May 29, 2003
Dear Mary,

I attended your lecture and demonstration at the Horse Fair in Albuquerque last month and I really enjoyed it. My favorite part was the acupressure demonstration.

The next day I was giving a lesson on a young horse who is usually very tense and excited. We were trying to lunge him before she mounted and he was just wildly galloping in circles. I asked his owner if I could try something before we started working. I performed acupressure and he reacted exactly as the horse in your demonstration had. After I finished he quietly walked off and then he trotted with a quiet rhythm and he responded instantly to voice commands to walk or whoa. His owner said she would not have believed if she had not seen it. After her lesson was over I went home and performed acupressure on all 7 of my own horses and then went around my neighborhood using it on my friends horses as well. Now I am hooked and so are the horses. I am using acupressure before I ride and I am using it on all my lesson ponies before they give a lesson. Thank you very much. You have made it so simple to do something really nice for my horses. They truly love it.

By the way, using your centering exercise and using the term "five minutes after twelve" has helped my "Gumby" student solidify his floppy upper body.

You have some great ideas

- Tere Carr
http://nizana.hypermart.net

May 13, 2003
Dear Mary:

I wanted to update you on Lucky and me. Lucky is doing great ever since you did the acupressure on him that Sunday. Now when I go into his his corral, he stops and when I say come on, he walks toward me, no running away, no shaking when I approach. A completely different horse as you predicted. Now I approach him when he stops, hold the halter out and he puts his nose in with no fuss. Then I begin the acupressure. I think he now associates me with the pleasure of acupressure. My husband is flabbergasted at the change in Lucky.

Thanks Judie and Lucky, Albuquerque, NM
Read Mary's article on Acupressure

February 26, 2003
Dear Mary,

Please place me on your email list for your newsletter. I am almost finished reading your latest book and I have been enjoying it thoroughly although I find myself a little weepy. For the first time in over 30 years I am without a horse. Our oldest passed on at age of 43 last October and my show horse passed on at age 27 in April.

Showing really wasn't that important really - it was just part of the journey and an excuse to be someplace where there were a lot of horses - like a camp. I think most distressful of all is that I still find myself at this late stage of my life justifying to others why I love and own horses and on occasion show. A family member asked me over the holidays if I "had gotten horse out of my system yet and ready to move on." I wanted to scream and run to the nearest horse.

I appreciated your book because it puts into words some of my deep feelings which I have had difficulty finding words to explain or maybe just feeling comfortable in relating to my relationship with dear equine companions. It is truly a spiritual experience for me to be with them or even think of them. Thank you and I look forward to your newsletters.

Sincerely, Mindee Spear, appytrails@netzero.net. (I saw an appaloosa picture when I was 3 and have loved them ever since, hence, my email address "appytrails".

January 05, 2003
Dear Ms. Midkiff:

I just wanted to share something with you; I was a horse kid. For many years as a young girl, I kneew that it would have been heaven to be close to and form a relationship with one of those magnificent creatures. I read everything I could get my hands on about horses. I had a box full of pictures I had drawn of horses and stories I had written about horses. Unfortunately, I had no access to riding and no encouragement from parents, so the years passed.

Shortly after my 48th birthday I went on a cross country drive with my father and we were talking about life in general. Well out of the blue I told him that I was pretty content with my life and only had one regret and that was that I would have loved to become a good horsewoman. Well, I'm not sure which one of us it surprised most. But I did realize that my statement came straight from my heart. My Dad's reaction was really kind of funny. He said "After all these years, again with the horses?!"

I let two more years slip by and shortly before my 50th birthday I asked myself "If not now, when?" I took my first riding lesson two days before my 50th birthday.

It has been quite a journey. I have a wonderful riding instructor in whom I have absolute faith. Anyway the part that I wanted to share ....during my lesson the other day, my instructor said something about being afraid and I semi-dismissed it because I am not consciously aware of fear associated with riding. But once it was mentioned, I began to think about your book and how you have learned about yourself through working with horses. I started looking at my body language when I was riding (particularly when I move into a lope) and I suddenly realized that there was definitely fear there. I am almost sure I would not have been open to that discovery were it not for your book. I also began to look at the role fear has played in my life in general and this reflection has come with some pretty intense self-discovery. Thank you so much for your book. I am passing it on to others who will appreciate it. I am looking forward to working my way through this, once fear is acknowledged, I feel that it can be overcome. I believe I may be doing some of the most important work of my life. Thank you again. Lee