You may have to bend a horse alot to get him straight.  You need bending to get a horse to circle.  You need bending to be able to pet a horse.  Without the bending you have no control of  the hindquarters, so good luck petting a tricky one.   A horse should always be on a line- the line you set.  This,being on a line, will take bending of the horse to learn to carry that straightness even on a circle or a straight line.  Alternating between bending alittle and alot gives you control of the hindquarters and the mind, right down to those feet.    The quality of the bend develops as your effectiveness and the horses’ understanding of what the direction means determines how the manuver you ask for comes thru.   Asking for the hind quarters to step over and then bringing the front around is an example of a manuver alot of riders have trouble getting smooth and correct.  The timing, balance and feel have a great deal of importance in getting the correct amount of bend in your horse to obtain a fluid manuver.  The right amount of bend for one horse may be alot for one and very little for another. Also,  as in a turnaround, it takes alot of bend as the horse learns the manuver and then alot less bend  as the horse understands the whole manuver and has muscle memory and fittness for the manuver.

After lots of work at bending with the idea of getting control of the different body parts with softness throughout the whole horse, the horse can now travel straight.

Madalyn Ward of Fischer, Texas:  The biggest thing for her and her horse Remi, was the timing and feel of when she needed to firm up her request to let her horse know -yes, this is what we need right now.  When to firm up to make sure her horse knew what was needed at a given point, has been difficult for Madalyn due to her horses’ history of abuse.  She was able to feel  the moment when firming up was right and made things clear to her horse and for her horse to then feel the confidence from her.

Lucille Menzies of Menard, Texas :   “The biggest breakthrough for me and my new filly, was loping out”.  Buster lead discussions and demostrated  walking your horse and seeing how fast he can walk, and knowing at some point finding out how fast he can walk will lead to a trot. This helped Lucille feel the difference of thinking about a lope from a fast trot so that the horse can just ease into the lope from the trot without being bothered  by a rider asking too much too soon from a young horse. We all  worked going from a slow walk to a fast walk  to a trot, back to walk and from trot to lope back to trot and back to walk, with as little as it takes.  This helped Lucille find a real good spot between her and her filly without her filly feeling bothered or getting chargy.

I was able to put the discussions of what to do with a scared horse to use.  Buster was asked several questions on what to do if the horse did this or that.  His response was generally – “depends or I don’t know”.   He further let us know that getting control of the feet by bending and through the mind would give us the tools to get a horse settled back down after a scare.   Getting some of these things working on a horse, will let you know that you can help that horse come back to you, whatever happens.  You are building a confidence everyday with your horse that lets that horse know that everything will be good as long as he is with you.  You can destroy that trust in a few seconds.   So think before you act.  Remember the horse is not sure and maybe alittle scared.  It takes a long time to build the trust and confidence between the horse and human. 

Photo:  Sheryl McLaury

You are what you eat, so if you eat well then you should be feeling pretty smug, right? Right … but you could be doing more for your health.

If you eat organic, get regular exercise, and feel healthy, you might ask, “Why bother?” when it comes to enzymes for digestions. After all, you are already taking really good care of your body.

So why take enzymes? What do enzymes do?

Why Take Enzymes?
The goal of taking digestive enzymes is to enhance your digestion and increase the nutrient absorption of what you eat. If you buy organic and eat a high-fiber low-sugar diet, the enzymes simply help your body absorb more of the healthy food you eat.

On the other hand, if you love junk food and your hardest workout is lifting a doughnut to your mouth, enzymes can still help you. Enzymes increase the digestion of any good nutrients in the doughnut, and lessen any digestive upset that comes from eating junk food.

So enzymes help your body whether you eat well or eat poorly. That’s pretty neat.

Do Enzymes Work? TIM Says Yes!
Scientists in the Netherlands have been using a certified artificial digestive system, nicknamed TIM for short, to study the human digestive system. Using TIM, they have discovered the answer to the question, “Do enzymes work?”

The answer is a resounding “Yes!”

By feeding TIM a FDA-type test meal (a mix of proteins, carbohydrates, and fat) mixed with water and saliva, they were able to see how a human digestive system would work with and without enzymes. Here’s what TIM showed them:

>> digestive enzymes significantly improved the digestibility and absorption of nutrients in the various parts of the system (such as the small intestine)

>> digestive enzymes significantly  improved digestion when TIM was operated under perfect conditions, and ALSO when TIM was operated in impaired conditions (with 70% reduced gastric and intestinal secretions)

What’s the Bottom Line?
Like my dog, some of you may be reading through all these statistics and acronyms and processing them like this: “Blah, blah, blah … digestive enzymes … blah, blah, blah … TIM (whoever HE is)…”

If so, don’t worry. The bottom line is simple:

Taking digestive enzymes will help your digestion whether it is operating perfectly or operating poorly. Enzymes will also help you get more nutrition from the food you eat.

Translation: Take enzymes. Feel better. Get more bang for your buck at the grocery store.

Get it? Got it? Good!

Not got it? Contact us … we’ll talk you through it!

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Simplexity Health has 2 enzyme products. SBG Zymes contain a combination of enzymes to help break down all types of foods (including fats, carbohydrates, protein, and fiber) for improved digestion and optimal nutrition and SBG Zymes Plus containing a superior blend of 12 plant-based enzymes, plus Alpha Sun, fennel, ginger, and cayenne to allow your body to digest and utilize a broader spectrum of nutrients.

 GUEST POST BY:  Madyalyn Ward–In college my friends and I used to joke about the fact that we never listened to our bodies. We ate when we were tired, and  we slept when we were hungry. As a result, we didn’t have as much energy we would have liked for, well, doing whatever people did
in college [you fill in the blanks with your imagination!].

But it turns out that if you need more daily energy, just feeding
your body better food won’t totally deliver what you want. You
will feel better, but you won’t get as much daily energy as you
seek.

Daily Energy–Feed Your Cells Instead
It turns out that for our bodies to have peak daily energy, we
need to not only feed our bodies with the food we eat, but we
need to feed our cells as well. It makes sense when you think
about it because we are built of a mass of cells.

So what do we feed our cells? What do cells “eat”? Cells need:

• essential fatty acids (EFAs)
• proteins
• amino acids
• complex sugars
• vitamins and minerals

In addition, the mitochondria inside the cells, which are the
actual producers of cellular energy, need CoEnzyme Q10.

Finally, our brain cells need TWICE the energy of regular body
cells yet are more difficult to “feed” than regular body cells.
Why? Because brain cells are protected by a barrier called the
blood brain barrier, which only allows very small molecules to
pass to the brain. Thus some people’s brains are actually starved
for complex sugars, micro-nutrients, and other small molecules
that feed the brain.

A Menu from which to Feed Your Cells
So now you know what your cells need to provide you with plenty
of daily energy, what’s on the menu? If you want to keep the menu
short, simple, and sleek, check out these three simple
supplements:

- Alpha Sun blue-green algae: Feeds cells on a macro level and
provides all the basic “cellular foods.” Anywhere from 1 to 4
capsules daily can make a difference.

- CoEnzyme Q10: Feeds the mitochondria so it can churn out
cellular energy. Adding 1 to 2 gel caps daily can provide the key
nutrient mitochondria need to stay active.
- Omega Sun blue-green algae: This “stripped down” version of the
blue-green algae is small enough to slip through the blood brain
barrier to feed hungry brain cells. Taking 1 to 4 capsules daily
can help with mental clarity and stamina.

That’s a pretty simple menu of cellular food that will give you
plenty of daily energy!

If you will think about these words, you will pause and think, take ahold of your horse thru the reins or halter rope with respect and honor for your horse and wait for that try.  You will allow your horse to think on his own and feel the try he gives you.  You will have a feel of respect and intent in your fingers and hand all the way to your heart when you ask the horse thru the reins or halter rope.

I was really inspired by the presenters at the 2nd Legacy of Legends held in Las Vegas, Nevada in Feburary.  I got alot of good notes, like the quote from Buck above .   The whole weekend was very entertaining, inspiring and great fellowship with old and news friends.  Feel, timing and balance was the basis from which all the presenters worked from.  This event was bigger and better than the 1st and promises to be an exciting anual event to honor the legends and to pass the torch so to speak.   The next Legacy of Legends is set for February, 2013!

Photo by:  Carol Akers- riding colts with Buster McLaury

Saturday morning we started out in the pastures, looking for 6 head of renegade cattle that have been running loose for over a year.   Kate on her trusty steed, Ranger and I, mounted on Button rode out in search of the cattle.   The cattle had been spotted a few times, so we had a good idea where to start our search and gather.  A lot of the fences have been down in west Texas due to the vast ranging fires over the last year.   So it was easy for this group of six to be hard to find roaming in thousands of acres.   Sam sent a text that he saw them north of the windmill in the pasture we were in so off we went at a fast trot and gallop.   We found the cattle, eased up on them and headed them towards the nearest set of pens.  It was a few miles, lots of wind, and they had a big bubble.  We had to drive them from a far distance, like fifty yards or more at first.  We got them penned about noon and headed for the branding pens.

 After a water break, and arrival of the rest of the crew, we set up to brand.  We had three ropers.  Jerry Allison joined us for the branding.  Martha and Josh helped Sam with the branding pot, vaccines and wormer.   We took turns heading a calf, the other ropers would fall in to heel and whoever had not caught heels, helped with the ground work.  We all headed, heeled and worked the ground.   The calves got worked with very little stress. We got lots of good practice roping in the 20 to 30 mph gusty winds.

Sunday morning we spent driving the renegade cattle to another stronger set of pens near the highway, so they could be hauled to another pasture and joined up with another group of cattle.   The cattle were wild enough that having experienced horses that could be maneuvered one foot at a time, backwards or forwards was important to keep from having them run off.   Any pressure from the horses got their heads up looking for a place to run.   We got the cattle moved and penned.  The cattle were starting to settle some, ease around and be driven quietly by the time we made the four mile drive to the next set of pens.   What a great weekend of riding, roping, horsemanship and stockmanship practice.