Tellington TTouch practitioner for horses in south-west France, available for one on one training sessions, small group workshops and bodywork sessions. Charente, Charente-Maritime, Vienne, Dordogne, Lot, Lot-et-Garonne
Ever since starting the TTouch training I have found describing the method challenging, we are taught flexibility and open mindedness during the training, so somehow to pin it dow
n in a few words seems limiting. I've posted a link on my journal to "An alternative description of Tellington TTouch" which I find goes a long way towards an accurate description. Reading this you can understand that the method covers such a wide range of situations and has multiple different layers, each one accessible when you are ready to absorb it. At the base it is a training system but for me it is like having the secret code book to horses to get lots of information from the animals. Someone is listening to me and I have a say!" even better is when they say "Yes, just there, I've had that achy bit for ages and just haven't been able to get rid of it". This code book is shown to you only a paragraph at a time, not necessarily in page order, sometimes the horse is the teacher, sometimes a client, sometimes a colleague or instructor, but no one can tell you how many chapters there are to learn. It's fascinating looking at animals from this perspective and learning how by doing less you can get much more, though sometimes the phrase "be careful what you wish for" comes to mind, because once you've opened the secret door you can't go back. The overall philosophy is one of positivity, often people will say that it is worth doing a training session just for this atmosphere. "TTouch (also known as TTEAM) helps horses to overcome a wide range of difficulties and one of the primary aims is to help improve the balance of the horse which naturally has a positive effect on both performance and behaviour. Visual observations and a flat hand assessment isolate areas of tension and bracing held in the body and the body work TTouches and ground work exercises encourage the horse to release tight muscles and lengthen and strengthen the top line enabling the horse to use his body more efficiently. TTouch has been used successfully for rescued horses and ponies, competition horses, racehorses, family horses, youngsters, horses that are recovering from injuries or ill health and those that may be suffering from the effects of old age. It provides many valuable tools for helping horses to overcome common problems such as spooking, bucking, running out, loading difficulties, poor performance, rushing, jogging, difficulties standing for the farrier or at the mount block, bolting and so on. TTouch is an excellent way to start or re-start all equines and gives the horse a solid foundation on which further education can be built. TTouch teaches horses to act as opposed to react and enables them to move beyond instinctive and often fear based behaviours." Description from http://www.ttouchtteam.co.uk/TTouchhorses.shtml
