We all want to heal quickly, and we want our loved ones to do the same. It would be wonderful if our healing modalities would work with one session, and we would go on as if we hadn't had that blip or downturn in our lives. But I am constantly working with those who need more, whose issues are deeper than what one session can take care of.

With the laser, if I am working with an acute situation, the protocol is to laser more up front, like two or three sessions, and then back off a little at a time. This can also hold true for chronic issues. The tissue is set up into a process of healing this way, and you don't want to let too much time take place which would allow the process to backtrack. The same can be true with the FES. Sometimes one session is all we need, especially if the horse is young or doesn't have a lot going on. But sometimes we need to work with a series of sessions so that each consecutive treatment can build on the last one and the results can be deeper.

With the Bicom, sometimes working with a being is total trial and error, When I start working with an animal, I don't necessarily know how often or how long I need to work until I start the work and see the results. I do know that with chronic conditions, such as allergies, it will take time. With an acute case of hives, I have had results within an hour. But chronic conditions took time to develop, and they will take time to alleviate. More and more, I find that a series of sessions works best. Sometimes we need to go beyond what we think. Testing may show that the issue is resolved, but we need to find the hidden pathogens and make sure that they are ferreted out and dealt with before we can say that the healing process is complete. And then there are those chronic issues, such as Lyme, that need ongoing maintenance sessions in order to keep the issue at bay. This is why I offer packages of sessions, to help with the idea that this is a process, healing is a journey. 

Sometimes someone will ask that their horse or dog receive a treatment, and when the results aren't as strong as they would like, they go on to some other modality, thinking that what they did with me didn't work. If they had chosen to stick with the current treatment, they would have gotten the results that they were looking for in perhaps one or two more sessions, and would have ultimately saved money in the long run. 

I am learning through the years that I need to be more realistic in my discussions with clients up front, and give all the options rather than just the best ones. So often I have seen such remarkable results, that I have tended to give the best results while perhaps not being as neutral as I could be. I own that. But it's hard to not be excited when I have seen such healing in my work. So often when a client is ready to give up, I see the potential based on my experience of the past 22 years. 

I suppose that some of this is learning to work with my own expectations. I have made a point of purchasing and working with devices that have the greatest healing potential and offer the deepest healing for the animals that I work with. And thus, I expect healing to be the best that it can be. So when the results are less than what I expect them to be, it is truly disappointing. That is why it is frustrating for me to not be able to see something through.  When I know that a series of three or five FES sessions will give the results that the client is looking for, and they decide to move on after one session, it is hard to just walk away. If someone thinks that the modality doesn't work, when I know that it will if given the proper chance, it is difficult to see that client either give up or move on to something that actually may not give the best results. But this is how it works most of the time, and I have to live with this. 

Occasionally, I have the opportunity to work as I wish to work, and am encouraged to continue on. Recently I had a horse that I had been discussing using the FES on for a number of months. The horse had been in rehab for almost a year, and nothing had worked to get the results that the trainer was looking for. The horse was going to be returned to his owner, not having found complete healing with anything he had been treated with. We were at a horse show together, and the trainer and I decided to just go for it. So I did FES on the horse four times in a row, knowing that this would give the best chance of really making the difference that needed to happen. And it worked! The horse made the shift that had needed to happen for all that time, and the trainer was so excited that she decided to take the horse back home with her rather than giving up and returning him to the owner. For me, this was the most satisfied that I have felt in a long time, perhaps years. This for me was what my work is all about, and I am truly grateful that I had this opportunity to make a real difference in the life of this magnificent animal. I wish it were this way all of the time. But it is not, and I have to work with my own expectations, and look forward to the next opportunity that is given to me, the trust in what I have learned over the past 22 years, that I can give to someone else, another horse that deserves the healing that is available to her or him.

My work is a work in progress. Sometimes I have the chance to listen to riders talk about their rounds, to watch others ride and to listen to the critiques. I gain inspiration from these people, to realize that after many years, sometimes decades, that they are still learning, still analyzing, still trying to get better, still expecting the best of themselves. We can always do better. I strive to grow in my work, and perhaps it the the expectations that I have of myself that keep me going on.

Well, I guess that is all for now. I expect to be able to heal your horse, or dog, or you for that matter. So much can happen when given the chance. Expectations are what keep us growing and moving forward. I expect to see you all out there. Thank you for giving me the chance. 

Today I watched part of a live-stream of the Dalai Lama speaking in Boulder. It touched my roots in Buddhism, and I felt a soft and tender part of my heart that seems to reside in a remote area much too much these days. The level of antagonism in our world is high, and it becomes easy to get caught up in the play between them and us, her and me, anger toward something or someone. The Dalai Lama’s message is always so pure and joyful and simple, and always serves as a reminder that we can choose a different path, one of compassion and love.
 
People have asked me why I do what I do. As I said in my first blog, I came to this work by route of a series of events or circumstances in my life. But the underlying connection has to do with my spiritual path, the deeper meaning in my life that keeps me going when all seems to be against me and when the easier choice would be to just quit. I need to have meaningful purpose in my work. I am fortunate that I can feel that my work isn’t just what I do to make money so that I can live the rest of my life. My work is my life in so many ways. Sometimes that’s not a good thing, but mostly I can’t imagine life without this work. Listening to the Dalai Lama today reminded me that it is about love and compassion. It is about a vow I took many years ago to help sentient beings, to help relieve suffering in the world. There seems to be so much of that these days.
 
The recent tragedy in Orlando started me thinking about life, about what a life is. It is cells that make up organs and parts of a body that together make a living, breathing being. But it is more thank the physical, it is a spirit, or life force, beyond what we can see. Sometimes when I am working on a horse, I think about this. Here is a big, beautiful animal that breathes air, eats hay and grain and grass (if she or he is lucky), and in the world in which I work, has a job for and with a human. This horse is dependent on that human and others for its very life. This horse does the things we ask it to do, for the most part, without question, and we often ask for things that are not within the natural realm of the horse. Someone once suggested to me that I think about putting a horse in a trailer. It is the complete opposite of everything that is natural to a horse- a confined space, unable to see where it is going, moving down a road with a foreign feeling and suddenly ending up in a completely different place. And yet these animals do this for us, entrust their lives to us in these ways that make no sense, feeling whatever it is that they feel and yet still do what we ask of them. A life, a heart beating and blood flowing and lungs taking air in, breathing out, feeling, a complete life. I think about these things when I am working on a horse, touching, my hands going deeper into a muscle, stretching a leg forward or back, moving the laser across the neck or the back, or watching the muscles contract and release with the FES. Feeling, trusting, yawning, stretching, while I wonder what it must be like for this massive animal to feel the depth of what I am doing, getting into tissue that has not been “touched” in this way before.
 
Orlando reminded me of life. Precious life. Once it is gone, it is gone. Each horse I work on is this life, and to touch life in this way is an honor and a privilege. That we have these horses, and experience this trust, and love, is such a blessing. I am actually speechless, in awe.
 
When I looked to name my business, I wanted to find something that would honor this privilege that I have every time I am with a horse. Windhorse (lungta in Tibetan) is “the subtle energy, or air, within our body. It is the unlimited energy of goodness and awareness. When we have windhorse, our life moves forward”. To me this embodies the horse, honors the life of these magnificent animals that we are so blessed to be in the presence of. Our lives are enriched, and if the work I do can in turn enrich the life of each horse I touch, then my life’s purpose is fulfilled. I am blessed a thousand-fold.