The Art of Natural Dressage

Hi Romy,

Well I can only answer this from my point of view of course but I'll do the best I can. Explaining things isn't my strong point I'm afraid.

1. I receive messages in many ways. I hear words, see images, smells, sounds and feelings....it all seems to depend on the individual animal...they are all different so communicate in different ways. For example, Leggie is very vocal. More words than anything else. Tegan is a mix of words and pictures whereas Bo is pretty much all images and feelings/emotions. She has only once talked to me properly and clearly using actual words . I think !I want a baby!" was the sentance.....eeep!

2. I find the concept of things like time are kind of a bit out of whack. Most of the animals are a bit fuzzy on things like times of the day, days weeks months and years. I have had a few talking about the seasons and a certain number of summers they have seen. I do get the "it's a human things" answer occasionally which leads me to believe it's something they don't bother thinking about.

3. To start with I found it really difficult to figure out if what I was hearing or seeing was actually coming from and animal (or spirit....works in a very similar way) or if they were actually my thoughts and ideas. After a while you can kind of feel a difference. External thoughts images etc kind of vibrate on a slightly different level to my own (if that makes sense) I also "hear" others in a different part of my brain to the area I hear myself from. It's very subtle and you have to believe in yourself or you kind of just sit there wondering if you are just mad and going out of your mind! lol

I hope some of that makes sense....of course it's different for everyone. Not everyone communicates in the same way....but this is how it is for me.

hugs xxx

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Romy,
thanks for asking those question. They were mine as well. Along with the thoughts that you already shared I'm interested in the following: How much of communication between people and animals (or between people) is in the physical realm (relying on our senses, at least theoretically measurable), how much is in a spiritual or supernatural realm in your opinion. For that part that is not within the physical realm, what do you see as evidence for you personally that the information comes from a particular source? Do you believe that this evidence is likely valid only to you or would you expect it to be considered as valid for other people. I guess I'm not necessarily asking anyone in particular, other than myself but would be curious how people with different backgrounds put this in perspective.
My own understanding and experience is shaped largely by traditionally Christian or at least monotheistic thinking, although I have distanced myself from that in some significant ways.
I can explain some people-animal communication scientifically, primarily by looking at visual-, auditory-, tactile-, and smell communication that is at a subconscious level. I have also experienced knowing/hearing/seeing things in my mind that I see as clearly supernatural (literally beyond the natural) or in other words in a spiritual realm. I have always understood these as God "speaking" to me (and many other people I know), not in an audible voice (although I know of people who describe that experience) but in the form of thoughts, dreams, pictures, or thoughts that come to mind because of something I see in the real world. All these I can frequently distinguish from my own thoughts and ideas because they seem very different from the way I usually think and function. I want to give an example that came about yesterday when Jessy e-mailed me pictures of some sidewalk art.








When I first looked at these I was thinking: perspective - if I could just change my perspective on what I see, look at things from other people's perspective, from my horse's perspective etc. . I was also responding emotionally: how beautiful, even though it is not real (or because of it?), how amazing, awe inspiring, and also: scary, how many things that I think are real are not?
I'm sure everyone who sees pictures like these "sees" different things, for some they are relevant, for some not. To me that was God giving me a message, through the people who were involved in getting these pictures to me, the artist of the drawings, the photographer, the person who put them on e-mail, Jessy, who forwarded them to me. In the same way I have experienced God using horses, things in nature, many times.
Of course I can't prove any of this, but it is reality to me, and for some people with whom I share these experiences it is reality to them also, for others not, God knows why. We are all so different.
Sharing our experiences on this level, in this topic and on this forum brings me so much closer to others. I call it "Surprised by Joy".

Jessplum, I know that feeling -the first ever clear communication I got from my horses was "caaarrrrottts....you wanna give me carrrroooottts" and I feel a hole burning in my back and turn around and they are staring at me. I think they are using Jedi mind tricks and taught them to Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars! Monty always seems to be able to get me to put all the apples in his buckets and I have to pick them out again and put some in Lancers.

Birgit, I liken it to tuning into a different frequency where all can be known if you know how to get there, and where to look. Just like you are saying about God using the animals and nature, this is true on many levels. It is multidimensional, and very special. All things can speak to us, that is why peoples like the native Americans can use nature for advice and answers on their vision quests, and why they say the horse is able to take a shaman between worlds. Monty has often come with me on meditation journeys, and I wasn't expecting it -so it was amazing. In one he even turned into a human form...he was very good looking, but just as cheeky!

Romy, I cannot speak for the others as mine is very much learnt by lots of hard work and effort! I have only just been able to start getting clearer messages and even then I sometimes have to really conentrate. As I do more healing and get better at going into a light altered state it is easier. I think they are sometimes doing the equine equivalent of shouting at me to get heard, usually they catch me unawares when I am not trying to talk to them and that is when I get the best answers. There is an excellent book by Amelia Kincade that helped me so much called "Straight From The Horses Mouth" and she gives some easy exercises and different ways to help you tune in.

Personally, I find that you need to use all your senses- with some horses I get feelings and sensations/pains in my own body. I have stood next to a horse where I just wanted to cry, or laugh. Some horses will give you images, but I am not always too good at picking up those. Some horses use words, often just a few, but as they get better at it you can get short conversations. Some horses are very conscious and on a more "human level" and seem to find it easier to understand. Alot of what you get is filtered through your own understanding and it is hard at first to tell if it is your imagination or not. ften it is like having an idea of something rather athn a concrete word. I use a pendulum and dowse if I am not sure if the answers are my projections or not, as I often use communication when I am healing. Marthe Kiley Worthington has shown that horses can understand around 200 words, so it is not unreasonable that they may be able to use a few.

I also find if I send an intention and an image of what I am asking along with the words, the horse seems to understand it better. When I was picking a saddle for Monty I chose 3 and sent him a mental picture of them and he chose the Barefoot saddle. Daft as it sounds, but he does like his saddle alot.

As for time. I have to tell my 2 if I am going away and when I am coming back, or they sulk. They do seem to understand how long I will be away, I am not sure how. I wonder if they can tell when I am on my way back rather than knowing the exact dates, as Lancer was always able to tell when I am going to arrive, even if I turned up at odd times. Mum always knew when I was coming home from university as he would stand at the top of the field looking up the road. I never told her when I was coming home. It is a fascinating thing and often makes you feel like you are going mad, but it is worth the effort, and the horses really seem to like it. I think they communicate on this level alot more than we think, and are alot more conscious than we think as well.

Thank you, Claire and Natalie!! That´s SO interesting. I am a bit too tired tonight (it´s after midnight again...), but I will certainly reread your answers tomorrow (and probably have lots of new questions then ).

THANKS again!

brilliant questions Romy. i too would love to know this. i also wondered wether, when people speak about what horses are saying, is it that their brain translates the thoughts and pictures of a horses mind, or are they actualy speaking? and in what language?

i have had experiences where it feels as though the horse sends me feelings, like hunger, pain, saddness, excitement, etc. and i have had moments where it is almost pictures in my head of things, like food, grass, other horses. i am not totally sure of this comming from the horse, but it seems to help me when understanding their needs, so i do use this. but i wonder if there is interperatation on facial expression, pictures, and emotion? is this how it is done? like someone interperating something from in another dialect?

you put those questions realy well Romy. thankyou, because they are questions that i have wanted to ask, but every time i try to put them down, they come out offensive, and that is not what i want to do. i just wanted to ask questions out of common interest.

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just keep swimming, quote from nemo!:)
love jessy

I have had a few personal experiences with the lines of communication between people and animals.
In one case, I had given a 6yr old horse who I had raised from a foal to a woman with the promise that if she couldn't keep him he would come back to me. I kept in touch with her yearly for the first 2-3 years. She was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after he arrived and he had become a solace for her daughter. The woman died and the daughter still wanted the horse. But, the contact became more vague as time went on. Then the time was getting close that this horses mother, my great horse was having health problems and I was wrestling with euthanasia. Her foal/horse kept coming into my mind in a worrying way. I began to call and was getting no where with how he was or where he was. This made me more frantic. I never wanted this horse to be heavily used and that was promised to me. The daughter had moved him from home and was being very vague. Finally, I managed to talk to h er directly and beg her to tell me where he was. I discovered she had given him to a riding stable to be used as a lesson horse to earn his own keep. He had been doing that for 2 years until he was too painful and was kicking the arena walls when ridden. They put him out in a field with a small pony where there was no grass, to starve. They were ready to send him to an auction when an angel woman came to look at t he pony for her little daughter. The little girl said I want this one too- meaning the h orse and pony, so the woman took both. I tracked him down to her. If she hadn't taken him he would have gone for meat before I found him. This angel woman allowed me to take him back home. He was a wreck and did not make it beyond 2 years at home. He was only 16 years old.
On a brighter note, I recently took on a small pony who was i n a bad place. My man and I were discussing his name on the way to pick him up. I showed Keith which one he was in t he paddock as I went in to pay. When I came out the pony was the only one at the fence by my man. Keith told me that he had asked the pony what his name was (mentally) and he got an answer. When he asked again he got an affirmative. That pony allowed 2 strange people to take him out of the yard and straight on a trailer without hesitation. He is very happy now.
I once went to work on a horse new to the owner and had an overwhelming feeling of grief and dispair when I touched her. I can still feel it to this day.
I also once had to send a cat home after it had been hit by a car. It had been injured but survived and was ok to go h ome. I swear the cat screamed in silence that he didn't want to go with this person. I think he had tried to commit suicide with the car incident...... ? not sure.
Equuleus

HI Guys
Me to I had an experience with Tia my mare last year.
One morning I got ready for work and started getting tummy craps at first not to bad but as the day went on the pain got terrible, to the point i was rooking in my chair.
Then all of a sudden Tia came into my mind, i could see her just satnding in her field a vision, when my mobile rang and it was a the girl down the yard telling that they had just brought Tia in as she was lying down in the field which nobody ever saw her do.
So called the vet before i left work, im still in terrible pain but manged to drive to the yard. When I got there she was just lying in her stable very quite so I sat beside her, she looked at me to say where have you been.
Anyway after a few minutes the vet arrived did all the checks and said she has spadmotic colic, just very gassy and he was going to give her an injection to help the pain, I said please could i have one as I had bad pain as well and he just laughed. He told me that in about 20 minute she should be fine... well guess what my pain went as Tia became more comfortable, it was the weirdess thing ever.

I try and communicate with Quillo but nothing as yet, I do feel a few things, but keep questioning myself if I have it right, but we have a puppy a min jack russell and recently she speaks to me all the time which is great my daughter is well amazed as me and Bella prove it to her all the time. What a great gift to share, can't wait till it happens again.
Maybe Quillo only understands spanish

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Freedom where thou art freedom...my saying

I still have the trouble of rinsing out what is mine, what is the person I am trying to read and what is others.

To me it works like this:

Brainwaves (and this is scientifically proven) are electro magnetic pulses.
I read that alpha waves is primal the brain also working during sleep and deep meditation and beta waves is when your are thinking logica.

Switching off beta, ha! For humans in this sociaty, that is an other thing!
Animals are better with that.

anyhoo, As all are waves in the atmosphere, like radio waves, you would 'simply' have to adjust your frequency to tap in to an other.

I have troubles finding the right frequency, I never find it, and when I think I found it, I am still not sure it is the right frequency as I hear only 'talking and music' but the 'DJ' does not say 'what channel I am listening to'. As there of course is no DJ to help you out.
(And if there is... did you hear him or her right? Or are you imaginating this...)

But, sometimes the radio just pops on, and I have a clear and vivid transmission from a certain frequency!
Mostly when I am just doing something creative, because than I am on 'alpha'
It just pops in and then it is so clear I know it is true.

But going on alpha on demand and finding the right frequency like animal communicators do... wow, I just can't do it

Even though I did buddhistic mediation for 6 years, it is still hard to actually try and find the frequency of someone.
During meditation, I ussually just receive without asking.
When I ask, I get nervous that I shall not get the answer... there is beta for ya...

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www.equusuniversalis.com

I've only ever communicated with a horse once. It was amazing.

Actualy I lie, something very small happened with Jason when he was realy a tiny baby. He came to me with his mum as a very wild baby. When he was weaned and mum went back to her owner, I still had no name for him. He was so difficult to get near, I just couldn't get a name for him, as I still didn't know him. I started working with him daily, trying to touch him, calm him, and one day when he was really doing well, he turned to face me, I looked at him and thought, 'what shall I call you sweet one, I still have no name for you', and very quickly a reply came from him, 'I'm Jason', he said, it came straight from him to me, I never even liked the name.......I fancied something a bit more Native American, but he said it was Jason, so Jason it was!

The second time it happened it came as a real shock to me. I have always loved shire horses, my dad used to farm with them years ago, and I always looked at old black and white photos of him with them, they were lovely. I knew I could never have one, I just thought that they were way too big.

Well, we have a woman in our village who is a real animal collector, she has a tiny house just full of dogs and cats, and she also has lots of horses, none of the animals are very well looked after. So, I saw her in the village and she tells me she has just bought a six month old baby shire horse, my heart sank, I just knew she would end up being neglected like all the others. After she had owned her for about 5months, I walked up the hill to where her horses are to take a look at her, well, she looked awful, it was mid winter, they had no grass, no hay, she was so thin, and all the other mares had been biteing her, she was nervous to move as she was always being bullied. I kept talking to her but she wouldn't come near the fence, she was too afraid of the others. When the other horses went away, she came over and stood by me, she was such a sorry state for such a proud horse. Then while I was telling her that I would try to help her, she suddenly said, 'I'm comeing to live with you' well, I was so shocked, stunned, amazed, it was so clear too, it came into my head, but I knew it came from her, it was definatly not my thougts, just like what had happend with Jason.

I ran home at top speed and told my husband, 'I think I 'm about to get a shire horse, I told him what had happend, he didn't know what to say, I think he just thought I was mad. The next day I rang the guy I rent my ground from and asked if I could put another horse with the boys. I was that sure she was comeing!!

Then, a week later, the owner knocked on my door, as soon as I saw her there I knew what she was going to say. She asked me if I wanted to take on the shire, she said she was too much of a handful, and she didn't have enough grazing for her.

She was very thin and ill, and it took a long time to get her back on her feet, and it took a long time o get her feet right, but she's going to be three in May, and as beautiful as I told her she would be one day.

So I have no doubts at all that people can communicate with animals, it's all about being open to it. I don't know why I'm not open to it all he time, maybe my mind chatters too much, so I just don't ever be quiet enough to listen.

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We never stop learning

Monty did exactly the same thing to me Annie, I liked his picture in the for sale ad and I went to see him, even though he was only 6 months old and I wanted a 3 year old. When I saw him in the flesh I thought he was too gangly and fine for me. The owner passed him to me to lead and he just looked at me and a shiny white light sparked between us and he said "I am coming home with you", I said "really?", "Yes". Well I couldn't argue with that statement so I bought him there and then.

Sometimes I get emotions/feelings rather than words. I find if you limit a communication to words you cut out nearly all the rest of the experience, which can involve pictures or sounds, or colours etc. A comuniation i soften more of a gut instinct to me. I can feel it physically. I was standing next to a girls horse once and I just felt anxious and wanted to cry. I know it was not me as I was in a good mood that day. Monty often sends out huge tidal waves of love when he is in the right mood and he seems to glow with this almost angelic energy that you just want to hug. That to me is a form of communication also, even if not specific. We all pick up on laughter and sadness in each other, and our horses.

I sometimes think that when people get nervous about getting on, it is often actually the horse's nerves they are picking up on. And when people get angry and lash out at their horses; they are picking up on the horses anxiety and it makes them feel unsafe too, so they react in a defensive way. Sadly that is too often an unconscious communication going on because we are not taught anymore to believe the feedback of our bodies and intuition, which is why so many people say they cannot communicate, yet often do so very well without realising it, simply because it is not words and sentences they are getting.

I think that's a really interesting thought, Natalie -- this makes a lot of sense to me!

I think that another reason we miss this is because we've tended to really underestimate the emotional sophistication of horses -- so it doesn't necessarily occur to people that we can be impacted by their emotions.

And we're just beginning to understand interpersonal/intrapersonal/emotional intelligence and think about how to stretch and foster this in people -- but I think as this awareness grows, our awareness of the emotional lives of other animals will emerge as well...


Leigh

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"Ours is the portal of hope. Come as you are." -- Rumi
www.imaginalinstitute.com

Yes for me it has always been feelings or emotions.
I beleive each and everyone of us have a gift, be it a beautifull singer, dancer, teacher etc, we all have a talent.
The gift I was given was with people, since i can remember people have just walked up to me, whether I have been shopping, holiday walking down the street and start talking about their troubles in life and I found myself comforting them with advise or given them strenght and then thinking WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT as I have got older I have realise this was my gift.
One day I was with my daughter waiting in at the doctors when this lady came up to me crying her heart out telling me all her troubles like she knew me, so I listened and spoke with her, she then left a bit happier and my said to me where do you know her from and I said I didn't know her and this happens quite a lot.
Some very sprital people I have come across have told me that I have healing hands and can cure some alligments but I have never felt this, but may be when I get older it may happen who knows, but I do feel strong emotions when Im around people,I know if I wants to like them or NOT and they sence it are are wiery of me.
BUt I would love this to happen more with animals, as you get the truth from them, people just can't help but lie most of the time, they are so afraid to show their true feelings even to their friends.
If only people kept things simple life would be so much easier for all.
Looking back at things now with Tia my mare we were communicating and I did not realise it, like you said Nataile i just knew straight away if she was not happy about things and started to find help for them, and Bella our puppy we communicate daily which is sucha great feeling.
We need to live in the moment and I think thats when you get the feelings, as it not today, or tomorrow, ITS NOW is the feeling.
Someone said to me once or may be I read it not sure but who cares, we have the PAST which is history and we can not do anthing about it, we have the PRESENT which is today, a present is a gift as we can DO something about it and we have the FUTURE which no one knows what it will bring. So do all you can today as nothing else counts.
I better shut up now, my emotions are flying high now

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Freedom where thou art freedom...my saying

That does make alot of sense Natalie, we are all communicating all the time one way or another with either human to human or animal to human and vice versa, animals are very sensitive to these subtle changes in humans and other animals, we are too, but not always on a concious level, it goes in, but we don't always process it the same as animals, which is why we get frustrated.

Animals are all highly intelligent, very sensitive, and because of this on the whole they do lead peaceful lives. We however have become disconnected to this wonderful energy of nature, which is why so many of us desperatly want to learn through animals, we want to find what we lost so long ago, and boy do horses help us remember, it's almost as if they are working hard to help us through this amnesia we are all in.

Freedom, I have that too. Everyone loves to tell me their problems, even strangers, I think it's lovely, it shows people are comfortable around us, at ease, all this disconnection to source, means that so many are so lonely, it's so good to talk, it's healthy.

But, my favourite has to be animals.......I have spent my whole life since I was little with injured or abandoned animals landing at my feet. I know it's because I bring that energy in, I'm open to helping them, I've raised so many birds, mammals. I remember when I had my third child, I was so busy, we were approaching the summer, the time I always find so many baby injured or abandoned animals, and I actively said to the universe, 'please don't let me find any animals for a while, I'm so busy with my own babies' and guess what, I found nothing, that lasted for a few years infact, and of course they are comeing back, last summer we found a baby mouse on the road, it was tiny, and I realy thought it would die, we fed it with milk on a paintbrush, it was amazing to see it drink the milk off the paintbrush, he grew and survived, we released him in a our vegetable patch, I hope he lived well!!


We are all here together, walking this together, we are all one.

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We never stop learning

The things in the last 3 posts... I just completed a chapter about the very same thing in my new book... gosh...
And then I came here and this was these were the first posts I read...

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www.equusuniversalis.com

What amazing words from everyone, I can feel a real understanding coming here.



Only too true! I used to get confused by people as I was always reading their emotions rather than the words they were using. It was only when I started to read Linda Kohanov's books that I realised that they were confusing because they were not walking their talk so to speak but were actually covering up their emotions with words that didn't fit how they were feeling, which didn't work with me or their horses. We knew how they were really feeling and reacted to that. I still find it very difficult to speak to someone who is feeling one thing and pretending it isn't there, I have to shut off what I am picking up to a degree and instead of asking directly what the problem is try to make small talk, when all I want to do is say "stop sending me that dodgy vibe it is uncomfortable, please deal with it, or just come out with the real problem!".