North Brookfield, MA (May 27, 2016) Earth, Fire, Metal, Water, Wood: Which element does your horse belong to? Massachusetts whole horse trainer and international clinician Farah DeJohnette shares some of her experiences with Chinese medicine and horses in a six-part blog on fdhorsemanship.com, Which Element is Your Horse? “I've learned some interesting things about identifying our horses' element type or types, as they can be combined.”
“Anyone who owns a Fire horse or has seen one in action will instantly recognize their showy 'pay attention to me' attitude. My own horse, Mercury, is the poster boy for a Fire horse,” DeJohnette continues, referring to her own bay gelding. “He loves to be the center of attention. He is also very sensitive, easily distracted and has a lot of energy. When we performed Live Sounds of Liberty in New York, with my father, Jack DeJohnette and godbrother, Matthew Garrison, collaborating on an improvisational musical Liberty Equine / Human art piece, it was Mercury who was clearly in his 'Aren't I magnificent?' mode!'
As Mercury's trainer and partner, DeJohnette has learned that a relationship with a Fire horse commands a need to stay grounded for her horse when his own emotions get the better of him. “Fire horses are hot. I guess it's where the term comes from. But all too often I see people frightened of their horse's Fire and trying to 'put it out,' so to speak.”
When Mercury's Fire energy became unbalanced last winter, she addressed its issues with acupuncture, herbs and supplemental magnesium: “Which Fire horses can be extra deficient in. He came back into balance as we worked on his Heart Shen, which is the organ associated with Fire horses. Not surprisingly, he was self-selecting herbs and whole foods that would bring him back into balance, including Hawthorn berries and sweet potatoes.”
About Farah DeJohnette Horsemanship
In 2015, this 46 year-old daughter of jazz legend Jack DeJohnette (John Coltrane, Miles Davis) became a YouTube sensation when a video surfaced of an improvisational Liberty Dance performance that included Farah and her bay gelding Mercury (driving the syncopated rhythms from a rattle attached to his leg) and accompanied by the jazz improvisations of her father joining them, live, in the arena. Born in New York City and raised upstate in Woodstock, DeJohnette apprenticed at Williamsburg Farm, home to champion Olympic stallion Abdullah, before working for trainer Pat Jacobson, West Coast grand prix trainers Steve and Jenni Martin, and seven-time dressage and show jumping Olympian John Winnett, and has benefited from the guidance of FEI dressage competitors Virginia Leary and Bettina Drummond. She is strongly influenced by the masters of natural horsemanship and Linda ('T-Touch') Tellington and launched an exceptional holistic and Self-Selection boutique facility, Ohana Farm, in central Massachusetts while maintaining clients and clinic appearances in the USA, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. Learn more at www.fdhorsemanship.com.