Singing on Horseback

I was riding home from teaching a riding lesson yesterday and heard a talk show on the radio that was discussing how to make the most of your voice when you sing. The guest on the show was a jazz singer who teaches voice lessons in Virginia. When asked what advice she gives her students for creating the best sound from their vocal cords, she mentioned an exercise that releases tension in the jaw and drops the tongue, so that it lies flat on the lower teeth. Once you open your mouth, as if to yawn, you will find it easier to produce the sounds, starting with a vowel, for instance, with minimal effort, but maximum results. She teaches that tension is the enemy of the singer. Muscles that are tight cannot efficiently create the energy necessary to perform.


In addition to my passion for horses, I have a great love of music and singing and at one time dreamed of performing professionally. I was very shy when I was young and had to back out of a 5th grade performance of the Beatles classic, "Yesterday", after becoming sick to my stomach with stage fright. I tried again in college, singing with my boyfriend's band at a dance and somehow made it through without fainting. I even took a few voice lessons from a woman in New York city in my early 20s but other than singing at a friend's wedding, have kept my voice a well kept secret. Now, when I find a rare moment of quiet at home, alone, I turn on the ipod stereo and with my own personal microphone and small amplifier, I "practice" my singing. I'm not sure who or what I'm practicing for, but you never know when someone else close to me is going to get married.






As I listened to the radio and the voice instructor's explanations, I realized that recently, I've been using more body awareness and release of tension in my singing to create a much stronger, much more "elastic" quality to my voice, able to move up and down the scales with less effort. It seems that since I've begun my life in centered riding, I've noticed how the release of tension, increase in body awareness and centering , with breathing and soft eyes can improve my singing and for that matter, can be applied to ANY physical activity that you wish to accomplish proficiently and with minimal effort.



As an instructor, it is necessary to keep a large arsenal of tools at your disposal to assist in explaining particular concepts to students. I don't currently have any singers as riding students but I do have students who have engaged in other athletic activities. Knowing how to explain the correct use of the body and releasing tension while participating in a particular activity like riding or singing, is the most challenging part of my job. Probably, because it is the most challenging part of riding for me.

Recently, when I was riding, it occured to me that as a health professional I deal with patients who are nervous, scared and in pain at times and my experience allows me to remain calm, confident and reassuring in order to be a part of their care. But, I had to have training and instruction before I could become an experienced professional. They don't call it "practicing medicine" for nothing.

For example, in order to qualify to perform a procedure in which I examine the colon using a flexible scope, I had to have specialized instruction and training. In the beginning, I was moving my hands and going through the steps as they had been explained to me, but I was not really understanding the big picture. My body would tense as I struggled to find the correct position, inadvertently forcing the scope to move against resistance. Of course, the feedback I received from my patients when they felt discomfort, was immediate. Because I am outside of the body, able to look inside only with a 2 dimensional screen, I needed to have a sense of what was happening as I moved the instrument in one direction or the other, almost through "feel". As I became more adept at the physical skills I needed to complete the exam, I found I did not have to think so hard about what my hands and my body were doing-it became automatic. The tension was gone.

And so, in every aspect of my life and now with riding, I must learn to find the focus and the emotional center that creates the calm and the relaxation, once I have the coordination and physical skills to ride . Then I can allow the automatic part of my brain, the muscle memory as it were, to take over. Whether I'm singing, scoping or riding, it will make for a much more balanced, harmonious experience for all concerned. And if I turn up the tunes while I ride I can SING AND RIDE! Wouldn't that be a joy!

Natural Hoof Care-One Woman's Story

This article was published on the website of Dr Suzan Seelye at www.quantumvet.com . Suzan is devoted to the healing of horses through holistic methods, as well as educating horse owners regarding their horses health. It tells the story of my experience with natural/barefoot hoof care-C.M.

The first time I heard about Pete Ramey and Natural Hoof Care was when I saw his name listed as a guest on Clinton Anderson’s TV show. It said he would cover two topics, laminitis and navicular syndrome and that he would show how, with the barefoot trim, he could resolve both problems. I couldn’t believe it. If this was true, then it was only a matter of finding someone who knew his techniques and who would “cure” the horses affected by these crippling conditions. Little did I realize, in just one year after seeing Pete on TV, that someone would be ME and that I would be trimming, not only my own horses, but also those of several of my friends.

It just so happened that at the time I first saw Pete on TV, I owned two horses, one with laminitis that had gone to founder (rotation of the coffin bone or distal pedal bone), another with navicular syndrome. I had never been satisfied with the shoeing or veterinary care I’d received over the years and was all ears when Pete said “I’ve never seen a case of navicular that wasn’t resolved with this trimming.”
Over the years, my first horse, Rose had developed worsening lameness and had been wearing shoes with pads, due to a condition I did not quite understand. My “real job” as a medical professional gives me a distinct advantage over a lay person when it comes to recognizing anatomical terms and understanding disease processes. But, the explanation as to why Rose was lame, never made sense. The farrier said she had a condition that weakened the tendons in her front feet at the heels, that then damaged the nerve that ran along the tendon and that eventually it would break down the navicular bone.

Articles and books from vets and farriers had a similar description of the process but would sometimes reverse the order in which it occurred. Was it the damage to the bone that caused the tendon to be stressed causing pain or was it the damage to the tendon that caused pain and damage to the bone. The proof was in the xray, they would say or in the test that was commonly done in which the heel was pinched with metal grabbers. If the horse pulled away, then there was damage at the heel. Or, you could prove that the pain was at the heel and the navicular by “nerving” the horse, in other words, severing the nerve to stop the pain. Unfortunately, you might also eliminate the horse’s ability to feel the ground at his heels. And this was no guarantee that the whole process would not continue-it would just stop the pain. Rose was subjected to a special shoe with padding, but the process continued. I was told that she was born with bad feet and that she was “wolf bait”. Her hoof walls would crack and chip and I was told that it was because they were white hooves and everyone knows they crack easily. Rose began walking on her toes more and more, heels just too painful for contact with the ground, pads or no pads. The farrier said she would only worsen with time.
Rose was mine for 10 years from 1988 to 1998, until I finally sold her to a breeder, convinced she’d never be sound enough to be ridden again.
After selling Rose, I went about looking for another horse that I could turn into my trail riding buddy. I was still learning about horses and horse behavior, still learning how to ride and didn’t have a lot of money to spend on a new horse. I had just been exposed to a few videos from some guy named John Lyons and my friend had taken me to my first horse expo where I began hearing the term “natural horsemanship.” I was at the beginning of a journey that continues to this very day, when I saw an ad for an 8 yr old Morgan Arab mare, written by the young girl who had rescued her from a neighbor. Her description of Sally was so sweet and so full of wonderful details of her personality, that I had to go check her out. She was tall and thin with big brown eyes that were soft and gentle. The young girl’s mother said she would whinny when they came to feed her and that she got along with every animal at the place. But, she said, she had developed “founder” from eating fresh grass in the spring after a winter of very little to eat. She was obviously malnourished and her coat was dull. When I brought her to my stables for a week to “try her out”, I had the farrier check her feet-the same one who had put shoes on Rose. He said and I quote “I wouldn’t pay $50 for this horse.” Let’s just say, I paid a little more than that.
In the beginning, I left Sal barefoot and had a friend’s trimmer do her feet. Then I switched to a different one because someone else told me he was good. What did I know? I wasn’t even sure I understood what founder was, because it seemed that if Sal’s bone was rotated in her front foot that it would be permanent. But she seemed to do well. I began working with her using the techniques my friend had showed me and she lent me more videos, including one from a guy named Pat Parelli. When I finally got up the courage to take her on trails, I was told she would need shoes. The same people who advised shoes, also advised me on feeding Sal, including grain and alfalfa. Sure, sounds good to me. Only, it wasn’t good for Sal. She developed lameness in the spring and after being told that she’d strained a tendon or that she had a bruise on the sole of her foot, I kept her at rest for a while. She grazed on pasture and continued to eat the rich diet that everyone else in the barn fed their horses.

I will never forget the first time I saw Sal laying down in her paddock, unable to get up, her feet swollen with laminitis. Those who’ve studied the horse in its natural environment, say that a horse will never lie down unless they are in severe pain. Their only real escape from predators is to run and to lie down is to relinquish this means of escape. Sal would not get up. A vet diagnosed laminitis and suggested I use butte for pain and have my farrier look at her to adjust her shoes and/or trim. I called the farrier who had taken care of Rose, as he was considered a corrective farrier and seemed to understand what I was talking about. When he first trimmed and re-shod Sal, he began explaining the process of founder. He said that it could be from the spring grass or it could come from vaccines that we give our horses but that he could correct the angle of the pastern bone so that she would not stand on her toe, as that was now rotated down when the most distal bone in her foot, the coffin bone, moved downward. I wasn’t clear on how that had happened again and I was not sure if this was a recurrence of the same condition that she’d had when I bought her or a worsening of it. Was he going to MOVE the bone by putting these “heart bar” shoes on her. And why did he have to chop so much of her hoof wall off at the toe? All I knew was that it got Sal up and going again and as long as she was moving, I was happy. It didn’t even matter that he charged twice as much for the shoes on Sal as he did for “normal” shoes.
I moved to another stables and continued to ride Sal regularly . Our trail rides, while full of stress and struggle in the beginning, had become pure joy for both of us. I could tell Sal loved to run and I would let her move out on the straightaways, through the woods and up the hills. I fed her more grain and alfalfa, thinking she needed the calories to compensate for what she burned up on the trails. She was given carrots when she was a good girl. In addition, I found out about “horse cookies” that everyone raved about, full of molasses, used to treat their horses. Slowly, without knowing it, I was sending Sal into a downward spiral-killing her with kindness. When she first lay down in pain, the vet said she was suffering from colic. But, this was no colic and when the second vet came out, he confirmed that she had laminitis-again. He suggested that her diet may be the problem, but did not think she needed to be totally off grain. Maybe I could soak the hay. And he would do blood tests to check for Cushing’s (a pituitary disorder) and thyroid disease. In the meantime, I should place Styrofoam inside her shoes so she had more cushion on her toes where founder caused the most pain. I could give her butte.
I called out the farrier. He left the shoes on and said he’d be back when her pain subsided. When the vet said he thought it was Cushing’s based on Sal’s test results, I asked about treatment. Pills, he said, for the rest of her life. She was only 14 yrs old. Before I agreed to give her the pills, though, I began researching laminitis and Cushing’s on the internet. I had found an article months earlier in a horse magazine, written by a vet, about a condition called Metabolic Syndrome, similar to human diabetes, in which horses become resistant to the insulin in their body as their sugars increase, with a diet high in carbohydrates found in grain, molasses, alfalfa, orchard and timothy grass and treats like apples and carrots. I read everything I could find on metabolic syndrome and what I discovered was that many vets believed there was a connection between a high sugar diet and recurrent laminitis. And it seemed to occur in particular breeds that genetically were designed to eat very sparse diets-breeds like Morgans . Sal’s foot problems weren’t from some glandular disease, but instead, from feeding her too much SUGAR! I contacted the vet, who seemed to know nothing about metabolic syndrome and told him I would not need his pills. I would not be calling him again. I found a low carb diet for Sal with beet pulp and rice bran and put her on the driest hay I could find. And no more carrots and molasses cookies.
Weeks turned into months and with every shoeing, I could tell that Sal was not improving. She had now been wearing heart bars for almost 5 yrs. I asked my farrier why her “lamellar wedge” would never grow out and he had no explanation. He began asking me about the strange gray mush I was feeding Sally and what it had to do with her feet. I began noticing Sal’s limp in her hindquarters and did not know what to make of it. My beautiful horse, my wonderful trail buddy, my four legged friend was now unable to run with me and I would have to retire her to a life in a dry paddock. I began looking for another horse.

Sally's Feet in Heart Bars (This is after FIVE YEARS of "corrective shoeing")

Ironically, I found a horse in the same stables where I boarded Sal. She belonged to a young girl who had left her on pasture all year round. The mare arrived, obese, thick crested and unshod, and the girl told everyone she was trying to sell her. She had been unable to pick up her feet as the horse would become fearful and kick out, so she had not trimmed her in over a year. A few days before the young girl was about to advertise the horse, the mare lay down in her paddock. The beautiful Morgan was suffering from laminitis. I offered to buy her immediately, knowing I would be able to care for her and feed her the diet she required. Desperate to find a home for a horse she knew no one would buy, she gave me Chanty for practically nothing.
It was about this time that I watched Pete Ramey and soon after contacted a hoof care specialist and begged her to come and look at Sally. And, if she had time, to check out Rose, who I had bought back 4 yrs earlier when a woman called me and asked if I knew what to do with this horse , starved and lame, purchased from an unscrupulous woman breeder, as a Christmas present for her young daughter. I said I’d buy her back from her, and brought her home with me. She began a life of retirement on 8 acres, which she shares to this day with her buddy Tetley.
The day Sal’s shoes came off, I cried tears of joy. Although it would take another 2-3 years of learning to trim through clinics, home study and trial and error, I would eventually learn several things about Sal and Rose’s feet that would relieve them of their constant suffering and allow the hooves to revert back to their natural form and function.
First of all, for several breeds, diet is very important. There are “easy keepers” who require very little to sustain them and who will develop significant health problems on high carb diets, one of which is laminitis. The sugars create toxins which break bonds in the live tissue of the lamina which connects to the hard coating known as hoof wall. With damage comes inflammation, with inflammation comes distortion of the wall, pushing it out and away from the bone deep inside. Once this swelling is under control and the separated hoof wall is trimmed away and new connected hoof wall is allowed to grow down from the hair line, the foot will recover. Founder is not forever! A hoof must be trimmed from the bottom, balancing the heels and toes, allowing the natural concavity of the hoof to form from a thickened callus sole, not carved by a farrier’s knife. Shoes that artificially realign the bone in the foot with the pastern bone are just that-ARTIFICIAL. But laminitis and separation occurs more often than we think and is the result of unnatural forces pulling the hoof wall away from its attachment. It is the most common condition seen in horse’s feet. Cracking and splitting similar to what Rose would have, was not caused by white feet. It was because her hoof walls were left too long, in order to accommodate a shoe. Every time she stepped on a hoof wall that was abnormally long, the forces against her hoof pulled the hard covering away from the lamina. Try standing on long fingernails and not break one as you balance yourself, walking on your hands.

Hoof Wall Separation

Second, anyone who tells you that all trimming is the same, has not studied the horse’s foot in depth. Even those who study and choose to trim as nature shows us, may continue to project their own vision of the hoof based on their studies, instead of working with the hoof in front of them. That is to say, if the trimming is not improving or it is not maintaining a healthy, sound horse, then you must step back and reassess your trimming or your trimmer.
Finally, I learned exactly WHY Rose couldn’t walk on her heels and what exactly had caused her “navicular syndrome”. And, best of all, I was able to trim her myself and eliminate the problem altogether, just as Pete had claimed.
When Rose was 2 yrs old, someone decided she needed shoes in order to begin training. (I bought her when she was 8) When horses wear a shoe, the frog at the back of the foot does not make consistent contact with the ground. In addition, the shoe can potentially squeeze the back of the foot and “contract” the heel so that part of the frog, which should be up to 2 inches wide, is folded up into the foot. Underneath the frog is a mass of tissue called the digital cushion. It is soft and mushy when the horse is young and under 300 lbs. As the horse matures, and makes repeated contact at the frog with heel first landings, this digital cushion will harden and on top of it is the tough frog with a surface much like the rubber tires of your car in which the horse can push off with each step. It creates a secure, non slippery surface that is able to step over uneven ground.
Rose’s digital cushion never developed entirely. Year after year, shoes “protected” her feet and her heels remained soft and mushy. As she matured and began a life as a cutting horse, she was asked to use her heels to slide and stop rapidly. But, without solid, hardened, wide frogs to absorb the concussion of her feet to the ground, she became sore. She would then attempt to relieve her pain by attempting toe first landings. This would further inhibit the development of a solid digital cushion and if she were to put weight on the heel, she would experience more pain. And on and on….Rose has now gone 4 years without shoes and pads. She is 29 years old and suffers from arthritis in her right shoulder from walking on her toes and running abnormally in shoes for years. She stands and walks straight up with a heel first landing and her frogs, wider and harder than ever before. She never suffers from splits and cracks-her white feet as hard as any black feet in the herd.

Sally's Foot on the Mend

Sally continues to need careful monitoring of her diet to insure that she does not suffer from recurring bouts of laminitis. With correct barefoot trimming I’ve been able to grow a well connected hoof, with a thickened callused sole and ever widening frogs. Sally suffers from pain in her hocks as well as in her back and hips, no doubt from unnatural shoeing that placed stress on her joints. She is now benefitting from massage and stretching before we exercise. I ride Sal on hard road, with gravel and uneven surfaces now, but in the beginning, I used boots until her soles thickened and she was able to tolerate the ground we rode on. I highly recommend boots and anyone who trims and does not recommend them is not being realistic with the owner about what it takes to transition to going barefoot.
So much of what we do to our horses is the result of ignorance. We see and hear what others are doing and saying and figure, it must be right, otherwise, why would they do something to harm their horse? But nowadays, there is so much information available to us. There are people who are out there with answers and if we care about our horses, we’ll keep looking. Don’t go to one source, or read one book. Learn as much as you can. Question those who claim to be experts. Don’t take my word for it-learn first hand from several people who’ve struggled with the same conditions. But, most importantly, listen to your horse. The lameness you see today is usually the result of damage done YEARS earlier. Today is the day to find out if those feet can handle the demands we put on them from now on!
If you go to Pete Ramey’s website www.hoofrehab.com you will find an incredible list of resources, including his videos on trimming. You can buy them from him or rent them at www.yourhorsematters.com

NOTE: I apologize for not having any current pics of Sal but have not taken any of them recently. I will update this article with photos and discuss BRIEFLY some more specific issues in future newsletters-C.M.