A Day at the Horse Rescue Shelter

Grace TamArticles, English 5 Comments

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Julie and I went to a rescue shelter for horses to do some animal reiki yesterday.  Julie is passionate about horses, and regularly volunteers there.  I wanted to learn more about animal reiki, so I went along with her.  We picked the best day to go out!! Rain + wind.  I made sure that I had lots of warm clothes on, and put on a layer of full waterproof gear.  That way, I wouldn’t be distracted by the weather during the reiki sessions.  Julie took me to a blind horse and a female abused horse.  She said, “Ground yourself first, then stand there and offer reiki.”  Which I did.  I closed my eyes, and imagined myself and my energy expanding, and in that space I invited anything and anyone that wanted to share reiki with me to come in.  I felt a presence in that space – I think it was the blind horse.  I opened my eyes to have a look, and there it was, walking backwards closer and closer towards us.  He then stopped, and stayed still as though he was in meditation.  I close my eyes again, because I was becoming distracted with trying to work out what was happening.  We stayed like that for 30mins.  Then the horse walked away to eat.

We then went over to a herd of horses, which Julie said were frightened of people because they were abused and neglected.  We went over to them, and as we were about to be 5-8 meters from them, they ran off!  We then just stood a fair distance away from them, offering reiki.  Then the most interesting experience happened!  In my space with my eyes closed, one of the horses reached out for me and came into my mind.  I could feel his presence right there in front of me.  It was as though he wanted to know who I was and what I was here for.  I stayed true to my intention – to offer reiki to those who want it, and to show love.  I remained opened, letting the horse “read” me, and then I sensed that he was going to come over.  Guess what?  He did.  He came right up in front of me and Julie, and then he sniffed Julie’s hands, mine, sniffed her head, and then mine.  To be VERY honest, I’m soooo scared of horses!  My last experience with horses was not good, and I’m still scared of a large animal that could out run me, stamp on me, and kick me!  Julie said, “Don’t be scared, but be careful that he doesn’t take a bite off your fingers.”  Arrhhh!  They also bite?!?  I kept my eyes partially opened, but remained in the meditation state where everything felt safe and the horse was just checking me out.  He had the whole pack of horses behind him, all checking us out.  Then he stated his intention – thanks, I’m going to get past you now, and off he went between me and Julie, taking the rest of the herd with him.

We then moved onto another paddock, where there were two old female horses.  At this stage, my lower back was very sore, and so I sat down and went into my open space.  The horses in the mean time ran away to the other side of the paddock.  We stayed there, and we could feel energy being drawn from us.  Could it be these two horses, or the horses in the surrounding paddocks?  Then I felt a strong presence behind me, a strong male dominant presence, saying “I’m here. You seem interesting.”  He was a very confident presence, and when I opened my eyes, I saw a tall male horse, beautiful looking, standing behind me from the adjoining paddock.  I closed my eyes again, and stayed in meditation, in the open space, inviting all to come in.  Then I felt a soft spoken horse, quietly taking it in.  Here I was sitting down, with a strong male horse drawing reiki from my back, and a soft spoken horse sipping reiki from my space.  I felt like I was sitting in front of a fireplace sipping a glass of wine.  I felt so warm despite being in the wind.  Julie said, “Look, she’s coming over.”  This little white horse started walking over, backwards, one step at a time, while remaining very still.  We stayed that way for another 20 minutes or so, and I felt them saying thanks in the meditation space, and they withdrew their presence.  I opened my eyes, and saw them turn their heads to look at me, then they slowly walked off.

Although we had some amazing animal reiki experience that day, I must say that that only accounted for half of the horses.  There were horses on that day that made no connection with us at all.  Some were curious, but didn’t want a reiki treatment.  Some were happy to stand near us, but didn’t want reiki.  What was the most important thing for us that day was respect – respect for the horses’ choice and respect for their space.  There were times when we stood there offering reiki for 5-10 minutes, and the horses didn’t seem to respond.  Some eventually did later, but some stayed away.  And I must say, I didn’t do any hands on healing on the animals at all!  Not only was I too scared of horses to go near them, the horses were also too scared of humans for us to go near them.  So, I have now come to understand that animal reiki isn’t about actively healing animals that had a bad past.  It’s not about me healing the animals.  It’s about me creating an open space for the animals to decide what they wanted to do with it.  Reiki isn’t like traditional medicine where I am here to force the animal to take some pills and an injection.  It’s about creating an open space of energy, with no other motive in mind other than being an open and safe space for the animals to come in to heal themselves.  And therefore, the experience has confirmed that I must continuously work on myself and practice and go deeper into the space.  The more open I am, the more open my space will be, and the longer I am able to maintain that space.  The more practiced I am, the better I can help the animals.

Comments 5

  1. Avatar of Chris Smith

    Sounds like a wonderful day! Two things to add:

    One is that horses are incredibly intuitive and have their own healing talents.  The great lesson they taught me is how to be open to what comes from them while you are “offering” to them.  Its a loop, a cycle, never just one way.

    Secondly, please be safe when working with 1000+ animals.  When we have practitioners here, we request that all use a “soft focus” technique while in the same physical space as the horses.  Two of many reasons are so that you know where they are in relation to you at all times and also to monitor how relaxed they are becoming.  We’ve had two who would become so relaxed that their legs would buckle.  Scary at first, but now we have “spotters” who watch for that and can bring the horse “up” a little to avoid mishaps.

    Glad you had such a good experience with the horses!  They are very responsive to all types of energy and spiritual work.

  2. Avatar of Camille Pukay

    Thank you for sharing this wonderful story!  I, too, LOVE to work with rescue horses here in Kansas City, MO.  Horses have so much to teach us and I love how they responded to you even though you were “scared” of them.  They were so gentle with you, so loving, it’s wonderful that it appeared to be a two-way street for both you and the horses to learn to accept each other.  Blessings to you and the horses!

  3. Avatar of Julie Abrahams

    Yes it was a very special day, and even more so for being able to share such a wonderful experience with you Grace. Horses are certainly powerful teachers and healers, and Reiki offers us a unique way to connect with them. I learn something new every time I am with the horses. Through working with them I have learned not to expect anything, and through the instant feedback they offer I have learned alot about my own energy – particularly so with horses who aren’t so comfortable around humans.
    I look forward to you joining me again!

  4. Avatar of Frans Stiene

    Hi Chris,
    You are right about keeping your eyes open, you never know what an animal might do. A snake could slither along and the horse might freak out, we do not know.

    Having your eyes open is also good for your personal practice because one day we need to take the meditation space with us in our daily life and in our daily life we don’t walk around with our eyes closed, do we 🙂

    Was going to share some energy with horses in California just before the retreat but it was poring rain so we skipped it. Maybe next time.

  5. Avatar of completegolfer

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