Black Horse Blog

I believe in balanced nutrition and integrated healing methods for both people and equines. This can sometimes involve a lot of herbal suggestions. Herbs can take a bit longer than a pill from the pharmacy to become effective because they are whole and natural and work with the body systems. Often, people understand that they may have to take an herb for a month or so before they begin to see results. And while people will put a nasty-tasting herb or mineral in a capsule and swallow it, or put it in a taste-disguising foodstuff and choke it down because they know it will eventually help them, horses are another story. Horses need to be convinced that something is good for them, especially if it isn’t coated with molasses. And the convincing can take some time!

Unfortunately, I have seen horse owners (many of whom will take their *own* supplements like clockwork) that just don’t seem committed enough to doing things for their horse in a natural way, and they are reluctant to allow the time it takes for the horse to adjust, both physically and mentally. Oh, they start out like gangbusters, but about two to three weeks into a new herbal regimen, they suddenly realize, “Hey, this is work.” Well, they didn’t want to have any extra work, and now they’re mixing and measuring and trying to get stuff loaded into a dose syringe and down the throat of a resistant horse. “I thought the horse would just eat it all in his feed tub…” is the frequent lament.

Well, some horses do. Other horses are extremely finicky and *never* do, requiring more innovative methods from the owner. Eventually, the horse will probably adjust, but it takes a lot of effort and tweaking of the foodstuffs to get just the right flavor to entice your horse to eat. After all, like almost all horses in this country, s/he grew up on molasses-covered sweeties – like recent humans grew up on sugar. Why eat broccoli when you can have candy? Your horse feels very much the same way. But, just like humans, candy isn’t good for horses, as evidenced by the metabolic issues that are running rampant in both species. Molasses-coated oats and corn, however fortified it may be, is just like you or me eating dessert for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That can’t be good for anybody!

It is the rare horse who comprehends that this new, foreign stuff in his feed tub is going to help him feel better. Most of them only realize that they aren’t getting sweeties anymore. He’s like a child in that way. That’s when the owner has to be the “parent” in the relationship and make sure he gets what’s good for him. Your horse will do whatever he can to make you feel sorry for him and give him back his sweet feed. Your horse will do whatever he can to avoid that weird-tasting spirulina or jiaogulan or whatever it is that you’re trying to get down him. After all, not many horses ever get the opportunity to eat blue-green algae or Chinese herbs. They are certainly an acquired taste. You have to be firm and matter-of-fact about the whole business. And whatever you do, DON’T apologize for trying to help him.

The good news is, a horse who is being helped by the herb WILL acquire a taste for it, but the owner has to be consistent – first, to give the herb a chance to actually work the way it’s supposed to, and second, to give the horse a chance to realize that THIS is what’s helping him feel better. How can either of these things happen if you don’t give the minerals or herbs consistently? As a certain veterinarian I know is fond of saying, “Half-way measures get half-way results.” You have to be willing to make your horse’s health part of your daily routine, because you aren’t going to be able to give your horse an herb or mineral haphazardly. I can guarantee that you won’t get good results that way.

So be honest with yourself. If you aren’t willing or able (for whatever reason) to make that daily commitment to your horse’s health and well-being, if you can’t guarantee that you will give your horse what he needs as frequently as he needs it, every day without fail, then you probably shouldn’t waste your money on herbal remedies, nutritional consultations, or custom vitamin/mineral mixes. If, on the other hand, you are committed to seeing your horse happy and healthy in all aspects of his being, you might want to give balanced basic nutrition and integrated healing a try.

Alf is my baby, even though he’s now 22 years old. Alf was born here at my farm and I raised and trained him. To be perfectly honest, he was very easy to train. My friend Beth, who has had a lot of experience in race horses and hunters, often remarks on just how “spoiled” I have been with Alf.

I realize that. He has always been game to try everything and learn anything. He has always been very willing, and he can do some things one would never think a horse of his size and build would be able to do with grace. He has been in the ribbons in Western Pleasure as well as Hunt Seat Equitation. He has won Reserve Championships and has spent long hours on thick, wooded trails. He has performed higher-level dressage movements and has drawn a Meadowbrook cart with ease.

I wrote a piece about Alf and our low-sugar journey for Skode’s website a while back (since Alf is Skode’s Official Spokeshorse for the Minty Rose Brownie). It occurred to me today that some of you who read here may not have had the chance to read that story, and would be interested. So the link below will take you there. Enjoy!

Click here to read The Trouble with Alf by C. L. McGinley, and check out our Top 3 Low-Sugar Horse Care Tips while you’re there!

“So, you work with horses..?”

I hear that a lot from people who are confused about what I do for a living. So maybe it’s important to clarify this here.

First, I am a Professional Health Coach. I work with people. I work specifically with horse people to help them attain their health and wellness goals. If an equestrian wants to quit smoking, for instance, I’m there to help. I was a smoker for 30 years, and quit almost 5 years ago, so I know what that’s like. If a horse owner wants to manage his Type II Diabetes, I can help. I have my own blood sugar issues, so I know what that’s like. If a stable manager or riding instructor needs to reduce her stress level, I can help. I’ve been doing both of those things for 25 years, I know what pressures can come with those jobs, and I’ve learn a few techniques to ease the tension along the way. If a rider wants to lose a few pounds so she looks better in her britches, I can help. I’ve been there, more than once. If a horse owner wants to simply find the joy in life again, be happy and have fun, I’m here to help him/her attain that.

You see, I work with horse people, not just because I know horses, but because I know and relate to horse people. I am a whole person, a well-rounded person who just happens to have lived a lifetime around horses. I am a horse person, like you, but with a lot of miles on me. 🙂

As a Coach who practices the Co-Active model, I also believe you, as the client, are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole. So the coaching agenda comes from you. We are active collaborators in the coaching relationship for the purpose of meeting your needs. Sometimes the answers come from me, but most times, they come from you. I just help you dig deep and find them.

I am also a trained shamanic practitioner, so my connection to Spirit is a big part of my coaching practice. It may not be something that is always readily apparent to the client, but it’s interwoven into everything I do. For instance, before every session, I cleanse the space I’ll be working in of any negative energy by burning sage and saying simple prayers, usually asking the spirits who remain to help me help the client in the best way I can during the session. I will often light an appropriate incense and some candles. I listen to “nudges” I may get from Spirit during our session, intuition or inspiration to ask the right questions or suggest just the right “baby step” to help move the client forward. Sometimes, Spirit does not interject, and that’s okay, too. (That usually means we’re on the right track.) I go with the flow, and I trust.

There are times when I may feel the need to take the client on a guided meditation or journey. Or I may journey between sessions to get answers to questions that have come up in our session. Or I may do a lot of wellness research, finding articles and studies that pertain to the client’s particular set of circumstances and emailing my findings along to the client. I dance in the moment, trusting to my extensive training as a coach, shaman, and teacher to know what to do next. Many times, the best thing I can do is just listen as the client works on discovery. I never lose sight of the fact that this is all about you and what YOU need to achieve your goals. That doesn’t mean I am always easy on you, though. One should never get the idea that being coached will always be easy, but the results will certainly will be rewarding!

Sometimes you also need a consultant who knows horses, because, being an equestrian, horses demand a great deal of your attention. As one who lives the equestrian lifestyle and has been trained in Equine Science, I can be of service with your equine needs as well. You and your horse(s) are a package, a partnership. I *get* that. I am a Coach with a unique insight into the particular challenges that both you and your horse face. I can help you find the right diet for your horse. I can discuss tack-fitting issues or stable management with you. I can help you talk to your vet or refer you to a specialist. Chances are, if I can’t answer whatever question you may have about your horse, I can certainly find the person who can. After all, consultants don’t ever have all the answers. They simply know where to go to find them!

So, that is what I do as Black Horse Consulting. As an Equine Wellness Specialist and Shamanic Health Coach, I help enhance well-being for both horse & human. I help both equine and owner live a more balanced life by helping you address and fully integrate the three aspects of being: body, mind, and spirit.

I’ll stop here for now. 🙂

I know that it’s sometimes hard to be positive about life, especially with the state of our economy. But I am a firm believer in the Law of Attraction, which means that what you send out, you get back. As a matter of fact, I believe that any energy you send out comes back to you threefold, or three times as much. Now, I’m going to let you sit back and just absorb that statement for a bit. Everything you send out comes back to you three times as powerfully.

It took me a long time to really understand the implications of that concept, but when it started to sink in, I was overwhelmed by a sense of deep responsibility. Does that mean, I wondered, that I, and I alone, am responsible for my own fate, my own destiny? That I can make either good or bad things happen to me, and it’s all in my own attitude? Ooooh…I quickly decided that I’d better start sending out lots of good, positive energy!

“I’ve tried that,” you may grumble. “I didn’t win the lottery. I haven’t found my true love yet. And I’m still working in this dead-end job.”

And I say that’s only because you didn’t really believe that you could. Somewhere in the back of your mind, there remained a niggling doubt. And that was your downfall. That’s why you aren’t living on your own private yacht somewhere in the Caribbean with your one true love, sipping fruity drinks while watching the sunset. You never really believed that it would happen.

We’ve all known someone who seems to attract any negative energy within a 100-mile radius, someone to whom bad things always seem to happen, and nothing good ever seems to come. I have a friend like that. He just can’t understand why bad things always happen to him, and why he can never seem to get ahead in life even though he works very hard. He can’t seem to comprehend that the energy he sends out to the world is what is coming back to him. The best (or worst) example of his negativity is when he gets behind the wheel of his car. I have never seen anyone have so many instances of road rage in the course of driving from home to the grocery store. He immediately begins to consider it a war between himself and the other drivers with which he shares the road. He swears at this one and yells at that one, and spends the entire time behind the wheel bitterly complaining about someone else on the road as if they were doing things just to him, purposefully and with malice. And it occurred to me one day after listening to his diatribe that this is his view of not just driving and drivers, but of the entire world – everyone is out to get him. He expects the other drivers to be stupid and malicious, so that’s exactly what he gets.

Don’t get me wrong, we all have moments behind the steering wheel of the car. But my friend spends the entire time he’s driving expecting problems, whereas I drive expecting to get where I’m going without mishap. And I can see by the difference in our attitudes, along with what actually happens when we drive, that you truly get back what you put out there.

The unfortunate thing is that my friend doesn’t seem to understand that. When I point this attitude out to him, he defends it. “Well, that jerk just did this! And that one almost ran me off the road!” On and on he rants, continuing to blame others, without really being able to see that he is causing most of what happens to him behind the steering wheel, or for that matter, what happens to him in his life. Or maybe it is that he doesn’t want to see it, because if he did, that would mean he would then have to take responsibility for it. To some people that’s a scary thought, having all that responsibility. Yikes, you mean there’s no one to blame but ourselves for what happens to us?

This whole driving attitude is also a metaphor for our lives. So ask yourself: are you driving with road rage? Are you blaming your life on everyone else but the one person who is really responsible? What are you expecting to happen?

You might say, “Well, I expect good things to happen, but I also know things don’t always happen just the way I think they will, so I allow for that.” Hmmm. Do you see the flaw in this kind of thinking? You have modified your expectation by adding the escape clause…in effect, allowing the universe to slip you a fast one. You must banish all thoughts of failure from your mind. You must believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that what you send out will be returned to you threefold. You must send out good energy in order to get good things back. You must minimize negativity within yourself. That is the only way your life will improve.

Go ahead. Try it. You’ll see. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen.

Getting started on a Blog is a difficult enterprise. What in the world do I want to say first? Of course, I want it to be interesting to other people. I want to share my thoughts and ideas, my triumphs and my challenges – my life, past, present, and future.

Horses are my life, and always have been. From the time I was a little girl, before I could even talk, I would ride in the car and point excitedly at the horses grazing in the fields as we drove by. As a child, I had recurring dreams of running as part of a herd of wild horses. I have always had a mystical connection to horses, and they to me, a magnetism that was undeniable. I inhaled every book I could find about horses, fiction and non-fiction. I rode every horse that I could get my hands on. It was this connection with horses that ultimately drove me to major in Equine Science in college. I wanted to know everything I possibly could about horses, but more than that, I wanted to simply be around them.

I love all horses, but the “big guys” are my favorites. As far as I am concerned, black Percherons are the ultimate in grace, beauty, and intelligence. My riding horses are often Percheron crosses, or what some refer to as a “Percheron Sport Horse.” They are also known as American Warmbloods. In the old days, they use to call them “Heavy Hunters,” because they crossbred them to produce a big-boned riding horse, thinking that they would have less chance of breaking down on a hunt course.

Currently, I have four horses in my stable. Two of them are Percheron Sport Horse geldings that I bred specifically to be my personal riding/driving horses. Another is a registered Percheron mare. Last, but certainly not least, I have a Palomino Quarter Horse mare. (I know, you must be wondering how the Quarter Horse fits in! But that’s a story for another time.)

I have stopped breeding horses. It concerns me that there are so many horses that are thrown away, that so many good horses end up at slaughter. I do not want to contribute to that in any way, and so I have stopped adding new horses to the world in the hope that some of the ones that are already here have a better chance at finding a good home with someone to love them. I have also stopped breeding because I have never had good luck with trying to sell any horse that I caused to be brought into this world. I am now of the mind (though I did not think this way in my younger days) that I should be responsible for the horses I breed for their entire natural lives. It occurs to me that, if every breeder felt this way, maybe there wouldn’t be such a glut of unwanted horses — perfectly good horses that, through some weird twist of fate and no fault of their own, end up in a terrifying place at the end of their lives, abandoned by the very people they trusted.

Horses are good for people. I have watched the most timid child open up to a horse, and the most egotistical adult humbled by a horse. I have learned a lot about myself from my horses, and some of my best friendships have come about through my connection with horses. I have lived in the world of horses all my life. When everything else in my life has changed, horses have been the constant. And though my role in the horse world has grown and evolved in the past 30 years, I expect that, in some way or another, horses will always be in my life. They have given me so much, taught me so much, loved me unconditionally, and even saved my life a time or two. I just think that it’s time to return the favor.