Horse Sense....

 

 

Missy did ok at the races.

She didn't win or place but our foundations are solid.  We're not doing a one night stand, baby.  The foundations that we have, and continue to build, are strong and are setting us up for success.  

I'm super happy.

On a funny note though, do you remember on New Year's Eve when I got told off for touching someone else's horse(s)?  Well, a lady tried to touch Missy before she raced tonight and before I had even thought about it, I had reached out my hand and gently pushed hers away and said, I'm so sorry, but no one touches our horses before we race.  

Well, seriously, now I know how easy it is to contaminate a swab, I'm not letting anyone jeopardize it.  I would never live it down.

****

Ok, we're heading into the realms of The weird and bizzare today.  So, you've heard me banging on about my eyes and taking reactions and stuff so there I was rechecking everything I had been eating.  Well, if I could get pumpkin soup wrong, I could also have overlooked something else...and I had.

Pate.

So, I've been making this delicious chicken broth once a week or so, and it's great.  Super great for vitamins and minerals and tastes amazing.  But then I found this Paleo recipe for pate (which I love) so thought I'd give it a go.  And it could quite easily be one of the easiest and best things I can make, well, apart from brownies.  Everyone loves my brownies, however, that is a completely different subject.  Anyway, so I've been making heaps of pate and feeling pretty amazing.  Dodged every flu, cold, snotty nose and/or germ going.  Haven't been feeling tired and not only has my hair been growing particularly well, (it's not half way down my back just yet, but a very decent effort) and my skin is good.  Wait...have some patience, I'm getting to my point.  So, instead of looking at why I just thought I was lucky.  

Then my eyes went weird.  

Well, Einstein, it works like this...

Livers are a good source of Thiamin, Zinc, Copper and Manganese, and a very good source of Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Iron, Phosphorus and Selenium. 

But wait, now I've started on this, I need to go through all the boring bits...

The No. 1 benefit of consuming liver is that it’s very high in vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 benefits red blood cell formation and improves cellular function like fatigue, muscle weakness, brain fog and mood changes. 

Liver is also one of nature’s most concentrated sources of vitamin A. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that acts like an antioxidant, helping reduce inflammation through fighting free radical damage. It improves vision and eye health, skin health, Thyroid health, builds strong bones, regulates gene regulation, facilitates cell differentiation, and supports immune function.

Liver also supplies copper, zinc, chromium and selenium, which benefits our metabolism, central nervous system and endocrine systems.  Think skin, hair, nails, stress release and hormone balancing.

The macronutrient protein of liver helps with dozens of functions in the body, including maintenance of muscle mass, tissue repair, recovery from exercise, controlling our appetite, producing and regulating hormones, growth of skin and hair, it also prevents memory loss and boosts Thyroid function.

And eyes.  It sharpens our vision because it brims with vitamins in the form of retinol, alpha and beta-carotene, including lycopene. 

So, the quick answer is...

I completely, utterly and with great abandon overdosed my body.

Totally on folate.  Even though I only react badly to the synthetic kind, too much of the natural kind also throws me out.  And even though liver is great for eyes, I also knocked the balance out here.  My body and especially my eyes have been trying to adjust, not trying to fail.  However, when I said I was off my food, I also said I wasn't sick as such, just no appetite.  Again, an off shoot of liver correcting a body imbalance.

On a positive note, when you overdose on any vitamin or mineral like I did on Folic, it's pretty easy to correct.  Stop taking it and if it is the fresh kind of folate like liver, it flushes out of your system within 24 hours.  And I only overdosed on folate because this week I made a double dose, eating it twice a day.  Duh!  The correct dosage I had been taking was 1 pate (made of 350grams of chicken livers) made once per week, eaten over a course of three to four days and not eaten again until I made my next batch of chicken broth, and I was fine.  

This has been a huge learning curve this last 10 days and tells me how important the balance is, of what I eat, how, when and in what dosage but it's also been pretty awesome.  I love to work this way.  Not so much the slipping and sliding part but the other part.  When the magic falls into place and you have that, Boom, baby.

****

On a completely different note, I'm having some people say to me that it's no good having a relaxed horse before you race.  I totally disagree.  I believe that if you have a great relationship with your horse via grooming, touching and breathing before it's race, then you keep it's anxiety levels down.  Your horse then hits the racetrack with a clear, focussed head wanting to give you everything it has on the track.  

I mean, think about it, our human athletes do not do their best work at top elite level by getting anxious, instead they keep in peak physical condition, train hard, go into the zone, get focussed and then do their ultimate best, which often means a win.

I also trust myself in the fact that you need to believe in your horse.  Because if you think (or Holy Mary of God, actually say out loud) your horse is sh*t or outclassed, it is.  

These beliefs I have are not always popular, but before you pooh-pooh me, ask yourself this one question...

Would I say to my son just before he went in to sit an exam, I don't expect much from you today, everyone's better than you.

So, that's been our week.  There's been lots of crazy, huge highs and lows, lots of Spirit, success in ways I didn't expect and some not so success.  There's been things which are successful but which I've decided are not in my long term plan, yet I've seen The Yellow Brick Road in other ways.  Places where I can taste the magic, like I did before I became a Professional Reader.  No rhyme nor reason, just that tingly feeling that says, This is something special, I have to see where this goes. 

Wishing you much love my friends, and of course, my humans.

Caps, me, Spirit, Az, Ralph, Chew, Suzie Q, Buzz-The-B;**dy-Bull, Fenny (my little gorgeousness) and Flash.  Mice - 0 to be seen but I'm pretty sure, 547 hiding behind the oven.

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Chicken Broth Recipe

1x organic, free range chicken

4 x carrots 

1 x onion

1 bunch of celery - leaves and bottom cut off. Please give to your horses, they love it.

Salt - Murray River Salt is the only salt I use.  There's some vitamin or mineral that works for me in it.

Pepper

Rosemary and Thyme - I use a lot of both of these herbs because I love their flavour, but you know, do what you want.

Cut chicken so it is open, then put in crockpot.

Add everything else.

Put on low, leave overnight.  Take out all the veges and chicken the next day, leave only the broth, then add more rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper to taste.

Note: When you need to drink it only heat up what you need.  In a saucepan.  Do not, I repeat, DO NOT nuke all the beautiful vitamins and minerals away in a microwave.

 

Pate Recipe

350 grams of chicken livers from supermarket or butcher

180 mls of chicken stock - give or take, depending on how I feel.

In a saucepan put some Olive Oil, livers, a couple of cloves of garlic if you want - mostly I don't, but it depends on how I feel, and the stock.  Cook for about 5 minutes until the inside of liver is not red but still pink.  

Blend in a processor.

Add salt and pepper if you want.  I don't add all the liquid to the blender all at once, I put some in and then see how the consistency goes.  

I normally just put into a container in fridge after that, but I have read that you should put it through a fine sieve, and then put in fridge.  I might try a sieve next time but even so, it is freaking delicious.

* I have one or two cups of broth for breakfast with a couple of crackers and sometimes in the afternoon or for dinner if it's cold and/or I can't be arsed cooking.  I do this until I either run out of it or get bored with it.  If I got bored and there's still some left, I freeze it.

You may also freeze the pate.

You're welcome.

** All my foals are delicious.  I do have to watch the time I see them though.  If I time it wrong, and it's around feedtime I have to leave it until the next day.  I never rush my horses/foals and if I get my time wrong well, it's just too bad, me.  But in having said that, everyone bar 1, is voluntarily touching me.  Some race up when they see me and are full touch, while others are a quiet touch and some others are, Don't rush me!  Just a little touch... 

This language over rides every other thing I have ever done.

*** I think I'm driving my young one a little bit nuts.  Every time we have a conversation I tell him another one of my theories, and yesterday I was half way through talking and went, Wait...do I sound crazier than I did the last time we spoke?

Ummmmm...yes. 

There was a little silence and then I went, Ok.  Anyway, ask yourself this question...

**** Oh wait, almost forgot.  A catch up on Sequoia and the home she went to in Christchurch.  Sequoia found her person.  She loves her human and her human totally loves her back.  They see each other every day and often go to clinics for the weekend.  Sequoia got the relationship I always wanted for her.  

She sends her love.