Equine Mind and Body

The Five Elements

When performing a shiatsu treatment a practitioner will make an assessment of the horse (or human, dog...) in terms of five-element theory and use this assessment to decide on which parts of the body to work.

Five-element theory is an ancient philosophical framework which describes the characteristics of the Universe and all it contains; behavioural and emotional properties are included as well as the physical. This results in patterns which can be recognised and, where these patterns are detrimental to health, can be treated. Each element is dependent on the other four - in a healthy body they maintain a balanced harmony. In an unhealthy (both physically and psychologically) body there will be some imbalance with one or more of the elements being excessive and others deficient. It is then the job of the shiatsu practitioner to rebalance the body and restore the harmony.

The elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water - we all have some of each element in us, yet typically we might be dominated by one of them. This dominating element will change as we age - just as the seasons change each year, forming a cycle through the five elements.

The fresh, green spring growth of the Wood element corresponds to our childhood; the hot sun of summer and the Fire element to our party-mad teenage phase. Mother-Earth comes into play in late summer, reaping the harvest - as we look after our families. As we age we enter the autumnal, Metal element, we know who we are and feel a centred stillness as we retire and prepare for old age (or hibernation). Finally we enter the Water phase with its vital life-force; as elderly people with a full life behind us, we slow down and conserve our energy, drawing on our deep inner strength.

This framework can be applied to our horses too:

Wood

The happy, free-moving TB who knows where he's going. Will get angry if stopped from getting there.

Fire

The nutty arab who just likes to have fun. Either performs brilliantly or fails miserably and can become panicky or depressed when things are not going well.

Earth

The riding school gentle giant who you can trust with your toddler but can be obsessive with food and have a deep underlying worry about life.

Metal

The horse who needs fairness and an orderly life. He can often be labeled as stubborn but really just likes his personal space and everything just-so. Prone to COPD and skin problems.

Water

The charming and curious, yet slightly spooky horse with good bone and a flowing mane and tail.

Of course, these are just very brief descriptions to give you an idea - there are many more properties which goven the constitutional type of any horse. Any horse will share characteristics of all the elements, some more than others.

So during a typical treatment, a practitioner might recognise that the calm, well-mannered cob who is ridden by beginners and likes his food, is also very worried about being left in his stable and has an air of depression about him. He might also have a bit of a cough and be prone to sweet-itch in the summer. These observations might suggest that a nice Earth horse has a bit of a Metal excess and a Fire deficiency. The treatment might be to work the Lung and Heart Protector meridians which correspond to these elements (and would also have been indicated during the practitioner's assessment). Complementary training might include a counter-conditioning programme (see the behaviour sections of this web-site if you do not know what that means) to help the horse associate his stable with good things. The training might also include a look at the owner's behaviour and see if she is somehow taking advantage of the horse's nice, grounded nature - this sort of horse needs lots of love and empathy.