Winston's Story

When I open up the space for a connection with an animal, I’m never sure of what is going to unfold. Today was one that gave me chills but to understand why you’ll need some back story.

Winston is a grounded, social, gentleman who cares deeply about everyone around him. He often spends the majority of his sessions talking about the wellbeing, needs, or personalities of others. He seems to know just about everything going on with everyone, to include the small critters, the wildlife, and the trees. Some animals are innately attuned to their environment and possess spiritual gifts in connecting with it. He’s somewhat of a social savant.

Recently he was moved in with some new horses due to soundness issues with his bestie, which he told me he was sad about but not too sad because he really is manifesting meeting more horses, and this was an easy way to do it.

I typically don't guide the session at first because I feel it is very important to hear what’s at the forefront of their minds and hearts, often it’s not what we expect, and it can lead us into some really valuable information about their overall wellbeing.

Some people might think ‘I don’t want to pay a communicator to listen about other people’s horses, I am here for my horse— consider a horse like this who is deeply social, this type of conversation really matters to him, it’s a huge part of his day and part of who he is. Rushing him through these thoughts would be having a one-sided conversation and basically telling him we don’t care what he has to say, we only want to hear what is important to the humans. I’m grateful his person thoroughly enjoys hearing about what’s important to him.

As we started to shift out of the social conversation he shifted into a surprising topic. He showed me a windy day and a tree falling. I got a sense that this memory and the effects of it was still very much alive in his nervous system, and even more so, his concern for the other horses and the impact this falling tree had on them.

His person told me that three weeks ago, a very large branch from an old tree that hung over the barn fell through the roof and into a neighboring stall narrowly missing the horse. It was a traumatizing experience for everyone involved and it was the next most important thing to HIM (not riding, not tack, not pain, etc).

His person is going to be taking him behind the barn where the tree was cut down today to help him understand that the tree no longer has the capacity to fall on the barn.

The point in sharing this story is to shed light on conversations with our animals and how what’s most important to them, or most active in their bodies or minds, sometimes is not the day-to-day things we care about as humans.