Having The World In Your Backyard

by: Erin Shea

The 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games have come and gone. The crazy three weeks of WEG were worth the hard work for this once in a lifetime experience to show the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center to the world.

So what was MMSC doing? Our volunteers and staff worked our two booths in the trade fair and equine village, which we shared with Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. We sold tons of merchandise and spread the word about the work we do.

While working at the booth, I heard heartwarming stories from WEG-goers about the horses in their lives, and about how many of these horses were rescued horses. I was overjoyed to hear that so many people around the world share our goal in rescuing ex-racehorses.

Our trade fair booth was always crowded with the help from some celebrity appearances, which included: Ron Turcotte, Pat Day, Joe Fargis, Calvin Borel, Kate Tweedy and Leeanne Ladin - authors of Secretariat’s Meadow - The Land, The Family, The Legend, and Heather Henson - author of Dream of Night.

Besides just the booths, we had potential adopters stop by our center and look at our horses almost every day during WEG. At the end of the games, six of our horses had found new homes.

Not only did we have visitors at our Center, we also had world class athletes riding through our property. Both the athletic endurance horses and the strong driving teams came thundering through the back of our fields. I also got to watch the individual jumping competition, my favorite event. Having the chance to watch the people that you idolized your whole riding career is breathtaking. It’s spectacular to see horse and rider come together so beautifully and jump the huge obstacles without trouble. As a jumper rider myself, I was inspired to watch the many, different techniques that world class riders used to communicate with the 1,500 lbs. of pure athlete underneath them.

I can’t believe the three weeks of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, that I had waited over eight hundred days for, are over. All of the anticipation and excitement is gone, and as the visitors go back home life in Lexington will soon return back to normal.
I’m glad that Kentucky had the opportunity to show off everything that we have to offer and that Lexington proved that it really is “the horse capital of the world.”

The games have arrived!

Equine Village Booth

Back of Equine Village Booth

Trade Fair Booth

Videos being shown at Trade Fair Booth

Individual Jumping Course - First Round

Individual Jumping Course - Second Round

Driving team riding through our back yard

Red Light For Health

by: Erin Shea

It is incredible what a little red light can do. Feel a cold coming on? Just put the light up to your jugular vein for 10 minutes and you’ll feel better. Is your horse sore? Use the light to hit points to heal almost anything from muscle cramps, immune system problems, and digestive issues. All this power coming from a tool, made by Photonic Health, that resembles a small flashlight.

How does it work? From a western medicine standpoint, the flashlight-like device projects a beam that stimulates the mitochondria in the cell, which produce ATP (energy), increases circulation, and reduces pain. From an eastern medicine perspective, it stimulates acupuncture points and creates energy flow over meridian lines of the body.

Bryan Owens, founder, came to MMSC during WEG to show us just what this little machine can do. Using our cranky grey gelding, Willy, Bryan evaluated the horse’s pressure points for a diagnosis. By the way Willy moved around in the cross ties, lifting his back legs up to kick, pawing the ground and biting at us, it was obvious that he was not feeling too well.

“Begin by moving your hands down the bladder meridian to open your horse up,” said Bryan. “Mark the certain points where you note a reaction, like a sigh, twitch, or any kind of movement, and we’ll go back and work on those later.”

Noticing that Willy ached all over, especially in his ulcer points, Bryan suggested that we focus on healing a possible stomach ulcer. While Melissa held the light up to the points which Bryan suggested for 2 to 30 seconds, we watched for Willy’s reactions. At first, he pinned his ears back, shook his head, and opened his jaws as if releasing a silent scream of pain. But eventually as the treatment progressed, Willy dropped his head, sighed, stretched out his legs, and stood still in the cross-ties, all signs of relaxation. Willy even let us work the points on his back end, which before we started therapy would have been in the danger zone.

“Every horse can benefit from having their “wellness points” worked on,” explained Bryan, “even those that show no obvious signs of pain because this therapy improves overall well being.”

“What does it feel like?” I asked Bryan.

“Do you have any sore areas?” he responded.

My lower back was aching, so Bryan and Susanna took two light tools to my lumbar region. A surge of warm powerful movement radiated up my back and I felt my muscles relax. In five minutes, I was pain free and relaxed. Oh I get it now Willy! Love that little red light!


For more information about Photonic Health, visit their website: www.photonichealth.com