Opening The Stall Door

   Do you believe in miracles. I do. I have witnessed many over the years in our Equine Massage School, Aspen Equine Studies. They ranged from minor personal growths in individual therapists and awakenings in attitudes. I witnessed a miracle with a horse named Dunny. A Hollywood Dunnit reigning horse.
  Our Massage School was cutting edge and we were fortunate enough to have students that came to study from all over the world. It just so happened that we were in session and had a full group of 6 students. We arrived at a client's ranch to find Dunny stall bound. The Vet had checked him completely and could not find any broken bones or torn ligaments.  However he was standing in a stall and in obvious discomfort. My wife Kathy, who designed the 7 day program, assigned a handler and instructed them to stand quietly and allow the horse to focus on the therapist. The student therapist approached Dunny and stood quietly, facing the way the horse was, next to him. Dunny gently reached over and acknowledged the student, allowing her into his intimate space. Starting at the top of the pole the student took her thumb and gently, with moderate pressure palpated along the top line from the pole to the tail. She was careful to stay a few inches from the horse's spine. The student found several small muscle spasms along the horse's back.
 Alternating, the students each took a section of Dunny and began massaging him. Each time a student passed the withers they were careful to place a mother hand in the horse's stifle, so if it were to kick, they would be able to protect themselves. They massaged out adhesions in several of the horse's muscles. It wasn't until they found a large knot in his hamstring did Dunny show any obvious discomfort. He shied away and kicked his foot on the ground. The student gently kept working in his hamstring area until Dunny slowly lowered his left hip. By lowering his hip, he relinquished his flight mechanism and showed that he was allowing the student deeply into his intimate space and enjoying his therapy. She had relieved his large tender spasm and given him comfort. Each and every student worked on the remaining sections of Dunny using all of their massage strokes. As the session progressed, Dunny went from standing rigid with his feet planted, to standing relaxed with his hip disengaged and rocking gently with the rhythm of the body work. He began licking and chewing as the toxins were being released.
  When the students were finished I had the handler move Dunny to the middle of the stall and stretched all four of his limbs forward and backward with gentle pressure to increase his flexibility. I stood alongside Dunny with my back pressed against him and held a carrot by his withers. He stretched his neck over to grab the carrot and engulfed my body in the process. I repeated this on the other side. We then backed him into the stall corner and I reached between his front legs with another carrot and he bowed down and tried getting the carrot. I slowly moved the carrot further and further back allowing him to thoroughly stretch his neck and back.
 The students opened the stall door and as customary, I walked him out and started down the lane toward a round pen. I could tell right away that there was something different about him. He was antsy and slightly prancing. By the time I reached the round pen I could hardly control him. I released him into the round pen and Dunny exploded. He started crow hoping, bucking and jumping. He laid down rolled completely over and jumped back up in the air. He began shaking his head from side to side as if amazed at the freedom of movement in his 
 The owner was in tears and the students were cheering. The miracle of Dunny's transformation was complete.