NEWS
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Chocolate treats can land racehorse trainers in trouble!
Chocolate may be a harmles treat for humans, but it could land a competitive racehorse in trouble with officials.
Researchers at Ohio State University found that three horses fed a vending-pack of M&M's chocolate-coated peanuts every day for eight days showed detectable concentrations of the stimulants caffeine and theobromine - substances that are banned for horses that compete in races.
"We would advise that traines avoid feeding chocolate to racehorses" said Richard Sams, Professor of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State.
Caffeine and theobromine are banned for racehorses because they have been thought to give horses a competitive edge in races. Trainers whose horses test positive for these substances can lose their winnings and have their horses disqualified.
However, Sams said he doubts the amounts of caffeine and theobromine found in the horses he tested would have given the animals a real advantage over other horses.
This study was funded by the Ohio State Racing Commission and a private individual.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the Ohio State University.
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ARCHIVES
2006 GEOTA CONGRESS - The Secret of Healing -
How does it really work?
Took place on Sunday 24th September 2006
Speakers:
Homeopathy - Peter Gregory BVSc, VetFFHom, MRCVS, CertIAVH
Essential oils - Jan Kusmirek MIFA, MIFPA, DHMed, DN, ESIPF France
The Nature of Miracles - Jimmy Symmonds MRCVS, BSc, BVSc
An Exploration of Radionics, Healing from a distance - Galea Parsons FradA
Aromatic Waters, the Gentle Aromatherapy - Joe Nasr D Phyt. DO, MNIMH
Archive (2003)
OUR CONFERENCE - 2006!
Well, what a fantastic day, everyone commented at the end of our first conference on Complementary Animal Healthcare. It was rather exhausting to arrange and the tickets did not sell as quickly as we expected but as we were determined to go ahead.
The venue was a great choice, Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill was voted Historic House of the Year 2003 and is a World Heritage site. Blenheim's gardens are renowned for their beauty and range from the formal Water Terraces, Italian Garden and Rose Garden to the natural charm of the Arboretum and Cascade. Blenheim Lake is the focal point of over 2,000 acres of parklands. The Pleasure Gardens complex includes the Herb and Lavender Garden and the Butterfly House.
Delegates arrived for tea/coffee in the Orangery, which is a big conservatory with 25 foot ceilings and located next to the Duke of Marlborough's gardens. They then walked across the courtyard to the Spencer-Churchill room which was the venue for the conference, with magnificent oil paintings coating the walls and views over the lake.
I greeted everyone and introduced Nigel Dodman MRCVS who was our "Master of Ceremonies" for the day. Nigel introduced each speaker with the kind of flair expected of an MC!
I would like to thank Carole for all her hard work leading up to and during the conference, Nigel for his excellent role as "Master of Ceremonies", Jimmy for his technical expertise, support and encouragement throughout and of course all of the speakers who gave us such excellent presentations to make it into a memorable and thought provoking day.
Here are a few emails we have received which will give those of you who couldn't attend an insight into the day:
The conference at Blenheim was a truly remarkable day, and a testament to Karen and the GEOTA team's unswerving dedication to promoting complementary animal health care as a credible concern. Every speaker excited and informed, with Suzanne Catty sharing the, as yet, unpublished results of new research into Hydrosols being a particular highlight. The Blue Lotus party will be taking place as soon as the shipment arrives from Canada!
Thank you for organising such a fantastic event.
Love Hannah
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Hi Karen. What a brilliant conference! Thanks so much for organising it all, and for finding such good speakers. I was really impressed by the talks by Suzanne Catty and Cindy Engel so am off to order their books. I do hope you will think about running another one, if not next year, then the year after. 'I would have liked a whole day on each topic, but I guess that's the mark of a good talk.' Best regards, Penny
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'What a wonderful setting for a conference' were my thoughts on Blenheim Palace as I drove up the driveway through the spectacular grounds on a sunny Sunday morning. The whole day ran like clockwork thanks to Karen and Carol's hard work with the preparations. All the speakers delivered lively and imaginative talks with many thought provoking ideas. Jimmy Symmonds started the day and shared his experiences of treating animals holistically and looking at the whole picture. The actual condition that the animal presents is usually the last in the line of a series of the animal's needs not met by the guardian (owner). Jimmy's thoughts on the way in which we communicate with our animals and his ability to encourage guardians to sometimes change their way of life for the good of the animal was inspirational. Suzanne Catty delivered a very interesting talk on Hydrosols in Animal Therapy. The differences between hydrosols and essential oils were highlighted. Suzanne is continually pushing the limits of what hydrosols can do for humans as well as animals and I feel she is a pioneer in this field. Nayana Morag spoke about essential oils and behaviour and as always was entertaining as well as informative. Megan Kearney shared with us the delights of eating dandelion leaf, which we came to understand was a natural diuretic and was very high in potassium. Her talk on herbal medicine was insightful. Last but not least Cindy Engel entertained us with a talk on animal self-medication. Many highly amusing and interesting research papers on different animals from elephants and parrots to caterpillars were highlighted throughout the talk. One of the many thoughts that I was left with as I drove home was, what an incredible amount we are still to understand from animals and nature. We seem to hurry through life looking but sometimes not seeing what our animals are trying to tell us.
The whole day was very enjoyable and to talk with so many people who are extremely enthusiastic about what they are trying to achieve with animals was wonderful. I very much look forward to another conference next year?!
Bryony Waggot* * * * * * * * * *
To All At GEOTA. After a night celebrating my mother's 80th Birthday and arriving at the conference slightly hung over I
thought I might have trouble staying awake, however
this was not the case as all the speakers were so
interesting and informative that the day spend by with
hardly yawn. Thank you GEOTA for such an enjoyable day
in lovely surroundings. Regards, Julie Hickey* * * * * * * * * *
Like a really good aromatherapy blend : rich, revealing, stimulating and exciting. Congratulations on an excellent event which I thoroughly enjoyed and look forward to the next one.
Prof. Ann Hodgson* * * * * * * * * *
"You know how some meetings can make you feel that you have "done your duty by attending" and others make you feel that you have been in at the beginning of something really special? Well the first GEOTA conference on a sparkling day in the stunning setting of Blenheim Palace Oxfordshire, on Sunday 28th September 2003 definitely fell into the latter category for me.
The programme of speakers seemed exciting on paper but the reality for the 50 or so delegates was quite frankly mind-blowing. My overall impression was a day full of like minds, approaching the issue of complementary healthcare for animals from very much the same place, but as a result of differing experiences and journeys. Jimmy Simmonds spoke as a vet who had been brave enough to recognise the connection between the health of his animal patients and the people they lived with and to work with the animal patient in order to subtly encourage the human to heal and let the animal regain it's own balance. He touched on many aspects of health including environment, training and diet and was kind enough to give us all a sample of dried bulls penis to take home for our dogs. My puppy seemed to like it!
Megan Kearney, a vet trained in homeopathy and the only qualified herbalist who is also a vet, spoke about her use of herbal medicines and gave examples of common herbs and their uses in the overall healing process. We now all know what Ribwort Plantain and Dandelion taste like because Megan passed a few leaves round from the lawns at Blenheim for us to sample!After a good lunch in the Orangery, GEOTA's Nayana Morag gave a talk on the behavioural modification with essential oils and used Karen Bourdons Rhodesian Ridgeback Elsa as a guinea pig. Elsa's interest in the Neroli oil that Nayana selected for her was obvious and she was a very gracious guinea pig.
We were so very lucky to have Suzanne Catty over from Canada to speak to us. As author of Hydrosols: The Next Aromatherapy, she explained that the therapeutic use of hydrosols probably pre-dates essential oils and that they are probably the original aromatherapy. We were particularly lucky in that she shared with us some new research information on the properties and effects of several hydrosols, and I feel that one of the most useful and practical things that I gained from her talk was that hydrosols can be used for long term treatment or even preventative use where it would not be appropriate to continue using oils long term and that there is evidence that hydrosols diluted into almost homeopathic doses seem to be more effective, putting hydrosols firmly in the bracket of vibrational medicine. She also mentioned some very interesting new hydrosols that seem to have a very deep and profound action , especially when used on the acupressure points. All I can say is get your order in for Blue Lotus because it will probably sell very fast once word gets out! The last speaker was Cindy Engel and her argument for the existence of animal self-medication, backed up with hard research data was compelling and at times challenging. Her explanation is that animals will tend to repeat a behaviour that makes them feel good and so if selecting a certain plant or mineral substance helps them to feel well again they will continue not only to seek out that substance but pass on this information to its peers.After a discussion on elephants liking for anything alcoholic (apparently they will gorge on fermenting fruit until they pass out), Cindy raised the important point of animal addiction. Whether this is relevant to Essential Oil Therapy or whether our use of kinesiology and constant assessment means this is not an issue remains to be seen but it was nevertheless something that all responsible therapists and those using oils and herbs etc to treat their own animals should give some serious consideration to.
I would like to thank Karen, Carol, Nigel Dodman our MC for the day and everyone else at GEOTA who put so much effort into bringing us such a varied, expert and inspiring group of speakers.I went away having met some really good people and with a head full of questions, ideas and leads to follow up but mostly with an overwhelming sense of being involved in something very important and exciting and I look forward to the second GEOTA conference with anticipation. Pauhla Whitaker
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Hi Karen, Carol and all the team. Just to say how much I enjoyed the Conference yesterday at Blenheim. Congratulations to you all for organising it so well. The information I came away with from the well mixed agenda of presentations is invaluable to me as a trainee animal therapist who wishes to practice an holistic approach.
The high calibre of the speakers and their empathetic approach to working with animals is indicative of GEOTA's philosophy and I'm proud to be a member and to have the opportunity to train with you all. Excellent value for money - put me down for next year.
Best wishes, Jan
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What a spectacular venue, as I drove into the park I just knew it was going to be a special day. The speakers were excellent, Suzanne Catty was inspirational (the Blue Lotus Flower Hydrasol sounds very interesting) and I just didn't want Cindy Engel's talk to end. It was also great to meet other GEOTA members and pick previous student's brains about our upcoming exams. I'm looking forward to next year's conference already.
Rachel B.
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Suzanne Catty was inspirational in her enthusiasm for her subject and her depth of knowledge and we were lucky enough to be the first ones to hear of some of the newest research on hydrosols which had just reached her desk. This indicates that hydrosols contain minerals as well as their other therapeutic properties which makes their possible use as dietary supplements even more exciting. She also talked about some of the newest hydrosols which she is using these days for everything from oral cancers (Frankincense) to weaning (Satsuma) to the 'interesting' effects of Blue Lotus one of the planet's oldest plants which had us all rushing out to order some.
Nayana
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Nayana Morag emphasised the effect we have on our animals and how the owner can so often be helped by essential oils as well, usually the same oils that their animals need. This is one of the wonderful things about essential oils that the owner and animal enter the healing circle together just by being quiet and attentive to our pets and ourselves. Elsa, the Rhodesian Ridgeback helped Nayana demonstrate how to use the 5 elements to choose an essential oil and showed great enthusiasm for the Neroli (Citrus aurantium).
Carole