Your questions answered by experienced horsemen and women, professionals, trainers and riders.

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Hoofbeats Q&A
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I am keen to get into natural equine medicine, herbal medicine and bodywork as a career but am having trouble locating univeristies or schools that teach this line of work. I currently live in Brisbane and am studying Applied Science in Equine Science at University of Queensland, though this degree doesn’t really touch on natural therapies. I was wondering if you would have any advice on how to get into this line of work?? I’d be happy to try short courses, apprenticeships, anything really!! I’m even keen to study abroad if you know of great schools or courses overseas. It’s hard to know where to start looking or to know if courses are going to be internationally recognised and useful on completion!
Alisa Alden, New South Wales

A.
We approached people involved in different areas of natural therapy for their suggestions.

Catherine Bird
This is a question often asked, but when you ask is a course ‘recognised’, by whom do you wish it to be recognised?
You can start with Australian standards of qualifications - we now have diploma level equine massage courses available in New South Wales; Richmond TAFE do an intake every second year, their contact number is (02) 45709050.
Then you have courses recognised by associations. Now, this does need a bit of discernment as many course presenters, to be able to say their course is ‘recognised’, set up an association for their own graduates. This is not to be deceptive, because many professional indemnity insurers won't cover individual non-veterinarian natural therapists unless they belong to an association, so these associations have approached them to cover their members in a group policy.
There are several associations that have done this like IEBWA (www.iebwa.com) and Equine Myofunctional Therapy Association (EMTA) (couldn't find contact details).
The other benefit of someone who has an association is that most of the members operate under the association’s code of ethics. Then you have therapists who have studied to obtain human qualifications in their chosen modality.
If you are looking at herbalism or homeopathy this is a suggested path as the education provided by these training colleges is to the same Australian diploma level as with the TAFE courses, and it assists later with insurance and obtaining TGA registered products, which some animal therapy courses cannot guarantee you can obtain as a practitioner. There are too many courses here to list, but those that have gone through the accreditation process with Australian Traditional Medicine Association (ATMS) www.atms.com.au will meet that criteria.
Then you can do self study or bridging courses to apply to animals. Also don't neglect those courses recognised by people in the industry.
There are a lot of smaller courses run by people over weekends that may not give you the professional level you are seeking but can give you a beginning in understanding the subject. These can help you decide if you wish to continue further before investing in a diploma course, or be added to your learning as continuing education. Sometimes what we think we want to study may not always match our skills or personality, so don't discount many of these horse-owner courses as they may serve you for helping you with your decision.
The key is finding the course you relate to. Check with past students what they feel were the strengths and weaknesses of each course and decide if you can gain what you need and not worry too much about what the course didn't provide. No course will give you 100 percent of what you need, it will however provide you with a foundation to start your career.
Then it’s up to you how far your continue your studies and how you apply what you have received from each course. One skill that is vital for anyone considering natural therapies with animals, is small business acumen. If the course you choose does not offer business skills and marketing within its curriculum, this is something you may want to do before you set up business or even begin your studies.

Catherine Bird is an Equine Therapist who trained in aromatherapy, massage and medical herbalism, specialising in the use of pure plant extracts with horses.
Her articles on Aromatherapy have been published worldwide. She has worked with Channel 9’s Animal Hospital and is the author of ‘A Healthy Horse the Natural Way’. www.happyhorses.com.au

Fiona Adams
Fiona supplied us with contacts for several different types of alternative courses.
Hollistic Animal Therapy Association of Australia - endorses colleges, all animals www.hataa.asn.au

Australian College of Animal Tactile Therapy, Victoria - massage, Bach therapy, tissue salts, basic herbs www.equinehealth.alphalink.com.au (03) 9752 1688

Richmond College of TAFE - equine Bowen Therapy for Animals - Bowen Therapy class.
Elizabeth (03) 5968 5311

The preceding schools are endorsed by HATAA.

National College of Traditional Medicine - Animals, Vic. Equine massage, herbs, naturopath, nutrition and pasture management. www.nctm.com.au Ph (03) 9312 5573 or 1800 630 312

Queensland College of Oriental Medicine - equine acupuncture and shiatsu massage. Ph (07) 5494 7425 tom@orientalmedicine.com.au

Swan TAFE, Armadale, WA - Massage course. Phone (08) 9267 7500 www.swan.tafe.wa.edu.au

Smart Bowen - Bowen Therapy Massage and Bodywork. Brian Smart Phone (03) 5429 2010. www.bowen.asn.au

Dr Clare Middle - Bach Flower Essences Phone (08) 9494 1243 www.claremiddle.com Equinology - Massage Courses www.equinology.com

Information Technology Burnie Campus Burnie, Tasmania - Barefoot Trimming ; Certificate III in Agriculture (Equine Hoof Care) Phone (03) 6434 5872 www.tafeitbur.com.au

National College of Traditional Medicine Sunshine, Victoria - Graduate Diploma in Equine Podiotherapy. www.nctm.com.au

There were also a number of places to study flower and plant essences, including Animal Nurture that provides advice on natural diet and additives, homeopathy, bowen, reiki, workshops and sponsors experienced lecturers on holistic topics. www.animalnurture.net.au.

The founder of the equine herbal business ‘Rose Cottage Herbs’, Fiona now does bowen, iridology, reiki as well as demonstrations and seminars in natural therapies. She uses hypnosis and relaxation techniques to help riders develop more confidence.

Victoria Ferguson
There are no government accredited herbal medicine for horses courses in Australia.
My advice to people who are seriously interested in a real career as horse herbalist is that they study herbal medicine for humans with an accredited college, of which there are many, as well as undertaking formal equine studies such as Bachelor of Applied Science in Equine Studies - offered at a number of Universities such as Wagga in NSW.
Experience is vital so this can be gained concurrently with your studies, which will take several years, or you may be a mature age student who already has this essential ingredient.
On top of all this you also need business skills, which you may inherently have or possibly need to study as well.

Victoria Ferguson Dip.Herb.Med, has a Diploma of Herbal Medicine, having completed her training with Dorothy Hall, the eminent Australian herbalist and author. Victoria is the author of ‘The Practical Horse Herbal’. Her company, Herbal Horse, provides consulting, prescription of holistic herbal remedies, natural diets and a range of equine natural health products. www.herbalhorse.com

We had a couple of big trees knocked down recently on our block and one has a large white clay root ball that the horses seem to spend a lot of time at, they lick and chew at the clay, literally eating it. I am presuming they may be licking as it may be salty or contain some mineral that they are seeking? They are only interested in this one root ball, there are others that have an orange/ gravelly texture and they don't touch them.
Di McMurray, Serpentine WA

A.
The medical term for eating earth, typically that containing a high proportion of Clay is Geophagia.
It is one type of much behaviour referred to as Pica. Coprophagia, (the eating of faeces), trichophagia (the eating of hair) and xylophagia, (the eating of wood) are other examples of types of pica occasionally associated with horses.
It is debatable as to whether there are any health benefits to the practice of geophagia,with many vets and scientists holding the opinion that it is more harmful than good.
The ingestion of large amounts of clays and soil may lead to intestinal obstruction, (sand colic), abrasive wear to tooth enamel through the ingestion of bacteria and heavy metals and an increased risk of roundworm infestations. Roundworm eggs can remain in the soil for many years and resume their life cycle upon ingestion by a horse.
Some believe that horses will seek out minerals from the earth if their diets are deficient and, whilst this has not been scientifically proven, an association has been made between iron deficiency and pica in many species. They may be licking at the clay due to it’s salty nature if indeed the clay is high in salts, as a salt drive is second only to the drive for water in all animals. Without a thorough understanding of the nutritional status of your horses and an analysis of the clay’s content, it is virtually impossible to tell you if what your horses are doing is going to be beneficial or otherwise. In many cases behaviour such as this can become learned or be used by horses to alleviate boredom. Given the risk of the problems mentioned above, I would be inclined to stop your horses eating this clay.
If you are concerned about your horse’s nutritional status a thorough analysis of their diet should be made and any nutritional deficiencies addressed through changes to the feeding regime.

Dr Carl Eden BVM&S MRCVS Technical Services Manager, Virbac (Australia) Pty Ltd Phone: 1800 009 847

I enjoyed reading the Questions and Answers section in the last issue and wonder if one of your contributors might be able to give me some advice about how to cope with nerves at an event? Especially before the start of a cross country phase, my heart starts pounding, my stomach gets 'butterflies' and I sometimes start to feel light-headed - probably from breathing a lot faster than I normally do! Occasionally, I have even had to dismount and race off to be sick behind a bush which, of course, is pretty embarrassing. I would be very grateful to find out ways to try to deal with this problem, as I really enjoy all the other aspects of competing and, eventually, would like to tackle a higher level.
Candace Allen, Northern Territory

A.
We approached people involved in different areas of natural therapy for their suggestions.

Rest assured that what you are experiencing is not an uncommon phenomenon both within the eventing world (I believe that Olympic Gold Medallist, Matt Ryan often becomes sick with nerves prior to the Cross Country phase) and general life situations involving stress or pressure. I believe what underlies this anxiety is poor emotional/psychological control, which fortunately like any important life skill can be improved greatly with committed effort. Essentially your thoughts prior to your Cross Country round, and I am assuming these are predominantly negative as they are actually manifesting in physical symptoms or illness, are taking over.
You will benefit greatly from taking action to control your thoughts and systematically input positive thoughts/affirmations into your (subconscious) mind. This will not only keep your mind too busy to entertain negative thoughts/images (ie slipping on a turn, refusing a jump or falling) but more importantly has the power to make a successful result likely as we are and/or become what we think about most. Discipline your mind to think in terms of positive thoughts and images even if they feel false or unrealistic in the short term. My positive affirmation, which I used repeatedly on my final course walk at the Kentucky CCI**** in April this year was “ I am riding with great skill and precision to every fence enabling ‘Fox’‚ (Koyuna Sun Magic) to jump a perfect clear round within the time”. This kept me in a positive frame of mind and importantly prevented me from dwelling on such negative thoughts or images as falling or running out at a fence.
Other techniques I use include setting aside time before I get on to visualise an ideal ride around the course, including the speed and line of my approach, the jump and landing. You can visualise from either your own past positive riding or by role modeling a rider you admire. The important thing is that you are again inputing a positive image into your subconscious mind, which then works to create that in reality. Listening to uplifting music can also help put you in a positive frame of mind and again helps prevent negative thoughts invading!

Wendy Schaeffer was an Olympic Gold medallist in the Equestrian Three Day Event Team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and winner of the CCI**** class at the 2002 Mitsubishi Adelaide International Horse Trials.
She was Australian Young Achiever of the Year - Sports Award Finalist 1996, Channel 7 Sports Star of the Year finalist 1997, awarded an Order of Australia Medal for service to sport, 1997 as well as an Australian Sports Medal in 2000, and was inducted in the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame in 2002.