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Equine Valentine
Val
Hampson, MA
First love is the hardest love.
I
was assisting at a recent Invisible Horsemanship workshop with Leigh
Shambo. It was the debut of Tankha, the yearling half Arab colt, as a
therapy horse. I’ve known him since he was a few months old and have
felt strongly that he was born to do the work of helping to teach and
heal humans and bridge the worlds of horse and human. He’s a beautiful
chestnut with a white blaze and just a touch of silver in his mane. Bright and intensely curious,
he's full of a colt’s pep. Was he ready to
work with humans and their strong emotions in a workshop?
....
Everyone in the workshop oohed and aahed over him and he was clearly
enjoying himself. He loved the attention and seemed to be handling it
with maturity, staying settled enough in the round pen and engaged in
the process. He was indeed a powerful catalyst of healing for the people
who chose to work with him.
Later in the weekend, one of the participants brought one of her horses
to work with. Princess was a beautiful black and white Paint mare, a
sweet and somewhat anxious, timid horse. She may have been treated
poorly by a previous owner and was not well accepted by her last herd.
We
placed Princess in a stall next to Tankha. Tankha immediately went over
to say hi. She ignored him. He persisted. He wormed his head in between
the slats and tried to touch the hip she had turned toward him. She was
tantalizingly out of reach and paid him no mind. He continued his
efforts and she steadfastly looked out into the pasture.
Tankha was smitten. It was love at first sight.
Tankha’s best horse friend and pasture buddy is “Uncle” Ameer. They are
not blood relatives, but Ameer functions in an uncle sort of way for
Tankha. Ameer is an older Arabian bay gelding, a very wise, intelligent
and masterful therapy horse who can occasionally be a bit arrogant. He
has taught Tankha horse manners and how to be in a herd. Like most
parental types, he is quite patient with Tankha.
Until this day, Tankha and Ameer have been inseparable, with Tankha
whinnying if Ameer is out of view. Tankha has spent many a night chewing
holes in the wood between his and Ameer’s stalls so he can see his
buddy.
With the arrival of Princess, Tankha instantly forgot Ameer. Ameer paced
and snorted trying to get Tankha’s attention. No luck.
The next morning, I hurried into the barn to see what had transpired
through the night with love struck Tankha. He and Princess were standing
quietly side by side with their heads as close as the stall panels would
allow. Princess had a change of heart during the night and was no longer
shunning him, though she did not seem to return his ardor in equal
measure.
Tankha was clearly happy and excited. His eyes barely moved from
Princess. He chewed his hay giddily next to her.
Ameer, during the night, had worn a shallow trench from pacing and
fussing along the side of his stall by Tankha. He was also in a grumpy
state. Once the horses were in their paddocks, he took up a post by the
fence facing Princess and glared at her. Tankha craned his neck as much
as possible to see her and whinnied often. Princess simply stood in her
pasture seeming not to care.
Meanwhile, the workshop continued and we had people who wanted to work
with the horses. Through most of this drama, the participants were
engaged in didactic work inside where it was warm.
Leigh always says Ameer can understand English and so, when it came time
for him to work in the round pen, I had a little conversation with him
as he was glued to the fence. I appealed to his high self esteem, saying
that people had come a great distance to work with him. He immediately
turned and came quite willingly and put his entire focus on the person
he was working with. He is an extraordinary horse. Princess engaged with
us as well, not concerning herself with the drama of geldings. The two
other mares that rounded out the herd also participated easily.
Tankha, the dear boy, could not shift his focus from his love. He
pranced and whinnied and became increasingly excited. He was like an
overexcited child at Christmas. We finally had to put him in the barn
for awhile.
The workshop came to a close all too soon, with remarkable experiences
and deep personal learnings for all involved. It is always an
extraordinary and profound time, working with horses in this way and
witnessing the gifts they freely bestow upon us. We humans hugged and
reluctantly said our goodbyes.
The trailer was brought into position to take Princess home. Tankha
watched at the fence. His excitement was gone. His eyes were focused on
Princess. He whinnied and then watched as still as a statue. She did not
answer back or look at him. He knew she was leaving. He watched her load
and the door close with its heavy metallic thump as the bolt was thrown.
The driver revved the engine and the trailer lurched forward. Tankha
sadly followed its movements with his head.
As
the red lights shone from the back of the trailer heading down the
drive, Uncle Ameer quietly moved toward Tankha and led him down the
fence line to say goodbye.
~
Postscript-
In the way of horses, Tankha was a bit mopey for a couple of days, but
soon restored to his usual cheerful self. Ameer instantly forgave Tankha
for ignoring him and returned to being best buddies.
I felt profoundly privileged
to witness and feel the immense heart and emotion of Tankha's first love
and Ameer's response.
Val Hampson, MA,
is a writer, educator, energy and qigong practitioner, psychotherapist,
and editor of Equus Spirit. Contact her at
valh@equusspirit.com
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