Hope Changes Everything

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never is, but always to be blessed:

The soul, uneasy and confined from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come"

In my late teens I studied the works of Alexander Pope and his "Essay on Man" is very much at the forefront of my thoughts these days, in particular the concept of HOPE.

In business I 'expatiate' often with Executives to remind them that "hope is not a strategy" and that action is required to make things happen and achieve results. 

***

It was an ordinary workday night, in 2004, winter lay eagerly waiting outside and inside the Ballroom of the Dorchester Hotel 300 posh-frocked business men and women sat down for a banquet dinner.

I was there less for the dinner and more for the after dinner speak - Terry Waite.

I have long been fascinated by man's ability to live within his mind, when adversity and isolation are his only companion.  During the 1990's each day, month and year of normality that passed by for you and I, coincided with Terry Waite lying chained and blindfolded in a hell-hole of captivity.

His situation held a fascination for me then, as it does still today.  How can a person endure such loneliness, fear and loss of control and freedom?

In 2004, Several years on from his captivity I was to hear him recount first hand his experience and how he survived.  The answer; in a single word was his HOPE.  

I've never heard a room fall so silent in awe, fear and inspiration at one man's single achievement of emotional survival having only his freedom at the end to show for it.  Everyone realised that 'there for the grace of god go I'.... Many in the room were moved to tears with the enormity of his situation and the enduring power of HOPE.

If HOPE,  can endure 5 years of captivity - almost 4 of which were in isolation,  then how else can HOPE serve us and our lives?  What other manifestations of hope might be possible in every day life for every day people like you and I?

When Chris Day came to visit Essy and I in March this year, I will never forget the 'feeling' I was left with after his visit.  Utter relief; as if some invisible burden was lifted from my shoulders. I had no idea why.  Privately,  I felt uplifted by a small 'throw away' sentence he'd uttered during the consultation....that alongside homoeopathy "there are always miracles"! Did I dare to hope he was right?

I look back now and realise subconsciously how I latched onto those precious words like the last few drops of water in a desert.

I've been delaying writing this post today, nervous that I would somehow jinx Essy and the results I'm seeing since the homoeopathy, but it is time to put a written record out there, for any other horse and human who when they encounter the limits of veterinary medicine believe what they are told - that the end of the road might be close.

I want to once and for all correct such a limiting belief and remind us that horses, healing, the miracles of the universe and our under-utilised mental powers are still very much available if only we will believe.

To get to the crux, today is June 8th and Essy has not had a bleed since April 29th.  

What role has HOPE played in this process? I have no idea.  I know Ive had buckets of hope welling up inside me, over flowing with each single day that has passed free of bleeds.  Ive gradually begun to believe in these pills. I believe in the results in front of me.  I no longer walk up to him scanning his nose for signs of blood. I no longer ask every day, if anyone else on the yard has seen blood? Nor do I scrutinise the floor, stable door, or walls for signs of a bleed. 

Each day, I still can't quite believe it.  Two weeks ago I had a slight panic (as is my nature), thinking 'where is all that discharge going?'  Chris explained  that he "hopes it is simply ceasing to exist".

There you have it ..... one minute something exists, the next it doesn't. 

Like Terry Waite's freedom, like life in general (See Death in the air).  It's almost too simple to be credible.  But, the proof is in front of me each day.  Like problems of any kind, before they exist - they don't!  Once they've been resolved their gone again! Common colds come and go, debt builds and then gets cleared.  Rivers fill and drain. It's the natural cycle of life in so many ways.

I have been hoping and praying along with visualising that these clever sugar pills will do something miraculous that I have no comprehension about, and for once, I no longer feel I need to understand how or why!

I know others will hear what I heard from well scholared vets that there is nothing to be done!  No treatments are possible.   My advise is believe what YOU want to believe.  Trust in your horse and as Solar Sue said to Margrit Coates:

"DON'T GIVE UP ON US"

It's heartening to know that there are nearly always options; further paths to explore, wonders to be had, extremists, nutters, quacks, holistic approaches - call them what you will.  Our job as guardians of our horses surely is to keep hoping we'll find something.  To keep looking, searching, stay open minded and as I advise my corporate clients - "take action" +  HOPE!

Essy March 2014