#44 The Emotional & Spiritual Connection to Posture & Performance with Dr. Tracy Rainwaters

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:00:00-00:00:09]
On this episode, we're talking with Dr. Tracy Rainwaters, a chiropractor, shaman, interspecies intuitive, and breathwork facilitator.

[SPEAKER 4]
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Young horses, they can have body work from the moment that they're born. This is a way that we can truly prevent a lot of the lameness issues.

[SPEAKER 1]
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Welcome to the Equestrian Connection podcast from WeHorse. My name is Danielle Crowell, and I'm your host. Dr. Tracy Rainwater holds a very long list of education and credentials, including but not limited to a doctor of chiropractic, animal chiropractic certification, neo-shamanic breathwork practitioner certification, and so much more. Her mission is to bring harmony between horses and their humans. She utilizes a whole being approach to healing by looking at an issue from the perspective of the physical, mental, and emotional, as well as the energetic and the spiritual. With that, she combines her medical knowledge as a human and animal chiropractor with her intuitive abilities as an interspecies intuitive and shamanic practitioner to bring whole being healing to both horse and rider. Through this approach, she is able to help improve harmony, performance, connection, and health. Intrigued? Same. I can't wait to dive into this interesting interview, so let's get started. Tracy, welcome to the WeHorse podcast. I'm so excited to have you here.

[SPEAKER 3]
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Well, thank you so much for having me, Danielle. I'm so excited to be here as well.

[SPEAKER 1]
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So I always like to go back to the very beginning and find out like the roots to where we are now. So how did you get started with horses and what were your first few years like as an equestrian?

[SPEAKER 4]
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So, I was one of those kids that was born absolutely horse crazy. Like, really, I was born into not a horsey family. So, some of my earliest memories, I can remember being like three, four, and being absolutely obsessed with horses. So... I feel very fortunate that at about four, my parents let me start doing lead line lessons. And that just fed the absolute horse craziness as a child. And it just never went away as I got older. If anything, it just amplified and picked up more force and power as I got older. But I feel like part of my life's mission is just to walk this path in life, being highly in alignment with the spirit of horses and all the gifts that they have here to offer. So I think I could say like I can't even remember a life without horses in it or at least a high desire to have them aligned in my life.

[SPEAKER 1]
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I love that. I find it so interesting. The people that I mean, myself included, come from not a horse family at all. And it's like, how? Yeah. Did how did we become so obsessed with these animals, you know, and just that that need and that desire to connect with them? I find it so fascinating. So it's really cool.

[SPEAKER 4]
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It is fascinating. And like the only thing I can come back to, it's like, man, there's just some sort of soul contract, soul alignment. Like it. Yeah. I just feel like I always joke. I'm like, yeah, I just sort of like landed on this planet, like very much wanting to just be completely immersed in horses.

[SPEAKER 1]
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Yeah, absolutely.

[SPEAKER 4]
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They found us for sure. Exactly. Yeah.

[SPEAKER 1]
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So you then went on, obviously, years later to become an animal chiropractor, including horses. So can you tell us a little bit about your start with becoming an animal chiropractor and then your journey to where you are today? Yeah.

[SPEAKER 4]
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So I grew up, like I said, you know, I'm so grateful that my parents did whatever they could, you know, to keep horses in my life and to allow me to ride. And I always knew that I wanted to work with horses in some capacity. And I'm in my mid-40s now. So, you know, growing up, it felt like the only options really were to either train horses or to be a vet. And I really grew up wanting to be a professional rider. And, you know, I come from a very blue-collar family. And, you know, my parents, that was really not an option. I mean, it was made very clear that it's like you will go to college, like you will have a good job. You have a very expensive hobby. So when I was 14... I'm super grateful. One of the horses that we had had a lump on its back. One of my mom's coworkers told her, you know, I have a chiropractor come and work on our horses. You guys should give that a try. And I just remember watching this person. They were a human chiropractor who had been trained in animal chiropractic. And they came out and worked on my horse. And it was like something in me just absolutely clicked. And it was like, that is the thing that I want to do. And it had a profound impact on the horse and the way that he moved and the way that he felt in his body. So I decided to pursue that professionally. And really, there are two tracks. You can either become a veterinarian or a human chiropractor. So I started out pre-vet in college. I got about a year in and just really felt out of alignment professionally. we were learning, I was taking an animal science class and we were learning how to artificially inseminate pigs one day. And I was like, I don't want to do this today. I don't want to do this for the next seven to eight years. This isn't right. So I switched majors and got into human performance, became a human chiropractor and then went into my animal chiropractic training. And I went through all of my human chiropractic training, knowing that, you know, horses were my focus. And once I finished my animal program, It's like the universe, the stars aligned, and things rolled out for me pretty easily. And the horse stuff, you know, working on horses, it picked up. And I've always had this big interest in high-performance horses. I am a dressage rider, or I used to be a dressage rider. I think that has shifted a lot for me now. But... You know, my practice has really been high performance dressage horses and show jumpers. So looking at the performance aspect of horse and rider was a huge part of my early career. And this really interesting thing started to happen shortly after I started my practice. I always knew that I was intuitive and empathic. Like that was always something that was just there. But I started to put my hands on horses and they would start to show me images of what was going on in their body. And I didn't really know what to do with that. I didn't really know what it meant. I just knew that they were guiding me in how to help their body. You know, it was really working well. So that kind of led me on the road to, you know, looking into animal communication. Excuse me. A lot of my shamanic training came purely, you know, out of my own desire and interest in spirituality and, you know, being exposed to a different perspective in life. But that very quickly started to show up in my day to day practice. So I feel like I've quietly, you know, for almost two decades now, I've been blending, like, how do we work with animals? Horses in a way that's really supportive to the literal physical body, but how do we also bring in this energetic, emotional, spiritual component that I think most of us as horse lovers and equestrian athletes, like we feel like there is this deep, soulful connection that can happen with a horse. And how do we bring those two together to really... to not only enhance the relationship, but to really bring out the best in both beings. And I feel like this isn't an either or. It isn't just working with the horse or just the rider. It isn't just looking at the physical body and how do we help the physical body. We also have to look at the emotional and for me, the spiritual components to what is showing up, whether it's, you know, in a lameness and an illness or just in a mental and emotional block to a horse and a rider coming together.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:08:04-00:10:40]
Mm hmm. Do you wish you could have a better partnership with your horse but aren't sure where to start? Do you want to advance your riding or horsemanship but don't have access to the ideal resources in your area? Does the idea of learning about horse training whenever and wherever and at a price that won't break your horse bank sound appealing to you? Check out WeHorse.com to access over 175 online courses with top trainers from around the world. We have courses on everything from dressage to groundwork to show jumping to body work. And as a member, you get access to everything in our WeHorse library to watch whenever you want. Oh, and we also have an app, which means you can download a course or video to watch without Wi-Fi, which is perfect for those days of the program when you want a quick dose of training inspiration before your ride. So what are you waiting for? Go to WeHorse.com and check out our free seven-day trial to access our WeHorse library and see if it's a good fit for you. We can't wait to see you in there. And now, back to the episode. That's beautiful. I love that. I have three questions that came to mind based on that, so I'm going to ask them one at a time so it doesn't get confusing. The first one is... When we look at the idea that you mentioned, you initially started with more so high-level dressage and show jumpers. And I feel as though now the – I'm sure it's very much changing, and I know that for a fact. But I do still feel like there's a little bit of a preconception that in order to have body work, your horse needs to – Be in quote unquote work for it, you know, like they they have to be working really hard. If they're just a, you know, a pleasure or pasture mate or something like that, they don't need body work as much. Now, my horses are. They haven't been ridden, not by choice, by just trying to figure them out, but two years. And they have had more body work done than I can count. And so I'd love to address the idea that the importance of having body work for horses that aren't necessarily the quote unquote high level or even showing or in a lot of work or anything like that. Can you speak to that a bit?

[SPEAKER 4]
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Yeah, so I think a really great example we can look at is to look at people. So we know there is so much research around this. If you are someone who spends 40 to 50 hours a week sitting at a desk, working in an office, and perhaps every day you commute an hour each way, one of the most harmful things that we can do to a human, not only for our biomechanics and our body, is to be sedentary. So sitting is actually very harmful to our overall posture. If we sit too much, we are not designed to be static and immobile. So it's like if you go from having a very sedentary lifestyle, maybe you change your diet, you start doing Pilates and yoga. These are the people and I've had this happen in my life as well. Like I tend to need less supportive care, the healthier my lifestyle and the more movement and activity I have. I think the absolute same is true for horses just because they're not in heavy work and they're not carrying a rider. five or six days a week and intensely training for something doesn't mean that there aren't biomechanical issues in the body. It doesn't mean that there aren't the daily forces of life, like horses are horses. They buck and play and they slip and they slide and things happen. So I agree. I see this a lot. People are like, oh, you know, my horse has been out of work for three years. I'm going to wait until they're really fit again before we start doing chiropractic or body work. And To me, I'm like, we need to look through the complete opposite end of the telescope that if we can support the body in all stages, and I'm a chiropractor, so I look at things from like the bone structure. So I'm like, if we can keep the joints moving and fluid and make sure that energy or movement can translate through the body in a really biomechanically appropriate way, that helps the muscle structure. It helps the fascia. It helps the hooves. It helps everything. So as you're bringing your horse back into work, we're going to have From my perspective, a much lower likelihood of injury because the body's moving. We're weight bearing the way that we should. Movement is happening the way that we should. So hopefully certain limbs aren't over concussing. Certain parts of the body aren't taking a bigger hit than others. I also see this with young horses. You know, people really have this idea that it's like, well, I don't really need to do body work until they're, you know, they've started into work. They're babies. What could possibly be wrong? Like so much of what I see in young horses coming into work and that's, a whole other topic as to when and how that happens. But one of the most traumatic things that can happen to our body is just the birth process. Like even when it goes well, there's a tremendous amount of forces on our body that can absolutely affect our posture. And as we grow, that can affect how our bony structure changes over time. Young horses bucking and playing, like I've got a couple of young horses and the amount of pasture stuff that I've seen, and I'm so glad that I was able to see it, Because I've got a four-year-old and at two, you know, she was just playing in the pasture and like wiped out and fell on her hip. And that was nine months of like really deliberate body work to help her through that. And she was never lame. You know, there was never anything on the outside that you were like, oh, my God, something's really wrong here. But I can totally see, like, had that been left alone, you know, as a four-, five-, and six-year-old, this is, like, where the SI joint issues start or the arthritis and the hocks. All of that translates up through the body. So, yeah, I feel like – and I know that you're seeing this, too. It's part of the bigger – viewpoint from my mind of not seeing our horses as just a vehicle to feed our hobbies and our egos. Like to me, my horses, I'm looking for this equal partnership. They're my friends. Like they are a part of our family. I want them to be thriving all the time. Like my life looks so different now than it did five years ago. Like I don't really have time to work all the horses and to be, you know, I'm just not riding five to six days a week like I used to. Now they are out in the field and they have a much more species appropriate lifestyle. But to me, it's really important. Like, how do I keep them healthy and sound? So when we can come back into work, it's really additive to their life. It's a very seamless thing. And then I'm really helping support the body in every way that I can. So, yeah, I just wish people knew it's like young horses. They can have body work from the moment that they're born. If you're working with people who are truly healthy, trained and certified in all the ways that they should. You know, it doesn't have to be every month, but really watching their bodies and help support them as we grow. I feel like this is a way that we can surely prevent A lot of the lameness issues and some of the spinal issues that we're seeing in these young sport horses.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:15:34-00:15:37]
I think it's actually horses of every breed.

[SPEAKER 4]
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But for me, I'm really looking at a performance horse perspective. And there's a profound amount of lameness, spinal issues that are starting to pop up in three to five year olds. And to me, it's not a mystery where this is coming from. But I feel like some of the veterinary world and the research world, You know, they're trying to look at things from all angles, but I think there's so much that we can do as owners to help make the quality of life for our horses so much better.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:16:01-00:16:40]
Absolutely. I'm going to put a pin on my next part and save that for later. I want to keep going in this direction and speak to your masterclass that you have on your website, which... I can't believe it's free. I'm going to say that right now to everybody that Dr. Tracy has a masterclass on her website called Posture Confirmation and the Modern Sport Horse. It's an hour and a half long and it is free. So like got to take advantage of that. So I'd love to chat about that for a second. First, can you tell us what the difference is between posture and confirmation?

[SPEAKER 4]
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simple form. Conformation is the bone structure that we're born with. And then posture is how that bone structure adapts to forces over time. So And where things get a little more nuanced is posture, like in a young growing being, whether they have four legs or two legs, posture can profoundly affect conformation. So it's not like we're born with a certain bone structure. And as you grow, like it just is what it is. So like if we look at horses, like if they never get hoof care for like the first three years in their life, and I'm still at fault that this sometimes happens and this to you is very normal. Um, you know, inappropriate hoof balance can absolutely affect how bones grow and how the rest of the body can adapt to that, which can have an effect on what we would call confirmation. Um, but also let's say you've had a horse who said like, you know, regular body work is a young horse. They've had one, you know, fabulous hoof care. They grow, they've got this beautiful bone structure that's pretty balanced and healthy and happy. Um, And let's say they're started under saddle at three. By four, they're out showing or maybe they're showing as a three-year-old. And maybe I feel like this is a very common thing. It's like people are like, well, you know, I don't want to get a saddle that's super fitted to this horse because I know they're going to grow and change over time. So we're just going to use whatever seems to work. They don't seem bothered by it. That's such a common thing to hear. Yeah. And, oh, you know, they're a little hot. So maybe we throw them in side reins because they're really out of balance and they're a little out of control. So the neck is put in an inappropriate posture, which locks out the back. And then all of a sudden we start to see muscle atrophy. You know, we start to see these changes in the body, which are absolutely postural, which can then like on a growing horse effect long term, like what the bony structure is doing. So part of my reason for offering this for free is where I see there is a huge, huge gap in education and knowledge and not just from amateur riders. I find from professional riders, people riding at the highest level of the sport, judges, like there's a huge lack of understanding. Like if we just look at a horse's body, And if we look at their posture, like what is their posture and what is their muscle structure telling us about how they are responding to work? To me, this is a beautiful way to check our work, too, like as riders and trainers, like is what we're doing actually supporting the body? I don't. It's been one of my biggest shocks in my career. I've worked on horses that have gone to the Olympics, the World Equestrian Games. I've worked on horses that, you know, for their amateur riders are still competing at a national level. And a lot of, not all of them, but a lot of these horses, you can pull their tack off and maybe they're doing a Grand Prix and I'm like, there's no top line. Like there is no muscle structure to actually support what these horses are doing. And I feel like we've fallen into this very common thing that Joint injections should happen every three to four months. There's some things that have just become very normal, but this is just how we support our horses and our work. And people, I would say for the most part, have no understanding of like... What is true self-carriage? What does it mean for a horse to be truly an uphill balance? It isn't just the pole coming high. Like, is the sternum and the wither lifting? Like, are the trapezius muscles actually doing what they're supposed to be doing? There's a lot of beautiful work and attention being brought to the thoracic sling. Like, is that actually appropriate and strong? So... my intention behind this, I was asked to do it for a dressage club in California. And to me, it just feels like I just want people to be empowered, to be able to look at the body and go like, perhaps this training structure or the system is, isn't right for my horse right now like do we need to slow things down does my saddle fit need to be you know looked at it's another big thing like how many horses i see when you take the saddle away there's like an imprint a permanent imprint from the saddle like on the horse's back like that is not normal so really my goal is to educate people like can you look at the body and see like what is the muscle structure doing is this normal uh what needs to be improved and Where are the problems in our horse's body so that we can call in the appropriate support systems? I also feel like we're stepping into one of the things that I see with posture and confirmation, at least in the sport horse world, the types of horses that we are breeding are so radically different. I even look in the last five to 10 years, it seems like every five to 10 years, we get this big adaptive change where, you know, 15 to 20 years ago, the type of warm blood competing at the top of the sport. If you look at them now, you're like a lot of like really competitive adult amateurs are riding fancier, more athletic courses than were in the Olympics 20 years ago. So yeah, For me, too, it's like wanting people to understand we are breeding very hot, hypermobile horses. And when we have hypermobility in the body, that absolutely demands that we change how we train the horses. And I see that's not happening.

[SPEAKER 1]
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The opposite is happening.

[SPEAKER 4]
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People see these horses and they're like, oh, they can. Look at that fancy movement.

[SPEAKER 1]
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Let me. Yeah, they can.

[SPEAKER 4]
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They're naturally. I know we can shorten the range. And there's like this quiet thing. In the horse world, and I'd say especially in the veterinary world, where there are a lot of young five- to seven-year-old high-performance horses that come up through the young horse training program that are usually crippled or may not even live past seven. And to me, it's 100% like we are breeding different horses. They're hypermobile, and we don't know how to appropriately train them. We're training them like we're rapidly accelerating everything when we're we actually need to be slowing everything down so that we can help these horses find really appropriate stability and core strength in the body that will be really supportive of their life moving forward.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:23:02-00:25:45]
Yeah. Yeah. I absolutely love that. I love the fact that it's allowing owners to be empowered. I just think it's something that there's, we've seen for so long and we've experienced for so long, the owner, um, and I'll speak to my experience as well as the owner that, um, is reliant on somebody else giving them the answers and telling them what to do and everything all the time. And so if you don't hear it from somebody else and you're thinking everything is fine. Um, and that's how I have lived my equestrian life for for so many years and and it's interesting um when I got my gelding a few years ago um so about three years ago um he was going so well he was moving beautifully and everybody was like oh my gosh look at him go he's going so well and I remember looking and thinking yeah but does anybody see him standing still because he shouldn't look this way And yeah, he moved beautifully. But if you saw him with his tack off standing still, he was a train wreck. And that's when I pulled him from everything. I pulled him from all work. And I thought like this, we need to figure something out. Because like you had mentioned, we were not really seeing the... the underlying things that are going on. And, um, you know, it's been, it's been a huge, it's been two years of, of, you know, figuring a lot of stuff out and there's been a lot of learning curve for me. So I'm sure, um, you know, it could have been resolved faster, but I'm going to give myself the grace and say that, you know, I I've been learning and unlearning, which is just as important. Um, you know, when it comes to find out, like you had mentioned that, um, We need to address things from the bottom up. And I've been working from the top down. And there's so much that's happening in the feet and the bones around the feet and all of those things that are affecting. And I'm so excited for his future. Yeah. You know, because we're resolving all of the issues that never should have happened in the first place. And I just I have to give the shout out as the amateur owner that says thank you to professionals such as yourself who are giving us the information to be more empowered with our horses. So thank you so much.

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:25:46-00:28:23]
Oh, well, thank you. There's a couple of things that I want to say there. And the first one is. I want this. This is what I always aim to be the thing that leads the work that I do. My message is it's like you said, giving yourself grace. We can't learn without making mistakes. I and some people are into the spiritual aspect of animals and some people aren't. And both of that's OK. But I feel like these animals are here to really help us and to teach us. And they come with, to me, such a deep feeling of love that when we come with a good intention, even when we make a mistake, like I can promise you your horse isn't holding it against you. But we have to start extending one another grace that we are all learning. We are all trying to figure this out and being kind to one another and being supportive and not being nasty and mean when people make mistakes. You know, it's like we're all... So what I've seen more often than not is people deeply love their animals. And yes, like it is very common. I feel like we are trained from a very young age that you give your power over to the professionals. And I think we put a lot of trust and a lot of faith in them. And I extend them a lot of grace and compassion also that they're doing the best they can with the information that they have to keep their clients safe and to develop horses. Now, that doesn't always mean that they have good information, but Um, it's also been my frustration in this work that I'm like, gosh, you know, this would move so quickly. If the people from the top down, like if we could really reach them and create change there, this would happen so quickly. And. I found a lot of resistance to that, which makes me sad. But what I'm really excited about is, like you, it is the adult amateur horse owner, horse lover. There is so much information available now and people are so hungry and willing that it feels like a little bit of a grassroots effort. Like we're going to change this from the bottom up. And I hope that we get to a point that if we can all be empowered, that we can start going to professionals and being like, I understand, but, and being really empowered to really advocate for the horse and to go your own way. I mean, so much of the work that I do with people one-on-one outside of my chiropractic, it's, it's really empowering people because I would say nine times out of 10, like you guys know in your heart what's right for your animal. It's just giving, validating that and empowering people to use their voice and to leave a system that isn't working and to really seek out the things that will help, help our horses moving forward.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:28:25-00:28:55]
That actually leads me beautifully into the question that I put the pin in. So I'm going to take that pin out and, and ask when you began, um, And I don't even want to call it a transition into as much as just a like opening up into including the intuitive work into the chiropractic. How did you begin to see the shift in the horses and also the shift in the humans?

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:28:56-00:32:37]
Yeah, so about 12 years ago, I went through a shamanic training program, and it really came to me a little bit on accident. My mom was diagnosed with a very severe form of bone cancer. A friend of mine was like, you know, I just want Klaus Schallman, and I think it's something that you would really resonate with. I went to this person and had a session. It was truly life-changing. So I went through this really intensive two-year training program with no other intention that it was for my own personal development. And some of the energy healing processes that we learned, which is really looking at belief systems and soul contracts and how that feeds our energy system. I just started because I had a really tricky horse at the time. And I'm like, well, I'm just going to see if like maybe this works on horses. I don't know. And some of the ladies at the bar that I was porting at, you know, knew what I was doing. And yeah, You know, I started doing some shamanic energy healings on their horses. And what started to happen is I'd work on the horses and the people would just start crying like in a beautiful way. But it was like things within them started to release and to shift and to change. And the relationship over time with the horse and the rider would radically shift and change. So I feel like I've been a little bit fumbling around in the dark, you know, just trying to figure out what all of this is and how it works. But for me, I really see the horse and the rider are like it is a relationship and it is a unit. And any of the belief systems or fears that we hold within ourselves, you know, our horses beautifully behave. they're feeling that also and it is affecting the relationship and it can affect, you know, behaviors, even some health issues that are coming up in the horse. So I really encourage people to always look at whatever problem you're facing in your horse, like at least having the self-reflection of, you know, what do I feel in my body? Like if we have a fear or behavior, like I had a young horse that she's very spooky at one end of the arena and, And one day I was working with her on the ground and every time she'd get through one corner, like I noticed I would feel it was like a butterfly in my stomach. And I'm like, God, that's really interesting because I don't, I don't feel necessarily in fear in this moment, but I really started to just breathe into this feeling in my belly. And I gave it permission to be as big as it wanted to get. And it actually stopped me and actually took me to my knees. Like I was breathing all of a sudden, like on the ground and my horse was standing there looking at me, but it, it actually happened very quickly where it's like, I had this big emotional release and my horse stops cooking at that end of the arena. Like there was something happening between us. There was something in me that had to come up and out that she was just guiding me into like this form of self self-awareness. So, um, I don't want to get too in the weeds on that, but, um, We are. There is this beautiful symbiotic relationship between the horse and the rider. And I also would start to work on horses and I'm like, oh, there's like an issue showing up in the body. And yes, it's manifesting as it's physical, but there's like a big emotional component. And this isn't just the horses. It's also related to the rider. And I can sit here and work on the horse. Month after month after month. And until there's like a little bit of an awareness from the rider and we can at least bring some presence to what's going on here, like this isn't going to shift. And that has been confirmed to me time and time and time again. And sometimes that's a little bit of a mind bender to people that your horse's chronic SI issues may be an emotional thing that's occurring between the two of you. And if we can help that, it'll radically move the physical body forward.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:32:38-00:34:45]
I have a wild story. Um, so my mayor, um, she has a pelvis issue and I didn't know it. Um, and it started to kind of come up and, and I, I very much think that it's a similar situation to like you said, I think she had a slip in the field. Wasn't obviously lame. Wasn't like it didn't get addressed and it just started to, to build and build and build. And so, um, I had her worked on, this was quite a few years ago now, and I actually, myself, I had my hips broken in quite a traumatic accident, not horse-related, a different accident, and it was my right pelvis. That was broken. And so now I have this horse and she has an issue on her right pelvis. And I have a lot of or at the time I had a lot of really inner emotional turmoil that I was storing. And as we know, it gets stored in our hips. And and so having this horse being worked on and didn't think anything of it. I mean, our relationship was great. And, you know, we were just riding and being happy. And she just wasn't picking up her lead quite correctly. And I thought, well, let's get her worked on. And and then it starts to uncover all this stuff. And later that day, I was a wreck. I was crying. I was exhausted. I was falling asleep. I was like it just I went through the biggest cycle and I just thought. Isn't that interesting, you know, that here's this horse that we're getting all woo here, but I truly believe found me, you know, because we were such an exact mirror of one another physically and emotionally. And we've gone through for, you know, years now, we've had this beautiful healing process together. And it was uncovering her issues that helped me uncover mine.

[SPEAKER 3]
[00:34:45-00:34:46]
A hundred percent.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:34:47-00:34:52]
It's so interesting. And so when you talk about this stuff, I'm like, yes.

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:34:53-00:36:25]
Yeah, no, I mean, I just find it so fascinating. I'm like, God, if we can really stretch our minds and open, like, there's just so much potential here. I've got one horse, Felix. He makes it onto my social media a fair amount. But I bought him in Germany as a three-year-old. He'll be nine this year. And... You know, it was very much, he had like six weeks under saddle. So obviously like he's greener than green, but really good boy. I went over there and rode him and trail rode him, rode him for three days in a row. Everything was great. And yeah, I mean, once he came home, it just became apparent. Like what was really described as like this very easy, good boy. It was like a supreme dorsal vagal response, like supreme shutdown. And he's been this amazing journey into myself, too. He's the first horse I've had where I'm like, oh, like he is actually me. Like our ability to when things don't feel OK to just disassociate and kind of go somewhere else. He's the horse that really got me into breath work because he would hold his breath and explode instantly. And I'm like, okay, well, I hold my breath, too. Like, it's just been not an easy but a beautiful transformative process that – You know, it's like if we could just say yes to the journey and let go of like what we hoped this journey was going to be. And I'm like, this is the one that's actually showing up. It's been beautiful. You know, it's been challenging, but I would not do it for anything.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:36:25-00:36:52]
Yeah, absolutely. So some people may be listening and thinking, oh, my gosh, I resonate so much with this. This, you know, it's sounding like what I'm going through with my horse. Yeah. So let's chat a little bit about your horse and rider healing sessions. So on your website, it says that this is for horse and rider partnerships that are looking to move through trauma, fear, training blocks or recurrent lameness or behavioral issues. Can you tell us about the sessions?

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:36:54-00:40:16]
So I do all of my sessions remotely now, like because we're dealing with the energy bodies and our energetic belief systems and ideologies, it can be done anywhere. There is no boundary between space and time when it comes to working on the energetic. But I basically do a shamanic healing session for both horse and riders. So I also am an animal communicator. So I always start with chatting with the animal to at least gain an understanding from their perspective what's happening in the relationship and and at least open that dialogue between the horse and the rider so that we can at least see things from both. It's a little bit like a therapy session. We've got to look at things from both sides. And then I do a shamanic healing, which is I do a journey. We look at the chakra systems just to see energetically how horse and rider are responding to one another. And then, you know, I do a journey to go look at see if we've had trauma, did that really start in this lifetime or perhaps another? Are we carrying this energetic thread into multiple life experiences for it to be healed? So is there something deeper that we need to see here? And that could look like a belief system. So I know in my experience with Felix, I didn't realize how much fear that I was holding inside of me. And it actually wasn't about horses. It wasn't actually about riding. That was just sort of The vehicle, so to say, that like allowed me to access some of this deeper, like it was trauma and fear that I was holding in my body. So really getting down to like the root of whatever we're experiencing, like what is the cause there and how can we shift that? So I do that for both the horse and the rider. And it is a lot of like working with our belief systems. Really acknowledging the soul contract between horse and rider and make making sure like sometimes it like the horses have, you know, their soul is wanting to have certain experiences in this lifetime. And, you know, sometimes horse and rider are truly out of alignment. But there is this powerful connection in them coming together to really refine. And some horses really teach riders like, gosh, I really thought I wanted this one thing. I actually want a very different relationship or my goals are actually more in alignment with something else. And this horse was just the beautiful mediator to get me there. And how can we both move forward and find an ideal experience? I would say more often than not, it really is like the horses here to really illuminate and to have this high, you know, relationship with the human that they're with. But, um, so yeah, to me, it's always looking at how can we shift things on the soul level and then the energetic level so that we can drive a very different physical experience, whether it's in the physical body or just how we're walking out our life, um, on this planet. So, um, I find them deeply, deeply powerful. Um, they can really radically shift, you know, like the relationship dynamics. I find if the humans really come to it from a really open heart and if you're really seeking to gain a deeper understanding, perhaps of like why you're attracting certain horses in your life. So it's really looking at, you know, what is that whole collective of equine consciousness? Like what are they beckoning within you? You know, what are they trying to extract out of you and to heal within you so that you can live the most fulfilled life on the planet? So, yeah, a little bit of like looking at healing from a different paradigm.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:40:16-00:40:45]
It's like, like I said, it's instead of just addressing the physical, like, let's look at the energetic, the spiritual and the emotional and heal that so that the body can be liberated to do something different. Absolutely. Do you have any like stories from sessions that you can share of something that, of course, not sharing specifics, but just like an experience that you were able to witness or feedback that you had gotten? Do you have anything that you can share with us?

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:40:47-00:43:23]
Yeah. I feel like I have so many stories, but the one that really sticks out is right before COVID. It was early 2020. I went to Germany and taught an energy healing course to a group of veterinarians in Europe. And one of the vets, I do have a vet over there who's a dear friend of mine. And she was actually one of my instructors at the animal chiropractic school. But she had brought some clients in and I did shamanic sessions for horses and riders. And this one woman had adopted this horse who had had really severe physical, mental, and emotional trauma. And as I started to, I always open sacred space first, which is just a way with intention, creating a safe, energetic container for us to work in. And I just put my hands on the horse. And I always do a heart connection first to help balance the heart chakra and just kind of bring everyone into presence. And this woman actually like collapsed to the ground. Like she had something opened in her heart. And it's like she collapsed to the ground and just started crying and And so much of what I was there to do, like it wasn't about the horse, like her, it was just this awareness of her realizing, like she had been a professional rider and she was healing out all the ways that she had felt that she had abused horses. And this horse was hell beautiful space for her to access like this deep part of her grief, um, And, you know, the feedback I got from her, like, you know, the couple times that we kind of checked in in the months after that was, you know, she had really been sitting in a place of she couldn't forgive herself for the system that she had been brought up in, how she had treated horses and sort of just the pain and trauma and the lameness that she had inflicted on them as well. So she ended up going into a completely different career. And horses just became like a fun hobby for her. They became more of a companion thing for her. But She had like this deep, I can only describe it as like a deep revelation that, you know, her viewpoint had been so like, how can I fix this horse and make things better for him? And what was really needed is like she needed to access all of that guilt and shame that she was carrying within her. Like that was the thing that needed to be released. And it really allowed this possibility for her to have a very different life that really fed her soul. Such a weight to be lifted.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:43:23-00:43:24]
Yeah.

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:43:24-00:44:14]
Yeah. Yeah. So I find like with a lot of this work, I tend to meet people when they're at that point to where they feel like they've been running up against a brick wall and maybe the training systems aren't working or my horse has physical issues and they've been seen by, you know, the top pets in my area and like nobody can really figure out what's going on. So this is where I would say if it sounds like you or we've tried all of these different things and it works for a while, then it feels like we just kind of hit a limit. To me, this is where it's like, this is like a beautiful point to start looking at, like, are there belief systems that are in play that aren't really serving me or my horse? Is there like physical or emotional or spiritual trauma that's actually being held in the body? Like you said, with your hips and like, do we need to give that away out of the body first so that the physical body can actually heal?

[SPEAKER 2]
[00:44:14-00:44:15]
Yeah.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:44:17-00:44:23]
And so people can go on your website and book and learn more and all of that stuff if they're interested.

[SPEAKER 3]
[00:44:23-00:44:29]
Yeah. Yeah. My website, it's just TracyBrainWaters.com. And you can also find me on Instagram.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:44:29-00:44:48]
Yeah, we'll link everything in the show notes because I definitely want people to be able to find you. So we'll make sure that it's all linked. Tracy, I have absolutely loved our conversation today. And we have four questions that we always ask our guests at the end. They're kind of like a quick rapid fire. So the first one is, do you have a motto or favorite saying?

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:44:51-00:45:11]
I mean, I feel like it's not a new motto or saying, but something that I always kind of keep in the back of my mind is slow is fast and fast is slow. And that's something I wish people would really bring to, you know, how we train horses, how we view young horses coming up into work, like giving them a slower start is actually the faster route forward.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:45:13-00:45:23]
And it's always a reminder for me, like even just being present in my day to day life with my animals, like slow is fast, fast is slow. I love the contradictions. Mine is soft is strong.

[SPEAKER 3]
[00:45:24-00:45:25]
Oh, nice. I love that.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:45:26-00:45:32]
That's funny. The second one is, who has been the most influential person in your equestrian journey?

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:45:34-00:46:37]
So it would have to be Harry Whitney. He is... I mean, he would call himself an old Kansas cowboy, but many years ago, it's probably been 12 or 13 years ago, I had the opportunity to spend a week with him and it was absolutely life changing. He was the first horse person that really openly talked about and educated horses from the standpoint of how does this horse actually feel about what's happening to them or what's being asked about them? Um, and that for me, it was just the first time I had ever seen somebody like approach something of like, how does your horse actually feel about what you're asking them to do and how do they actually feel being in your presence? So he's quietly informed everything that I do. Um, you know, I use a lot of different techniques and working with my own personal horses, but really his viewpoint of teaching, um, really helping people find safety being in your presence and keep their thoughts with you. Like that informs everything that I do every day.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:46:37-00:46:44]
I love that. Third one, if you could give equestrians one piece of advice, what would it be?

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:46:48-00:47:13]
I would really love to see everybody become more empowered. Everyone can communicate with their horses. I fully feel like, you know, you don't have to identify as an animal communicator, but you are picking up the deeper wisdom and the communication from your horses. And I find that everybody knows when something doesn't feel right. And I always encourage people, listen to your gut and honor that first, first and foremost with everything.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:47:14-00:47:23]
Great advice. I love that. The fourth one, or sorry, the fourth. Please complete this sentence. For me, horses are... They're everything.

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:47:25-00:47:55]
They're literally... It makes me emotional. Like, they're some of my deepest companions and friends. They're my greatest teachers. They're like the wise sage that is always my true north. They are my humblers. They are my levelers. Like... they are everything. And I just, even in my hardest times, like I've really in the last couple of years have some moments where it's like, I don't know if I want to do this anymore. And I always come back to like, I just can't imagine my life, my life without them.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:47:55-00:48:04]
So for me, they're everything. Yeah. You mentioned your website and your Instagram. Is there anywhere else that people can find you and connect with you?

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:48:05-00:48:27]
You know, really? Um, yeah, my website is, um, There's the most amount of information on my website and Instagram. So you can always send me messages through either route. I do a pretty good job of getting back to people. So I always love to hear, you know, how things, you know, any of the work that I'm doing, how it's affecting people and any questions that you guys have. Like, I really do make myself available for that.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:48:28-00:48:41]
Perfect. So we'll be sure to include that in the show notes. Tracy, thank you so much for being here today. I have enjoyed myself so much and personally taken so much from this. And I know that those listening will too. So thank you.

[SPEAKER 4]
[00:48:41-00:48:43]
Thank you so much for having me, Danielle. It's been great.

[SPEAKER 1]
[00:48:48-00:49:22]
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Equestrian Connection podcast by WeHorse. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean the world to us if you could leave us a rating and review as well as share us on social media. You can find us on Instagram at WeHorse underscore USA and check out our free seven-day trial on WeHorse.com where you can access over 175 courses with top trainers from around the world in a variety of topics and disciplines. Until next time, be kind to yourself, your horses, and others.

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