Gilly's got rhythm (beads)

When I ordered Gilly's new bitless noseband from Cynthia at Natural Horse World I was looking through her links and found a site for rhythm beads. I'd never heard of them before but thought they looked pretty neat! So I had a lot of bits and pieces of earrings, necklaces and such laying around and thought....hey I can do this! So I did some research on the Internet and found lots of places that sold them and read about them and the semi precious stones and their meanings.

Above Gil is modeling his new bling, after he got used to the bells! That was pretty funny! I walked from the house jingling them and he came running from behind the house. Blowing loud, tail flagged way up and prancing like he was running on air!!! I mean he was really strutting his stuff; came running to the gate with neck arched and still blowing. Pokey was scared to death of them, go figure? Just the jingling of the bells made him afraid. Gilly finally calmed down and smelled them and was really checking them out.

I went into the barn and rubbed them all over him and then slipped the necklace over his head, awww beautiful. I got him to walk around in the barn to make them jingle; Pokey still wouldn't come in the barn.....I'm tooooo scared, he said!!!!

Gilly is pretty hairy so the necklace kind of gets lost in all the winter hair!

Below is the necklace, it's 50 inches long but I should have made it 60 for Gilly's big neck. It has 7 bells three large ones and four smaller. The stones are:
Red Jasper - helps with conflict and aggression, promotes grace and perseverance.
Picture Jasper - stabilizing, balancing stone.
Hematite - great stone for grounding, calms and soothes, reducing stress.
Turquoise - healing stone, luck, happiness.
Unakite - promotes balance and emotional stability. Transforms negative emotions into positive ones. A grounding stone. (the medallion)
Also has silver beads and a silver bear and feather with turquoise dots.
The symbol of the bear means, strength, health and stability.

The colors mean:
Black - strong protection from negative energies. Reduces fears, obsessions, neurosis, and panic with a calm rootedness.
Red - (warm) attracting recognition and respect, red is the color of good fortune. Encouraging joy, luck and money it promotes confidence and courage...and is very grounding. I has been known to escalate the body's metabolism with vibrancy and passion.
Green - (cool) is peaceful and calming, refreshing, nurturing, balancing and normalizing..it is a good color for healing and health (physical, emotional and spiritual) Green cleanses and balances our energy, to give a feeling of renewal, peace and harmony. Green connects us to unconditional love and is used for balancing our whole being. It connects us to nature and to empathy to others.

I'm sure there are more color descriptions but that is all I found in my search so far. I placed an alligator clip on the end so the necklace will stay in place if Gilly lowers his head to get a drink when we are out. These are not to be left on the horse when you aren't with him.

I also added some pretty silver spacer beads just for looks and to break up the rows of beads.

A close up of the medallion with the bear and feather which hangs at Gilly's chest. There are also two long silver beads by the turquoise but they are tarnished, I need to polish them but then Gilly will sweat on them and tarnish them again!
(copied from the internet)
also known as speed beads, bear bells, horse necklace, cadence beads or horse beads; not only enhance he natural beauty of your horse, they create an auditory learning experience and are a valuable training aid used to improve performance and are quickly gaining recognition and wholehearted support from jumpers, gated horse riders, endurance riders, dressage riders, trail riders, barrel racers and horse trainers of all breeds and disciplines around the world.

Rhythm beads encourage your horse to follow a rhythm or cadence, much like a musician to a metronome through timed beats. The soft jingle of the bells accentuates the rhythm of horse's gaits, which is useful for adjusting the tempo/rhythm of the horse's movements. the bells help the rider pick up the correct diagonal and detect whether they are cantering/loping on the correct lead.

Rhythm beads are an excellent resource for all riding disciplines, including training and desensitizing young horses. On the trail, the bells are useful for alerting both wildlife and other riders that you are approaching.