compassionate animal care

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Joy to the (Horse) World!

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Silver

Our recent discussion about the Principles of Compassionate Equitation © turned to thoughts regarding “joy” and how all the seriousness of training and competition sometimes leads us to forget about what it means to be joyful.

Principle #10 in The Compassionate Equestrian states “the Principles accelerate the evolution of joy and respect between humans and horses and allow for a more expansive, conscious interaction between humans and our equine companions.”

Dr. Schoen and I both know that by practicing compassion, one does become happier overall, as you learn to keep your heart open and accepting.  It’s not necessarily easy to do, especially in the situations that frequently arise in our microcosm of the world that exists within every barn.  Tension can come from the management, the trainers, grooms, other riders, or even the horses themselves as they will also react to a stressful atmosphere by acting out in ways that may not be too much fun for us.

As we discussed the need for joy in our lives, I thought of one very special horse who brought joy to everyone who rode him, and always made me smile every time I looked at him.

The trainer I worked for at the time was looking for a horse for a young male student and we got word that a large Quarter Horse gelding was available on a feed lien.  His owner had abandoned him and he had been basically stall-bound for several months, so the barn had the legal right to sell him for board that was owing.

Not expecting much, we went to look at him and it took about 2 minutes to make the decision to purchase the big white gelding.  His name was Silver.

He was obviously happy to be let out of his stall as we inspected his conformation, jogged him for soundness, and tacked him up for a trial ride.  He was over 16 hands… quite tall for his breed.  His head was less than classic, with a bit of a Roman nose.  He had good bone though and while he wouldn’t win a conformation class, he was attractive enough that anyone could look good on him.

Not only was Silver impeccably trained, but he was the calmest horse one could hope for.  As we watched a young rider from the barn put him through his paces, Tim, the trainer, tossed a hat right in front of Silver’s nose as he jogged by.  The horse didn’t flinch.  Sold!  This was a beginner’s dream horse.

Back at our own barn Silver settled in immediately.  He got along with every other horse, and we rode him a few more times before having Tim’s student come to try him out.  Excited for the meeting of the two, who we thought would be a perfect match, the day finally came that Silver was to meet his potential new owner.

It didn’t go quite as planned.  At least not according to our plans.  Silver apparently had something else in mind.

He literally quivered on the crossties when the boy and his mother came to meet him.  Wondering what was going on, we thought perhaps they could bond in the round pen, with the big Quarter Horse roaming freely so he, the mom & her son could just “hang out” and study each other’s personalities.

Silver seemed highly suspicious of the two and was not his typical friendly self.  Tim and I had no particular answer as this seemed out of character for the horse even though we’d only known him a short time.  Finally, the boy’s mom said “I don’t think he likes us”.

Well, that’s not the way to sell a horse!  The pair left the barn and I put Silver back in the crossties to finish up with his grooming.  If a horse could look smug, I would say Silver definitely had a smug little grin on his face.  That’s when I looked straight at him and said “you want to be OUR horse, don’t you?”  Oh yes, the ears pricked right up and if he was a cartoon horse you’d have seen the little hearts circling his head and eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

Tim agreed that Silver seemed to want to stay at the barn and be a lesson horse on our own string, and so it was.

I couldn’t even tell you how many kids that big guy packed around, adjusting himself to whatever level of rider climbed on his back.  Once we knew he was staying I tested him over jumps and he did that just right too.  I secretly always wanted to ditch the off-track training projects and just have some fun on Silver, who could give a thoroughbred a good run around the pasture when he felt like it.

He would memorize an obstacle course if I led him through it once, making a little 6-year-old girl feel like an accomplished rider.  He had a special “tranter” gait for youngsters just learning to canter… the front end would trot and the back end would canter, giving riders confidence until they could move him up into a true canter.  He was very happy in his job, and brought happiness and confidence to everyone who rode and showed him.

In all the seriousness of training, the stress of hauling horses and students to shows, and the everyday physical demands of working around a barn, I could only wish for everyone to have the chance, even once in a lifetime to have a horse like Silver who never failed to approach life with joyful abandon and an unsurpassed generosity.  Perhaps he was like most rescued and previously abandoned animals, as they always seem particularly grateful and eager to return the compassion that was shown to them.

Compassion takes practice, especially when we are faced with adverse conditions and situations that may make it more difficult to think about the suffering of others.  This is why I love rescued animals, and “recovered” humans, as they know how to come, literally, “from the bottom of their heart” – and with that, comes real and lasting joy.

Wishing a Happy, Joyous, New Year to All!

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Rescued by a Rescue

This is always a difficult time of year as it seems to emphasize the biggest differences between those who have enough money to celebrate the holidays with all the trimmings, and those who need help just to survive from day to day.  Whether it be homeless animals or homeless humans, the sad, shallow, look in the eyes is frequently the same and the aura of despair is palpable.  There never seems to be enough to give to relieve the suffering of so many.

I watched a video the other day that’s circulating the internet about a dog who was rescued from a junkyard.  A video crew followed the rescuers to the wretched, exposed pile of garbage the dog was living in, and being too weak and sick to fight, she was easily caught and taken in to the shelter.

Within a week or so of her recovery she was a completely different dog, and subsequently adopted another tiny, scared rescue who was brought to the same shelter.  The video ended with two joyful dogs and a plea for their adoption.

It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen rescued animals turn right around and rescue another.  Those of us who have had strays, rescues, and otherwise rejected animals know how much they seem to appreciate their fortuitous circumstances after finding an adopter.  It may also be the case that those of us who have known the hardships of not knowing who or where to turn to, and understand all to well what rejection feels like, may also be the ones who most quickly recognize those same feelings in animals.

One of the horse trainers I worked for was a self-proclaimed non-cat-lover and never would have kept one as a pet.  So I was shocked the day he showed up at the barn after teaching off site with a tiny, quivering tuxedo kitten in his hands.  He said the kitten mewed at him ringside so desperately he figured the dogs would have had him for lunch had he just left him there in the hot desert sun.

We set up a “cat stall” in the barn for the new arrival who let it be known he would have nothing to do with being a barn cat.  I took him into the house, thinking it would be temporary.  After tending to the afternoon’s training rides I went back into the house to find “Bonz” as he’d been named and he was nowhere in sight.  He was barely old enough to be weaned and I was afraid he’d crawled into a small, dark space somewhere, perhaps impossible to find.  After searching the house I went into my room and found he’d climbed up the comforter on my bed and was happily snoozing on my pillow.  This teacup-sized feline baby sure knew what he wanted!

Once big enough to go outside, the personable Bonz found a frightened tabby Manx kitten whom he adopted and also convinced to move into the house, teaching him what it was like to live in the lap of luxury!  My non-cat-loving partner now had two of them, and didn’t seem to mind one bit.

When compassion settles into the heart, all beings benefit.  When the opportunity arises to relieve the suffering of another, it just happens because that’s who you become.

I’ve witnessed something else in my own journey and immersion in the world of animals.  

Several years ago I was in film school working on a documentary about the equine slaughter industry.  It is a brutal, disturbing topic that was heart-wrenching to research.  I made myself watch the most horrific videos and read the statistics in spite of how hard it was to do so.  Even as a long-time trainer, I had absolutely no idea how many horses ended up in the kill boxes every year.  Thousands of homeless horses.  Rejected by humans for whatever reason… and there are many… not deserving the kind of fate they received.

I showed the film’s trailer to my class, made up primarily of city-dwellers with an interest in environmental and social justice issues.  

I had included undercover video footage of horses in the pens inside the slaughterhouse, and noted to the class how scared the horses were, knowing what was going on in there.  One close up of a distraught chestnut in particular, would be read by any experienced horseman as being in a very depressed, shut-down state.  Long past just the fear of the situation.

When I mentioned the expression on the horse I was met with blank stares from my classmates.  After a few awkward moments of silence, one of them finally said “how can you tell the horse is sad?”

I thought everyone, horse-person or not, could read the expression on this horse’s face.  Then I realized the truth of the matter was that wasn’t the case.

It made me realize why some people have compassion for animals and others do not.  They literally cannot read when a horse, or perhaps any animal, is signalling they are in fear, stress, pain, or depression.  I also realized how much work there is still to be done on a very large scale to help humans develop compassion for horses.  There are so many in the system now who are homeless, neglected and abused.   Apparently there are also many people who do not recognize the level of suffering these horses are experiencing.

It’s an interesting quandary, and one worth contemplating…  because those of us who have rescued horses know exactly how those horses have, in turn, rescued us.

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