The Psychic. Finally

Everyone has been so patient waiting for this post, I apologize for being so tardy.  I don't even really have an excuse. I mean... It's not like I have all this fascinating content about shows, or tack, or anything-other-than-hand-grazing to discuss so really just a blogger fail.

Last week, I finally had my long awaited appointment with the Animal Communicator (I've heard they don't like being called psychics..).  At the start of the call I told her that I was calling with regard to Prairie, a horse, who is a 10 year old black, Hanoverian mare.  Oh, and she's 17 hands. 

That's it.  No description of our discipline, injuries, schedules, history, anything.  I suppose it's possible she googled the blog in the first 30 seconds, but it seems somewhat unlikely. 

Anyway, so we began.  When I started to offer context for some of her initial observations, I was cut off and told not to tell her anything.  This being our first call, she really wanted to just tell me what she saw without any input from my end.  If I thought she had chops and wanted to get more specific in future sessions, I could, but no "helping" during this conversation.

So I shut up and started taking notes.

I'm not really too sure how to structure this post, so I'm just going to copy and paste my notes, somewhat reorganized into categories, and then I'll offer you my thoughts at the end? For those of you who know Prair personally (or have just read long enough to know the drama), some will resonate.


Personality:

Beautiful.  Confident.  Aloof.  Knows she’s beautiful, thinks that’s her job. 

Feels like royalty.  Used to being respected in the herd, expects to be respected by people, friendly on her terms, like a cat.  Her kindness must be earned.

Loves me, though she doesn’t show it.. I exist to serve her. She likes being elegant. Thinks her job is to be exquisite.   Doesn’t want to hurt me.  Knows I want the best for her.

Previous trainer didn’t understand her and didn’t want to learn.  Likes her trainer now, knows she won’t get hurt. Appreciates the softness.

Someone pushed her too far too fast.

She has an intensity about her and she wants to do well at her work.  Strong work ethic doesn’t like to be wrong.

Important for me not to get mad at mistakes, but smile and stay positive.  The mad makes her panicky.  She needs to know it’s ok to make a mistake and she won’t be hurt.  I tense because I was given unrealistic expectations as a child and hate not being perfect.  So I have to change my response to mistakes first.

History:

Someone in Germany was rough with her at 3.  There was a rope around her neck.  It hurt.  They jammed a bit in her mouth and hurt her TMJ, still tight on the left. She had pain in her neck and head for 2 months.  It was a man – 6’ tall, brown hair, light brown eyes.  He also rammed a crop into her neck – C5 vertebrae.

Trusts women more than men.

A Big Bay horse told her to put up with humans, and that doing what they want is easier. 

She has had 3 significant owners. And I’ve had her 4 years.

Friends:

She’s the third horse on the left.  And likes being in the center of the barn.

Two Bay horses in the barn adore her.  One is the Bay horse next to her, he’s very pretty and would take a bullet for her. She likes him too but doesn’t show it. Prairie worries about his hind legs.

There is also a Chestnut who likes her, but he is farther away.

Physical:

Some issues in her teeth – upper right in the back.  Uncomfy.

Pain btw her shoulder blades.

Cardio is ok, she doesn’t think either of us are built to jump big fences.

I tilt left, and curl my toes (tight thighs) and sometimes am too far forward. The man who hurt her would tense his thighs and then get mad at her, that’s why she hates tension. She likes me to stay loose so she knows she’s not going to get hurt.

Injured her RF coffin years ago (like 5). All healed now.

Loves Theresa’s bodywork, wants to see her more often.

Back is main physical issue.  She maybe slid in pasture (but didn’t fall) and then got almost cast, but when she got up was in a lot of pain.  Left rear leg injury comes from her back.

Hind end pain, lower back/SI referring pain to her left lower hip/rump

There was a shoeing issue in her RH 3.5 years ago. White line on her RH is different than the others, caused her to stand on her LF too much and caused soft tissue damage.

Has stomach issues, hormone problems, HUGE follicle right now.

Left ovary is going nuts right now.

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Okay, so let's digest.  If I hadn't collapsed this across topic, you'd see that the call started out with a physical rundown, followed by some of Prair's childhood, followed by her friends in the barn, followed by her attitude toward work and trainers, followed by her opinion of me, followed by the Communicator's assertion I have Daddy issues. 

Honestly, I lot of it was ringing very true until I was told that my Father had unrealistic expectations of me as a child and I carry that into my riding.  I suppose it's true that my family has had high expectations, but never, at any point did I feel like a failure, or unworthy, or that what I was doing wasn't enough.  I do like being the best at things (even if that thing is a cross pole division), but I digress.  Long story short - if we hadn't touched on Daddy Issues, I would have hung up feeling totally spooked out. 

Here are the same notes again, but with my commentary:

 

Personality:

Beautiful.  (Duh, everyone thinks their kid is pretty, but she is) Confident.  Aloof.  Knows she’s beautiful, thinks that’s her job.  (LOL).

Feels like royalty.  Used to being respected in the herd, expects to be respected by people, friendly on her terms, like a cat.  Her kindness must be earned. This Rings true to me.  She's always been lead mare in the groups I've had her in, and was told she led the mare band at her previous home.

Loves me, though she doesn’t show it.. I exist to serve her.(typical mare..) She likes being elegant. Thinks her job is to be exquisite(Maybe she does like the hunters?).   Doesn’t want to hurt me.  Knows I want the best for her.

Previous trainer didn’t understand her and didn’t want to learn. (If this is the most recent previous trainer, I think they didn't get along, but I'm not sure that she "didn't want to learn")   Likes her trainer now, knows she won’t get hurt. Appreciates the softness. This I believe, there's very little "punishment" in our program now and Prair seems much softer.

Someone pushed her too far too fast. N has always said this.  and it makes sense to me.  Especially being sold young in Germany at auction and then being in a big sales barn here..

She has an intensity about her and she wants to do well at her work.  Strong work ethic doesn’t like to be wrong. She's a quick study under saddle, both trainers I've had with her have said she tries to be right.

Important for me not to get mad at mistakes, but smile and stay positive.  The mad makes her panicky.  She needs to know it’s ok to make a mistake and she won’t be hurt.  I tense because I was given unrealistic expectations as a child and hate not being perfect.  So I have to change my response to mistakes first.  Ugh, daddy issues.  But I'm sure there's some truth here, when things go wrong I tend to ride HARDER and MAKE it work.  Probably not the best plan with Prair

History:

Someone in Germany was rough with her at 3.  There was a rope around her neck.  It hurt.  They jammed a bit in her mouth and hurt her TMJ, still tight on the left. She had pain in her neck and head for 2 months.  It was a man – 6’ tall, brown hair, light brown eyes.  He also rammed a crop into her neck – C5 vertebrae.  I have no idea who had her in Germany, but her left TMJ is constantly tighter than the right and that left shoulder is always taught.

Trusts women more than men. Truth.

A Big Bay horse told her to put up with humans, and that doing what they want is easier.  lol

She has had 3 significant owners. And I’ve had her 4 years. I've had her 3.5

 Friends:

She’s the third horse on the left.  And likes being in the center of the barn. UMMMMM creepy. yes, she is. and I'm pretty sure I've never posted about this ever.  And there's no stall diagram of the barn on the web.... if I have someone tell me because this one SPOOKED ME

Two Bay horses in the barn adore her.  One is the Bay horse next to her, he’s very pretty and would take a bullet for her. She likes him too but doesn’t show it. Prairie worries about his hind legs.  there is an EXTREMELY attractive bay gelding next door to prair who she often stables next to at shows.  He is adorable, I don't know why she's worried bout his legs but that's sweet.

There is also a Chestnut who likes her, but he is farther away. This seems like a safe general statement to make, but her other travel buddy (and lesson buddy) is a HUGE chestnut who lives in the back barn

Physical:

Some issues in her teeth – upper right in the back.  Uncomfy. OK. Who knows. will have dentist look next time he's out.

Pain btw her shoulder blades. Does her early Kissing Spine count?

Cardio is ok, she doesn’t think either of us are built to jump big fences. It's true, Prair is probably not built for huge fences, but I take slight offense that she doesn't think I am... rude. Also, didn't tell her we jumped (sometimes).

I tilt left, and curl my toes (tight thighs) and sometimes am too far forward. The man who hurt her would tense his thighs and then get mad at her, that’s why she hates tension. She likes me to stay loose so she knows she’s not going to get hurt. I tend to collapse my right side.. so this might be off, but maybe she feels me push left?  curling my toes=tense thighs, and no one has EVER accused me of being too far forward before.  We have certainly learned that the mare doesn't like it when you brace against her... so the notion that it's a PTSD response from someone being rough makes some sense to me.  N and I have to just fake it when we get in a tight spot and pretend its fine.  If we tense and try to override the mare grabs her butt and leaves the scene.

Injured her RF coffin years ago (like 5). All healed now. okay....

Loves Theresa’s bodywork, wants to see her more often. who doesn't like their masseuse? though I didn't tell her we had one.  She described her hair and that she liked her "hard pets"

Back is main physical issue.  She maybe slid in pasture (but didn’t fall) and then got almost cast, but when she got up was in a lot of pain.  Left rear leg injury comes from her back. Her back is most definitely her main issue.  The notion of slipping and almost falling makes sense to me, I tweak my own back like that all the time.

Hind end pain, lower back/SI referring pain to her left lower hip/rump Her SI gets angry when her back is weak, we've injected it once.

There was a shoeing issue in her RH 3.5 years ago. White line on her RH is different than the others, caused her to stand on her LF too much and caused soft tissue damage. Our soft tissue injury last year was on the LF, so that was spooky.  Her RH hoof has always been different, we struggled with more distortion in that foot when I was trimming her, though it hasn't been an issue in a while.

Has stomach issues, hormone problems, HUGE follicle right now.  Stomach and hormones are a constant struggle with this mare (but that's true of lots).

Left ovary is going nuts right now. Mine too. lol.

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So there you have it.  30 minutes, $120 dollars and a lot of fun.  I'm not sure there's much in here that is revolutionary for me, but lots of it resonates with my experience with the mare.  I was talking with The Boy about this after I got a raised eyebrow explaining the Visa bill... and he had a good observation that even if this is total crap and completely bogus, if there is information that allows you to approach your horse with more patience, or a different energy, or less frustration - then that is probably worth it. 

I mean, we spend thousands on our training and clinics and shows to get people's opinions and words of wisdom hoping for that one golden nugget that allows us to relax our hips, or loosen our shoulders or finally NOT FREAK OUT about that one freaky jump... So, if this is what allows me to finally be softer with Prair when she's being a moron.. then it's got value.

Though I gotta say, that third stall on the left business really makes me put a little more weight in the other comments...

Communicator did say we often complicate what our animals are trying to tell us..

I am likely to sign up for a second call with the specific agenda of why Prair hates heavy traffic at shows, and whether or not she likes her job.... I mean why not.  Although I will wait to see if our  leg is healing first.  If she's just blowing holes in ligaments then there's no reason to worry about whether or not she likes being a Hunter....