Venus, in all her muddy glory, visiting with our neighbors.

This is a simple story, of relationship and partnership. I treasure my relationship with each of my horses and they know it.

We dress our horses when we’re expecting sustained rains over several hours at temps of 50 degrees and lower. Until recently, we have always dressed the herd of 8 drafts & 1 TB, in their coats and fly sheets, out in our large pastures at liberty. The herd is so accustomed to this practice, we rarely require halter and lead to dress them.

They’re fascinating. When one is disturbed about something, another will join them to give them confidence while we dress them. Everyone seems to understand and respect our need that they be calm, graze about slowly, and stay within sight. It’s a marvelous partnership that simply delights me.

Venus (17h, 1 ton Shire) is an expert at standing perfectly still at liberty to get dressed and undressed. She loves the praise and attention. She seems to say, “oh boy, it’s my turn”. She regally lowers her head into the neck of her coat, which is sewn shut because the chest buckles broke.

In her 10×12 feeding stall, Venus can sometimes be a very different horse. She doesn’t bite or kick. She just moderately circles when she’s upset. (This story’s event was important to our helping her change her circling behavior.) It’s not her action that is of concern. It’s her bottled up, power-packed energy that must be respected. Entering Venus’ large, energized presence, in such a small space requires alertness and creativity.

On this particular day, a storm was approaching and Venus was eager to get out of her stall. My daughter, Jocelyn and I discussed the fact that she would be totally happy and much safer for us, to dress her out in the fields. My spirit said this was a perfect opportunity to help Venus practice standing quietly in a place she’s in a hurry to leave.

Jocelyn and I started by playing one of my favorite curiosity games, “come see”. Venus’ winter coat is stored in a rubber trash can in a corner of her stall. I set our 4 year old poodle Nyla, down in the empty can. I controlled Nyla’s response to being trapped in the can with a giant horse nose sniffing down upon her, by distracting her with scratches on her head and neck. She was surprisingly calm for only her 8^th week with us! Jocelyn was in charge of watching Venus’ behavior and intervening, if necessary.

Our intention to disrupt Venus’ thought pattern was a rapid success. She began to soften (lower her energy) and break up her circles, by stopping every so many steps. She seemed to enjoy the game of “where’s Nyla – come see”. After only a minute or so, I handed Nyla to Jocelyn to hold.

I was reveling in the challenge of getting her to be still and put her head through the coat’s neck. This is something she has to help me with, because her poll rests well over 6’ high. Even on my toes, I don’t have the height and coordination to hoist the heavy coat over her head. I am used to instant cooperation, so for her to take the additional seconds to quite down and oblige me was a long time.

Normally, I stand to the side to lift the coat over her head. But considering her strong desire to be released (lack of attention on me) and the awkward bundle of coat (a mere size 84), I was compelled to stand directly in front of her and capture both eyes. I was confident she would not step into me, but would turn away, if she moved. In fact, Jocelyn and I do this direct approach when any of our horses are concerned about the coat going over their head. They seem to appreciate being able to focus on us while the coat is passing their eyes.

Venus thought for a moment, made her decision saying, “okay, I’ll try”, and lowered her head into the neck. Here’s where I enjoyed taking advantage of our agreement. As soon as the coat was securely past her ears, I said “okay, walk”. She turned and slowly began her circle. The advantage to me was that she literally helped me lay the coat out on her body as she walked by. That was so much fun and convenient, for a fraction of a second, I entertained the thought of teaching all our horses to do this. However, I swiftly shot down in favor of maintaining the practice of having them stand still. <G> By the time the coat was straight and I had the near leg strap in hand (in only a half circle‘s time), I asked her to stop. She instantly stopped and let me connect the strap.

There was still a feeling of some remaining agitated energy. For this reason and to fulfill my part of our agreement, I told her to walk again and allowed a full circle.

Jocelyn and I spend hours every week, observing our herd. We’re writing a book from a completely fresh view of stallion/herd management. Our 2 Drum Stallions (half brothers, born on our farm) live safely and happily together within a herd of 2 geldings and 5 mares.

One of the ways our horses demonstrate their dominance to each other is by squeezing between each other and a stationary object. They force the other horse to step aside. Because I‘m boss mare, I also do this with them – most especially with the stallions. Of course, because I see myself as moving them over with my presence, I’m not ever in a position to be pinned. It’s a dominance game we play, in the spirit of fun, and they always move aside for me when I ask.

Understanding this, I intentionally stopped Venus while her side to be buckled was slightly pressed against her stall gate. I came from behind and asked her to move over and make room for me. She instantly stepped over and I clipped her other leg strap. It was now clear that she was becoming less concerned with getting out of her stall and more interested in what I was doing. It also helped that every time I attached a strap, I gave her a little scratch. Venus craves scratches, like a treat. She was also tuning into my energy of love and delight.

With her energy dramatically lower, I knew Venus no longer needed to walk. I could also see there wasn’t enough room for me to bend down to get her belly straps, so I gently touched her side and told her I needed more space. She quietly took another step over. I knew I had her mind completely when she calmly, lovingly sniffed my hair as I reached under her to get the belly straps and buckle them.

What joy! I quietly scratched her, hugged her, loved on her, praised her, and told her to be proud of herself for being so cooperative. I also thanked God for His guidance and assistance throughout this potentially deadly experience.

A few days later, when I dressed her in her stall, things went even better. She stood absolutely still the entire time – that is, until I nearly had the final buckle attached. When I saw her begin to shift her body to move, I simply said, “hold still – stand – I‘m almost done”. And, as expected, she stopped and waited for my “okay – walk”.

My pleasure in this event, is in the taking an everyday “chore“ and using it to expand upon a beautiful relationship. My life has become more abundant since I began to open my eyes and heart to delight in the smallest of moments. I am grateful God gives me such opportunities every day.

3 years later, Thyme was dumped at our friend’s stable. He was out of his mind, frightened of everything, underweight, lame with navicular on his front feet, and messed up on his hind end with arthritis. Note: it is amazingly difficult to cause navicular of this severity in such a short amount of time. This farrier not only did a very poor trim, he also put on the wrong size shoes. The combination was destructive to Thyme’s health.

Our friend hoped she could restore his feet with her farrier and use him in her lessons program. She successfully helped Thyme’s mind calm down and to put on weight. She kept him on drugs and in shoes to ease his pain. Sadly, she used a similar farrier and kept him in his stall 20-22 hours a day. After a year, Thyme was not improved and her vet said to retire him. So, he was given back to us. Hurray!

1^st steps toward healing: remove the shoes, trim down the bars, put on 24 hour turnout, and encourage lots of movement. 2^nd step: use EFT and SRH.

At first, without the shoes to help mask the pain, he was even more lame. His bars were within less than an inch of his hoof wall, which was more than 3 times the length they should be, and very close to killing him. It was very simple for us to trim down the bars.

Although it was painful, removing the shoes was necessary to allow the hoof to properly expand and contact as Thyme moved. The more he moved, the more circulation activated his healing.

To further compound Thymes lameness, his soles were dropped, indicating his coffin bones were dropped. Again, barefoot, lots of movement, and appropriate trimming can reverse this issue.

So, Thyme and I had a list of things to pray-tap about: 1 – the pain; 2 – raising the coffin bones; 3 – raising the soles; 4 – letting the bars come down out of his hoof (when the bars aren’t trimmed, they grow up into the hoof and press on the navicular bone); 5 – reduce the inflammation on his navicular bones; 6 – recede the bars back to proper length (the pressure from too much bar caused them to cut forward through the sole); 7 – believe and see himself pain-free and sound once again. I used SRH to help Thyme “feel” the improvements taking place and tapped on this list for several days before switching to focusing predominantly on tapping thanksgiving rounds each day.

Every day, there was visible improvement in his comfort. I consistently praised him and celebrated his getting better. He seemed to enjoy my enthusiasm and he thrived on my attention.

In less than 6 months Thyme was sound at every gate, including his beautiful floating trot. The coffin bones were nearly back to proper level as was the concavity in the sole. The bars were nearly back to proper length, too.

Oh yes, Thyme’s backend issues… between prayer-tapping and movement, he is sound there, too.

Next day, Larry awoke refreshed, Sammy was found, and Larry aced his interview. Bonnie told Larry what I had done and Larry, who, up to the previous night had been a skeptic, called me to thank me for helping him. He said it was the best night of sleep he’d had in years.

Like prayer, EFT is energy work. There is no separation of distance in the energy field. Larry was over 2 hours away from me.

Bonnie asked me to pray-tap for Sammy. Throughout the night, every 1 to 2 hours, I tapped for Sammy. I tapped for him to stay put, lie down and sleep. At sunrise, I tapped for him to get his bearings and head toward home. Not knowing Sammy was across the street and on the steep decline of the mountain, this was a bit of a mistake. On the up side, I tapped for him to bark and call for help. Bonnie’s neighbor heard the barking and helped Bonnie trace the sound. 30 minutes later, they found Sammy wet and shivering, tangled in branches and standing in a freezing cold mountain stream that was a foot deep. It took them 2 hours to carry and guide Sammy back up the mountain.

Bonnie was certain that Sammy had not been in the stream very long. The fact that he was standing (and not collapsed) was evidence that he had rested most of the night. His amount of shivering indicated he had not been in the stream for more than an hour.

Sammy, although extremely exhausted, sustained no injuries or respiratory illness.

Just like prayer, EFT is energy work. There is no separation of distance in the energy field. Sammy was over 2 hours away from me.

EFT Lady and Prayer Lady support the feeding, housing, and clothing of SEC’s herd. Serenity Equestrian Center and Feathered Dream Drum Horses are family owned and run. Serenity’s Equine Therapy program is not a therapeutic riding school, but focuses solely upon the emotional wellness of the visitors. Visit (right click) Serenity Equestrian Center to learn more about SEC. Private donations also support the herd’s needs and go toward the playground and building funds. Make a Donation at PayPal. Thank you!

Note: taking a slow deep breath after each statement while you are still on a tapping point, allows your mind, body, and soul to absorb what you’re saying and gives your energy meridians time to align themselves.

Example script, tap or press each point while saying:
(Round 1)
KC: Dear Lord, even though this _____ is hurting me, I deeply and completely love and accept myself. Even though this _____ bothers me all day long, I deeply and completely love and accept myself. Even though it seems I would rather hold on to this ____ than to be free of it and see my life improve, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.
EB: This ______.
SE: This ______ that is hurting me.
UE: Father, I can’t seem to let go.
UN: It seems the very suggestion of letting go makes me what to hold on to this ____ even tighter.
CH: I am so used to this _____ that I can’t imagine my life without it.
CB: I want to let go of this ____.
TH: I wonder Lord, what my life would be like if I were to let go of this ____.

(Rounds 2-4)
KC: Dear God, even though I still have some issue with this ____, I deeply and completely love and accept myself. I realize this ____ is a symptom of misalignment in my energy field and with You, and I deeply and completely love and accept myself. I give myself permission to go as slowly as I need to let this ____ go. I choose to love and accept myself and see myself through Your eyes.

EB: This ____ is not about me, but my alignment with You.
SE: I know my thoughts directly affect my alignment with You.
UE: I know that the more I choose thoughts that are filled with love and acceptance, especially when I’m thinking about this ____, I am helping myself to let go.
UN: I choose to appreciate myself with the priceless love You have for me.
CH: I choose to think kind thoughts about myself.
CB: What if I were to let go of this _____?
TB:  What would my life be like if I were to let go of this ____?
EB: Lord, I want to let go of this ____ because ____.
SE: But I can’t let go of this ____ because _____.
UE: Father, if I were to let go of this ____ I would feel ____.
UN: I wonder if I could replace this ____ with feelings of love and acceptance and appreciation for myself. Could I love myself with Your love, so much that I wouldn’t need this ____ anymore?
CH: Wouldn’t it be nice to feel good and think good thoughts about myself?
CB: Wouldn’t it be nice to be completely free of this ____?
TH: But Lord, I don’t believe I can be completely free of this ____; I have felt this way for so long. I’m afraid to let go.
EB: Father, I’m willing to consider letting go of this ____.
SE: I’m willing to consider and imagine my life without this ____.
UE: My life without this ____ would be _____.
UN: Without this ____, I would feel ____.
CH: Lord, I want to feel ____.
CB: The thought of feeling ____ feels better than this ____.
TH: Father, I want to spend more time thinking about this good feeling that I get when I think about my life without this ____. I need Your help to change my thought patterns.
EB: I intend to replace my self-condemning thoughts about this ____ with thoughts of love and appreciation for myself.
SE: Lord, when old thought patterns come up, I will lovingly, patiently, acknowledge them and turn my attention on to my new, better feeling thoughts about myself.
UE: I choose to spend less time feeling bad about what’s wrong in my life and more time observing and feeling good about what’s going right in my life.
UN: Feeling good is way better than this ____.
CH: I give myself permission to feel good.
CB: Father, I know with persistence, patience, and love, I am going to free myself of this ____.
TH: I appreciate myself for making this change. I look forward to feeling better and better. Thank You, Lord.

Proceeds from Gayla’s personal coaching at EFT Lady and Prayer Lady support the feeding, housing, and clothing of SEC’s herd. Serenity Equestrian Center and Feathered Dream Drum Horses are family owned and run. Serenity’s Equine Therapy program is not a therapeutic riding school, but focuses solely upon the emotional wellness of the visitors. Visit (right click) Serenity Equestrian Center to learn more about SEC. Private donations also support the herd’s needs and go toward the playground and building funds. Make a Donation at PayPal. Thank you!

Betty is a Christian, so I applied EFT in the form of a prayer. (Her story is also on the EFT Lady blog.)

Both sessions were by phone and our time was limited, so I led the prayer in short phrases and directed Betty to tap each EFT spot as I went along. I followed intuition and lingered at certain spots to have her breathe deeply and bask in God‘s presence. We used the following spots: KC, TH, EB, SE, UE, UN, CH, and CB. Sometimes, I directed Betty to simply press each spot during an entire round of taking multiple deep breaths. The breathing seemed to give her greater opportunity to relax, release her issues, and tune into God‘s presence.

Betty was going in next day for a drug induced stress test and dye injection to look for blockages in her arteries. Some years ago, her dear friend died during surgery while Betty had been in the waiting room. Her fears were at a 10. Over the course of 2 hours, we prayer-tapped for all aspects of fear: surrounding each of the procedures, needles, hospitalization, bypass surgery, death… 

Rather than use the common stress test, the doctor wanted to inject Betty with a stimulant to stress her heart. This caused her great concern, because, unlike the stress test where she could stop moving and calm her heart, she would have no control over the drug’s effect.

Our tapping over each of these issues brought Betty down from a 10 in every category to a 0.

When asked, Betty said she felt she had 90% blockage in her arteries. We tapped for the blockage to safely dissolve and leave her body.  This, I am certain, began immediately, but was not evident upon her dye test the next day.

God showed me the cause of the blockage was from harboring hurts and offenses. Betty agreed. Time constraints only allowed us to address this  from a 10 to a 2. Betty said she was at a 0, but I knew inside of me, the tremendous relief she was feeling was giving her the false impression of a 0.

Next day, Betty felt bold and calm. Upon her insistence,  she was allowed to take the regular stress test.   This step was significant, as Betty has always obeyed the doctors and has never made her desires known, much less, taken such control over her own care. Also, we had not tapped to have such boldness. I believe her inner strength came from tapping away the fears.  With the fears out of her way, she was able to stand up for herself.

In addition to her successful stress test, Betty remained calm throughout the dye test. The doctor and staff commented several times on how calm and relaxed she was – especially with the needle and injection of the dye.

The dye test showed 90% blockage in one artery. How about that for knowing her own body!  The doctor scheduled Betty to have the balloon procedure, or stint, or bypass surgery, depending on the situation they would find, for the following week.

We prayer-tapped one hour, the night before the surgery. Betty was at a 0 on all aspects of fear and was making rapid headway in releasing the numerous hurts of her past. The hurts toppled to a 0 like dominoes. We also tapped thanksgiving for the safe and natural clearing of her artery. I had been convinced for 5 days that the surgery was unnecessary. I was thoroughly certain, deep down, that her artery was completely cleared. I told my friend and colleague of my feelings, but we agreed such information was inappropriate to share with Betty.

Betty called next day after the surgery, quite stunned and praising God. The doctors found the artery completely clear! There was no need for the balloon and they had no explanation for an artery going from 90% blocked to 0% in just one week. 

Hurray for prayer-EFT!! It is more than enough that EFT helped Betty release her fears and go through the procedures in perfect calmness. That alone is an incredible gift. But how much more wonderful is it that she allowed her body to literally, release the blockage and “heal” itself through her faith in God.

Betty has learned the significant importance of releasing hurts. She now has the tools to walk in emotional and physical freedom. For that, I am profoundly grateful.

Proceeds from Gayla’s personal coaching at EFT Lady and Prayer Lady support the feeding, housing, and clothing of SEC’s herd. Serenity Equestrian Center and Feathered Dream Drum Horses are family owned and run. Serenity’s Equine Therapy program is not a therapeutic riding school, but focuses solely upon the emotional wellness of the visitors. Visit (right click) Serenity Equestrian Center to learn more about SEC. Private donations also support the herd’s needs and go toward the playground and building funds. Make a Donation at PayPal. Thank you!

Janice called in a panic. She could barely breathe. Her level of discomfort was at a 10 (10 is the highest and 0 is free of panic). As we prayed and tapped together and Gayla administered her Serentiy Restoration Healing, Janice rapidly became more comfortable. Janice knew she needed to  hand her fears over to God. She even knew what to do to let go. But this time, she needed help loosening her grip on her fears. Within 15 minutes, Janice was completely at peace.

During their remaining 30 minutes, Gayla coached Janice, along with prayer, EFT and SRH,  on how to direct her thoughts and attention toward God’s provision for her life and how to walk away from the years of doubt-filled thoughts that led to her panic attack.

As Janice has continued to discipline her thoughts, her panic attacks have become rare and less severe. Her joy in the Lord increases every day.

Helping people like Janice, feel better, thrills and awes Gayla. It is an additional joy for Gayla to give the proceeds of this session and those at EFT Lady to Serenity’s Equine Therapy program for veterans and their families at Serenity Equestrian Center, home of Feathered Dream Drum Horses. SET focuses on emotional wellness and is not a therapeutic riding program. Your donations to SET help feed, house the equine volunteers and develop SET.

Please go to Gayla’s Sessions & Donations page to schedule a session with Gayla or to make donations to SET. Thank you!