZANCE PPT)
  • WHOLE HEALTH for the WHOLE HORSE
  • CLICKER TRAINING HORSES

and more … STAY TUNED!

If you would like to be kept informed as to the happenings here on PENZANCE for 2019, please email to:  gwen.santagate@gmail.com and your name and contact information will be recorded for future announcements.

Thank you!

🙂 — We are EXCITED to begin this new journey with PENZANCE Equine Integrative Solutions!

Friend or Servant?

All true spiritual leadership is birthed out of friendship with the Lord. He once told his disciples that he no longer considered them servants; He considered them friends.

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” — John 15:15

As a good steward for your horse, do you feel you can be a “Friend” or do you feel you MUST be THE LEADER?

 

Do You Give Your Horse a Choice?

“Offering animals choice does not inherently mean that humans have to relinquish theirs – or vice versa.

Rather, it is about really hearing what is being communicated and negotiating from there in a way that honours both voices. ” 

I am one who believes in mutual respect and partnership.

I’ve gone the route of “being the *boss*” to “be the leader” in a subservient manner – expecting the horse to comply with my demands regardless of what he or she “feels” to learning  what SERVANT LEADERSHIP is all about …

Being a SERVANT LEADER means serving the team. Serving the other person – teaching, leading by example, not *demanding* but politely suggesting, asking and then not being afraid to change things up if the ‘team’ isn’t understanding what is being asked.

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” –Robert K. Greenleaf.

No, I’m not saying that horses are people but I AM saying that I want to RESPECT them as sentient beings in the same manner that I ask them for respect.

It’s really quite simple … do unto others …

This article is good so thought I’d share it today:

https://naturallifemanship.com/can-animals-consent/

Enjoy!  and yes, I am looking forward to discussion on it. 🙂

Meditating with Your Horse for Healing

Meditating with Your Horse for Healing

Natural Horse Magazine, April, May June 2013
Photo © Lexie Cataldo

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

This quote by Thich Nhat Hanh is a great reminder of the power of meditation, especially when I am with my horse and he is not feeling well. It sounds so simple, and yet in the midst of a health crisis it’s not always so easy to remember to breathe. Recently my older, retired Quarter horse, Shawnee, had fallen and was standing on three legs when I arrived, groaning with each shift of his weight. As I waited for the vet to arrive, I knew that worrying and fretting would not help either of us. I stood with him, breathed and practiced the earth and sky meditation (see below) for about an hour. By the end of the meditation, he was putting weight on the leg, his eyes looked much brighter, and he began to graze and look for treats in my pockets—he was feeling much better! After an exam, my vet determined we should just wait and see, and so I have been spending time in quiet meditation and stillness with him every day as he recovers. I can feel this time between us helping both of us—he always seems to walk a bit easier afterwards and I am feeling much less worried about him. Isn’t it amazing that just a simple meditation can have such profound healing effects? How can this be?

Sharing a Healing Space

I think the simplest answer is that we are all, in essence, made up of energy. And when we tap into this deeper energetic space there can be a shifting and moving back into balance. Meditation creates a peaceful space that can support a reharmonizing and rebalancing on all levels of being—not only our own, but also any being that chooses to share in this space with us.

John Novak says in his book, Lessons in Meditation, “In meditation, effort must be applied in a direction opposite to what we are used to. Our “effort” must be to relax ever more deeply.  We must ultimately release the tension from both our muscles and our thoughts.  When we relax so deeply that we are able to internalize the energy of the senses, the mind becomes focused and a tremendous flow of energy is awakened.  …  Meditation is a continuous process, and can be said to have three stages: relaxation, interiorization, and expansion.”

When we meditate, first we relax, then we internalize and stabilize this quiet inner space, and then, slowly, this space expands outwards to help those around us. It’s so gentle, but also so powerful. By practicing some simple meditative techniques with your horse, you can begin to see healing results almost immediately!

Exercise to Get Relaxed, Open to the Flow, and Expand:

The Earth and Sky Meditation

Explanation–The Power of Earth and Sky

In Japanese symbolism, earth and sky represent the two opposite aspects of the greater energetic whole that make up the universe, and the more that we can connect to earth and sky within ourselves, the more we can remember our inner nature of energetic connection and oneness with all things. In many spiritual traditions, the heart is considered the seat of the soul, the center of one’s being, where the earth and sky energies come together. It is in our hearts where our deepest healing can occur. The heart is also associated with love, and when we come from a place of love and compassion, we can more easily support our horses to heal.

Tips: Practice this exercise while standing several feet from your horse, arms at your sides, eyes open with a soft gaze downward about 3 feet in front of you. Allow your horse to move freely as he or she wishes. Allow 30-60 minutes of time.

Directions:

Take a deep breath. Let it out slowly. Take another deep breath. Let it out slowly. Imagine that all of your stresses from the day can release from you with each exhale. Breathe in. Exhale slowly. Allow yourself to let go of all your concerns and just be aware of your breath.

Imagine there are roots coming down from the base of your spine. These roots stretch far down into the earth, grounding you. Feel yourself stable, grounded, part of the earth, just as if you were a beautiful tree. Imagine that the grounding energy of the earth can flow up these roots into your heart center, giving you stability and peace. For several minutes, breathe deeply as earth energy flows within your being. Feel peace and calm coming upward from the earth and flowing within your whole body, each breath anchoring you more strongly and deeply into earth’s power and stability.

Now imagine that the expansive, creative energy of the sky is flowing down into your crown chakra. It is a beautiful shower of light and healing, which brings with it spiritual and intuitive wisdom, and all things good and positive. It flows from your crown at the top of your head, into your heart. Bringing this bright spiritual energy into your heart allows it to open and expand. Within your heart is all the highest love, compassion and harmony that exists in the universe. Feel earth and sky energy mingling in your heart center, your heart getting brighter and brighter. Imagine earth energy coming up and sky energy coming down, mixing together and flowing out until you feel the beautiful light shining at your heart begin to expand within your whole being.

Feel your heart shining brighter with each inhale, and expanding wider and wider all around you with each exhale. Feel your heart expanding out your skin, into your aura, into the area around you, and infinitely out into the universe. Feel that with each breath you can also expand love compassion and harmony outward, creating a space that your horse can step into if he or she wishes. As you stand in this peaceful beautiful light that you have created with your mind and breath, simply invite your horse into the space. You can do so directly with your voice, silently in your mind, or as subtlely as a quiet intention to share your heart. Simply stand with your horse in this peaceful space and observe the response.

Typical Equine Responses:

Relaxation:

When meditating with your horse, one of the first signs of response showing that your horse is connecting to you will be of relaxation. Your horse may lick and chew, sigh, breathe deeply, yawn, or even lower his head and fall asleep. As we go deeper and internalize this quiet stillness in our inner being, our energy becomes more stable and the flow of healing energy within us deepens. The deeper into relaxation we go, the deeper our horse will go.

Healing:

The quiet space of meditation is also the ideal space to support self-healing, so besides relaxation, our horses can also show signs of healing physically and emotionally. Sore areas can show improvement in mobility and lessening of pain, behaviors such a cribbing can lessen, anxiety can lessen and so on. We aren’t “doing” the healing, but by supporting a relaxing space for our horse, we are helping them to find healing within themselves.

Connection:
When we ask our horses to share the quiet space of meditation with us, it creates a new space for communication and understanding between us. In turn, we can see a deepening of our bond in every aspect of our interaction with them—on the ground, while riding, just being with them. You will find that you understand your horse better and are more in tune with what he or she needs to be happy.

Horses as Meditation Teachers:
A lot of my students have told me, “I’m not much good at meditating.” Yes, and probably they’ve only tried it while alone, so I tell them, “Well just try it with your horse.” It’s amazing, but they find when they are standing in the field with their horses, it is much easier to quiet their minds and enter the meditative realm. I think this is because horses already are experienced meditators, so when we share their space, they actually help us!

 

For it is the horse’s gift

To connect us with heaven

And our own footsteps.

-Ronnie Sweet

This quote is a beautiful description of the healing wisdom that horses share with the humans in their lives. Horses embody a yin and yang harmony between earth and sky. They are so perfectly at home and grounded on the earth, in tune with mother nature, and yet they are also so sensitive to deeper forces—those spiritual, intuitive, and subtle energies which we can tune into in order to heal. I believe it is the horse’s ability to be at once perfectly present in their bodies, as well as perfectly attuned to spiritual realms, which causes them to capture our hearts so deeply. When we find a way to meet them in this deep and quiet space of earth and sky, I believe all things are possible.

Natural Horse Magazine, April, May June 2013

Photo © Lexie Cataldo

Note from PENZANCE:  Adding appropriate blends of essential oils to your time of meditation can enhance the effects tremendously! 

Mutual or Fearful Respect?

Image27

Mutual respect or fearful respect? Which is it for you; for your horse?

When teaching children we try to have patience and be clear in our instructions. We keep our voices soft, our eyes, soft and our hearts compassionate.

When teaching horses we see alot of bats, whips, flags, chasing round and round, angry faces, incongruent body languages … all in the name of ‘natural horsemanship’.

Let me tell you what happens when you’re trying to ‘train’ a horse using forceful equipment and language … (meaning mind body and heart language)

Horses are meant to remember every single flight or fight moment … that is, whatever cause them to feel as if they need to flee, jump away, startle away – they remember.

Always.

That’s just simply the way their survival system is formed.

We humans are much the same.

PTSD = Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

This occurs from those momentary flight or fight events.

Every flight or fight event for the horse is woven into the tapestry of the brain … forever.

This response actually triggers a chain response in the brain and body.

It’s a ‘whole body’ response.

Never forgotten.

When a horse apparently ‘succumbs’ to a scary thing and ‘submits’ to the human causing the scary thing, the horse embeds a PTSD moment into his brain .. forever. And now, forever, he’ll try to avoid that PTSD moment, in some manner, out of fear.

Because the horse submits some say now the horse is ‘respectful’ or some say now the horse is ‘desensitized’.

But somewhere, sometime, somehow down the line, the horse will have a PTSD recurrance moment that is unconsciously connected directly to the initial ‘training’ moments that cause the PTSD in the first place.

This is not ‘respect’ when a horse responds to a harsh cue with, what seemingly appears to be, a ‘correct response’.

This is fear based reaction.
This becomes a classically conditioned response of fear.

A horse moves out of the human’s way as a response to being swatted on the face or neck with a hard, rubber bat. A horse swings its butt around to face the human to avoid being kicked in the hindquarters or whipped. The horse moves sideways to avoid the sting of a crop on its side. The horse goes into the trailer to avoid the ‘punishment’ of not going into the trailer.

The list goes on.

The horse is ‘obeying commands’ but not out of respect.

He’s “obeying” out of fear. He is AVOIDING pain, discomfort, fear.

PTSD is a funny thing .. for humans and for horses. It can rear its ugly head with a totally uncontrollable response and do so ‘out of nowhere’.

Not something anyone wants when riding or working around horses.

Horses that TRULY respect the human will try like crazy to avoid stepping on the human, running the human over … and will try like crazy to please the human; to get the ‘right’ answer. The horse will be bright and alert and happily engaged with the human as he is with a friend of his own kind. He will try to figure out what is being asked and willingly stay with the human to find out the answer.

Just like humans, horses want to feel ‘good’. They will repeat behaviors and try to recreate situations that made them feel good in the past.

Positive reinforcement goes a long, long way in teaching children AND horses …

Being *rewarded* for a “correct” response vs. being “punished” for the “wrong” response.

Is that how we teach our children?

Is that how you teach your horse?

If you’d like to learn more about positive reinforcement and how to create and develop a life-long lasting PARTNERSHIP with your horse, simply ask me.

I will help you. I will help your horse and together, as a team, we’ll make it happen.

FEE SCHEDULE SW FL 2015-16

PENZANCE SOUTH 2015Gwenyth Santagate
3564 Andalusia Blvd.
Cape Coral, FL
239.573.9687
gwen.santagate@gmail.com

FEE SCHEDULE 2015-2016 SW FL

 

WHOLE HORSE CONSULTATIONS:
(includes full evaluation of current situation and recommendation of resolution.)

One time ACUTE consult: $50 

WHOLE HORSE BODYWORK & HEALING:  $55
(+ Travel charges if applicable.)

TRAINING & EAPD (Equine Assisted Personal Devlopment) COACHING SESSIONS:

FREE LANCE PRIVATE:  ……… $65 HOURLY
 (1 – 1 1/2 HR. SESSIONS). Mileage fees may be added at the rate of $1.50 per mile over 10 to get to appointment.
ON FARM PENZANCE PRIVATE:  (PENZANCE HORSE)   ……… $50 (1 to 1 1/2 HR SESSIONS).

FREE LANCE SEMI-PRIVATE:    ……… $50 HOURLY
(1 – 1 1/2 HR. SESSIONS). Mileage fees may be added at the rate of $1.50 per mile over 10 to get to appointment.
ON FARM SEMI-PRIVATE:  (PENZANCE HORSE)    ……… $45 HOURLY (1 – 1/2 HR SESSIONS).

FREE LANCE GROUP:  3 ppl or more:   ……… $40 pp. HOURLY  Maximum of 6.
ON FARM GROUP: (PENZANCE HORSES)  3 ppl or more:   ……… $35 pp. HOURLY Maximum of 6.

DISTANT COACHING/COUNSELING ONLINE:    ……… $250 for 4 sessions

INTEGRATIVE HOOFCARE INSTRUCTION:
(Includes full tuition and registration to NHC101 Home Study Course which must be reviewed/completed PRIOR to practicum training.)
Practicum with a PENZANCE Horse or Your Own Horse

PRIVATE HOOFCARE INSTRUCTION:    ……… $350 PER DAY
(10 am – 4 pm)
SEMI-PRIVATE HOOFCARE INSTRUCTION:     ……… $250 PP. PER DAY
3 person HOOFCARE INSTRUCTION:     ……… $200 PP. PER DAY

INTEGRATIVE HOOFCARE:

EVALUATIONS & CONSULTATIONS:    ……… $50 per hour
(will work with your veterinarian and/or farrier for rehabilitation of pathological conditions. Trimming of pathological hooves extra charge. Trimming only on well-behaved horses. If horse needs ‘training’ to be able to have his or her hooves handled for care then training charges apply.)  (+ Travel charges if applicable.)

HOMEOPATHIC CONSULTS:     ……… $150 initial consult & one followup.
This entails going over horse’s history, diet, husbandry/management etc. in detail (I’ll send a form for you to complete and you’ll answer in detail then return to me via email attachment.), research into your horse’s individual constitutional needs, recommendations as to what remedy is suggested along with other complementary herbs, foods, changes in management that might be effective for your horse, phone calls (totaling up to 1 hour) when needed (all other communication is through confidential email), and resources as to where to purchase the prescribed remedies and herbs.  It also includes a ‘distant healing’ session in the form of Quantum Touch/Energy work and should I receive anything from your horse in terms of communications then I will include that in my workup to you. The followup will include whatever additional recommendations might be determined after the initial treatment.


PHOTO HOOF EVALUATIONS:
  ……… $75 initial full eval. with followup review. You will receive emailed copy of written evaluation, corrections needed and suggested followup care.

SPEAKING & DEMO ENGAGEMENTS:   ……… $250

WORKSHOPS & CLINICS:  Arranged per individual event. (Travel fees may be incurred.)
**On Farm Workshops and clinic fees will be posted per event.

DISTANT HEALING:      ……… $50 per session

COMMUNICATION:      ……… $50 per session