Lillian Bonner DVM BalancedBeings Integrated&Functional Veterinary Medicine

14/11/2025

Do you have a mini? Great what to get them out for heaps of needed movement for a good cause- Chloe Phillips-Harris: Adventurer does amazing work, good to support

Guess I better put my money where my mouth is...

I'm joining the Born to Run Adventure Racing virtual challenge this month. It's five weeks of getting out and active with the smallest horses around. From November 15th- December 21st and it's all for a good cause. To help small horses in need.

If you don't know about my little side project, we run a charity that runs with rescue ponies. We take in tiny horses that end up to often with debilitating conditions like laminitis and founder due to obesity, lack of movement and neglect. We also take in a lot of rescues, due to abandonment, welfare concerns or behaviour problems like this punchy little guy here.

Our big aim is to retrain, rehabilitate and sometimes tame them and give them a new chance at life as active healthy and happy horses that get to come on adventures with us.

However to help spread awareness of what is a global problem we are running a 5 week, get out and active with your pony online event. Instead of just being an event organiser, this year I've actually signed up to do it with my little companion here.

It's super simple to be part of, you can do it too! Just head over to the Born to Run Adventure Racing website and sign up. Share it with anyone who has a mini pony sitting in their back paddock not doing much and encourage them to come give it a go. You can do it from anywhere in the world and the online competition lets you see what others are up to, log your miles and be part of a really cool community.

Check back here to see my progress as for a change I'll be trying to keep up with the horse on foot not on it!

21/10/2025

14/10/2025

A little trivia knowledge- history of the Apgar test- equine veterinarians learn a modified version for foals (Apgar scoring for foals)- I learned and applied this extensively during my years of taking care of foals in NICU in equine referral Centres

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ew37zxNja/?mibextid=WC7FNe export

In 1952, inside a New York City delivery room, a baby was born blue and silent. Doctors hesitated, unsure whether to keep trying. Then a calm voice broke through the panic.
“Let’s score the baby,” said Dr. Virginia Apgar.

That moment changed medicine forever.

Apgar had once dreamed of being a surgeon, but in the 1940s few women were allowed into the operating room. Told that no hospital would hire her, she turned to anesthesiology instead — a decision that would save millions of lives.

Working in Columbia-Presbyterian’s maternity ward, she saw newborns die within minutes of birth because doctors had no system to judge which babies needed help first. So one morning in 1952, she grabbed a pen and paper and designed a five-point test measuring heart rate, breathing, muscle tone, reflex response, and skin color. She called it the Apgar Score.

The idea spread faster than anyone expected. Within a decade, almost every hospital in America was using it. Infant mortality fell sharply. Doctors finally had a language for newborn care — and babies once thought lost were suddenly being saved.

Apgar never stopped pushing forward. She earned a public health degree, joined the March of Dimes, and became a global voice for mothers and infants. When asked how she had thrived in a man’s world, she laughed, “Women are like tea bags — they don’t know how strong they are until they’re in hot water.”

Dr. Virginia Apgar passed away in 1974, but her test still guides every delivery room on Earth. Every two seconds, somewhere in the world, a baby takes its first breath — and someone quietly calls out a number that honors the woman who refused to give up on newborns or on herself.

02/10/2025

Another racehorse who was moved from a large stable in the north island after racing up there, to a smaller stable with Sarah , who holistically trains the horses, and has a holistic team in addition to her daily practices …. We work on her on a regular basis- she’s still racing , and racing well - working through physical and emotional things that needed to expand and be given space- can allow all of this to happen with space and time and the right energy on a daily basis

02/10/2025

A few pictures of body work on two different thoroughbreds- one has raced and is now retired and embarking on reeducation for a different career- the trainer ticks all the boxes for physical and emotional well-being in the form of vet, dental and body work, mental well-being with appropriate feeding, turn out in a herd and TIME to make sure new lifestyle processed, and continues to monitor if and when rehoming will occur. The last photo is a thoroughbred in current training- I’ve worked with since he was a weanling- he has been in a conventional training program which got him started racing but wasn’t appropriate long term and he was shifted to a more holistic approach, and is currently racing and very well and happy, continuing to evolve within that environment (and is successful as has earned placings- and is still racing so who knows what future holds- the trainer and her team just try to provide the space and support for the gelding to live out his life’s journey - good the owner/breeder is supporting this method)

It is possible to holistically address issues, train from a herd environment and take time within an intense discipline such as racing. Some horses need a break from the sympathetic nervous system input , it allows them to put energy into sustaining their body. This is likely the future of the sport, as in other disciplines

30/09/2025

Dentals on some rarer breeds today- a beautiful young Warlander (Friesian x PRE) and an Icelandic (no anxiety about the stocks after her dental- she chose to hang out at liberty while I finished up with paperwork

Now off to do some functional therapy/body work on racehorses - love the variety

29/09/2025

For those of you who don’t have lifetime access to the TRTtraining method’s content, I recommend you look into it before it goes to yearly subscription in the next day or so…

I don’t really promote one training method as being beneficial for all horses as there’s so many differences individually that come up, but with this method, I think it can be incorporated into anything you’re doing with young , green, seasoned or problem/issue horses, due to the varied background Tristan has come from. Tristan comes from a background of growing up in racing stables, riding in pony club, and has continued to evolve to a dressage rider who incorporates functional methods working with posture and the nervous system to enable horses to be in a good space in many different environments and disciplines . He’s learned this through going through physical holistic therapies with his own body as well as incorporating into his training methods his horses . Many of his methods have cross over from other highly effective training methods (including liberty, horsemanship, dressage, body mapping) There’s plenty of interviews out there with his background to explain how all this came to be.

As always, you still have to be responsible for your own energy, your timing, and looking into all information presented that can be beyond spoken as so much is body language.

My clients that have invested in this to address issues arising from patterns in the body from tension (and I’ve advised addressing this sustainably through repatterning the nervous system) has gotten some benefit. And new content is added as time goes on.

Only sharing as I think it’s a good investment- and I’m unsure of what the monthly subscription will end up being, but the lifetime access has been at the same price or less than what a weekend clinic in NZ can cost. The only issue is it is online, which makes it accessible internationally but requires time to watch then take that into the paddock.

19/08/2025

The focus and basis of my practice has always been to respect and support the consciousness of horses, and any animals who come through

21/07/2025

Tracy didn’t love social media, but I want to express the edginess she had between loveliness and toughness, such a special and unique horsewoman with an open heart
I look at the picture below and had the honor of being in the midst of both of those physical energies during their lifetime
The shock and denial has not yet worn off- Tracy is such a well loved sj and eventing coach, who I knew of years before our paths crossed, as she coached several clients. She really upped their game and made them competitive, and they had fun competing - adults and children alike . I then worked on her big retired showjumper at his retirement home at the end of his life when he injured himself jumping out of a paddock - I saw then the cut of the cloth the energy she carried- very tough, well loved, and connected to their expression of life as horses do reflect the people they deeply connect with. Awhile later our paths crossed at pony club, where both our daughters were riding , and I spent a good deal of time getting to know her as a horsewoman, trainer, and mother. It was at that point I could see her huge capacity for love and connection and I understood her popularity. She helped a bit with Mele and a horse she was riding , then a bit more with a horse she moved on to which we had trained. Mele injured herself at her place actually, but again, she supported as a mother and horse person at that point to myself and could support Mele as a rider as she knew what injuries felt like .
We’ve been out of the public competitive picture for awhile as between recovery, moving between horses due to growth, then not having anything trained up. My younger daughter never trained with Tracy as she has still been at my level if training before she started high school , which has been a transition requiring more time so more down time.
Yet our paths crossed again this year at high school as our daughters were there together. We felt so happy to ‘see a friendly face’ as Tracy said when we did have a catch up there in the midst of our busy horse professional lives. Since then, it’s been the connection between our daughters and clients that’s kept me in touch with the energy of Tracy, and I was so shocked and the sadness for the loss of that energy, and the sadness I feel for her family and the community are overwhelming. Her legacy will live on through her family, and all the people and horses she has worked with. She has a huge legacy as she gave so much in her life, which was cut short very unexpectedly to everyone

VALE - Tracy Kovacs. Very sorry to hear of the passing of Tracy who I believe had been unwell in recent weeks. Thinking of her family, friends and students at this sad time. Many people have benefited from her knowledge over the years in equestrian circles.
I have a vivid memory of chatting to Tracy ringside at the Royal Easter Show in Auckland for the Easter Classic. She had come up to compete with the mighty Billion at some of the big shows such as HOY when it was held at Karaka in the mid 1990's. Billion was a big horse with a dash of Clydesdale in his breeding.

Photo sourced from Facebook. Either H&P or the Bulletin.

03/07/2025

A morning if trying to catch up on admin after rescheduling work due to weather- have to go out for a couple of appts still this afternoon
My office has been reorganized by my daughter after being chaos the last few months- too busy out in the field with vet work, teenage taxi-ing, and horse care and training…. My office was warmed up nicely with the stove- too hot as my partner got fire roaring - even my dogs love it- they’ll hold down the fort whilst I’m away

19/06/2025

My neighbor needs to sadly rehome his lovely mix breed dog- his name is Shadow and he’s approximately 6-7 years old, is male and neutered- good farm and family dog. This is a genuine situation- there’s been a huge family and situation change and the property has been sold,so he needs to find a loving home for Shadow- he’s been with this family for 5 -6
Years and has been their companion dog

I would take him myself, as he’s lovely, but I’m maxed out on animals at home, and not home enough at the moment to take on more than I have
Contact me for further info- would love to see him go to someone in my lovely community as my clients give the best homes and lives to animals