Wasn’t sure whether to put this in Horse Care or here… but I’m interested in hearing about BOTH.
Someone mentioned Reiki on the Fibro thread.
I know nothing. Googling isn’t so much helping.
Tell me your experiences? For you? For your horse?
I’m a Registered Massage Therapist, and I also do craniosacral therapy and reiki for my clients. My reiki instructor does reiki for animals as well so I’ve had some experience working on my dogs and my horse.
I’ve found it to be an interesting experience; much more honest with the animals than the people. They can’t lie to you, or mislead you as people may unintentionally do.
The reiki for myself has been very good. I find it soothing, often helping when I am experiencing distress or discomfort. Headaches, menstrual pain, even sprained ankles.
PM me for more info if you like
I’m a Reiki Master. I particularly apply it for pain, discomfort, or any ‘out of sorts’ situation. I apply it to myself, my animals/horses, and to anyone experiencing pain with a chronic condition or a recent injury.
For any chronic/long-standing injury, Reiki can help right away. Sometimes improvement isn’t registered until the day or 2 following treatment. Frequent treatment is a good idea. And you can’t overdo Reiki – it can be done several times a day or week.
A few years back, I had a shoulder injury. I didn’t want to have surgery, so I had Massage Therapy for about a year and a half. About a year into the massage therapy, my therapist started doing some Reiki. To tell you the truth, I didn’t like it at all. I guess part of it worked as when she placed her hands in different spots, her hands would get very hot. Maybe that was some sort of energy or something, but I didn’t like the feeling at all. The heat was very uncomfortable to me and it made me antsy. I finally had to tell her to just please do the massage as I didn’t like the Reiki feeling at all. I got so I dreaded when she would start doing it. I will say that my shoulder got just fine after the year and half with massage. But I’ll pass on the Reiki.
I have recently been helped tremendously by Reiki, in recovery from my recent surgery. (If anyone noticed I was MIA for awhile, that is why.) Here is a website from the practitioner who helped me:
http://wingedhorsehealing.com/
Reiki and horses
Here’s two experiences…
Last summer I was concerned about a pony that had a skin allergies and was not looking great. We had put her on SMZ for her skin (as it was starting to look infected), and within a few days it had progressed to the point that she was sloughing off the hair skin between her ears, leaving red, swollen areas behind. She was also quite thin (despite plenty of food, very good vac/deworming program). I mentioned her to my Reiki Master when I was in getting myself treated, and she offered to do a distance session with the pony (had only worked with a friends dog one time before…never worked on a horse). I was very frustrated about the pony, decided that it couldn’t hurt, but really didn’t believe it would amount to anything…after all she is not a horseperson, and how on earth could you do a “distance” session with a horse without any information about it aside from its name??
She called me a few hours later and told me that the pony was really quite sick and feeling horrible. Told me that she had a severe parasite infestation and that she was having a very bad allergic reaction in her head (the pony’s head actually looked swollen in places to me). Well…my husband is a vet, and so I asked him to draw some blood on the pony to see if there was anything abnormal. At this point I told him that I had Reiki done on the pony, and he was quite unhappy with me for “wasting” money. Well, the labwork came back with a VERY high level of eosinaphils…higher than my husband had ever seen, actually. What causes high eosinaphils in horses? Parasite infestions and allergies. Took her off the SMZ…and the skin stopped sloughing off and the redness cleared up. First time I’ve seen a sulfa allergy in a horse. Dewormed her with pony-size dose of panacur for several days. Although she still had the original skin issues (seasonal, it turns out), it was amazing how much she improved overall (probably because she felt so horrible from the parasites).
After this, had distance Reiki done on an OTTB mare that I was retraining as a hunter. She was terrified of other horses; fine to ride alone or with one or two horses, but would panic when in a group or if you tried to get her into a busy schooling area at a show. Was told that the mare was convinced that the other horses hated her and that she was truly scared that they would hurt her. Added to this, however, was that the mare was also unhappy/uncomfortable because her two front “paws” hurt (as my Reiki person didn’t know what a horses feet were called). I blew this off, as I had glue-on shoes with pour-in pads on her feet (was working on growing a heel on flat TB feet) and the mare was 100% sound. Kept working with the mare, trying to acclimate her to more horses. A few months later, I had her in at the vet clinic to figure out a soreness in her back that had cropped up. They looked at hocks…fine. Looked at front feet…seemed fine but became a tiny bit off when flexed. Finally blocked one front leg…and she went significantly lame in the other front leg. Turned out that she was bilaterally sore up front. Hmmmm.
I had a few Reiki sessions about 6 years ago, interestingly enough, by the same person who does Reiki for horses. He invited me to go to farms w/ him to watch him in action and he taught me a few things too. It was definitely an interesting experience to see the horses’ reaction, how he connected with them and felt the areas of blockage. They went into this super calm relaxed state and seemed to really understand something good was happening to them. It’s sorta hard to explain but I just remember the interaction with the horses FELT differently. The owners all commented on how much the horses had changed or improved. His website is www.brucewinkle.com
Does reiki require the same licensing as equine massage? Seems like some states don’t want anyone except a vet to actually touch a horse.
I have done energy work on both people and animals. Blocked areas actually FEEL different. With people, where I’ve been able to get feedback, I know that I have helped individuals resolve long standing pain issues in less than 20 minutes that doctors were completely unable to fix. Serious pain issues.
With horses, I definitely can tell if an area hurts. I’ve not been very well the last 2 years, so I’ve avoided doing energy work on the horses since it’s much more intense than working on people. I do it to diagnose pain but usually use the usual medical interventions to resolve the problem.
I have been using Reiki with my dogs for about 5 years now and I use it with the horses. I use it as a welcome addition to therapeutic massage for them.
My dogs, especially the Collie mix with the bad leg (from being hit before he got here) will come running if I say “REIKI!” and lay down on the floor and close his eyes. I don’t have to touch him, and I can feel where he needs it most. My old golden and my newf mixes loved it as well. The Pointer? NOT. So just like people, it isn’t for everyone.
I am learning how to best interact with the horses with Reiki, Paco and Trooper seem fine, Katie is suspicious and I expected her to be. I haven’t approached the little ones with it yet.
I never in a million years expected to add it to my bag of tricks. But I am glad that I did. It is a very peaceful and wonderful addition to our care program for the animals. 
My reiki training is on humans and I have done some human practice, but I primarily use it as an adjunct to my equine massage business. Like much energy work, it often requires a full cycle, or even two sometimes, for the effects to really be felt. I have a student with fibro who reports the treatements I have done on her help when she is having a period of general ickiness.
On horses, I have felt great results where there are issues of long-term pain or stiffness; the energy work (I practice acupressure, as well … again most of my training on humans, but getting some horse-specific education now!) often makes the muscle work go a little easier.
My cousin who passed away last year after a 13 year battle with breast cancer, took her Reiki master with her when she went for chemo - said it was the only way she could get through it.
I used to attend a weekly Reiki circle and I loved it - not sure why I stopped, but need to start going back. I always felt sooo much better after each session.
A good friend had an App gelding that developed an issue in one eye - she had several vets, tried different treatments, and even an eye surgeon out and they all said the eye would have to be removed.
A friend suggested Reiki and chinese herbs. She went to a Chinese woman that was recomended who gave her tea bags filled with herbs - she would apply them on the eyelid and have Reiki performed. The eye recovered, had one relaspe a year later, repeated the treatments and 15 years later, Sam still has both eyes and they are fine.
Returning from a ride, we realized this mare, Misty was colicing. (showing classic signs, rolling, grey gums, dehydrated, had stopped pooping, etc) We called the vet and in the meantime the owner of the App mentioned above, performed Reiki (she had learned after her experiences) within a few minutes, the mare started passing gas and pooped… We still had the vet come out and he gave her bainimine, etc but Misty was fine.
I’m a believer, now I gotta find a circle to join…
I’ve never heard of this. What is it? How is it done?
Well, I’m going to go against the grain here. And just to state my pre-qualifications for saying this: I am a massage therapist and a (massage) researcher. For what it’s worth, there is no scientific evidence that Reiki, or any “energy work” is real or “works” (as people who practice it claim it does).
What else could possibly explain the changes, you ask? The placebo effect. Regression to the mean. Passage of time. Delayed effect from another treatment (medication, supplements, massage, etc). And many other reasons.
Is Reiki relaxing? To most people, yes. Does it do anything beyond that? Nope.
Just wanted to give a different perspective, as I’ve seen a lot of Reiki supporters have already given their side which is great, but I just want the OP and anyone else reading to be able to see both sides of the coin.
Flame suit on
Well, I’m a Reiki practitioner and skeptic, so I’ll ask you this: is there general agreement that the placebo effect can be demonstrated in animals?
[QUOTE=ambar;4679043]
Well, I’m a Reiki practitioner and skeptic, so I’ll ask you this: is there general agreement that the placebo effect can be demonstrated in animals?[/QUOTE]
Good question. I just found this interesting article http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=263 about placebo effect and animals. It honestly is interesting and worth a read. Even if it doesn’t change your mind, it’s good food for thought and makes some very valid points.
I do equine/canine massage and am Certified in Healing Touch for Animals-and it does work quite effectively in all animals. I have worked on people…as energy is energy! YOu cannot deny it when one minute someone is in severe pain, in less than 5 min the pain is gone-they really could care less if it’s placebo or not-the pain is gone.
Perhaps all aspirin is, is sugar pills-and they’re only placebo too. hmmm, but they don’t taste like sugar:no:
SPG, your comment makes me think of the saying (which I believe I was the first to invent/use, but I do give permission for others to use it) ‘A closed mind gathers no new information.’
The comment about the ‘The placebo effect’ does not apply to animals. I strongly suggest 2 things for you, one is find a Master level Reiki practitioner for yourself and your animal(s). Before I had Reiki done for myself, I had had the same practitioner do a distance session of Animal Communication and Reiki for my horse a few years ago. It was obvious to me that my mare was interacting with someone I could not see. Because AC also was involved, at one point Pam asked my mare if her human was with her, and to go see her human, as I was sitting very quietly in the stall, and Kallie came right over and nuzzled me. I did nothing to summon her, and had no idea she was responding to Pam’s request. That was done twice. She then returned to her ‘conversation’ as I referenced above. It is not necesary for the sender of Reiki to be present with the recipient.
Second, run do not walk to the bookstore to obtain Riding Between The Worlds by Linda Kohanov. I think it will be very enlightening for you on the spiritual and energetic dimensions of life. Although it is not specifically about Reiki, it is a great book for any horse lover to read.
p.s. Did you actually read that article in the link you provided? Note that it says 'Regardless, whether or not placebo effects exist in human medicine, there is little evidence that they exist in animals. ’
Hi Sdlebredfan
Actually I have had Reiki performed on me, more than once. I have also received polarity, shiatsu, acupuncture, and cranio-sacral therapy (and zero balancing, but that was just a quick 10 minute “demo” at a conference). I’ll be honest- I never felt anything after any of those treatments, other than relaxed (but no more so than if I had just layed on the massage table in a quiet room with nice music without any sort of treatment). And believe me, at the time of each of these therapies, I was quite open minded and actually really wanted to feel a difference. It is only recently since I started learning and conducting research that I have become more skeptical about the practice of energy work.
Yes, I did also read the article (the whole thing) before posting it. I saw the part about little evidence of the placebo effect in animals- that was part of what I found to be interesting. I also was interested in the parts of conditioning on both owners and animals. It is quite reasonable. I did a scholarly search for articles on the placebo effect and animals but only found 1, and only had access to the abstract. I typically refrain from posting or referencing to articles which I have not read, as you can only get so much information from an abstract.
Let me ask you (or any other energy worker proponant) a few honest questions: If energy work is so powerful, why has no one been able to demonstrate it in a controlled trial? Why don’t doctors use it to heal patients instead of medicine? Why doesn’t the military use it to heal soldiers in combat?
but they are using it—in hospitals, many people who are certified in energy healing are called in for patients.
Most of the hospitals here, that are associated with the Catholic Church do use these people—the nuns teach it.
The pharmaceutical companies will loose alot of money as will the doctors-same way with natural therapies-that help many ailments that prescriptions do not.
And as with prescriptions, sometimes the energy has a different effect on different people. perhaps another modality would work better on you.:yes:
I have used the services of a Reiki Master for my horses with positive results. When our pony foundered, I used Reiki as part of her pain management program. I also turned to it for my daughter’s competition horse during show season when she was working hard and had limited turnout.
I can also attest to the fact that it gives you a sense of well-being. I don’t know specifically how the energy is manipulated, but it works.
