Back in my early days of working as a distance “healer” (see note below for an explanation) , I was asked to do a healing session on a horse who had recently had surgery for life threatening colic. It was a few days after the surgery, he was going backwards and the vet was preparing her for a bad result.
What I discovered was quite simple and quite astounding in its results. The horse had simply slipped into despair, thinking that the vet hospital stables, with the energy of all those worried owners and the energy of all those sick, tense and often frightened horses who often weren’t used to being stabled and the scarey procedures – he thought that was his new life. And if this was life from now on, he didn’t want it… so he was slipping away…
Just imagine how easy it would be to be in that despair. Imagine what it’s like to be NOT communicated with, stuck with needles, scarey lines and things hanging from the ceiling, occasional panicky things happening with other horses that you can hear and feel, procedures like the endoscopy (tube/ camera down the nose) that’s happening in the photo above – and none of it communicated to you.
Clearly he couldn’t go home as unwell as he was though. In the healing session, I was guided to tell her to talk to the vet and find out what things had to improve for him to be able to come home. I can’t remember them all now, this was a very long time ago, but it had something to do with pooping properly and urinating properly and temperature and respiration and heartbeat too no doubt and maybe even other things. Then I told her to sit in his stable quietly and tell him over and over again that he was coming home as soon as these things were happening correctly.
And by overnight he had an enormous improvement and was ready to go home the next day. Coincidence? It might have been if I hadn’t seen many similar outcomes with other animals.
I know that many people think that horses are dumb animals that aren’t capable of that kind of understanding. To them I smilingly say “crap… ” 🙂 Horses act like dumb animals when they are scared or chronically anxious and we humans don’t act too smart when we’re in that state either. And unfortunately waaayyyy too many horses are carrying an amount of emotional tension that means that they are easily scared.
This horse had changed homes on several previous occasions, at least once to a very bad home from where he had been rescued by his current owner, so his despair was perhaps more easily triggered than some other animals who were confident in the love that their owner had for them.
None the less, if you have a horse in or going into hospital, stop… sit with them quietly for as long as it takes until YOU feel good and tell them in your mind (or verbally whatever suits you) tell them what it takes for them to come home, tell them that they WILL be coming home when these criteria for their wellness are met.
Make that chat easier and more clear
The first lesson in the free lessons The 9 Keys to Happiness with Your Horse is one that will help you expand your communication with your horse, to make that chat easier, to make that instruction about sitting with them until you feel good, easier. The rest of the 9 Keys will appeal to you if you are into being gentle and yet effective with your horse, as well as give you a glimpse into the two way healing power of a beautiful relationship with your horse.
Note/explanation about the word “healer” and why the ” “marks around the word healer. The way that I work so successfully is by removing the blockages to healing. We’ve all no doubt seen or heard of extraordinary healing that is possible.
So why don’t we all heal like that, all the time? It’s because our bodies get blocked up. They get blocked up by old emotional stresses, by toxins in our environment (lots of which we can easily avoid), by the effects of old accidents, by the side effects of old medicines (even natural ones), by old beliefs (yes, the power of the Placebo effect when you know how to harness it, is HUGE… ) and by all kinds of other things too numerous to mention here. What I do here is systematically prioritize and remove these blockages to healing, so that a body can heal more like the way it was designed.
The power of the horse/human relationship is enormous too. 🙂 get those 9 keys if you haven’t already! 🙂
Would current students pretty please put some of your own stories of the healing power of your relationship with your horse in the comments section?
Hi Jenny,
This blog post came in perfect timing. We were about to move house and after reading this I spent the next week talking with the horses and preparing them for the move. I reminded them to enjoy their last few days on the beautiful land they were on and it was amazing watching them use the whole 24 acres, they were drinking it in. Anyway we moved the 3 of them yesterday with so much calm and acceptance into the new space it made me cry. Thank you once again Jenny Pearce
I am so pleased for you Rachael – and for them too. It makes EVERYTHING so much easier when we can communicate effectively doesn’t it?!
Hi Jenny, I apologise in advance for the length of this reply. If you feel it needs shortening then please do so, I realise it is a long read.
Several months ago a young mare and her yearling foal came into our care after narrowly avoiding the doggers. The mare, Miss Tee, her choice of name and she was quite specific about it, was very keen to be close to us but too fearful to allow touch. She wanted one of us to touch her so she could react and prove to herself that her conclusions about us were true. She was testing whether we were listening.
Over time she has grown to trust us and is now willing to be touched. We are working on her feet and halter and lead training. She is much more relaxed and content, happy to be one of the herd and loves a scratch.
Not long after she arrived I sat quietly one night and asked her is she wanted to share anything. She had a lot to say and some of it wasn’t easy to hear. I still have trouble reading it back today almost a year later. While it doesn’t quite fit into what you are asking us to share I feel that it does illustrate for me at least just how much healing sometimes needs to done and the depth of the hurt.
I’m hoping to reach Miss Tee tonight. Is there anything you’d like me to know, girl? Anything I can help you with.
Miss Tee’s reply:
Bear with me, I need some time. The last few weeks have been torture, pushed here and there, my trust has been broken in a big way. I trusted my former owner and she let me down. She promised I’d never leave her, she would never send me away. But here I am, and my little girl is with me. She needs more than I can give her. I’ve done my part, It’s time for her to be out in the big wide world and to find her own way in life. I’m afraid for her. I don’t want her to end up like me, unwanted, rejected, let go without saying goodbye, no explanation. Why do you humans think we don’t understand?
I hate you, not you personally, but the callous way you abandon us when circumstances change is appalling. You have no soul, you are too wrapped up in your own world to care about us horses. We’re just a convenience, something for the moment, not a long term commitment.
Someday’s I wish I’d never been born. My needs are so few, mostly I can take care of myself, but I do need your help for some things and most of the time you don’t seem to care about what I need. And the thing I need the most, what any animal needs the most, is love. And that’s what I’m not getting, that’s what I miss the most. Someone who loves me. Not because they paid a lot of money for me, or that I can breed a foal for them, just a person who wants me just because I’m here. I need that love, without it I’ll slowly fade away.
It’ll take you time to regain my trust. I can’t help that. You humans abuse that trust so easily and without a second thought. I need softness, thoughtfulness, consideration. You need to ask me, not make demands of me.
I stand here shaking my head in frustration because you just don’t understand, and what’s worse is that you don’t care that you don’t understand. You think you are lords and masters of this earth, dominionists of all you see, even the horizon doesn’t stop you. You know there’s so much more than what you can see. But you are cemented in the physical, you totally ignore the energy that surrounds you. You are oblivious to anything that does not register on your five senses.
There is so much more to this life than what you perceive in front of you. I can help show you but you must slow down, you must breathe deeply and free yourself from your mind.
You need to trust me before I can trust you. You must demonstrate that you are willing, I can lead you to places you can only dream of, but you must let go of who you think you are.
The journey is easy, the first step is hard. It takes faith, and you don’t have it yet. You must surrender yourself to that which flows around you, you must live a different life. You must find your center and live from there. Dwell in the silence, feel the subtle, the wind is carrying messages of all types from all sorts of messengers.
You think too much and feel too little. Swap that around, peace, harmony and tranquillity must become your natural state. You must stop striving and just be. Stop doing.
Live in the moment.
Cast off all that does not serve you, become who you choose to be, not who you think you ought to be.
Remember this, I am not here for you. I am alive right now for me, not you.
I’m not your possession, you are not my owner. You must surrender your need to dominate, to possess, to command, to force, to push, to cause me to react.
Ask me, speak to me with love, respect me, trust me. I can lead you where your heart desires but I will not be forced.
You asked for my thoughts, I have given them here. Consider them, ponder on them, give them time to sink deep into your soul.
I will wait. I will endure. I will survive. Together we can achieve far more than each can separately. Share this so others can be reminded that there is more to life than they think.
Thank you for asking, I appreciate it.
You must understand that while I crave your company, my instincts are to avoid you. Time heals, but it cannot be hurried.
A couple of weeks ago my wife Chrissandra spoke with Miss Tee and learned that she had slipped her filly foal just two weeks before she came to us. No wonder she was stressed when she arrived.
Thanks, Jenny for sharing your wisdom.
Regards, Mark.
How beautifully sad Mark and yet I find it uplifting as well that a human heard a horse and a horse felt heard. How long have you been using communication with animals like that?
I’d say a couple of years. I’ve been interested in animal communication for quite a while but never really tried it myself. Then I began to work on my belief that it was possible, and now I’m keen to learn all I can.
While still very much a beginner I found that once I began using words, especially written words, communication became easier for me.
It helps being surrounded by animals that are keen to chat. Most have that ‘what took you so long’ attitude. 🙂
Thank you Mark & Miss Tee for sharing this story… heart breaking and inspiring both at the same time, and has given me a lot to think about.
Thanks Johanna.
Mark,
This is a stunning piece of communication.One thing surprises me- Miss Tee´s opinion that her filly foal should be making her own way in the world. Horses have a great sense of family, as do all herd animals. In the wild fillies move out of the herd around the age of 3.My old mare Gueixa, being allowed to keep her foal Jacinta, used it as an “anchor”-it kept her sane.Someone in Portugal had tried to break her in to be ridden, and made such a botched job of it she appeared unhandled to an experienced horse person, Lucy Rees.All my horses (and cats) are with me for life, however long or short that is.
I’m only a couple of months into the Fast Track program, and already my horse who’s been lame for the last two years (bilateral bone spavin that hasn’t responded to any veterinary treatment) is moving better… he’s now level and starting to re-gain the cadence he used to have, and he’s happy to do things he couldn’t before. It’s like having my horse back all the sudden and feels pretty amazing!
Another interesting thing is, when he went lame originally he had to spend a week at a vet hospital, and had all sorts of diagnostics done. I was really worried about him, as he used to get very nervous, and sometimes quite difficult to handle, away from home. I didn’t know how to connect deeply back then, but I did have a bond with him and I believed in explaining things to him… so before we went, I tried my best to explain to him why he had to go, what would happen, for how long and so on… and I visited him as much as I could & kept explaining things to him. Well you guessed it, he totally surprised me with how well he coped with it all, and he even got a lot of compliments from the grooms and vet students for being so good.
Just wish I would have known back then how to actually help him heal, not just to cope with the hospital… but better late than never! 🙂
Gorgeous Johanna, I never get sick of hearing about and seeing the healing that happens in the deep bond that is possible between horse and human. What do you think caused the success with healing the bone spavin? Was it about him starting to move in the self carriage that happens when they feel the kind of deep well being that comes when you Release old stresses from the past (like you’ve been doing on Fast Track) – what do you think?
For the benefit of new people reading these comments, it is in true self carriage (rarely seen in the horse world unfortunately) when all the joints are beautifully fluid and available for movement, that very real healing can happen so much more easily than we think. It makes sense when you think about it, the joints stop grinding against each other, the hard impact of the feet on the ground that puts strain on bones, joints, muscles tendons and ligaments – that all changes when the horse’s steps are softly fluid, rhythmic and feeling good to them in self carriage. THEN the healing that the brain has been trying to trigger in the rest of the body, can actually start happening.
It’s just like I talk about people with their own healing – posture posture posture posture – it’s the foundation for so much amazing healing that astounds even me some times – long term healing can’t happen with out it and Releasing old emotional stresses is the key to good posture being automatic whether you’re a human or a horse. 🙂
I think it’s been a combination of many things to be honest Jenny, but the biggest one is probably the releasing of old emotional stresses – mine as much as his. To be fair, I do think we both have some more to release (which is why I asked for those private sessions 🙂 ) but he’s most definitely doing the best he has for years (and so am I!!). We can now do the rehab exercise routine the vet wanted us to do all along… whereas previously we could only manage a watered down version, as he was just really unhappy about doing anything beyond walk under saddle.
Life is a journey of understanding the messages of the Past for the Present and the Future. 🙂
I have a few of these.
My grey gelding, Goblin, had to have an upper molar surgically removed (trefined) which was traumatic for all concerned. The vet kept complaining that he was so herd bound, calling all the time! No wonder. He is an outdoors boy and boss of the herd at home! So stables and no way to see the outside world was upsetting for him.
I visited every day, morning and night. He just wanted me nearby and to touch him. After a couple of days being rugged and stabled (to keep him warm in recovery), he stunk!! But with all the drip lines and bandages he could not go out for a wash. So, with new rug, my brushes and grooming gear, I set to a major cleanup. He absolutely LOVED it. Leaning into me and helping me groom him. Then about a week later, he was ready to come home, but the vet was worried again. Goblin refused to eat beautiful lucerne hay and chaff loaded with molasses!! “He has gone off his food” said the vet, “I’m worried he is brewing a deep infection or something”. Yeah, right said me. Do you mind if I bring in some of my feed for him to try? OK said the vet looking at me as if I was stupid. That night, I took in my brew. Since his mouth was so sore, I minced up fresh carrot for him. Then my hard feed brew. And some plain hay from home. Goblin was like a kid with lollies when I gave him the carrot. He sucked on it for ages. After seeing his normal feed, he tucked in like no tomorrow!! Seeing this the vet said, OK take him home tomorrow!! He never looked back after that. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to bond at a deeper level. He was really unwell and completely trusted me with his meds and dressings at home. No argument at all. He was so glad to be home. His mates met him at the yards and there was plenty of calling for the next few minutes, then quiet repose. OK, you’re home. Back to grazing.
Lovely story Shell! When you have a close, communicative connection like that, you actually “hear/feel” what they need. 🙂
Both my horses suffer from thrush, but one, Xenofonte, has it worse. I have in the past spent countless hours and potions trying to fix it, with little result. This winter, I have tried a different tack, partly due to a comment made by him to my horse communicator friend Paty.He said he would handle it.
So I stopped being so worried and precious about it.This gave him the responsibility back for his own health. The result has been no worse than before.SOME help has been appreciated, but my horses dislike constant fussing.
In my opinion horses APPRECIATE being treated as adults, as opposed to children, in regard to things that they own, like their health.
That’s an interesting concept Oriana. As a healer, I too have noticed that our human desire to “fix it” often gets in the way of the body doing it’s own healing processes. Just in case someone reading this thinks that this approach means somehow pretending something is not happening or ignoring a health issue, I know that you were keeping an eye on it to make sure it didn’t get worse. I have a fabulous series of pictures of a horrific wound in Rapunzel”s chest that she wanted a LOT less intervention with I would have done intellectually and by crikey it healed fast. 21 days I think from a giant hole to all gone. I’ll put that on the list of video blogs to produce!
My dear old Solnar got to the point where he would not share his paddock with another horse anymore, after his last good friend left. He was so aggressive when a potential paddock mate was introduced we had to separate them. These attempted pair ups were other agistees horses. When I decided to purchase a second horse I was concerned. Using techniques I learnt through Jenny I tuned in to ask Solnar what the issue was. I got that he had had so many horses he had befriended leave him he didn’t want to get close to another horse and risk going through the hurt of separation again (and this went right back to being weaned from his mum too early – which was uncovered at Jenny’s healing retreat in 2015). So I prepared him for Beau’s arrival by talking to him daily and assuring him that Beau was here to stay. Well the introduction went pretty well and over the next 3 weeks of his arrival I still continued to reassure Solnar Beau wasn’t going anywhere. They get along famously now. 🙂
That’s a lovely example of communication paying off well. Thanks for sharing that Susie!
Once again, another stunning example from the archives of your experience. Another wonderful story and another wonderful outcome for us to absorb, feel and anchor into our understanding of what’s possible 🙂
I got a million of ’em… lol! Belly laughter!
Wonderful stuff as always Jenny! You’re the biz- and I love how you remind us that we each are too?
Dee
That made me smile Dee – that’s because you all are! 🙂
I cant think of any healing stories, but I know that if I tell my horse where we are going to ride out on the road she will turn the correct way – left or right – at the T junction at the end of our road, she has to understand because I have set this up by trying to turn the opposite way and that is always met with resistance head shaking even a bit of pig rooting!!
I talk to all my animals when away from home overnight and often the horses are at the gate on my return -the dog is always at the gate but she would hear the car
One girl who hadn’t been able to catch her horse was away from home for three months, did the First Key to Happiness every night with her horse and the relationship was completely changed when she got back. Of course she had to take action on what she “listened to” once they were together again 🙂