A letter from Troy Brandenburg..

To my Friends, A little about me:

I am from Australia and have been involved with horses my entire life. I was raised in the rodeo arena. Its been said that I was riding before I could walk. By the age of 14, I was racing horses. At the age of 16, I was a leading rider – breaking many records.  I rode over a 1000 winners. Through the years, I became respected for being a horseman not just a jockey.  After my racing career, I went back to the rodeo life.  I excelled there as well  winning the “Rookie” team roping title.

But at one particular rodeo on one particular night, I met that one person that changes your life. You see, there was a man and he was doing body work on a horse. I was fascinated.  I wanted to learn.   I became obsessed wanting to gain knowledge about everything I could – massage, being massaged, acupressure, energy release. Just anything that would help the horse feel or perform better.  I undertook the study of  Bowen therapy and acupressure.   I read any book I could get my hands on.  I observed and studied those that were proficient in this field  trying to understand.   I kept an open mind all the while  questioning and  imploring for the truth.  Just because techniques have been working for so long does it mean they are  the best?  There is so much out there to learn. I don’t think any one should say “this is the best way to treat a horse”. Every horse and every problem is different.

This lead me to the desire to understand the cause of the problem and not just the result of the problem.  After all my studies and hands on time in the field,  I came up with my own theory.  The intestinal system of the horse, which I like to think of as a big sink, gets clogged with a lot of man made problems. I believe that the culmination of stress, pain boredom and the unnatural feeding programs that humans force upon the horse blocks the horse’s system so that the blood cannot flow freely to the muscles, resulting in tight muscles. The reason I say feed  is because every thing has so many additives and preservatives in them.  Even hay is sprayed with pesticides. This can not being doing the horse well.   Unfortunately this is life and all its changes have moved away from the natural side.

This got me thinking of how to get the blood stimulated to the muscles? And  more importantly, a way that would not be invasive.  After much contemplation, I thought the one way I might be able to do this was with an energy release similar to reiki.  My idea is to open all the meridians in the body & to promote blood flow through the whole body. I want to stimulate both the intestinal system and vascular system.  With the style that I have been working with –  a combination of reiki massage, pulsating magnetic therapy, and releasing muscles through acupressure points,  I believe that the horses vascular system will send blood to every part of the body that is tight or sore.   We cannot always see or feel what is tight or sore, but with these methods it is just mother nature doing her work.   As I work on a horses, you can see the veins coming out (which shows promoted blood flow) & torn muscles will start to sweat.  You can witness that other muscles will begin to relax.   Also by stimulating the digestive system,  the digestive system and immune system can do their work more efficiently. You can actually see a difference in the horses weight with in 7 or 10 days.  I believe this is due in part to better digestion, better absorption, and basically the horse is more comfortable due to less digestion upset.   I would like to point out that I don’t need to use force when treating a horse.  After I work on a horse I do a range of movements in which I get the horse to do stretches.  This is designed to help improve flexibility, elasticity, and to soften muscles.  I don’t force any movements, but work with the horse to get the horse to understand it can perform these actions.

I don’t believe that anything I do will replace modern equine  medicine.  However, I believe my therapy works well and complements the current knowledge at hand. I have devoted my life to working on horses and learning everything I can to improve both my knowledge and skills. Thus far my quest has taken me to Australia, Europe, and the USA.  I have a long way to go. But everything I do is for the benefit of the horse. I feel that if the horse is healthier,  he feels better,  and he is happier with thyself, then he will be more responsive to the rider i.e. better performance for you.

In Kindest Regards,