Trying Out the BEMER

So L has been using the BEMER on Dante for a while now and we've joked about me sending her my acupuncturist and her sending me her BEMER lady. Well, she won, because her BEMER lady was coming up to the bay area (with another BEMER lady, all the BEMER ladies!) and L put me in contact with her!

We texted back and forth a bit and it was so affordable that I figured I'd do all four horses at the barn. I'm trying to make TC's stay at the ranch as pleasant an experience for my parents as possible and some of that is treating it like a co-op and dedicating time to taking care of the place. But some of that is just spending money doing things for their horses that they wouldn't normally do. Like acupuncture and the BEMER! 

I rode Rico on Saturday and he was
perky!

I've used a BEMER once myself and didn't feel much difference in my body. But I'm lucky in that I don't have any chronic pain or bad joints (yet). I hear a lot of people swear by it though. My mom, ever the skeptic, looked it up and saw that it was a registered medical device, so she gave me permission to try it out on her horses. 

She even came up and grilled the ladies a bit, which is her go-to whenever I bring anything other than traditional vet medicine into the program (she's nice about it don't worry). I dunno, life is short, this isn't going to do any harm so at worst it's an expensive (but enjoyable) conversation while my ponies got attention and at best, it could help them out! 

But after having it put on all the horses, I've decided it has to do SOMETHING given how they all responded, and they all responded differently, which made it enjoyable and at times, hilarious. 

Sunny being sleepy

I told them a little bit about each of the horses and they expressed interest in doing Sunny first, given his history with silicosis. He's doing really well after two acupuncture appointments and the traditional vet medicine that my mom has done for it. But again, can't hurt! 

He immediately fell asleep before the blanket was even fully on. He had a yawn or two and a lick, but he mostly just snoozed in the cross ties enjoying himself. 

Riot was next and I haven't written a ton about him on the blog. Relevant things to know about Riot are that he's highly emotional and very skeptical, his main goal in life is to not upset anyone and to not be murdered by the dangerous world he lives in. He's also lived a very simple life with no boots, no blankets, nothing on him other than a saddle, bridle, halter, and some fly spray. So Riot thought that I'd brought these ladies in to potentially murder him if he did anything wrong and he began to feel all the feelings about it. They were so sweet to him and he eventually relaxed and we got some licking and chewing but I think he's probably still wondering what the actual fuck happened to him on Friday while he was wearing all those clothes. 

He did relax after a while

I had them do Rico next because he was in from the pasture and TC was trying to be the center of attention as always so he was definitely going to be in and easy to catch. 

While Riot was getting done and Rico was getting out, they had me sit on the BEMER so I was stuck and they put Riot back and took Rico out. Rico was kind of sleepy, slow moving and somewhat relaxed in the cross ties. They put the boots on, the blanket on, and focused on his neck as well (I told them he had neck arthritis). We chatted about Rico's history as Rico started to relax and yawn a bunch (which is not his normal MO so that was cool). He seemed like he might just fall asleep like Sunny. 

But then about half way through, Rico slowly got brighter and brighter until we were basically wrestling him to keep him in the cross ties. His ears were perked and he was pawing and poking me with his nose. He looked like he'd shed 10-15 years and was acting like he used to when we'd go to new facilities and people would tell me where the round pen was so I could longe him (I always just jumped on lol). 

It honestly made me so unbelievably happy. In that moment I was thinking "I should buy one of these things just to put it on Rico every day so he can be happy" and I talked myself out of it. Maybe. But that's how joyful he seemed to me. All I want is that horse to be happy every single day.  

So much yawning

TC was next and he was very ready to be the center of attention as always. Like the acupuncture, TC decidedly ignored the BEMER and tried to entertain his new audience to the best of his ability. He pawed incessantly, he smiled at him, he did his shoulder lifting trick. They were a fabulous audience and just loved him. 

Luckily for everyone except me, I had to jump on a meeting with my boss to figure some stuff out, so they got to do TC alone. He's always better when I'm not there so I'm sure he was much better. They seemed very in tune with all the animals (Ruby included, she and the other lady were so cute together hanging out) and apparently TC was very communicative with them. I agreed, although I'm not sure what kind of communication they were talking about. To me, he just seems very interactive, you can always tell what he's thinking or feeling and undersaddle you get a lot of feedback from him. In comparison, Sunny seems like a closed book to me. It was kind of cool to see someone else think the same thing about TC, even if it's not in the same way. 

Look at this skeptical animal, they
had just started, he was confused

I rode TC after his session and he was very different. Now, it was cold and windy, I'd just upped his LMF Gold because he was starting to get lazy, and it was dusk so all the squirrels were running around. So I think regardless of what happened to him in the BEMER session, I was going to have a nutty weirdo on my hands. 

After spooking a lot, he did settle into probably the best trot work we've had in a long time. Was it the BEMER or just the fact that his trot is always better when he's higher tone? Don't know. But like I said, it can't hurt and the horses all seemed to enjoy it in their own special way. 

I rode Rico the next day and he was pretty perky. Again, BEMER or not? No idea. He went out with Riot and he hadn't been out in a while so maybe he was just excited. 

Overall, I think I'd do it again given that it's affordable and can't hurt! I figure it's like the CBD I take for my anxiety. Is the science bulletproof? Nope. Is it going to work for everyone? Nope. Could it be mostly the placebo effect? Absolutely. Am I going to keep taking it because it helps me regardless and can't hurt me? Obviously.