Can you pick up a limb?

I have a bigger article coming but I wanted to give you a readers digest version, if you will, as food for thought to start your wheels turning.

Are you aware of what it takes for a horse to lift up a leg? To hold it for the farrier?

We can’t completely understand as we are bipedal versus quadrupedal but we can get the idea. I was doing a mat session with Katherine Lowry, I was in quadrupedal position and working on lifting my limbs. I encourage you to assume the same position, if you comfortably and safely can do so and go through the following.

To lift a limb, I have to first have the awareness, connection to my body, and then shift my weight. It might feel hard, another limb might not want to help stabilize, it might feel uncomfortable, you might have to really bear down to stabilize, you might not feel safe to pick up a limb at all, you might not understand how to coordinate your limbs to pick one up. It may be effortless, easy, stability easily found. You may find that one limb is easier to pick up than another.

Now imagine, if someone lifted your head up and wouldn’t allow you to move it, could you still pick up a limb? Or if your held your head off to one side, could you pick up your limb? Which one is easier? Which one is harder?

That’s all just to pick up a limb.

Now, pick up a limb and abduct (take away from midline) it as if a farrier were there. How easy or hard is that? Was there a twist in your body? Could you relax? Did you want to yank it back under you?

And again, imagine if your head was held up and held still, could you still pick up each limb and abduct it? What does that feel like?

Imagine if you clenched your jaw, could you still pick up your limbs with ease? What if you had a stomach ache, could you still pick up your limbs with ease? What if you were worried about where your friends are at and are thinking about them or it is dinner time and you haven’t eaten in hours and are thinking about that juicy steak, could you still pick up your limbs with ease and comfort?

Just because they know how to pick up a limb, doesn’t mean it is easy or that sustained holding for the farrier is easy too. So much goes into their ability to truly be present, feel safe, and feel their body to make the necessary shifts to pick up a limb.

In the next article we will talk more about some of the processes that happen in the body that allows them to lift a limb and be able to hold it for the farrier.