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I was asked to check with a friend's horse if he liked his work in the outdoor school.  Although he was compliant enough he seemed rather fed up.  It was one of my first direct communications with a horse and hitherto I had only seen pictures and had seen the occasional word in writing.  

To my surprise I heard him in my head say quite clearly "Nope".  

At first I didn't realise it was Toffee who had spoken, he sounded so forthright.  

"OK"  I said, "What would you like to do?"  

To my surprise he showed me a clearing in a grassy lane with his human sitting on the fence eating a piece of chocolate and him, fully tacked up, munching happily on the grass.  The word 'picnic' was written in white chalk across the scene.  

I felt a bit embarrassed as I mumbled shyly to his very down-to-earth human.  "He wants to go on a picnic"  I felt sure she would think I was off my trolley and not bother with communication again.  To my surprise she looked quite emotional and said.  "Only he and I know that's what we call our rides out together.  I'll give him a rest from the school for a bit."

And so Toffee got his regular picnics and returned to his work in the school with renewed enthusiasm knowing that he could make himself understood if he really needed to.

About a year after this event he gave me a wonderful rider-less display in that same school of all the new things he'd learned to do with his human, including figures of eight with with flying changes. When he'd finished he galloped up to me to be congratulated.  I knew he was thinking of the first time we'd communicated.
 

I was asked to find out if a very ill Dachshund knew what was the matter with him.  He was unable to eat and appeared to be in great pain.  

Immediately he showed me a large egg timer in a cage and a very small window high up.  I got the feeling of torture with this vision and couldn't make sense of it.  Then he showed me his lower backbone and tail in ice blue as if frozen.  I asked him why he couldn't eat and he showed me a diagram of his stomach and intestines filled in with solid black.  

Although none of this made sense to me at the time the vet and his human confirmed everything.  He was paralysed in the lower back and tail area, he was suffering a recurrent fusing of lower spinal vertebrae for which he had undergone an operation some years earlier and the post-operative treatment involved him being in a cage for a very long time, which he had hated.  The operation was called the Window and involved making an incision in his spine to release fluid.  He was now grossly constipated, which he tried to convey with the solid black or full insides which in turn was the reason he couldn't eat.  Sadly he did not recover from this condition and his family decided not to put him through the ordeal of the 'Window' operation again.  However he died knowing that he was understood and loved and passed on very peacefully and gratefully before he was given the final injection.

I always feel his parting gift to me was that I should carry on with, and believe in, this work.
 


 

My own horse Phoebe, usually a very enthusiastic feeder,  went off her food and started to lose weight at the end of last year.  I, together with a fellow healer friend, asked her to show us what was the matter with her.  She gave both of us a very substantial pain in the lower left jaw and asked for feverfew and lavender for headaches and to restore calm.  I called the vet and explained that the horse had a problem with her jaw, and though she wouldn't let me investigate as she was in pain and too agitated, she needed help.  I could tell he wasn't used to taking instructions straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak, but he came and gave her a mild sedative to relax her before his investigations.  He found, and operated on, the problem then and there.  She had a small chip of broken bone which had worked its way up through her lower mandible and was starting to pierce the soft toothless gum surface of her jaw.  Naturally eating under these conditions was very painful and so she was losing weight and becoming very nervy and upset.  If she hadn't been able to indicate her problem we might still be looking for the cause today.  Once the wound had healed over she returned to her food with the her normal gusto and her pain and tension related headaches faded. 

Phoebe is a complicated, opinionated, intelligent and particular but also affectionate horse and makes her wishes known on a more or less daily basis.  She can send great love to me when she's happy and enjoying our playtime which gives me a wonderful fuzzy, warm, weak at the knees feeling like being in love.  On one of these occasions I asked her if there was anything else I could do for her and she promptly replied.  "I want to be yours" to which I said automatically "I want to be yours too."  It was a simple but very touching moment which I often recall when things are not going so well between us!  It stands as a reminder that the language is 'love' and it is my responsibility to make myself clear to her when teaching new exercises and tasks.  We can all behave erratically when confused and when a horse does this it's often wrongly interpreted.  While I am her leader, in certain situations,  I feel that she is my partner in most.  I am not obsessed with the dominant leader/led ethic that is so prevalent among a certain portion of the horse community and feel that to go forward in partnership is what your animal friends appreciate.  There is a healthy give and take in a partnership, not normally found in dominance based relationships, and the results are so rewarding. It also goes without saying that she is the best teacher I've ever had, and recently our relationship has turned another corner towards the partnership of my dreams.

 


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