By Judith Phillips, Trainer
Flirty
McGuerty is a 9-year-old thoroughbred mare. She has foaled three times
but has always been extremely difficult to get in foal. In the spring
of 2002, she gave birth to a beautiful filly. She had no problems with
the birthing process.
Cathy Jacob of Crosswind Farm in Okeana, Ohio told me they had planned to breed Flirty McGuerty in her nine-day heat cycle. She did not have a nine-day heat cycle. They put her on Regimate and checked in 14-18 days. Nothing. They tried Prostaglandin. Nothing. They did everything possible to stimulate Flirty McGuerty but she did not cooperate.
Kathy Veder called Cathy Jacob on a Sunday morning in June to say hello and check on Toby, the Jacob's dressage horse. Kathy had done some Healing Touch for Animals® Techniques on Toby earlier in the year. Kathy learned that Toby was fine. The problem at Crosswind Farm was Flirty McGuerty. They had given up successfully breeding her this year. Instead of breeding 7 out of 7 of their mares in 2002, they were going to have to be satisfied with 6 out of 7.
Kathy Veder offered to come to Crosswind and work on Flirty McGuerty. Cathy Jacob was relatively confident that Kathy Veder's "magic hands" (Healing Touch for Animals®) was not going to help. However, she also knew that Kathy's work would not hurt the mare. So Kathy came that same Sunday. She worked on and around the mare, said something about her being blocked, something about cleansing. She worked and worked with her "magic hands" and her pendulum.
The following Wednesday, the vet was at Crosswind. Just in case, Cathy asked him to check Flirty McGuerty. "She has a 35mm follicle! How soon can you get her to Kentucky to be bred?" Unfortunately, two weeks after she was bred, the ultrasound showed nothing. They were done. It was too late in the season. They planned to begin again in February 2003.
About 2 1/2 months later, Cathy noticed that Flirty was beginning to put on weight. She looked fat. Actually, she appeared to be in foal. The next time the vet was at Crosswind, Cathy asked him to check Flirty McGuerty to determine what was wrong to cause such a noticeable weight gain. The vet checked her and replied, "There is nothing wrong with Flirty McGuerty except that she is about 3 months in foal!"
Cathy
Jacob is ready to give Kathy Veder the credit. She feels confident that
without the intervention of Healing Touch for Animals®, Flirty McGuerty
would not be bred. Cathy does not understand Healing Touch for Animals®
or how it works, she just knows that Kathy Veder's "magic hands"
have helped two of her thoroughbreds in the last year.
I asked Cathy if she noticed anything different about Flirty McGuerty's temperament after Kathy's Healing Touch treatment. She said, "Flirty McGuerty is an even tempered mare and has never shown erratic behavior. I know this is subjective, but she did appear to be more calm."
Cathy added that she understands clearly the importance of touch when training her "babies". Touch is critical in bonding, teaching, soothing. Her horses respond differently to the touch of the flat hand vs. the fingertips. In closing, Cathy just reiterated that she and everyone at Crosswind give Kathy Veder the credit. They are not certain what she does or how she does it. They are just happy that it works!
Flirty's Filly Update: The photo above, taken July 4, 2003, shows Flirty
with her filly, who is out of Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone.
