Distinctly Montana Magazine

Horses Heal People BY VALERIE HARMS Jane with Madison JOHN ASHLEY See www.distinctlymontana.com for info about Jane Heath's healing work and her Montana Horse Sanctuary near Helena. Lee De Rham grew up in Gallatin Gateway on a large ranch surrounded by horses. She began offering craniosacral therapy to people but then started working more with horses. She got into healing because of a back problem the medical community couldn't fix. She had MRIs, physical therapy, chiropractic, and couldn't get past a certain level without pain. Until one day she tried craniosacral thera- py. She improved and felt that she had to get licensed. Her first patient was her own 31-year-old horse who recently died, living four-five years longer than expected. Once he fell on ice and jammed his knee into his shoul- der. It was so extremely painful that the vet thought he'd need to be put down. She stayed with him for three weeks, using her techniques and finally felt the leg drop down from the shoulder. That began his recovery. April Johnston calls herself an Advanced Equine Equilib- rium Structural Integration Practitioner. April with beloved Tomax Like Lee, she goes to people's houses and barns to work where they are, even to the East Coast. She offers a free consultation followed by a five-part series two weeks apart of progressive bodywork sessions to release tension patterns in connective tissues and muscles. The pressure applied is much stronger than in TTOUCH or massage or craniosacral. Because tissues lose elasticity, first she works on the outer layer of fascia, and then goes deeper, releasing restrictions of movement. "Horses heal me," she said. "I broke my back on a horse being really careless and reck- less when I was 18. I was in the hospital, had www.distinctlymontana.com body casts, and spent 14-15 years in pain, trying differ- ent treatments. I was becoming more and more crippled. Thought I'd have to quit my job as a Sr. Biologist in FL and then as a nonprofit executive in Bozeman. I heard about structural integration and experienced profound re- lief in 10 sessions." When I visited her, April sat comfort- ably curled up in an easy chair with no evident restriction of movement. She says, "Horses have brought me more peace and relaxation. As a healer of horses, I've gotten my health back." Sid Gustafson, DMV, well-known throughout Montana and beyond, offers comprehensive veterinary services, dentistry, surgery, house calls, behavior training, day care, and much more. He uses holistic health nutri- tion, massage, and chiropractic thrusts. His Web site is full of videos, instructional articles, and blogposts. He is also the author of the award-winning book, Horses They Rode, in addition to books on horsemanship. Raised on a ranch, he rode with Native Americans and says that he was "raised by horses." He teaches equine behavior at Guelph University in Canada. He's treated race horses and written articles for the New York Times on Kentucky Derbys. Dr. Sid says that stabling and interval feeding of horses cause problems because their heritage is free movement, regular grazing, and being among a herd. They need to have forage in front of them constantly—bland hay— friends, and abundant locomotion. Dr. Sid's goal: "making the world a better place for horses and horsefolk." HORSES HEAL PEOPLE The heart is perhaps the first horse. ~ Joy Harjo DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL Go to www.distinctlymontana.com/horses121 for a video of Deborah Derr's United in Light draft horse sanctuary. It's phenomenal how often healers get into working with horses because of their own in- juries. The aforementioned Catherine Nelson had had a neck fusion and thought she'd never ride again but friends at Parelli trainings helped her past that fear. Deborah Derr turned her 49 SHELLY SAUNDERS

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