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Little League's Journey
Karin Schenkel
Terry Persun asks the question in his
novel, The Giver of Gifts, ”Life, all life, exists as one? That’s
universal.” The universe for me is like a quilt, made of uncountable
colorful patches, some of them next to each other and very similar,
others far apart and totally different. Each one of them is very
stunning for itself, but only if you look at the whole quilt will you
recognize the eternal beauty.
....Therefore,
the lives of all beings of the universe exist as an ultimate unit of
being (monad), but simultaneously we are united. Some individual lives
touch, others intersect or even overlap and share a part of their paths.
But every individual tries to weave the patch for his/her life quilt
with as many different colored threads as possible. This means we all
strive to live to our full potential and become what we are called
for. Part of this calling means being part of a group. We want to feel
good about ourselves and be useful to our community. Only then will we
feel self confident, have prestige, power and control over our lives.
Our inner harmony and happiness shines like an eternal light which makes
others want to be with us. This applies to human beings and, as my 20
year old gelding Little League taught me, to horses as well.
It was a dark and rainy evening in
January 2003 when we first met Little League. He was pasture boarded
with another horse and, as we were told by the owner, hasn’t been ridden
for a long time. Harry, Little League’s owner bought a younger horse
because he wanted to get into jumping and Little League, with his 17
years of age, thousands of miles in his joints, a breathing problem
caused by a defect of a flip in his respiratory tube and stiffness
caused by arthritis, was not the horse to pursue this dream. Little
League became ours, first on a lease and 1 year later we officially
bought him. He got back to work, first as my trail companion and later
as my daughter’s teacher. He taught her how to ride, how to express
her anger, how to distinguish anger from frustration and how to be
patient with herself and others. Little League, who once was a Western
Pleasure national champion even let her take dressage lessons on him. He
took it with patience and tried to give his best but his medical
condition set some limits and last year he got replaced by a 5 year old
mare and was semi-retired on our pasture …..until that day in April,
when the first Epona workshop took place at my farm.
I often ask myself why our paths
intersect with somebody else’s and our lives touch or even overlap for a
shorter or longer period of time. Like throwing a stone into a calm
pond, these touches create ripples that travel outwards and stir up
quiet waters. We might then discover something in ourselves that has
been hidden in dark spots but might be the key to a door which opens up
a piece of new life. We are all on our way to discover these dark
places and once the spark is lit we feel the strength and the passion
that drives a poet to write, a musician to play music, an animal
communicator to communicate with animals….. and, a horse to win
trophies, be a national champion, carry riders along miles of trails,
teach my daughter how to ride and …… yes, what?
Maybe I had this question on my mind,
when I decided to have Little League as part of my herd for the workshop
even though it created some butterflies in my stomach just to think of
how my gelding could react towards people. His demeanor could be
intimidating. He violated boundaries, bullied, ran off or just simply
dragged his handler along. But he could also be the sweetest and most
reliable companion you can think of. So I hoped for the best and decided
that he was in and I would just let it unfold.
Even though I have seen the process
happening many times, it still amazes me every time when I see how
people and horses team up just as they were drawn to each other by
invisible threads. And it happened again this time. K. and Little League
chose each other to work on their issues for the following 3 days.
K. told us that she had lost access
to her body and lived somehow in her head. She had the gift of
communicating with animals but has long ago stopped practicing it for
several reasons. She sometimes picks up messages from her horses. But
she never felt that her gift was valued. She even sometimes questioned
her ability and therefore tried to ignore it. Her heart, though, was
not willing to just let it go and constantly reminded her of it.
Sometimes she felt the need to communicate with animals so strongly that
it almost hurt and made her feel like loosing ground. She felt dizzy and
totally disconnected from her body. In such moments, she just wanted to
run away and leave in order not to be pushed further into something that
she was terrified of. There were many unresolved dark spots in K.’s
life, dark spots filled with painful emotions inflicted by people in her
life that never cherished her for what she was, never gave her what she
needed and never loved her the way she wanted to be loved.
Little League and K. connected on
that deep invisible level of their lives that carried their pain, their
fear and also their anger. They connected so deeply that both of them
could let go of some of these troubling emotions. The moment when K. was
able to connect with her body, Little League could tell her that his
anger was not anger but fear, fear of being sold again, of losing his
home, his buddies and his people. Fear of being treated like trash and
not being valued for who he is. K. on the other hand, acknowledged her
gift and found the strength to verbalize some of the painful experiences
that kept her from living a fulfilling life.
Little League got the chance to prove
himself a wonderful intuitive and gentle friend who just wanted to feel
loved and needed. His life journey brought him to us and we are grateful
for that because the love and tenderness of his soul touches me every
time I look into his eyes. He was now officially nominated as a member
of the team who would in the future help people find their authenticity.
He and K. have helped each other to recapture their natural pride,
vitality and joy in life by gently reclaiming the wisdom of fear,
frustration, sadness and anger.
Karin Schenkel
is a Psychologist and an Epona approved instructor. Before
discovering the healing power of horses, she worked in several different
Psychiatric Hospitals and had a private practice, where she worked
predominantly with cancer and eating disorder patients. She now runs
“Chiron Counseling and Consulting, LLC”, an Equine Experiential
Learning organization in Maple Valley, WA, which is focused on Team
Development, Leadership, Personal growth and Identity and Eating
Disorder.
Karin can be reached at
Karin_schenkel@msn.com
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