A Girl and Her Horse
Wanda Buchleitner-Garstad • September 30, 2019
Case History(W.L. September 2018)
In 2018, I had the pleasure of meeting a young woman who had just taken on her first rescued horse. The mare she adopted had been neglected, given a solitary life in a small stall and showed signs of other abuse. Even though this mare had endured this situation and had no trust, she still showed kindness, this was a good sign for her new owner and an encouragement to help support this beautiful 4 year old quarter horse to find a different way to live.
This young woman had heard that I work with horses through another client and asked me to assist her with this rescued mare.
In my practice, I use different wholistic modalities to support the healing and recovery of animals and humans, if that is not possible and a different path needs to be taken to assist them in the final transition of death, then as a death doula, I support them in that aspect too.
Not knowing what difficulties I was to meet in this instance, I was prepared to work in either direction for my client and her mare.
When I came out the first time to see them both, it was a clear there was a great potential for recovery. This was the confirmation my client needed and work begun, there on the spot. The first thing that was clear to me was how both of them where feeling isolated, pained, insecure, fearful and fish out of water in their worlds, it was no surprise that these two found each other.
Often what we find in our animals is a reflection of self and when we heal us, we heal them and visa versa.
The first thing I did was to greet them both with Heart… Some horses and a few people for that matter, are shocked to experience this approach by a human, many are met with agenda, ego, fear and or control. For this horses, I could tell, this was her experience.
She had not been met with an openness that gave her space to relax, show herself and then get curious. So that was first…
I work with horses much the same way I work with people, enquiring through intuition, experience and teachings as to the health of the full system, mental, emotional, physical and energetic/spiritual aspects of self and where the priority lies.
In the first session this young woman said she couldn’t get a saddle on her mare. Even though the mare was saddle broke, she would do everything possible to avoid the saddle. Riding was not possible at this stage and the young woman wanted to know why and if that would ever change.
What I found as a first priority was that her mare was in physical pain, two very critical places in the spine, one just below the withers and one right before the hips and sacral junction, where out so intensely that even message was to intense for her, it was clear she needed, soft tissue work and an equine chiropractor, that was the first step. A call was made and in a day or two the chiropractor would be out to begin the required adjustments. In the mean time I would do distant healing sessions with the mare through BodyTalk Therapy and Reiki Healing to establish a routine of care.
The first visit with the chiropractor changed so much for the mare that when I returned she was able to think and move with much improvement. This continued over next while until she was almost entirely pain free and and had ease in her gait.
At that point it was time to work with the emotional pieces, cellular memory in the body and see what we could release and bring into balance.
This mare had a lot to say and express, she was wanted to heal and so it began, I could tell not only by feel and communication but also by the way she moved there was layers of anxiety around isolation but also around being with other horses. This sense of not belonging, having no social skills with other horses had also wounded this mare and it was the next step in conjunction with the other healing work.
After continued therapy sessions through me and Chiropractic Care, we also found a young gelding that was perfect to put in the same corral to slowly start the integration of the herd already there on the ranch. These two got along brilliantly and the first strong connection to one of her own kind was made.
When I work with clients, animal or human (humans are animals too) I create a place and a healing space that is used consistantly, in this case, it was in a corral just off the barn. This mare got to point that when she saw me drive in she would go into that corral and wait for me. This is not uncommon but it makes my heart expand every time.
With consistent work in the round pen, arena and the healing space, this recovery and relationship bloomed so strongly that soon these two where happy and inseparable. Working with both human and horse was also a great benefit to finding their way with each other and it was a great pleasure to see this relationship build.
In just 3 months, this hard working and dedicated young woman had a horse that neither one of us recognized in just a short time! My client also found herself in a very different place and had healed much in her own circumstances.
Now, a year later this horse has her health, her herd, her person, a sense of heart and herself, that she now shares with all that she meets. Her newest best friend is a blue healer pup and she is a keen cattle horse.
She also lets my cleint know it's time for healing by standing in the healing space, it does'nt happen that often now but I love that beautiful peice of communication that bonds them so deeply, I inevitably get a call saying " Hi Wanda, well she went to the pen again and I have a feeling it's this (what ever may be the issue) but I'd like to confirm...or maybe she just misses you..lol." I do love getting those kind of calls.
My human client has also found herself and her place in the world along with her mare, just as it was meant, with a marriage and baby on the way this herd of many beings are loving life and each other!
I do hope that this gives you a small idea of just how love, care, focus and dedication can change lives.
Big thanks to this client for sharing her experience, her mare who I hold still in my heart and a story that is truly inspirational.
If you experienced a healing, ceremony or powerful experience with me and would like to share, please contact me.
I would love to share your power story here too !
With Heart
Wanda
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