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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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