When did you last stop to think about the importance of the human imagination and what it can achieve, create and build? Or, consider the human brain and all it's forgotten powers from the days of Atlantis (the so called fictional island created by Plato). Do you give pause to recall the innocence and certainty of a child's mind, open to every possibility becoming real and probable?
My point is that we are capable of so much, if only we would try, or remember how to....
I've been more than a little curious over the last 12 months with the question of do horses understand our words and thoughts and can we 'talk' to each other?
I have had so many examples with Essy of where he seems not just to respond to my words but to my thoughts especially when I hold a visual picture in my head and think about him seeing it too!
Then you have moments that make you question it, in my case usually when someone else sees a situation through a different lens. This happened on Sunday. Before I head out on holiday at the weekend, I wanted to brief my old mum (temporary stand in for me) and the livery yard manager with my wishes should anything happen to one of my horses while I'm away requiring euthanasia.
I can have the conversation and be matter of fact. I am very clear (and explained) that once the horse has passed on the important focus is the surviving horses in my little herd of three. They will need to grieve. They must have access to the departed horse's body and given time to stand with him/her and do whatever they need to do. Of course this often surprises people simply because it's not something we care to think through and it does need thinking through - logistically.
However, what troubled me was not the conversation but where we had it. I had been having some free time with Essy in the menage, and as mum brought out a hot cup of cappuccino, we inadvertently grouped by the gate and began the conversation. Problem was, Essy was next to me. I suddenly became very aware of what we were talking about and how (without control) I was seeing the scenario of my horses grieving, in my minds eye as I talked. Knowing Essy has picked up very quickly on images in my mind before, I began to get that panic sinking feeling in my body. "He was hearing all this"!
To my amazement (and relief) he turned and walked away after a few minutes. I remarked aloud that 'he didn't want to hear this'. He was standing in the sun, half way down the menage fence line. My old mum casually replied "oh he's standing in the sun". True he was. Was that all it was? Or, was that an important sign of a horse choosing to feel the sun on his back, and the warmth of being alive? I don't know.
I didn't sleep well. A night of restless thoughts and images. All I know is that the next day I had to apologise to him, reassure him that it was important to plan for grieving but that it was not my intention or expectation that anyone would be leaving our herd.
I can honestly say, the conversation took some time. I didn't stop with my reassurances until I felt he believed me. Saying the words alone wasn't enough. I felt that and knew it, don't ask me how.
So my take away self criticism sounded something like this.... "When will I learn?" "When will I believe all the compelling evidence I've had"?
For a while on Sunday night I felt angry. I turned my disappointment with myself outwards towards others. I decided that maybe the animal communicators aren't right. That I don't have to believe all the things I've learned this last 12 months. Maybe a return to the old ways, and life less awake and enlightened is better for my mental health.
Those feelings didn't last long. Not by choice. I just couldn't shake the reality of the symbolism of Essy's move away, the reality of my mental images as I talked with my fellow humans. I just knew I owed him an apology and explanation.
Of course there is often an alternative explanation for a horse's response and reaction to our words and thoughts. Eventually however, at some point we really might want to consider that they do understand us. Is it really that hard for us to conceive this when we can estimate the size of the universe, build up trillions of dollars of debt, explore miles below the sea, save lives, fly, connect by telephone etc. Why on earth is a little inter species telepathy so implausible?
If the very notion of ....
Don't stop there, go and chat to your horse, be honest, be open, and explain you are learning and don't always do or say the best thing, but your intention is good! Its a cathartic conversation. It's healing. It's real and our horses sense all of that. Besides, its a good 'life skill' to develop and practise that can develop loving honest relationships with friends and family too.
In the words of Dr Doolittle:
Is Dr Doolittle real? He was the guy (a doctor) who shunned human patients in favour of animals, with whom he could speak in their own languages. He later becomes a naturalist, using his abilities to speak with animals to better understand nature and the history of the world. Now real or not, what a noble cause, and real or not its true how one action and belief can spark many very real benefits and outcomes.
Surprise yourself, act as if your horse really does understand you, then notice the many small and large ways and moments where the evidence stands right before you!
Life with our horses can't get much easier than that can it?!
My point is that we are capable of so much, if only we would try, or remember how to....
I've been more than a little curious over the last 12 months with the question of do horses understand our words and thoughts and can we 'talk' to each other?
I have had so many examples with Essy of where he seems not just to respond to my words but to my thoughts especially when I hold a visual picture in my head and think about him seeing it too!
Then you have moments that make you question it, in my case usually when someone else sees a situation through a different lens. This happened on Sunday. Before I head out on holiday at the weekend, I wanted to brief my old mum (temporary stand in for me) and the livery yard manager with my wishes should anything happen to one of my horses while I'm away requiring euthanasia.
I can have the conversation and be matter of fact. I am very clear (and explained) that once the horse has passed on the important focus is the surviving horses in my little herd of three. They will need to grieve. They must have access to the departed horse's body and given time to stand with him/her and do whatever they need to do. Of course this often surprises people simply because it's not something we care to think through and it does need thinking through - logistically.
However, what troubled me was not the conversation but where we had it. I had been having some free time with Essy in the menage, and as mum brought out a hot cup of cappuccino, we inadvertently grouped by the gate and began the conversation. Problem was, Essy was next to me. I suddenly became very aware of what we were talking about and how (without control) I was seeing the scenario of my horses grieving, in my minds eye as I talked. Knowing Essy has picked up very quickly on images in my mind before, I began to get that panic sinking feeling in my body. "He was hearing all this"!
To my amazement (and relief) he turned and walked away after a few minutes. I remarked aloud that 'he didn't want to hear this'. He was standing in the sun, half way down the menage fence line. My old mum casually replied "oh he's standing in the sun". True he was. Was that all it was? Or, was that an important sign of a horse choosing to feel the sun on his back, and the warmth of being alive? I don't know.
I didn't sleep well. A night of restless thoughts and images. All I know is that the next day I had to apologise to him, reassure him that it was important to plan for grieving but that it was not my intention or expectation that anyone would be leaving our herd.
I can honestly say, the conversation took some time. I didn't stop with my reassurances until I felt he believed me. Saying the words alone wasn't enough. I felt that and knew it, don't ask me how.
So my take away self criticism sounded something like this.... "When will I learn?" "When will I believe all the compelling evidence I've had"?
For a while on Sunday night I felt angry. I turned my disappointment with myself outwards towards others. I decided that maybe the animal communicators aren't right. That I don't have to believe all the things I've learned this last 12 months. Maybe a return to the old ways, and life less awake and enlightened is better for my mental health.
Those feelings didn't last long. Not by choice. I just couldn't shake the reality of the symbolism of Essy's move away, the reality of my mental images as I talked with my fellow humans. I just knew I owed him an apology and explanation.
Of course there is often an alternative explanation for a horse's response and reaction to our words and thoughts. Eventually however, at some point we really might want to consider that they do understand us. Is it really that hard for us to conceive this when we can estimate the size of the universe, build up trillions of dollars of debt, explore miles below the sea, save lives, fly, connect by telephone etc. Why on earth is a little inter species telepathy so implausible?
If the very notion of ....
If I could talk to the animals, just imagine it,
Chattin' with a chimp in chimpanzee,
Imagine talking to a tiger, chatting with a cheetah,
What a neat achievement it would be!
Chattin' with a chimp in chimpanzee,
Imagine talking to a tiger, chatting with a cheetah,
What a neat achievement it would be!
.... scares you or fills you with guilt (and Ive had armful's of that) don't!
Don't stop there, go and chat to your horse, be honest, be open, and explain you are learning and don't always do or say the best thing, but your intention is good! Its a cathartic conversation. It's healing. It's real and our horses sense all of that. Besides, its a good 'life skill' to develop and practise that can develop loving honest relationships with friends and family too.
In the words of Dr Doolittle:
And if you just stop to think of it
there's no doubt of it
I would win a place in history
If I could walk with the animals
Talk with the animals
Grunt no word here squeak and squawk with the animals
And they could squeak and squawk and speak and talk to me!
there's no doubt of it
I would win a place in history
If I could walk with the animals
Talk with the animals
Grunt no word here squeak and squawk with the animals
And they could squeak and squawk and speak and talk to me!
Is Dr Doolittle real? He was the guy (a doctor) who shunned human patients in favour of animals, with whom he could speak in their own languages. He later becomes a naturalist, using his abilities to speak with animals to better understand nature and the history of the world. Now real or not, what a noble cause, and real or not its true how one action and belief can spark many very real benefits and outcomes.
Surprise yourself, act as if your horse really does understand you, then notice the many small and large ways and moments where the evidence stands right before you!
Life with our horses can't get much easier than that can it?!
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