Flower Essences & Focus Training For Horses Program with Diana Thompson

"I brought Card, my 13-year-old Morgan gelding, to Diana's flower essence clinic. In the past, when Card was trailered away from home for a trail ride or carriage drive he would be very excitable and inattentive to me. He would be uncomfortable to ride; I had to keep the reins tight and he would move in mincing steps. At Diana's clinic, we worked to bring Card's focus to his handler rather than on everything which was going on around him. As we worked, it became evident that Card was afraid of being left alone by the other horses. He kept his attention on them, rather than his handler, even if they were out of the arena. This made it very hard for me to get him ready to ride or drive.

" Card had behaved this way since I purchased him at age two. I thought this excitability was part of his Morgan personality. I was very happy to find out that his fear and resulting lack of focus could be managed better with flower essences and the focus training. We returned home to use our flower essence formula. I also worked with Card's focus training, progressively moving farther and farther away from his horse friend at the barn.

"The test came approximately six weeks after Diana's clinic when Card and I attended a three-day ranch work clinic complete with lots of cows and calves. I kept the flower essences in Card's drinking water in his stall and applied the focus training methods as needed. We had a wonderful clinic. The cows really sparked Card's interest yet he was attentive to what I asked of him. Each time I asked for his attention he was right there for me. Success!"

Sue Brenden, Dousman, Wisconsin

"When I purchased Rooni (a nine-year-old Thoroughbred gelding) two years ago, he had extreme sensitivity in the wither and girth areas and was very uncomfortable being saddled. He was very thin with a poor coat. He had a hard time picking up his feet, tolerating touch or massage and was showing mild neurological abnormalities. By the time I attended Diana's clinic, all of Rooni's physical problems had been resolved except his chronic resistance to the girth. His girthing issues were better but he would still hold his breath, cow kick, turn to bite at me, move away from me, toss his head and swish his tail during saddling and girthing. He also had a tendency to become "pissy" and then tune out and just react to things such as bugs or the girth. He was worse when I took him away from home.

"At Diana's clinic (which was away from home), Diana gave Rooni a number of flower essences to address various emotional behaviors. Then we turned Rooni out for about an hour. When we brought him back, Diana led me through a training process of focusing Rooni's attention on the girthing process - no tuning out
and going into his resistance behaviors. We also used the flower essences and rewarded him with breaks (walks away from the saddling area). We saddled him successfully twice with no resistance. He did not exhibit any of his previous behaviors.

"After we got home, I altered his flower essence formulas somewhat and kept up with the focus process. Rooni has done very well on the flower essences and this system. Using the essences I have no problems saddling Rooni. He no longer holds his breath and he is willing to stay present and experience the girthing process each time. He is definitely more relaxed and focused. At first I could see an obvious change in Rooni after he received the essences. He would visibly relax and let down, taking a deep breath. Now he seems that way all the time, he has much less fussiness and irritability. He is like a normal horse. The bugs are an annoyance but he can still focus on me. He has changed completely!

"Before the flower essences, I had tried everything I could find to help him with his girthing issue. Now I find that since that has gone away, he is much more open to new situations and to learning new things. It's as if releasing that area of resistance opened him up for everything else. I am so grateful for the improvement in Rooni with the flower essences. My biggest, #1 issue with his behavior is gone!!"

Marcia Thurnbauer, Waukesha, Wisconsin