TTouch Mouth Work & a Doc Appointment

 

I took more photos of Tumbleweed’s mouth yesterday, during bodywork, and sent them to my vet who floated his teeth last spring. They think it’s a foreign object that lodged itself, but we will find out next Thursday when I haul him into the clinic and have it removed and his teeth cleaned and floated again. 

As I said previously, the bodywork I use with Tweed is based upon the TTouch method, but I also use Masterson Method techniques. Whatever works best at the time and for the particular horse.

For example, Epona walked up to me in the turnout yesterday, and she was so sweet and relaxed that I took a moment to let her rest her head on my shoulder while I used MM on her upper neck and poll to get her to release. She loves that technique. 

Tweed, on the other hand, has a hard time relaxing when he’s with other horses at liberty. We do bodywork away from them.

The mouth work we do from TTouch is particularly good at triggering the parasympathetic nervous system / limbic system. Fast forward this video to 4:18 for an explanation of how it works. (The whole video is a very good primer.) They say it also helps with mouth aggressive horses. 

My TTouch practitioner had me keep a bottle of water nearby to wet my hands for the mouth work. 

The net result of the bodywork is a horse who comes to me in the turnout, even leaving off eating. Notice the hay dangling from his mane?

And he is so relaxed in the arena that day after day, even though his mood is different everyday and sometimes he starts out a little grumpier, he is relaxed by the time we get to the arena or go on a walk.

You may remember that when we first started back up, Tweed wanted to roll in the sand on the line. Stopping him caused quite a tantrum. Now, he shows the same signs of wanting to drop, but stops himself.

At the end of every session, I allow him to roll AFTER he is off the halter.

If you’re wondering what happened with Katie riding Tweed, that was put on hold after her first session because her ailment returned and she needs time to recover. She still had the cough when she came the one time. 

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I took a few steps back and concentrated on the emotional fitness of Tweed and the basics of our relationship. I think we’ve established a strong foundation with this new routine. 

Today, I’d like to do some riding to see how it translates in saddle. What I want to see is that he remains as calm being ridden as he has been on the ground. 

Here’s a little more information on TTouch “TRUST” work. 

I had the pleasure of interviewing Linda Tellington-Jones on my old podcast. I invited her on because I had already read her books and worked with a practitioner to integrate it into my routine. I was a fan. Unfortunately, I do not have links to that interview anymore. I think I have it saved on my old computer, so I might be able to retrieve it. 

Here’s a video of the TTouch mouth work. (She doesn’t seem to be using wet hands, which I highly recommend.) 

Here’s another basic primer. She demonstrates the basic circle, 6:00 to 9:00, and do not lift your hand off, but glide it along. The shape of the hand can be flat front or flat back or the claw she’s using. This is just one of many. I may do a video to show the work I do with Tweed. 

My practitioner also had me breathe in during the circle and breathe out, exhale, during a slow release of the hand, then glide and repeat. 

One thing becomes clear, bodywork, either this or Masterson Method, overlaps quite a bit with Sacred Spaces. You are getting with your horse as you do this work, bringing down your energy and theirs.