Two days ago, I visited my barn for my usual time with my horse Rio. As I walked into the barn, I had a strange feeling that one of the other horses wanted to have a conversation with me. I looked around and saw my old friend Oliver (my first horse at the barn), leaning out with a very sad look in his eye. In my few, short years of experience with horses, I have learned not to question my intuition when it comes to inter-species communications. I approached Oliver and put my hand on him (after he gave me permission, of course). "Hmmm...there surely is something bothering him, I thought to myself. Don't know what it is, but it's definitely something."

An hour later, the young women who volunteer as safety support advocates for the Equine-imity program approached me. It seems Oliver had been behaving rather poorly over the past few days, and they were worried about him. I spent some time with him to see if I could get more information. I continued to feel an energy block. Not much more I could do this evening as Rio was demanding my attention (rather loudly).

The next evening I returned to the barn to find Oliver and his rider tacked up and ready to go for a ride. As I approached them, I could feel his discomfort and a thick, dense feeling about him. I asked his rider if she had been having any challenges with him and sure enough she said things had not been going very well. "He is uncooperative, moody and downright miserable", she said. "Did you check his back before you saddled him", I asked. "No, she replied, "that did not occur to me". She then removed his saddle and I did an assessment of his body. I felt the tension in him, and again this overwhelming sense of denseness, and disassociation. Oliver is a strong horse who has a tremendous amount of patience. He is stoic and hides his feelings - since his role within the herd is one of the patriarch. The other horses look to him for leadership and guidance. As I moved my hand along his top line, I could feel one of his vertebrae out of alignment, and his head shot up as I increased the pressure in various places along his spine. "His back is sore, but I believe there is something more going on with him", I said. I turned to his rider and asked if there was anything up with her these days. She turned to her mother and they both looked at me, and said yes, most definitely. I did not ask any further questions. After about 45 minutes of T-touch (therapeutic touch for animals), some realignment and energy clearing, Oliver started to feel more like his old self. The sparkle returned to his eyes, he became more fully present, and the energy around him shifted. I suggested that perhaps a walk might help him work out the kinks. I also suggested that perhaps his rider might want to let Oliver in on what she was feeling, make some declarations about what she was facing and see what shifts it might create for both of them. His rider, her mother and Oliver then proceeded to go for a walk around the paddocks.

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