Bowen Therapy/Trauma Release for Major: Carol Jensen, Wisconsin

Background:

I attended a demonstration of Animal Bowen practitioner Dianna McPhail about a year ago at a friend's stable. I was unfamiliar with Bowen and didn't really know what I would be seeing.

My friend had two horses for Dianna to work on - a mare and her grown daughter. Both horses have the reputation for being nervous, high-strung     animals that buck at the canter and were difficult to separate from each other. The older horse was brought out first. She seemed anxious and unhappy to be taken from the other horse. In very subtle ways Diana was able to bring about a marked change in the horse in just a few minutes. She obviously relaxed the mare,  but the most amazing change to me was the small veins that began to rise above the skin on the horse's upper legs as circulation was improved. The same changes came about in the younger horse. Both horses relaxed completely. They licked and chewed, blinked their eyes, and no longer missed each other at all.  I was very impressed by what I saw - such big changes in the mental and physical states of both horses - and was thrilled to be able to have Dianna work on my "problem" horse, Major.

Major is a 14 yr. old tall, narrow Tennessee Walker with a high level of anxiety due to what I suspect was very heavy-handed traditional Walker training. He is unsafe to ride because he doesn't seem to know where his feet are. It's like there's no connection between his mind and body.

Dianna has had two sessions with Major and I saw some definite improvement. Normally hard eyed, I saw his eyes soften and start to blink. He started to lick and chew - something I've never seen him do.

He widened his stance in the hind end for better balance and started to stand with his front legs farther apart, also. His whole body relaxed and he seemed less tight in his jaw and lips.