Holistic healing

SUMMIT COUNTY - Grand Junction's Andrea Datz is the Midas of Colorado's horse world. The horse rehabilitation specialist has a golden touch when it comes to troubled equines.

Using a noninvasive healing method called "Equine Touch," Datz induces relaxation, loosens muscles, encourages recovery and reduces pain in her four-legged patients.

Next month, Datz will share her methods with Summit County equine enthusiasts in her three-day Horse Lover's Course, to be held at Linda Karcz's Clover Meadows Ranch north of Silverthorne.

"It works on the idea that the body will heal itself, and we're allowing it to do that by releasing energy blockages," Karcz said. "Westerners would look at it as hands-on body work. According to eastern medicine, it would address energy, called Ki."

Equine Touch is a connective soft-tissue and energy discipline in which the practitioner uses a series of gentle touches across a horse's body. As the practitioner's hands move along specific points and patterns, the horse rebalances physically and emotionally, according to Karcz.

As energy blocks are removed, Ki flows through the meridians of the body, allowing the horse to maximize healing.

Claire Clarke, a neighbor with horses of her own, brought Nambe, which she had adopted from Colorado Horse Rescue a year before. Nambe had uneven hips and a crooked tail and had trouble going downhill. But after a session under Datz's healing hands, Nambe is much more centered.

"Her tail has always hung to the right - we think somewhere along the line it had been broken," Clarke said. "When (Datz) was working on her bad side, she started kicking, and from that point on the tail has been straight, and she's definitely tracking much straighter."

Horse Lover's Course • What: Equine Touch, a noninvasive healing tecnique for horses • When: April 8, 9, 10 • Where: Clover Meadows Ranch, north of Silverthorne • To register: Contact Linda Karcz at (970) 513-7233

"That's why I was so impressed. So when Linda told me she was hosting a workshop, I said, 'Sign me up!'" Clarke added.

Julie Sutor can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 203, or at jsutor@summitdaily.com.