Anyone who owns a Fire Horse or has seen one in action will instantly recognize the “Look at me” Pay attention to me, Showy Ham that they are. As I mentioned in my previous blog about what your horses element type is in Chinese medicine, Mercury is the poster horse for a Fire Horse. He LOVES to be the the center of attention, and Loves to show off, He is also very sensitive, reactive, easily distracted (described as ADD by me many times) and has a LOT of energy. The photo shows Mercury at our Live Sounds of Liberty performance in NY last September where my Father, Jack DeJohnette and My Godbrother Matthew Garrison all collaborated in a completely improvised musical Liberty Equine human art piece. He is clearly in his “Look at me aren’t I magnificent!” mode.

My experience with having a relationship with my Fire horse lead me to a deeper understanding of needing to stay grounded and there for Mercury when his emotions get the better of him. Fire horses are fiery! He can be explosive. He is Powerful and can be very high strung and “Hot” (I guess that’s where they got that term from?)

All too often I see people frightened of their horses Fire and trying to “put it out” so to speak. They may have a Fire horse and are intimidated by what a Fire horse requires to feel balanced and happy. Mercury needs to be outside so he can express his energy freely. He hates to be confined and finds destructive things to do to release pent up energy if he is not using it productively. He is an amazingly fast learner and once he learns something he retains it forever. He thrives on Positive reinforcement (who doesn’t?). He is in many ways the perfect horse for me as he has allowed me to experiment with all kinds of ideas for new ways of training horses that are based on the very best connection and friendship between two beings.

Fire horses belong with very grounded individuals who enjoy all that a Fire horse is in his balanced and not so balanced moments. In their balanced moments, Fire horses will give you everything they have when they love and trust you. For that matter any horse will. I have so many moments with Mercury that have been magical as we are so tuned to each other in every way. That is an amazing feeling.

Fire horses, when out of balance can get very reactive, braced in mind and body, Spooky and unable to focus or be calm and relaxed. This winter, Mercury got into an unbalanced Fire state which I recognized and addressed with Acupuncture, Herbs, and Supplemental Magnesium (which apparently Fire horses can be extra deficient in). Mercury came back into balance as we worked on his Heart Shen which is the organ associated with Fire Horses. Not surprisingly Mercury was Self Selecting herbs and Whole foods that would bring him back into balance including Hawthorn Berries and Sweet Potatoes.

I encourage people to enjoy their horses fire always as long as you are within your safe comfort zone and do not feel overwhelmed by the their Heat! A Fire Horse can burn you if you’re not careful.

If you didn’t know, there was a website technical issue which caused all registrations for the Online Clinic preview to get deleted. The event that is posted now is the new one. So if you signed up sometime last week, your registration probably got deleted. Sorry for the inconvenience and if you are unsure you can contact me to see if you are in fact registered for the April 3rd Live Streaming Clinic Preview on Natural Response Training Register Now!