REIKI IS A FASCINATING SUBJECT
Reiki is a fascinating subject… some of you
will be familiar with it and some of you
wont. Id like to share a little of how I
came across this fabulous healing tool and
what it did for me and the horses I worked
with. After a long quest of searching for
the kindest training
method that felt right for me and my horses
I felt I was missing something else. I was
influenced by many great trainers but one in
particular caught my eye. What I saw was a
man working with horses in a way that was
different to anyone else Id seen. He had a
connection that came from somewhere or
something else. I remember his presence
alone calmed the most anxious and aggressive
of horses. how could that be? I wanted to
know how he was doing that. Id seen trainers
get the same results with tools but this guy
used nothing but his presence…
I was blown away….Could it be that somehow
he was connecting with horses on a spiritual
level? We all know the balance of mind body,
spirit so it led me to question was the
spiritual bit the thing I was missing?
I threw myself into spiritual gatherings
looking for a way to open up spiritually. I
have always had an interest in psychics,
mediums, auras, angels and guides and would
frequently have personal readings. I met a
lady who realised my quest and she asked me
if Id heard about Reiki? I hadn’t but was
curious to know more. The lady told me that
if I was opened up to the healing power of
Reiki it would open the door to the the
spirit world it was my ticket to get one
step closer….I found a great teacher and
without hesitation I booked in for a weekend
of first level degree Reiki….Wowzers…I know
I was told there would be a 3 week clearing
but i wasn’t prepared for the turmoil it
brought into my life. All for the good of
course… 😉…
I was practicing everyday with this new tool
on friends, family and animals and what I
was feeling was truly amazing. Hungry for
more I signed up for another weekend for
level 2 degree Reiki…with this came homework
practical and written healing assessments
which led me to qualify as a practitioner.
Thereafter I completed the masters level In
Reiki which allowed me to teach. Now I’m
finding myself meditating and seeing things
through different eyes. I was noticing the
horses responding to me differently too. I
felt lighter but grounded. I then decided to
enrol on a specialised equine reiki course
which would lead me into the phenomenal
world of animal communication…here I began
to experience the inner thoughts, troubles
and wisdom of not only horses but dogs and
cats too….I will bring some of these
insights in my next posting…Live, love and
laugh Linda xx
BACK TO TOP
EARLY ONE SATURDAY MORNING
Early one Saturday morning in 2012 I
received a phone call from a lady who
sounded distraught. The lady announced
herself as the manager at the horse and pony
protection association (HAPPA) not far from
where I was living. My mind quickly jumped
to an email I had sent a couple of months
earlier asking if I could do my case studies
for my equine Reiki diploma at the centre.
It soon became clear that it was not the
intention of her telephone call. The day
before they had rescued a new born foal from
a mud sodden field and for some reason the
mare had abandoned it the foal was pretty
much left to die. The
association quickly stepped in and rescued
the foal where it was taken to the centre.
Cold and clinging to life they had him under
heat lamps the vets had been and done what
they could do and It was a waiting game. The
next 24 hours where critical.
The manager asked if I would come and give
the foal some healing, she said that all the
staff where so attached to him they didn’t
want to lose him and were ‘willing to try
anything’ . Without hesitation I was on my
way. I remember feeling nervous whilst I was
driving over there wondering what to expect,
I was even thinking ‘Crikey I’m not even
prepared’ what if the Reiki doesn’t come?
will they think I’m some kind of weirdo a
fake even? My ego was trying its best to
shut me down bringing up doubts.
I pulled up on the car park and I was
greeted by the manager, her anxiety hit me
before I had chance to get out of the car. I
knew I had to not let her energies into me
and I had to focus on clearing my channel. I
was rushed to the foal and there he was… so
tiny…I guess he was a little cross mountain
pony. He was led down in a thick bed of
straw under heat lamps. I was told that they
had given him milk whilst he was led down as
he was too weak to stand, he had not done a
poo this was a concern and that the vets had
said not to hold out much hope ‘ok’ she said
‘ I will leave you to it’ and away she went.
I proceeded to offer Reiki my hands were on
fire and I knew that all I had to do was
keep the channel clear all the way from
source to my hands and the rest would be
taken care of. I knew almost instantly that
the foal was accepting the healing as he
gave me a little sign with his head to say
‘yes ok’. Sometimes animals will refuse the
healing and we must always respect that.
During the healing staff were coming and
checking on us anxious to see if the foal
was responding, it didn’t look like much was
happening but deep down I knew there was
lots happening. And then a miracle
happened….he stood for the first time
unaided and quite intentionally came and
placed his bum in my hands. It wasn’t long
after that he did his first poo.. thankfully
not on me…and after that the staff came and
gave him his bottle whilst he stood. The
Reiki had done its job. As you can imagine
everyone was stunned and believe me, so was
I…I don’t know what really happened that day
but I do know that from that day I never
doubted or questioned the healing power of
Reiki….
They gave the foal a name ‘Billy’ and he
went from strength to strength. The manager
did invite me to do my case studies to which
I was over the moon with. The funny thing
was that each time I went to the centre
after that day the staff knew I was there,
not because they had seen me but because
Billy would suddenly have a run and bucking
fit in his stable….he only did that when I
was there…… the last time I saw Billy he was
in a large field at the centre with his
friends. I called him over and he came
running and bucking to me so full of life
and spirit.
One of my case studies was a beautiful
chestnut mare the staff had asked me to work
with….it took about 2 weeks for her to
acknowledge me let alone accept any healing,
but I was cool with that I would sit outside
her stable and chat never really getting
anything back apart from the occasional
glance over the door. Having ended up at the
centre because of abuse and neglect trusting
humans was not on her list of priorities.
She had an ‘issue’ the staff told me ‘she
would explode out of the blue whilst tied
up’…by explode they meant that she would for
no apparent reason jump in the air rear and
pull back on the tie and break it, they said
it was as if ‘she goes into some weird
state’ they could never predict it and they
wanted to know why she did this. They asked
me everyday if I had the answer. No pressure
there then they had only given me a horse
that wouldn’t even acknowledge me never mind
communicate….But one day she did tell me
what had happened and I will tell you….in my
next post….
BACK TO TOP
ANIMAL
COMMUNICATION
Animal Communication? well we know for sure
animals communicate through energies and
body language but telepathically?… I don’t
know about you but I have always talked to
animals as if I was talking to a friend or
sometimes a child. I’m sure most of us can
recall a time when we have done the ‘ah come
here tell your mum what you’ve done’
speech…and I’m not talking about with a
child….yes I mean with an animal!!!…your
amongst friends here its ok to admit it …
Talking to animals telepathically and
receiving messages back is something I find
even the sceptics a little intrigued by. I
have never doubted animal communicators and
have always been intrigued to find out
whether it is something that is accessible
to us all ….
As I mentioned in an earlier post part of my
equine reiki course was learning to
communicate telepathically…bonus. … I
couldn’t wait to start…but what I was
expecting was not what I thought. So here it
is…I ask the animal a question and the
animal answers back, simple
yes??….well…..actually no… it doesn’t quite
work like that……I heard people saying ‘you
have got to tune into the animals
frequency’….hmmm really how do I do that
then? ‘you must quieten the mind’ yeah
really when there’s so many distractions and
the horse has just stood of my foot!!!….To
quieten the mind takes effort there’s always
some intrusion of thought that wants to
spoil it….you can be sat nice and quiet with
your horse concentrating on keeping the mind
free of thoughts and waiting to receive
something, anything and after what seems
like a life time of waiting your awareness
kicks in and you say to yourself ‘ why the
frigg am I thinking about so and so??…end of
quietening the mind…. Learning to be a human
being rather than a human doing can be
challenging to some of us. Stilling the mind
and body is essential to tapping into the
frequency of animals, we have to stop trying
so much and just allow, this has been a
great personal challenge of mine as I can be
inpatient and could have easily got
frustrated if I felt something wasn’t
working out or I was unsure of what I was
doing. I had practised Reiki on lots of
people and animals before I heard
anything…and it wasn’t from an animal it was
from my clients spirit relative…. I didn’t
want to talk to people’s passed relatives I
wanted to talk to the animals!!!….And there
was my lesson….I had no expectations or
desires to connect with passed spirits….no
wonder they where connecting with me…. I
wasn’t getting in the way…perhaps my desires
to talk with animals was getting in the way
and that’s why I didn’t receive?…. Of course
that was true, certainly for me anyway… I
had to learn to let go expect nothing, trust
and allow with an open mind and heart.
The chestnut mare I was working with at the
centre eventually allowed me to place my
hands on her body, she was ready to accept
healing. Grace was her name and she was a
lovely mare I sensed she was like two
different horses… the one she was showing
was calm but I felt she could be quite
unpredictable and aggressive towards her
guardians. I relayed the information to the
staff at the centre they told me that when
she first arrived she was quite
dangerous…she was known to lash out and it
was dicing with death entering her stable….
Phew thank god I’d listen to my instincts
and waited for the invitation into her
space. Grace really did seem to benefit from
the Reiki her body began to appear more
relaxed, her mind calmer and her true
character was starting to come alive… The
sadness that I was first met with was
lifting, instead of keeping herself faced to
the back of her stable she was now standing
at her stable door watching with interest
the comings and goings in her stable block.
I was finishing my work with her one
particular day and as I was approaching her
door to leave the stable I could feel her
watching me… I had my back to her but I
could feel her. An image past through me
like a bolt of lightening which made me
freeze on the spot. Grace gave me an image
of her being tied I could see another horse
a grey and it seemed like chaos. I could see
Grace dancing on all fours I sensed fear. I
remember seeing a man quite large he had
grey pants on and a dirty white t-shirt.
When I say large he was the shape that
doesn’t hold pants very well … these grey
pants would never have fastened around his
belly and so were pretty much falling round
his jacksy!!…the next thing he poked Grace
with something metal I couldn’t make out
what as I had never seen one before…it was
like a rod. Grace’s reaction made her jump
off all fours, rear and break the tie.
I turned to Grace walked over and thanked
her for her image, I told her that i would
tell her carers and that now with
understanding they could make allowances….As
I was telling the staff deep in my mind I
heard the words cattle prod…I have never
seen one even to this day but I know in my
heart that it was that, that poor Grace had
been prodded with. The reaction of her carer
was not what I expected…she didn’t believe
it even though she knew nothing of Grace’s
background apart from abuse and neglect. Her
words to me were ‘no way, there is no way
that happened’?? I turned to look at Grace
and I apologised. Grace turned and placed
her head to the back of the stable.
It was the attitude of the staff in Grace’s
case and the next one which left me with no
alternative than to stop going…..
As I was sat writing my notes up on the
floor outside Graces stable I heard very
clearly in my mind ‘one flew over the
cuckoos nest’ I looked around and at the end
of the block the only horse with his head
over the door was looking at me. His name
was Bobby and he wasn’t one of the horses
I'd been given to work with….. but I did…
BACK TO TOP
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S
NEST
‘One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest’ – what a
great film. Having worked in mental health
human psychology has always been an
interest. So I found it quite fitting that I
would hear the words several times ‘one flew
over the cuckoo’s nest’….it was exactly what
would draw me to Bobby.
Bobby was a 14 year old ex-racer with some
good winnings to his name, he was donated to
the centre due to his guardians ill
health…The stabling area was a large indoor
building with stables running down either
side and a large concrete standing area in
the middle. Bobby was at the far end pretty
much out of site.
Visitors would come to the centre looking
for adoptions, to offer help and donations,
to browse or bring children for a day out
petting the ponies and horses….It was quite
late in the afternoon when I was guided to
see Bobby so all was quiet. I approached his
stable and was greeted with a stunning dark
bay horse. He was an athlete…every muscle in
his body told the story of his career, but
he was crib biting ( this involves a horse
grasping a solid object such as the stall
door or fence rail with its incisor teeth,
then arching its neck, and contracting the
lower neck muscles to retract the larynx.
This coincides with an in-rush of air into
the oesophagus producing the characteristic
cribbing grunt. Usually, air is not
swallowed but returns to the pharynx.
wikipedia definition ).
I stood and watched him repeat this and I
heard the words ‘my fault, blame
myself’….and with that he quickly moved
around his stable stopped in each corner,
looked behind stared at something, something
I could not see and repeat into the next
corner, before returning to the door and
cribbing again…I was stunned by this
behaviour. I asked him what he meant by ‘my
fault, blame myself’ and I wasn’t prepared
for what I got back…most horses show some
kind of ill treatment, loss of horse
companion or pain. I was given a disturbing
picture and the only way that I could
explain this is to liken it to a human
suffering with a mental illness. Someone
pacing up and down distressed talking to
themselves and totally oblivious to anything
or anyone around them. If you have ever
watched the film ‘One flew over the cuckoo’s
nest’ that’s what I am talking about. It
made complete sense to me now why I heard
the title of that film because Bobby was
suffering a similar fate. Working in mental
health had exposed me to this kind of
behaviour in people but I had never seen it
this extreme in a horse.
I was emotional and at the same time
thinking how on earth can this horse be
helped..saved. If you have ever experienced
a set back in life and suffered emotionally
(actually I think most of us have) then you
too would understand how difficult it can be
to come back from this kind of illness. This
wonderfully talented horse appeared to have
succumbed to a similar fate we see time and
time again with famous people. Was he having
a breakdown? can horses have a breakdown?… I
had to regain focus, Bobby had called me to
him for a reason and I was sure it wasn’t to
just show me this. I was stumbling around in
my mind searching for the right questions
and almost as if he had put the question
there himself.. out it came.. ‘had your
guardian forgotten to feed you??…bizarre
right?….what sort of a frigging question was
that?… he wasnt under nourished he was
suffering mentally and I throw out a
question about food??
He looked at me intently and it stopped me
in my thought process……with that came my
next thought, could it be that his guardian
was suffering with Alzheimers/Dementia? and
with that thought I was overcome with
intense love, I knew it was the love Bobby
felt for his guardian. With that he returned
to his corners in his box stopped looked
behind and stared at something only he could
see. I channelled healing and asked the
powers that be to cloak him in a bubble of
healing energy.
As I sat outside his stable writing my notes
I couldn’t help but wonder whether Bobby was
somehow trying to heal his guardian..could
he have taken on his guardians illness to
try to heal him?…I was sure that was a lot
of it and poor Bobby was confused, separated
in a strange place and totally
misunderstood…I thanked him (as I do with
all the horses I work with) for the visions
and I went to find his carer.
I asked his carer what she knew about Bobby
her reply ‘not very much’ she then stated ‘
I don’t have a lot of time for him, he is
difficult to do anything with because of his
vices’…what was I hearing? This poor horse
had be taken away from all he knew and put
in a stable where only his basic needs where
met because his carer couldn’t be
bothered!!!…I bet he felt like he was in
prison his only crime being his guardian was
too ill to look after him……..You cannot
confine an athlete 24/7 and not expect
him/she to feel stressed!!!!
Imagine me saying to someone about a mental
health patient…’sorry I know I work in this
field but i cant really be bothered with so
and so because he/she has shut down and is
making it hard work for me to communicate
with or help them in any
way..???….compassion and empathy do not
require us to physically be doing
something!!…If her body language and
energies where telling Bobby she ‘cant be
bothered with him’ how would he ever get
better. I was so annoyed with her attitude I
needed someone to listen and understand what
I was relaying.
I totally get it, that it can seem a little
weird for some people communicating with
animals but these horses had trusted and
confided in me, it was up to me to give this
information, so that the people who where
caring for them had a better understanding
to which they could work with. Who cares
whether that understanding comes from a
physio a behaviourist or a communicator its
all for the benefit of the horse…..Is that
not why people choose to work in a facility
like that to care, understand, love and
rehabilitate??
It was time for a chat with the Manager.
BACK TO TOP
I DON’T REALLY WORK WITH
DOGS I WORK WITH HORSES’
As part of my development I had joined a
spiritual group that discussed and worked on
different aspects of spirituality. One week
we would be trying to see auras the next we
would be trying to channel spirits. I found
this group interesting and I learned a lot
about how to connect and channel different
energies. I had given a talk on the work I
was doing with animals and I talked about
how communicating with animals is available
to us all.
A lady rang me a couple of days later and
asked if I could speak with her dog!!!….Oh
‘crap’ I thought and actually said to the
women ‘I don’t really work with dogs I work
with horses’… it fell on deaf ears as she
was so desperate to find out why her dog had
suddenly changed in his behaviour. He was a
loyal pet,12 years old and they had him from
around the age of 3 years. They adopted him
from the local dog shelter. The lady
explained that her dog had suddenly starting
destroying things in the house and that it
was so out of character for him. He had a
routine, he was walked first thing in the
morning again at lunchtime as her husband
would come home from work specifically to
walk him and again when they both returned
from work in the evening. Never had they had
a problem with him chewing and destroying
things in the house….. ‘Ok’ I said ‘I will
see what I can do, but I don’t usually do
dogs, horses are more my thing but I will
see if I get anything’.
I was driving down to the house thinking
this was gonna be a complete waste of time,
but they didn’t live too far away so that
was a bonus.
I was greeted by a gorgeous black cross
labrador and strangely I knew he was
expecting me. I was invited into the house
and was made comfortable on the settee in
the lounge. The dog came and sat by my side
as the lady proceeded to fill me in on how
his behaviour had changed. He was destroying
bedding, pulling things out of the bin,
chewing shoes pretty much anything he could,
according to his owner. The lady was anxious
about this because he had never done
anything like this before and she wanted to
know why all of a sudden he was doing this.
The dog was looking at me throughout the
owners interactions he knew why I was there
and he was sure gonna make sure he got his
message across. With that he got up and was
indicating to me to go into the kitchen area
with him. I followed him, his energy changed
into anxiously excited and then he indicated
to the back door. It really did feel like a
child was pulling me by the hand keen to
show me something they where excited by. I
was then guided outside and the dog took me
to the back garden gate. There he stopped
looked at me and in my mind I received a
complete description of what had happened.
I indicated to the owner that we should go
back inside and I would explain what had
just happened. Once again the dog came and
sat by my side. The image I had received was
that of a man that had climbed over the back
gate and tried to break into their house. he
had tried the back door (which was the
kitchen door) and each of the back windows)
The dog had been terrified by this and since
this event he had been trying to tell his
owners of what he had witnessed. Only by him
being destructive could he hope that they
would realise something was wrong. He was
right … his behaviour did exactly that but
it had left him with some fear. He feared
that the person would come back and it
wasn’t to just break in and steal valuable
items… it was actually to steal him!. The
owner was quite surprised by this but did
not show the reaction I would have expected,
especially finding out someone had tried to
break into her house. The lady proceeded to
ask what she should do to ease the fear for
her dog…I told her the dog was relieved now
that she was aware of what had happened but
he would prefer that they shut the curtains
downstairs when they where out. He had a
fear of shadows to which he showed me a
picture of when he was a puppy. Locked in a
room with a glass door he would often see a
persons image pass the glass door and this
person made him afraid. The owner agreed to
do that for him and then she began to tell
me what her neighbour had told her 2 weeks
previous to my visit.
Her neighbour approached her one evening on
her return from work and told her that she
had seen a man jump over her backyard gate
and disappear into the garden. Quite soon
after the neighbour saw the man jump back
over the gate and run off!! I asked if this
destructive behaviour of her dogs had
started around this time she answered
…..yes….
I had missed the manager at the centre that
day that I wanted to speak to her about the
attitude of her staff. It would be a week
later when I finally got to chat to her
about my findings with the horses and my
concerns about the people that were caring
for these horses…She was quite taken back by
my interactions with Grace and clearly quite
upset. After a moment of contemplating she
asked what I would suggest would help Grace
to overcome this. My honest answer was I
didn’t really know but I replied ‘you could
start by not having her on a fixed tie’ if
she did react the tie would simply extend
instead of clamping her down. With this she
would have more freedom of movement and
possibly not feel as panicked by the
restriction of the tied rope. She agreed
that she would instruct Grace’s carer to do
this. I then began to explain my findings
with Bobby, she began to look through his
paperwork to find information about his
guardian. It didn’t specify the ill health
of Bobby’s guardian but I could see she was
concerned about the future of this horse.
Again she asked my advice and I said that he
needed to go out, he needed to have freedom
to roam in the field. Her response took me a
little by surprise ‘He’s a thoroughbred and
its too cold for him to be out’ she
stated….I replied with ‘ put a rug on him!,
being out is beneficial to his mental
health’….I told her how I had found the
attitude of some of the staff, I stated that
in my opinion the carers were not taking the
information seriously and I felt there
attitudes where quite… ‘oh well whatever’ ……
‘I have had Reiki sessions’ she proceeded to
tell me ‘ I was surprised by the positive
effects it had on me, so I believe what you
tell me, that's why I was happy to have you
come and do your case studies’. I told her I
was concerned that the horses were opening
up to me and that their stories were not
being taken seriously. She assured me that
she would instruct her staff to act on the
information I had given her…
I worked on at least 10 horses at the centre
all had a story to tell and all reacted well
to the Reiki. You can never determine where
the healing will go..it goes where its most
needed. I was and am eternally grateful to
the horses that taught me so much about the
importance of just being, opening my heart
to listen, trusting and having faith and
having the confidence to stand by my gut
instinct.
Bobby was turned out in the field, they
found him a rug, he did what horses do, he
grazed, he ran and he found his place within
the temporary herd he was placed
with….whilst he was out he was just like any
other horse…I don’t know what happened to
Grace or the others I worked with…I can only
hope they found homes. I stopped going to
the centre shortly after because the manager
was replaced and I felt my work there was
done.
It wasn’t long though before I realised I
still had lots more work to do if I wanted
to continue on the journey of Reiki and
animal communication.
BACK TO TOP
ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS
PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW
One of the first things people
want to know is whether their animal is
happy. After I had completed my Equine Reiki
course I soon starting receiving emails from
people that wanted insights about their
animal companions. Cats, dogs and horses and
I was feeling confident enough to do a
communication using a photo. Reiki and
animal communication teaches you about
connecting with a person or animal
distantly, opening up a channel to send
healing or to communicate directly. To be
honest I was sceptical of this at first
until I sent healing to a person distantly
and received positive feedback. Whilst being
at home
prepared and focus on sending healing I
would get feelings of physical or emotional
pain which I knew was not mine. It would be
after, during conversation with the person
that it would be confirmed that what I had
felt was theirs.
During my training in animal communication
we would be given the challenge of
communicating with animals that had passed
over, using a photograph. It always felt
emotional to have your readings confirmed by
the animals guardian.
I was working via email asking animals all
kinds of questions set out by their
guardians. It wasn’t long before I could see
a pattern begin to emerge. This pattern
would have great impact on the guardians
themselves.
I had been asked to connect with a dog that
had unusually started becoming aggressive
with other dogs, the dog had also shown some
aggressive behaviour with the guardian.
Having had the dog since a puppy and the dog
now around 6 years old the guardian was
confused and concerned about the sudden
change of character. During my connections
with the dog I was given the sense of anger
and anxieties but the dog would keep guiding
me back to the guardian. I sensed the dog
was eager to release these feelings as I too
felt this was completely out of character
for him. It felt as though the dog was
pressing me to talk with the guardian. I
would relay all the answers to the questions
given to me by the guardian, the only answer
I could not give was why her dog had
suddenly become aggressive. The answer to
this would come from the guardian.
After these communications there is much
reflection which often leads to insight and
understanding on the part of the guardian.
In this case the owner’s reflections
revealed how her home life and work had
created emotional turmoil in herself. Extra
work load was making her feel exhausted and
she was angry that the added pressure was
building up. Feeling unsupported she was
becoming more and more stressed and lacking
the usual patience she would have for her
work colleagues. Returning home in the
evening she stated that she would be
frustrated and tearful which she felt was
impacting on her partner and causing rifts
in the relationship. ‘Could my dog be
picking up on me’? she would ask…’Oh my god’
she said ‘the dog is acting exactly like I’m
feeling’…..a light bulb moment with an out
pour of emotions….and the question again ‘
is my dog picking up on me’ ?…..to which I
replied ‘did the dogs behaviour change
around the time things started to change for
you’?
After a silence the answer came….yes!!!…
Animals are wonderful healers I am finding
this to be true over and over and what they
do to try and help us never ceases to amaze
me. No-one could have reached this woman and
told her that she was stressed out, ratty
with everyone and not very nice to be
around. Only her dog could do that… and only
because it was her dog did she feel she had
to take back control of her life and get
back to being the person she was before the
stress. In her own words ‘ This is not fair
on my dog I need to sort my life out’
It’s amazing the impact animals have on us.
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MY
FRIEND I WAS TRAVELLING WITH HANDED ME A
BOOK
Sometime back in early 2001/2 I
was heading over to Oregan USA to join a
clicker training camp hosted by Alexandra
Kurland. My friend I was travelling with
handed me a book she was reading and
suggested I read a particular page. It was a
book that I would come to fully read some
years later but at the time..it was a bit
over my head. The passage talked about how
horses mirror us and in particular how
certain aspects of our personalities can
often be seen in our horses. I was thinking
about my horses, I had three at the time and
it was a definite light bulb moment. I
recognised right away the characteristics of
myself in each of my horses. Ellie whom is
still with me today was definitely my
serious side. Jasper whom sadly we lost in
2011 was my defensive side and little Minnie
whom we lost in 2014 was my cheeky child
side. Off course with that came their own
individual characters but for me this was
quite a revelation…..I was already
connecting with this notion whilst working
with people and their horses it was the
mirror effect!!! and I had experienced this
first hand during a time in my life when my
illness was mirrored to me by
Ellie….however, It would be a few years
later that I would fully understand, the
actual work I was doing with animal/ human
relationships.
People want information about their animal
companion for all kinds of reasons. The
thought of the animal divulging inner
secrets about personal traumas or past
experiences can very often have people
running for the door. We all have a past and
for some of us not as rosy as others but
with our animals we get a chance to release
the things that hold us back.’ Putting on a
front ‘ is easy to do with people…I know I
did it for long enough…but with animals its
not so easy. Animals see us differently to
people they see beyond our physical being,
they connect with our inner selves..our
truth. Very often people will say ‘I dealt
with that situation years ago’ and yet it is
the thing the horse brings forward to help
us heal. I agree that we do put negative
experiences away and believe their
forgotten, but its the emotions that keep
surfacing. This is the part the animal wants
to help us heal.
A lady asked me to have a chat with her
horse, she wanted to know ‘ if her horse was
happy’ as she explained that their
relationship had often been quite
‘challenging’. I always keep an open mind
never knowing what might come forward. There
is always enlightenment and a therapeutic
benefit to these communications but what was
to unfold, nothing could have prepared me
for…..The horse was grazing with his field
companions as I slowly approached and
introduced myself. Its funny because I am
always sure that they are expecting me. I
was greeted with a sniff followed by a full
investigation of my boots, hat, hands and
body, content with his findings he continued
to pick at the grass. I asked my usual
initial questions and waited. I was drawn to
place my head against his neck and my hands
on his heart chakra…again I waited…there
were no words but an image, an image of a
black never ending tunnel I looked down into
this it was empty. And then came a sadness
so deep in this tunnel it was so far down it
was impossible to touch…it seemed
unreachable.
This was something I had never experienced
before and I had to quickly stop myself from
questioning what I was being given. I
remained in the focus of this image and the
emotions that I was feeling… and then…. out
of the blue it came…’Im feeling grief’ I
said to myself ‘but whose grief’? with that
the horse lifted his head and I knew this
was the guardian’s grief. I turned to the
lady and asked if she was’ grieving ‘? at
the same time I was given a childs image I
asked ‘if she had lost a child’? she replied
yes…’not a baby’ I said ‘but a young male of
around 6 years old’? yes she replied and
told me his exact age and how he had sadly
passed over….Her horse was carrying this and
I believe in an attempt to lesson her
suffering…her horse was trying to heal her.
Nothing in life could ever prepare a mother
from losing a child I don’t think any of us
could ever begin to imagine what this lady
went through….
Having horses in our lives brings us so many
gifts…. including the gifts of strength,
courage and freedom.
My studies in equine assisted growth and
learning taught me a lot about the work I
was doing. However, I don’t believe that
equine assisted therapies is exclusive to
people from deprived backgrounds or people
that have been labelled with an illness. The
therapeutic work that horses do naturally is
happening in every stable yard, field or
arena with everyone that interacts with them
….
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DO
YOU BELIEVE THINGS HAPPEN FOR A
REASON?
It was an experience of my own that
first showed me the mirroring horses do with
us. I wasn’t aware that
all my learnings up to this point and to
present day would turn out to be my life’s
path. I am glad I was always the one asking
‘why’ ‘why is the horse bucking, running
off, rearing, wont be caught’ etc… Nobody
ever came back with a satisfying answer…it
was always…’its bonkers’…’it needs someone
more experienced’ ‘needs more work’ Im sure
you have heard these sayings and more too.
These responses were never enough for me to
accept…who was ever talking about the
guardian, the rider, the stable hand…what
where they communicating sub consciously to
the horse? Was the horses behaviour a
reflection of the handler? I spent years
trying to find these answers, the answer
would come from my own experience….
After the death of my mother and an attack
from a patient at work I was signed off sick
and I was given the label PTSD (post
traumatic stress disorder) I was 30 years
old. Stress had been building up for quite
some time with work, homelife and
relationships. It wasn’t until I was pretty
much ready to give up on life that I knew I
had to accept help via medication and
counselling. Due to the medication being
highly addictive and being known for being
difficult to ‘get off’ it wasn’t long before
I felt my mood lift enough for me to start
weaning myself off them. The counselling
seemed to send me into a frenzy it seemed a
complete waste of time and instead of
leaving consultations feeling lighter and
relaxed I was leaving with anger and more
stress!..
The horses were my driving force, I had to
get up in a morning, I had to take care of
them no matter how I was feeling…I threw
myself even more into learning about
horses…hosting workshops, organising
demonstrations, concentrating on my riding,
teaching, attending courses and a trip to
Monty Roberts place thrown in….all this
allowed me to push all my problems aside put
on a front and cart on with life….It was a
few years later, after the death of my dad
that the ‘shit hit the fan’.. I was on the
slippery slope downhill. Everything that I
had pushed aside and more surfaced.
My horse Ellie changed my life…..
Her behaviour was becoming challenging.
Always level headed not much phased her and
a ‘go with the flow’ kind of horse.
Unusually she had started rearing at me
whilst I was leading her, and I was having
to dodge her front feet that where hovering
over me. At first I just put it down to her
being a mare having an off day and then her
behaviour would change again. This time she
wouldn’t move, her head would be touching
the ground and her expression was like
‘lights are on but nobodies home’…
It soon became apparent that she only
displayed these behaviours with me. Having
asked several different people to lead her
she never did it with anyone else. ‘What was
going on’? I asked myself whilst blanking
out the comments like ‘that horse is
bonkers,’ ‘it needs work,’ ‘its too much for
you that horse, sell it’…Perhaps she was all
of these a horse with lots of potential
16.1h in height and only just getting going
in her education, maybe I wasn’t experienced
enough?…I was beginning to doubt my
abilities. Her unpredictable behaviour
continued with me and then one day it
finally happened….. Rope and headcollar in
hand I headed off with a friend to bring the
horses in. I took hold of Ellie and
proceeded to leave the field. I felt a dead
weight on the end of the line and looked to
see her head touching the floor almost
buckling front legs and the same ‘lights are
on but nobodies home’ expression. Out of the
blue and in a joking way my friend said’
that horse looks depressed’ ‘ Yeh she does’
I said with a chuckle and then….Boom…it hit
me like a ton of bricks….., sodding hell I
thought…she’s not depressed… I Am…….Ellie’s
behaviour showed me the highs and lows of my
illness totally mirroring my emotions….. I
had to get myself right…. I needed help, but
this time I was advised to try hypnotherapy…
I wasn’t convinced but I agreed…. There is
something quite spiritual with the work of a
hypnotherapist…. that’s what I found and due
to a miraculous and quick recovery I felt
different to how I’d ever felt before….and
no meds…This spiritual interest was popping
up again and so I joined a spiritual
development group. I started my Reiki
training and then I was guided to learn
about self hypnosis.This inspired me to
train as a hypnotherapist.
Ellie returned to her normal self and what
she taught me that day has helped me to see
things differently when it comes to
horse/human relationships…
Its ok to have shitty days…there is so much
to learn about ourselves on these days…
I do believe things happen for a reason…
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