Category Archives: horses, dogs & more

Feb19

trust

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When I first met Nelson, the almost formerly wild Mustang, he did not want to be touched.  He was nervous, and that made me feel nervous, and we did a strange nervous dance for quite a while.  Both of us prickly and alert, sympathetic nervous systems on orange.

I wish I could say that I found a magic key and that suddenly Nelson was easily touchable, but I did not.  What I did find was horse time.  Horse time is biologic, sometimes even geologic.  It does not have to do with any kind of human time measurement.  It has to do with listening and with waiting.

I got very good at waiting.  One day when I came to work with him, Nelson would not let me anywhere near him.  So I sat leaning against the fence for about 2 hours until he finally came close enough to get a treat.  I had a lot of time that day to think about taking that personally.  A lot of time to feel my impatience and what I assumed was my ineptitude.

The real thing that I have learned from Nelson is that if I listen and wait, he gives me everything.  And the lovely thing is that I have also found that to be true about myself.  If I listen and wait, then what I want unfolds and offers itself to me.  All in good horse time.

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Feb1

more play

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I took this picture of Capprichio last September.  I lay in the grass and let him move around me.  I loved seeing him from this angle, down where he grazes, one eye on the farm, one eye on me.

Last night I spoke with the animal communicator Kate Reilly, and when she spoke to Capprichio, the first thing he said to her was, “It’s been a long time.”  He was talking about his long working life.  She said he sounded solemn – not depressed – but like an elder statesman.  She also confirmed that he is not comfortable.  Nothing catastrophic, just a number of things that add up to not feeling great.  I had been feeling that.

Capprichio will be twenty this year.  That is not OLD for a horse, but it is often when a horse who has worked for many years competing or performing will retire.  He has been “retired” for several years, but I still ride him lightly.  My antenna are always out – feeling for his legs, his back, how is he stepping? And mostly for his heart and mind – is this still fun?

Two weeks ago, after he recovered from his abscess, I felt something different.  Almost as if he did not want to put his feet down.  it was a new kind of tenderness.  I was listening.

Kate suggested letting him take February off and doing body work with him – energy work and TTouches.  She said, “Don’t do what you know.  Play.  See what happens.”  I have been writing about play in the blog and also in Breaking into Blossom.  And here is that theme again!  Kate telling me to play in an intuitive, improvisational way.  No map.  Just feeling and listening.  Letting myself be led – by my hands, by my heart, by him.  By love.

Jan30

running with the horse

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Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling is the most beautiful man on or off a horse that I have ever seen. I do not mean “sexiest man alive” beautiful, but lovely in his ability to be with a horse – beautiful in the connection. His work with a horse on the ground is an extraordinary dance improvisation.  His movement is neither predator nor prey, but has a deep, grounded athleticism like a kind of running tai chi.

When I first saw this video (below), I thought how wonderful it would be to be able to run with Nelson, the formerly wild Mustang. So yesterday we went out into the big field and did our walking dance:  me asking him to move around me in a circle and then come back to me.  This is all at liberty, no halter or lead rope and in a six acre field.  Just small hand signals.  So far so good.

Then I  started running.  I wanted him to see me running, but not be afraid.  So I ran away from him.  He looked mystified, but not particularly alarmed.  I walked back to him and petted him, then I ran away again.  This went on for a bit.

Then I said, “OK, you run.”  I have been hesitant to ask him to run because in the past he would run AWAY and then our time together is finished for that day.  But this time he ran, head up, tail flagging, but with one eye on me.  And when I did that little signal with my hand by my side, he circled and came back.  We hung out together and then I asked him to run again.  And again he came back.

I am no Klaus, but I was pretty happy with that dance.  And Nelson seemed pretty happy too.  Two animals working  out together how to go and come back, how to run and be connected.  And all of that makes me a very happy horse dancer.

Here is the master: