Human Myth Carriers

Ever wondered how people can happily leave their horses in stables for most of their lives and how quickly others start to copy?

They say ignorance is bliss!  This may explain why some “horsey people” leave their horse caged up in small square boxes without space to mobilise their large frames, without the company of other horses to physically interact with, or with insufficient forage.   

Some owners it seems simply don’t know any better!  Is it really that simple? 

You can dress it up however you want, but a large animal should not be caged up! I'm sure that's in part why Zoos have been losing their appeal over the years.  We instinctively recognise it's unnatural, yet we can visit the zoo leave unhappy, go back to our yard and not realise we are guilty of the same offence! Weird right?

Sadly such deep seated ignorance is too commonplace in our so-called civilized and intelligent 21st century society.  It shows up not just in a lack of knowing any better, but can be born out of our own actual character types/personality, or inherited myths passed on by those who don't know better.  

We take on those myths as if they are factually correct and our horses welfare suffers.  These myths even satisfy our personality needs.  This is how it gets complicated. Now we can begin to see why and how it's such a deeply ingrained habit and why we don't realise we object about the same things that others do, without realising we are doing them ourselves.  (ie. the Zoo analogy).

So actually for many 'horse lovers' and 'carers' we are already wired in such a way that it fuels our lack of thirst for knowledge and growth, by having other more important deeply seated needs.  This drives our behaviour.  This is what blind us. 

What concerns me is that these myths can stick with us because they appeal to our ego.  The Ego's role in life is to block us from seeing any wrong in what we do and how we behave.  It blinds us to any other way of living (or caring for our horse).  It will deafen us from hearing other possibilities and keep us hidden from meeting new people or coming across new ideas that challenge our thinking.   The Ego needs to stay in control and it does this by sticking with what it knows!

The ego's job is to maintain the status quo  - almost at all costs! 

It provides a false sense of security.

There seem to be 3 common myths that show up as personality types, all of which lack up to date knowledge about a horse’s basic needs, a cosmic sized lack of common sense, and an unwillingness to question how they manage their horses lifestyle, and most importantly....why!  

Apart from that; nothing much to worry about (unless you are a horse and you belong to one of these myth holding characters)! 

As we wake up we  can begin to recognise the Ego at work in others by spotting these different types. If we don't wake up to the outdated nature of our approach to horses we remain like a cluster of mushrooms, trying to grow in the dark.  

Have a look at the 3 myth carrying types of personality described below and see if you recognise any in yourself or others.  If you do, don't worry... help is at hand!

 3 Myth Carrying Character types:

Myth Carrier Type 1: The “Smother Mother ” – often sweet enough and well intentioned but clueless!  These people remind me of road users who dawdle at 30mph oblivious to the wake of disaster they leave behind them.

For these women their horses fulfil an unconscious deep need to be “mummy” - to be loved and have something to love back.  The horse becomes their surrogate child in fur! 

They believe their horse’s attention towards them actually reflects a bond and affection.  It doesn’t!   

Often their horse’s isolation precludes it from the freedom of choosing its companions and with whom to bond.  The resulting bad behaviours - kicking out, wont' stand still, 'general noise' making tendencies are akin to those of a spoilt brat.  (Not the horse's fault). 

The owner (smother mother) becomes the horse's only option for its frantic attention seeking behaviour, which is not to be confused with a true bond, love or a happy well functioning horse.

Sadly, knowing their horse will be ‘looking out over the stable door for them', when they arrive at the yard each day,  provides a temporary satisfaction for their low self-esteem,  unsatisfied childhood wants, and a desperate desire to be needed.

Myth Carrier Type 2: The “Abdicator” – tend to be owners who use every excuse in the book to justify keeping their horse being locked up and take no responsibility for the horse’s true needs!

They explain their actions hiding behind stories of putting their horse’s safety first. They are full of stories about how turning their horse out always results in injury.   

They seem to ignore the fact that if you lock a child up in a bedroom day after day, when they do eventually get out and head to the playground - they go berserk.   

Don’t forget that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  The more scarce something is the more it is sought after!  Again, a misplaced sense of 'doing good for the horse'.

Myth Carrier Type 3: The “Easy Lifer” – people who have horses simply to ride them and maybe compete.  They treat the horse as if it is a machine and so looking after them just becomes a necessary evil!

These owners are motivated by convenience and what is easy for the human!   

They often appear to know very little about the needs of a horse especially for a healthy functioning horse; physically, emotionally, mentally. 

These people can have very low powers of observation about a horse’s health and behaviour. Rather ironic given 'athletic performance' is very much about all the details!

Their addiction to the horse fitting in with their own lifestyle means they don’t turn out because they need their horse handily stabled, like a chauffeur on standby, clean, tidy and ready to be ridden.   

Even stable management is all about convenience.  They still believe that hay nets are good, they  constantly rug up, bandage legs,  and feed at the same time each day. Habits that often are more about minimising human effort, inconvenience and disruption to the rest of their life, than horse welfare.  

(See earlier post about our quest for convenience)

All 3 myth carriers can be infectious!  Approach with care! If you aren't awake and fully responsible for your horse you could end up copying any one of these types simply because it's what you see around you!

How could our 3 "myth carrying types" change?

Quickly, I hope!

All 3 types can change, if they want to, and here’s a 5-step process that can help:

Step 1 "Wake up”! 
To realize how little they think, question and reflect upon what they actually know about horses/ horse care. 

To consider when was the last time they read about horse care, went to a demo, seminar or course and actually learnt something new!  

To read posts like this and notice your first reaction - if you poo poo it - consider why?  Which part of you feels threatened - odds are it will be your Ego!

Step 2 : Coaching
To show people how to map out their beliefs about their horse, horse care and a horses needs. 

Reassessing which beliefs to keep and which to discard!  

This will even include why you have a horse, why you ride, compete etc.  

Dig Deep!

Step 3 : Honesty! 
Giving people a way to discover why they have a horse, what they get out of it and what needs they are trying to fulfil.   

Then to look at the extent to which this is actually being achieved and if not, why not. 

How could keeping a horse be simple, cheaper and yet still be loyal to what a horse really needs for its well-being?

Step 4 : Look for Patterns!
Reflect on who you are when you are around your horse.  

Who are you in other parts of your day/ life?  

Which 'you' do you prefer and why? Actually think about what your horse can teach you about life, yourself,  and horses.

Step 5 : Celebrate! 
Throw yourself into uncertainty, risk, learning to build a new relationship with your horse. 

Don't follow a new route blindly and willingly, be discerning, be evaluative but open minded. 

Actively think about how you will gather evidence that supports (or not) that your horse (and you) are better off, if you implement new ways of existing together. 

Don't do it alone! Seek help. Reach out to others who have a different way or view point.  

Remember a definition of insanity is:

 “continuing to do what we’ve always done, expecting a different result!"

Horse owner’s stick to the traditions and habits of the past, like lemmings heading over the cliff! Yet in today's world of heightened expectations and perceived 'less time' it makes no sense to stick with the past - we expect more from ourselves and from the world,  so how can the 'old ways' bring new results?

Most of what we do with our horses originates from the Military era yet how much of military life is still applicable elsewhere in our lives today?  Not much! Consider  how we run our households nowadays,  how we manage family relationships, or work colleagues?  Its remit is almost non existent - based on outdated command and control principles that most of us rebuff and reject.  It has been replaced by a high need for flexibility.

Maybe Generation Y the so called "rebels" against command and control methods will be the new pioneers advancing our knowledge of what horses really need.  

I hope so, if the future of the Horse is truly to be one of Partnership not just Performance!

I leave you with this final thought to muse on when you next muck out....

"It's not what you DONT know that kills us - it's what we THINK we know that's NOT true!

Its the limits that we put on ourselves that we've been told, 

about how things are supposed to be done!"  

(See also Earlier Post: Energy Matters)

Survival: Avoiding my own Extinction!

Some days when you get bad news it can feel as if you are falling, spiralling down and down! As a child that was a recurring dream I used to have but I was never sure if it was a nightmare or if I somehow enjoyed the falling sensation.

What if.... that recurring dream was a hint at what was to come?  What if that fine line between something being a nightmare or a thrill, is one of my life lessons to learn?

As an example, Essy's hematoma and Solar's heart are major distractions for me in my life.  Distractions from what?  From feeling happy, relaxed, at peace, confident that things will be fine!  I have close friends who wouldn't let such matters 'set them back' emotionally, so why do I?

I have to look closer at why, for me, these thing become such a major pull on my emotions, energy and focus. 

What my horses have helped me realise since my post about "worry" (what we resist; persists),  is that any time one of them is ill, injured or off colour my tendency is to:

 act in order to try to fix things!

Miss Fix It!

I am now curious about when I am so busy doing stuff, do I have the clarity to see what's actually going on? Or, do I just want the problem to 'go away'? I think it's the latter and I think that's because on a base level my survival instinct kicks in.

Survival instincts have a valid role to play - late at night in a dark alley, alone, or, when asked to mount a bucking bronco 'to prove some stupid point'.  In both cases our inner chitter chatter fires up and tells us (hopefully) -"turn back; don't do it"!

Sometimes our inner voice offers advise that turns out to be quite extreme, and invalid as the situation often isn't a life or death one.

Such moments might include when you decide to leave your spouse, resign from your job, betray your best friend's confidence, or leave your current yard - often because drastic feels appropriate!  We end up in this place usually because our mind says things to ourselves (or others) because it is uncomfortable with the current situation, and it wants to get away!

Survival and escapism are not the same thing!  

Fleeing and freedom are not the same thing!  

Freedom and liberty are not one in the same!

...It is beginning to feel important to know the difference!

When our survival instincts over ride our ability to see the situation clearly our ego is running the show.  Auto-pilot kicks in.  We become helpless in our own body and mind, leaving us in a high state of self defence.  Another problem this causes is that when we are so busy defending our own actions what we get back is others doing the same thing!  Put simply:

"We get back what we put out"

If your an angry person, you'll find a lot to be angry about!  If you can't see a way forward in life you'll keep tripping up over obstacles.  If you feel unloved and unlovable, you'll push more and more people away as you fall headlong into martyrdom! So it goes on.

So, we tell ourselves we must 'fix' other people or the situation; we make rash decisions and thereby limit the choices available to us.  We pull up the drawbridge to defend ourselves and push everyone else further away in the process.  This convinces us we were right in the first place to retreat and withdraw and we fall further into loneliness, helplessness and victim thinking.  What fun!

It's pretty clear when you write it out like this.  We set traps believing them to be our survival kit, and end up falling into them ourselves, trapped by the four walls of our mind.

To 'see clearly' rather than 'fix' means we have to break this cycle.  Letting go, and accepting what is happening is the first step.

The only problem, in my own experience with 'letting go' is that sometimes we think we have let go when we haven't. We deceive ourselves. Take as an example this quick exercise to try out:

Exercise:

Drop a head collar onto the floor in front of you (or pen, paper plate any object easy to lift up).
Then ask a member of your yard or family to 'TRY to pick it up.'

They will probably bend down and pick it up easy peasy.
Stop them!  You asked them to 'try to pick it up' not 'to pick it up'

Ask them again to TRY to pick it up.
Now watch their confused expression.  Watch them hesitate with their body language. They will be unsure what to do/ how to do it!

After a few agonizing seconds (or minutes if you are enjoying the moment), 
Ask them now to just 'do it' 'go ahead and pick it up.'
They will do so with ease.

Think about what just happened! When we try to do something it is a faulty concept, trying in this context doesn't really exist as a behaviour;  you either do it (pick it up) or you don't! There is no middle ground.  So it is with acceptance and letting go.  There is no 'putting it off for another day' and still telling yourself you are working on it.  You won't be! You don't need to work on it - you need to just do it!

You either accept and let go, or you don't!  If you are busy "trying..." then you haven't done it yet, you haven't let go!  When we put off till later, then our next thought tends to be full of defence and justification about why!

Notice how quickly this then spirals down into that cycle I outlined above of withdrawal, retreat and dismissal.  Pretty soon you find yourself saying "oh why bother! It cant be that simple anyway!"

So, the moral of this life lesson for me (so far), has been...

"When you find yourself at home, work, or at the stables trying to 'FIX' - stop!  
Consider in that moment just how clearly you are seeing the situation. 
Notice your thoughts, the decisions you are presenting to yourself and the choices those decisions empower you with, or not!
Then, LET GO!  
Accept it for what it is and give yourself permission to stop spiralling.  
Now you can move onwards and upwards with less 'noise' blocking you from actually hearing and growing." 

I think that to "survive" in this context means we can choose to find, and be true to ourselves, our passions, our life lessons laid out for us, in order to avoid 'extinction' - my equivalent of losing sight of who I am or who I can be!

Saying Something No Body Else is Willing To Say!

I was 10 years old when I realised I am drawn to things that are a bit 'different'!...

...I was at a friends house, my mother came to collect me. Before leaving, my friends mother, who had been making cuddly toy lions to sell for a charity, asked me if I would like one.  I smiled and said I did.  She asked me to select one, my own mother watching over me.  I chose a delicious chocolate brown lion, with bright orange mane and tail.  My mother instantly took it off me and told me to take a sandy coloured lion as that was what lions looked like - unlike the one I had selected.

I got my chocolate coloured lion and still remember the moment now, 39 years on, of saying back to my mum "but I don't want a lion that looks like a lion, I want this one - it's different".

This is my inspiration today.   It hit me like a brick!  The timing rides on the back of last week's Horseman calling competition in the UK.  It relates very well as a follow on to my post called Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak no evil.

What' my point? It is this... We can go through life with our head in the sand, pretending things don't exist, or we can stretch up tall, look around and see what is really going on around us. 

I choose to stretch up tall. I chose to be different or at least if I see things in a different light from others, I'll voice what I see.  Knowing myself as I do, this will only happen when its connected to something I love, and feel passionately about. 

Last weekend's post was read (at the time of writing this post), by 186 people.  The highest readership of any of my posts yet.  I wondered why?

I was curious and so I went to look at the status update I made on the face book page that was advertising the Horseman Calling Event, to see what kind of reaction my comment there had created, if any.  Would that explain the surge of readers?

Below are the comments on the Event's Facebook page, including my comment:

This is what I wrote:
Debbie Percy Your agenda and descriptive text sounds too much like the horse is being used as "servant" to its human "masters" - so much focus on technique, methods and competition doesn't boost my confidence that its a learning event, instead it feels more like a money and ego boosting opportunity. Personally, I'm struggling to see where the "good of the horse" bit is addressed and how that claim can be made. Debbie at jigsawequine ltd.

In response someone else wrote:
I don't know who Debbie Percy is but were you at the event? I don't really like your comment being on my post,i don't agree with you so please take it off and put it on your own post. None of the horse/ponies at the event were "servants". It was a brilliant event and if all horses could be started this way we would have a lot of happy horses and owners.

Someone else then wrote:
I was at this even with 3 of my horses, If you had been there Debbie you would realise, that what you have written is the biggest load of tosh.

(That was the end of the comments.  Not an outpouring by any stretch of the imagination and not enough to explain 186 post readings).


I have never been afraid of feedback or criticism. If you dish it out you have to be willing to receive it back - well founded or otherwise.  I decided not to reply to these comments on face book either word for word or sentiment by sentiment.  I'd had my say and now wished to move on.

Except.... one thing in particular got me thinking,  it was the words:

 "I don't know who Debbie Percy is"....   

In those few chosen words lies fear.  It's as if we think today, that a person has to  "BE SOMEONE" in order to voice an opinion!  Such thinking doesn't reflect a democracy, a modern century, or freedom of speech.  But deeper than that it is a sad reflection of how fearful people can be.  

It seems that someone (me in this case) dares to be critical of something and because I don't carry fame, fortune or a book or horse gadget to my name, to legitimise my view,  I don't exist.  My view isn't welcome.  I simply don't have the right! 

Now that is the language of FEAR if ever I heard it!

It would have been easy to react and post a reply defending myself, my position or rights as a free citizen of the UK!  (See how pompous that sounds - because it is)!  Inspiration rarely comes from a place of self protection or attack and nor do followers or converts! 

What I'm learning is that when you read something like the above and get a strange energy rise inside you - its usually a signal that it's time to grow for YOU,  and not to react as you might if on auto-pilot! 

By defending ourselves or justifying our actions we legitimise those very feelings of being attacked as having a role to play in our psyche.  Then they take root and stay put!  It's as if we give them a 'part to play' in our own life script.  Once we do that - they'll keep coming to the surface looking for their cue! If we don't want such thoughts in our script - we have to learn to let go! 

Terms like "freeing ourselves" from our thoughts are banded about but for me, it's  more about trying to harness my energy, thoughts and feelings and stopping them from scattering - so I can be a bit more centred and grounded.   There's no moral high ground at play here, just a desire to live a more simple, easy, fun and honest life. So that I can figure out what is really important to me and those I care about.

As an illustration, do you ever find yourself being somewhat 'melodramatic'?  I can slip into it easily!  Getting on my high horse (above) about democracy, 21st century, human rights are all examples of self created, self inflicted 'diva drama'!  If I had responded to the facebook conversation from that place of thinking I'd now be in a ping pong battle of comments with people I don't even know!  To what end or good?

- How will that  'do good for the horse' or anyone else who wishes to voice a point of view and be heard?

 
I think many of us tend to spend our lives either trying to figure out how to keep things from happening (being unpopular, ignored, isolated etc), or, we are trying to figure out what to do because they did happen!  Seems almost funny when you think about it like that!

Hopefully, what is actually happening for more and more people is that these moments that test us, are just situations pushing us to the edges of our own envelope! Once we reach the edge we can work on going beyond that barrier, remove or unblock it and whatever caused it.

Typically, those things that are blocked and buried are the root of our fear!

So where does this fear come from? What can we do to be free of it?

It's source is our psyche - and its only in their because of our past experiences and resulting beliefs that are now well formed within us. 

Spotting our own fear rising up from inside us has to be a good starting point if we want to ultimately expel it.  

How do we do this?  So, next time you or I read anything about horse care/management that fires up a reaction in us, ponder the following....

• Does it make you want to stop the author/originator from ever doing/saying it again?
• Do you want to defend yourself, your position, your knowledge?
• Do you feel the need to protect yourself in some way?
• Do you do whatever you can to stop feeling 'stirred up' by them/their comment?

This is fear!

These are some of the signals you can listen out for.   It suggests the fear is trapped inside of us.

The good news is that we all have the means and opportunity to let it go once we realise it is there.  Every time we come across someone who is radical, a bit 'left field' or 'out with the fairies' maybe they aren't!  May be they are a paradigm shift - a gift, in front of you inviting you in.  Once we are willing to take a peak and not punish that person, we might find a new way to live - without fear and without being trapped by unhelpful reactions to the new or different, much like my chocolate lion!

At the end of the day, so many people who have horses in their care, really do want to do the best for them.  Most of us just don't know yet what that is, who to believe and which way is North amidst the choices and extremism.

My advise is not to follow!  NOT to be part of the norms or fashion fad of the moment.  Think before hanging out with people who are quick to attack, defend, justify, position or punish others for simply expressing a point of view.  We might find something to agree with them about if we stop long enough to listen, and that usually entails a whole body experience! 

Put more eloquently and in more detail, from a first hand birds eye view point is this write up from EponaTV.  

As Winston Churchill once said:

Strange Affairs of the Heart

Is it synchronicity or just a lucky coincidence when you find out one morning that one of your beloved horses has a heart issue, then later that day, you randomly grab a book to read on route to the train station, to find it's all about the heart, energy, chi, love and awareness?

The "untethered soul" appeared today just when I needed it.  It helped me shift from devastated and fearful to hopeful and strangely calm.

I have decided that Solar Sue's heart condition will be treated with healing, love, and visualisations to help her release whatever it is that needs to be cleared.   I must be honest, I don't yet know what is her 'condition'.  All I know is that on Monday when I booked my vet to take her bloods (to find out if there was some underlying cause of her weight loss) he found an abnormality in her heart beat.  I listened too, and it scared me to death!

Between Solar Sue and Essy I am finally coming to a conclusion that their 'illnesses' which seem always to break the norms according to the vets, is a message for me!  I seem to be on a journey with them to either learn a lot about non-veterinary methods, or learn the wonder of miracles and a horses ability to nudge back towards health.  The concept of 'less is more' is at the forefront of my mind and could be applied to many aspects of my life not just my horses health.

At the heart of this new sense of  'direction', captured I hope through Essy's Blog, is a foundation stone of self-healing, trust, waking up, peacefulness, acceptance and gratitude. I don't have a handy label for all that but maybe in time one will come (if needed).

Here's what I was reminded of as I read two chapters of the Untethered Soul on the train on Monday:

We live with a certain amount of fear - that's normal.  Fear generated from our thoughts and feelings.

We know that when certain things happen our fears can be triggered and flare up.

We get  totally absorbed in our inner world of thoughts and feelings that we end up living life on 'auto-pilot' ( a subject of previous posts on this blog).

Our thoughts, beliefs, memories - all require energy,  to create them, store them, re-live and re-play them.

This inner energy doesn't come from food, diet, or sleep - it comes from being in love, being afraid as examples. 

It is internal within us, which means it is available to us anytime, anyplace.

So far so good, but what does all this mean?  Why did this calm me down about Solars heart?

What if we all have the ability to open or block access to this inner source of energy?  What if, we block it every time we close our heart or our mind?  What if every time we deny our instincts, our passions, our desires, we are shutting up shop, so to speak?  Over time would you expect your heart to be strong, youthful, healthy?

When Margrit visited Essy on March 1st  this year, (one year after they first met) one of the first things he told her was 'how Solar's energy had returned'.  What if most of last year when Solar had not been fully herself - her heart was closed, hence her energy down?  

How would I have recognised the symptoms?  How would I have known this was going on inside her? What could I have done?

I think that until we are ready to face the answers to these questions, the only answer available to us is ... "we can't"... not yet!

For example, as a comparison with last year - I only recently (2 weeks ago) purchased  The Untethered Soul.  Last year my blog was not where it is today in terms of its messages of awakening.  Last year I didn't have the results for Essy's nose bleeds and didn't know that we would be heading into a land where the vets can't actually treat his hematoma,  leaving me with no choice (other than doing nothing), than to pursue non veterinary prescribed routes.

None of this was in my reality.  I couldn't have answered any 'what if' questions at that stage.

To return to Solar Sue and her heart.  Last summer I was worried about Solar - her weight fell off, she stopped eating hay, she was quiet and stood by the gate during the day.  She would nicker deeply into my stomach when I walked at her side - like a protective brood mare to her foal, which made no sense to me at all.

Then when we moved yards in October 2013, she seemed to bounce back to life.  She has been perky, active, full of life and her coat has gleamed all winter.  Her eye is sparkly and only her weight loss has been a worry.   I hope I can be forgiven for thinking we were 'getting back on track'.

So, to return to the thoughts that spoke to me from the book I grabbed, I began to question what is the link between our minds, our hearts and this inner energy source?  I'll try to explain...

We are blocked when we are depressed.

We are open when we are happy.

We are blocked when we are afraid.

We are open when we are in love.

When happy or in love we tend to feel in a good mood, almost constantly!  We are trusting towards others, we even reveal our vulnerabilities to them. However, as soon as the romance or happy glow wares off because something bad happens, or our lover says something unkind, we begin to be on guard.  We begin to withdraw or hold back.  We wait.  We self protect.  This feeling and our subsequent behaviours can deepen rapidly as we begin to notice other things that upset us, hurt us or sadden us.  Suddenly all we notice is the rubbish stuff in life, all around us, wherever we look, and we feel fed up, tired, disengaged and demotivated. Now, even getting out of bed can feel like an effort, 'why bother', we ask ourselves?

This is what can happen when we close our mind to a person, object, situation, place or possibility, and our heart and energy follow accordingly.   For some, it could become an easy comfortable and familiar place to rest a while! Perhaps Solar found herself in such a place last year, for whatever reason.

Equally, one great hack on our horse, one smile from a handsome stranger, one piece of unexpected good news and we begin to feel ourselves bounce back!  We get a smile back on our face, we expect a car parking space to open up for us and it does, and life is good again!

No magic pills, diet or vaccination - mind, heart and energy all begin to open back up or close down, based on our thoughts and feelings.

From Yoga we know that the heart is an energy centre or chakra. Who is to say that our horses don't experience a similar cycle of thoughts, feelings, and energy surge or slip?  A closed heart and low energy could easily result from depression, anxiety, physical pain, abuse, containment, loneliness, overwork,  etc. 

Is that possible in a horse? I believe so.  

Is it probable?  Why ever not? 

After all aren't horses supposed to be even more sensitive that us humans?

They are more finely tuned to nature, their five senses are more powerful, they have a physicality that is tuned into every aspect of nature not just what they can see or hear or smell or touch?  They sense our moods, our thoughts, our fears.  They pick up on our heart beat, any source of disease and emotional upset.  Hardly the characteristics of hardened beast of burden and nothing more!

From Solar's visit with Margrit 12 months ago, there were things that suggested she felt a sense of loss for horse friends she is no longer in touch with.  A sense of dependence upon others in her life to stay in her life.  In my words ' a sensitive soul living for love'.

As I reflect on the last 12 months, she has had the least of my time, energy and attention.  Both Essy and Grace had health issues last year from May onwards.

Now, it is her time and she has waited long enough.

I do believe that 'you have to be the change you want to see' and the Untethered Soul has helped encourage me to question where I might need to focus my attention, thoughts, feelings and energy in order to help Solar.  Specifically I wondered: 

'how much love do I want Solar to feel from me?' 

 Answer: Masses!  All the love I can muster, so I must be conscious of that.

'how much am I giving off an energy that says to her, I am enjoying life, you can too?' 

Answer:  I have good days and bad days - so I need to be aware of which it is when around her!

'how much JOY do I show her I am feeling when I'm in her company?'

Answer: I've not actually thought about it like that, till now!

Bottom line  is that to feel love, enthusiasm, joy etc. or not, is a choice we all have. We can decide to be open or elect to be closed.  We just don't know we have this choice or that it is so simple!  We aren't taught it.  We don't stop to think about it and when we do it's either too simplistic to be credible or too deep to fathom! 

For Solar Sue, while I wait for veterinary input into a possible diagnosis, prognosis etc of her heart problem, I have decided to CHOOSE to be OPEN.  I have begun to offer her Bergamot and Rose Otto essential oils, I have sat quietly in a meditative pose in her stable to visualise her heart and energy opening, and clearing.  I have worked with the red light on her heart meridian and ordered specific herbs for her heart - arriving on Monday.

... (I had to do something)!

As I've assembled my oils, light and myself for an evening 'healing' session with her (that's my term for it) she has stood at liberty, breathing deeply, eyes closing.  Two nights ago she kept turning her head into my tummy and doing her soft, deep nicker from last year, that I still don't understand but which moved me to tears.  

The bond of love a human can feel towards a horse is utterly without word or expression, but somehow tears seem to capture it well.

I do believe that together she and I are doing some good for her future and beginning to heal whatever needs to be healed and clear whatever needs to be cleared. I have a feeling I have more to learn and my horses will be showing me the way. As we take that road to 'I don't know where' I want to give Solar new positive impressions for her heart to balance against any stored up old indentations that she may be holding onto.

Please wish us luck on the way!

A quote from The Untethered Soul:

"Unending inspiration, unending love, and unending openness. 

That is the natural state of a healthy heart"