I listened to Klaus Hempfling's tele-conference on Sunday (available for listening now on Dressage Disgrace) and was wowed by his eagle eye view on the subject of humans and horses and trauma. Subsequently, my mind is buzzing. Much of what he said mirrors my take on the bigger issue of rollkur AND my work as a psychotherapist. It is so startling when one part of my life (psychotherapy and psychology) intersects so perfectly with another part (horses and riding and spirituality). I haven't processed all this enough to write much about it, but I will.
Meanwhile we have a grand old mare who is having a rough few weeks after a mad gallop in the field with the geldings and donkeys. She has had good days and then not so good days and I suspect the weather wildly fluctuating is not helping her any. For now I'm not sure if this is another rough patch we'll walk her through or if this is the first glimpse that we're nearing a difficult decision. I have been here before with her, and I'm trying hard not to succumb to the overwhelm that comes with not knowing exactly what to do. Thus far she lets me know, and we get back to a good place. I'm hoping for that outcome again.
Please send some healing thoughts her way.
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
i was madly painting all weekend in anticipation of new bookshelves arriving for my 'library' and i completely forgot to take a break and listen to the tele-conference! :-( i'm glad it's available online. i can't wait!
ReplyDeletei'm sorry to hear about the old girl :-\ sweetie gave us one of those unpleasant 'decision' moments recently when she came in lame behind from the field. she has DSLD and i worried it was her suspensory finally giving out... now it looks more like her tendon and she is slowly improving, but i dread what winter might bring.
i'm feeling the weather changes and i'd be pretty sore for a few days if i ran around the field too, so maybe that's all it is and she'll be back to herself soon. hopefully both our seniors will make a comeback and hang in there a while longer! hope she feels better soon. i'll be sending my positive thoughts her way :-)
I was also busy painting on Sunday and missed the broadcast but I will check it out online.
ReplyDeleteI'll be sending your mare some good thoughts. As J. said above we have the same thing going on. Hope they are both alright and it's just the aging process responsible for them taking a little longer to heal than when they were younger.
Billie, we are sending you so many positive thoughts it may make you all a bit dizzy for a bit. She's a tough old girl and I'm sure she'll let you know exactly what she needs and wants. Old age is absurd - Jack assures me of this every day. Please keep us updated.
ReplyDeletejme, you'll enjoy his talk, I think. I am sending Sweetie lots of good energy. Hopefully these two gals are getting the kinks out BEFORE the true winter sets in.
ReplyDeleteArlene, thank you. I can relate myself to the "taking longer to heal" thing!
ReplyDeleteI am trying a couple of things today that seem to be helping, so I'm keeping fingers crossed and trying to listen to Salina. (who was not too stiff to walk into the arena to scout for acorns today, so perhaps we are not quite so bad as it seemed earlier on)
Sheaffer and all, thank you so much. Now I know what that wave of dizziness was! I thought I had tipped the bottle of wine a bit too heavily this evening. :)
ReplyDeleteIf anyone can speak from experience, it is Jack, and I am heartened every time I read about his second childhood. I may regret this, but if Salina wants to relive her years as a rambunctious filly, I am prepared to batten down the hatches and roll with her!