Equine and Small Animal Veterinary Specialty Practice

A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE
When you are tense let me teach you to relax.
When you are short tempered, let me teach you to be patient.
When you are short sighted, let me teach you to see.
When you are quick to react, let me teach you to be thoughtful.
When you are angry, let me teach you to be serene.
When you feel superior, let me teach you to be respectful.
When you are self absorbed, let me teach you to think of greater things.
When you are arrogant, let me teach you humility.
When you are lonely let me be your companion.
When you are tired, let me carry the load.
When you need to learn, let me teach you. After all, I'm your horse.
W. Lamm, 1997

• Living In Tune With The Energy Of The Season
• Rutgers University Podcasts
• The Magic Of Acupuncture
• Herb Blurb—Burdock
• Magnesium is Underrated "Master Mineral"
• Reflections—They Live Amongst Us
• Spontaneous Evolution—Our Positive Future
• New Things Happening!

Living In Tune With The Energy Of The Season

There was a heavy frost on the ground this morning. I had to laugh at the change. Just two weeks ago it was nearly 90 degrees. The days are quickly growing shorter and colder. The earth is once again entering into its rest cycle.

I was chastising myself for wanting to sleep in just a little bit more in the mornings rather than my at dawn start, then I realized that dawn was coming later. My cats who had been quick to insist I get up promptly when the sun rose so they could go out and start their days adventures where even sleeping in. I was getting up before them. I noticed I was resisting the natural energetic change of the season. My body didn’t like it! The time of rest after growth, to recharge for the next period of growth was upon us. It is a cycle that our bodies desire also.

A common disorder this time of year known as seasonal affective disorder is created in part by our societies insisting that we no longer move with the energy of the seasons. A disorder I was profoundly affected by for years, creating depression, lethargy, and weight gain. Now that I am learning to live more in harmony with the seasons I no longer am affected by this disorder. I now thrive in the fall. If you have physical or emotional problems arising in the fall take a look and see are you resisting the natural flow of energy and the cycle of life. Enjoy a little more sleep, slow down over a hot cup of tea in the mornings, get out during the middle of the day to get some sunlight and mild exercise, and en- joy the change!

Blessings to all,
Dr. Suzan

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Rutgers University Podcasts

Rutgers University’s Equine Science Center is offering a series of podcasts to help horse owners. These audio recordings are available for download from their website (see below). More than 40 factsheets address topics of interest to horse and horse farm owners and those involved in the horse industry. On the Center’s website, factsheets are linked to FAQs and a dynamic search engine to make finding answers easier.
http://esc.rutgers.edu/publications/podcasts.htm

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The Magic Of Acupuncture

Marco, belonging to trainer Jana Steffen of Redmond, had a walnut size lump right in the middle of his chest present since birth. In fact his mother and brother had the same thing. Could acupuncture and bodywork remove something that came genetically? Read on to find out.s

I was asked to look at Marco to evaluate some problems resulting from an injury he had incurred. Some physical mal-alignment was present in his body. Treatment with Quantum bodywork and acupuncture followed.

The lump on Marco’s chest was noted. It was located directly over an acupuncture point know as Conception Vessel 22. This is a major Yin acupoint which governs several major functions in the body. The technique of circle the dragon, which involves circling the mass with needles, was performed at the same time as the other acupuncture to see if it would shrink the mass.

Although the mass was not creating any current physical symptoms, the potential of future dis-ease from pressure on this acupoint from the mass was a concern.

After several more treatments over a six month period, I was astounded to see the lump greatly reduced in size. I didn’t see Marco for another six months. When I did there was no more visible mass on his chest. I had to deeply palpate the area to find the peas size remnant to what had been there. Jana mentioned to me that his mental state had improved during this time, now more calm and even, not as emotional. Coincidence or the magic of acupuncture?

Jana and Marco are on their way of living their dream of performing Grand Prix. Daughter Cate, who Marco is very fond of also, is sure to be right at their side, a future groom in the making!

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Herb Blurb—Burdock

Reprinted with permission of theHolistic Horse Publication (http://www.holistichorse.com/)

Burdock is a common weed native to Europe and Asia. It is a plant of waste places, fields and waysides. The burrs are what you will find sticking to your clothing as you walk through your horse's field. The large lobe-like leaves look like overgrown Rhubarb leaves.

Generally Burdock is looked upon as a blood and liver cleanser and is cleansing and soothing to the lymphatics. All parts of the plant used.

The root is a deeply anchored root. It reminds one of the Dandelion and Yellow Dock Root. In Japan it is known as Gobo and is eaten commonly in Sushi. The root is white and pithy in color when raw, turning very orange when cooked, resembling a very small fine carrot.

Horses will eat the roots just like carrots. The roots are considered to be a soothing demulcent, tonic and alterative (blood cleanser).

The leaves are classified as cooling, moderately drying and dispersing. Juice of the leaves was drunk in old wine. The leaf is thought to have strong actions on the lung and skin. It is often used in skin conditions like eczema.

The plum colored flowers bloom through July and August, replaced by seeds or the fruit. They are used for kidney issues. It has been used for both profuse sweating and lack of sweating.

Burdock is not a plant you would think a horse would graze upon, but they seem to know how to carefully work around the bristles of the burrs. There is no known toxicity to date for any parts of the plant.

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Magnesium is Underrated "Master Mineral"

(NOTE from Dr. Seelye: Magnesium is a very important mineral for animals and humans alike. Having the knowledge to keep our bodies healthy is important for our animal health. If we aren't at our best they suffer too! I came across this article and even though it is directed towards humans I felt it worthy of including in this newsflash.)

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/026768_magnesium_food_salt.html
By Paul Fassa (Reprinted with permission from author.)
http://healthmaven.blogspot.com/

Magnesium is an underrated, virtually ignored mineral for our diets, yet it is the most crucial, and essential to over 300 bodily biochemical and cellular metabolic processes. It has been called the "Master Mineral" because of its central importance to so many cellular functions and proper body glucose balance. Because of poor topsoil conditions and poor eating habits, almost everyone is magnesium deficient to some extent.
The mineral that gets the most attention for supplementation is calcium. Yet without magnesium, calcium synthesis into bones and teeth is drastically impaired. Cardiovascular and neurological issues are also prone to surface. It's estimated that most people have a ratio of calcium to magnesium at 3 to 1 or higher, but the ideal ratio is close to 2 to 1, actually 10 to 4. In other words, your body should have about half as much magnesium as calcium.

So How Do You Know If You Are Low?

All the symptoms related to magnesium deficiency can overlap with other health issues. So it is confusing to determine magnesium deficiency by symptoms alone.

Weakness, inappropriate fatigue, irritability, muscle spasms or twitches, muscle aches, light or sound sensitivity, chronic constipation, and "restless leg syndrome", where either the legs or arms have weird sensations that can only be relieved by often changing their position, are usually directly related to magnesium deficiency.

Indirectly, fibromyalgia, arrhythmia and other heart conditions, asthma, and hypertension along with high blood pressure can also be at least partly due to insufficient magnesium in our cells. And within the cells is where the action is, with magnesium as a catalyst and synthesis agent for approximately 80% of our biochemical processes.

That's why Dr. Otis Woodward, MD, a holistic physician, recommends a red blood cell (RBC) test over a simple blood test to determine magnesium levels. It can look good in your blood, but if it is not in your cells you won't get the benefits. RBC testing is not as good as white blood cell testing, but it is easier to obtain, less expensive, and sufficient.

Applied kinesiology or muscle testing by a skilled holistic healer can also help determine your need for magnesium. But let's face it, if your health can be better and your diet is not so great, considering that almost everyone is magnesium deficient should motivate you to look into how to increase your magnesium level.

Increasing Your Magnesium Intake With Foods

Lots of sugar, processed table salt and processed foods, especially those made with bleached flour will deplete your magnesium by a sort of leeching process. So avoiding or minimizing that part of your diet will be a good start. You can replace processed table salt with real organic sea salt or Himalayan salt to eliminate the poisons inherent in table salt and add magnesium to your diet.

Stress is another magnesium burner. Indulging in some humor and handling stress by being more upbeat in general will help conserve your body's stored magnesium.

Vegetables with leafy greens, whole grains, many legumes including peanuts, and raw nuts are good sources of magnesium. But all is not so good with commercially grown agribusiness crops. It has been determined that organic crops contain up to 10 times the magnesium of regular supermarket foods.

However, it's the depleted topsoil that is the problem. So organic should include that the crops are rotated and the topsoil is regenerated for optimum mineral and magnesium content. Simply not spraying with pesticides does little to improve the topsoil.

Sugar cane roots go much deeper than topsoil and those roots have access to minerals not available in the topsoil. Ironically, the "waste" from processing table sugar produces a super food for minerals known as black strap molasses. The unsulphured variety is the best. Mostly known for its high iron content, unsulphured black strap molasses is also high in magnesium.

Another super food very high in magnesium is fulvic (not folic) acid. A good fulvic acid liquid is said to contain all the minerals and elements a body needs. Fulvic acid minerals in solution are purported to be highly bioavailable.

Remember the leafy greens suggestion? At the core of chlorophyll is magnesium. So any of the super foods that are green, such as spirulina and especially chlorella, are high in magnesium as well as other nutrients. Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, recommends 10 grams of spirulina or 5 grams of chlorella daily. It's easier, more absorbable, and more economical if you use the powdered form mixed in a suitable liquid of your choice.

Since most of us who grew up on processed and agribusiness non-organic foods have impaired digestive systems, it is suggested by most health experts that you include some sort of digestive aid to increase the bioavailibility of the magnesium in those foods and super foods.

Investigate probiotic sources or high intestinal flora kefirs and kombuchas to see what suits your fancy and budget. You can even make your own kefir or kombucha, or use sauerkraut that is home made with organic foods. There is a tasty Korean dish known as Kimchi for a daily diet to enhance probiotic production in your intestinal tract.

Supplements, an Adjunct, and Extreme Measures

Of course there are supplements as well. The better ones are in powdered form to be dissolved in water or juice. Often they are in conjunction with calcium. So make sure the ratio is around 2 to 1 calcium to magnesium. If your diet is high in calcium sources, using just magnesium as a supplement or a cal/mag with a lower ratio is recommended. Magnesium oxide is not as endorsed by doctors and holistic healers as much as magnesium citrate or magnesium citrate malate. Read your labels.

Holistic physicians often use magnesium injections or intravenous feeds for patients with severe deficiency problems. They will then prescribe oral magnesium supplementation along with vitamin B6 as an adjunct when that intense therapeutic event is completed. If you add B6 to your oral supplementation of magnesium, it is recommended that you include a full B complex supplement to prevent a B vitamin imbalance.

NOTE: Important Caveats!

People with kidney and heart problems are advised against magnesium supplementation unless they consult a physician. Also, magnesium supplements tend to be alkaline, so too much of the magnesium supplements can impair digestion unless tempered with organic apple cider vinegar in water. Otherwise, too much alkaline can lead to poor absorption and disrupt your pH balance. Dr. Len Horowitz recommends fresh lime or lemon squeezed into your water to cheaply maintain pH balance. Even too much of the transdermal applications listed below can alter your skin's pH balance. This caveat does not apply to food and super food sources.

Transdermal Applications You Can Do Yourself

Transdermal simply means applied to unbroken skin, as creams and lotions are. This implies that you may ensure bioavailability of the magnesium regardless of any digestive impediments. Lately, magnesium oils have sprouted onto the health supplement market that can simply be applied to your skin. The body then absorbs the magnesium through the skin where it is applied.

If you prefer sitting and soaking over standing and showering, you are in luck for increasing your magnesium intake. Magnesium salts are available for your bath.

A more available and economical transdermal source of magnesium is Epsom salt. Yes, you can soak in Epsom salts to ease your aches and pains while absorbing magnesium through your skin. Epsom salt is essentially magnesium sulfate. Two cups of Epsom salt in a standard sized bathtub, soaking for 12 minutes three times a week should be sufficient.

Again, it is advised to stay within that protocol and not exceed it.

Magnesium Needs To Be Nurtured

Awareness of your magnesium level and what you're doing for it are more essential to good health than is commonly realized. It is also essential to the synthesis of glutathione, which is considered the master antioxidant that controls all other antioxidants!

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Reflections—They Live Amongst Us

A very inquisitive fawn. The horses don't seem to mind at all.

The fawn looks so small!

After the horses moved on, the doe came for her fawn. So all is well in case you were wondering.

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Spontaneous Evolution—Our Positive Future

In this section we share information on a new book that might be worthy of you pursuing.

Spontaneous Evolution
Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There from Here
by Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D., Steve Bhaerman

"Spontaneous Evolution introduces the notion that a miraculous healing awaits this planet once we accept our new responsibility to collectively tend the Garden rather than fight over the turf. When a critical mass of people truly own this belief in their hearts and minds and actually begin living from this truth, our world will emerge from the darkness in what will amount to a spontaneous evolution."

In Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future (And A Way To Get There From Here), pioneering biologist Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D., and political philosopher Steve Bhaerman team up to offer an insightful, playful, and hopeful look at the unfolding destiny of our species—and how you can play an active role in birthing the evolution of civilization.

Crisis ignites evolution. The challenges and crises the world faces today are actually signs that change is imminent. We are about to face our evolution.

Spontaneous Evolution offers a paradigm-shattering synthesis of science and society that reveals the planet is in the midst of an incredible evolutionary event… the emergence of a new species, Humanity. This evolution is driven by a change in human consciousness. We are, each and all, active participants in what will amount to be the greatest of human adventures.

Our world changes when our perceptions of life as we know it changes. The old ways of seeing, believing, and reasoning will not help us transform the current conditions. We need a new paradigm, and Spontaneous Evolution is the story we've all been waiting for.

Spontaneous Evolution reveals how changing our understanding of biology and human history will help us navigate these turbulent times and invites readers to reconsider:

• The unquestioned pillars of biology including random evolution, survival of the fittest, and the role of DNA
• The blueprint for our sustainable, life-affirming future that is literally inside you—encoded in each of the trillions of cells comprising your body
• How our beliefs about nature and human nature shape our politics, culture, and individual lives
• How each of us can become planetary "stem cells" supporting the health and growth of our world and every individual in it

To secure the future we desire, we must empower ourselves with the knowledge of who we truly are—conscious co-creators of our destiny, who are each cells in a new organism called Humanity. We must change our mission from one based on survival of the individual to one that encompasses survival of the species. With an understanding of how our programming shapes our lives and with the knowledge of how we can change that programming, we can rewrite our destiny. Spontaneous Evolution is designed to be a primer for that transformation.

We are living in exciting times, for science is in the process of shattering old myths and rewriting the story that shapes the fate of human civilization. To help navigate this turbulent period in our planet's history, Spontaneous Evolution offers information, inspiration, and an invitation to participate in the greatest adventure in human history—conscious evolution!

Praise for Spontaneous Evolution

"Spontaneous Evolution is the life-map we've all been waiting for! With just the right blend of spiritual humor and rock-solid science, Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman cast a holistic new light on an emerging new civilization. They lead us beyond collapsing economies and religious extremes to show us that such chaos is a natural step in an unfolding process, rather than the tragic end to a broken planet. Once we recognize the big picture, the choices to a better life and a better world become obvious. The guiding role of Spontaneous Evolution is where our teachings of life, history, and civilization should begin."
Gregg Braden, New York Times best-selling author of The Divine Matrix and Fractal Time

"The implications of this powerful book have the potential to change the world."
Deepak Chopra, author of The Third Jesus

"This wise and thoughtful book is a powerful antidote for anyone who is pessimistic and depressed about our future and the challenges we face as humans."
Larry Dossey, M.D., author of The Power of Premonitions

"Spontaneous Evolution is a world-changing book that offers a heartening view of humanity's destiny. Built on the foundation of the latest discoveries in science, it points us in the direction of functional politics, sustainable economics, and individual responsibility in the context of an interdependent community."
Thom Hartmann, author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight

"Spontaneous Evolution is a brilliant synthesis of science, evolutionary theory, and spiritual consciousness that provides a unique explanation of our global situation and how we might move forward to repair the world. It charts a path for a global 'up-wising' that could save us from planetary disaster, recognizing that both we as individuals and the global economic/political systems, in which we operate, must evolve quickly to survive."
Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun, chair of the interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives, and author of The Left Hand of God

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