Thursday, May 30, 2013

Sometimes All It Takes is a Look This is a story I wrote a couple of years ago while I was working at the rescue about one of the thoroughbreds we had at the time. I am not sure why I didn't post it then but it is a good story so I thought I would post it now. Well, my accident prone buddy, Jimmy N, has done it again. Honestly, I don’t know how one horse can get himself into so much trouble but this morning when I went out to feed I discovered that he had managed to cut his face. Actually I smelled the cut before I saw it because not only was he cut but the cut was already infected. Jimmy, right brain extrovert to the core, is not always cool with being doctored so I got him out of the field and into the round pen so I would have a better chance of cleaning him up. With a little soap, water, betadine and a lot of friendly game cajoling, I managed to clean and disinfect the wound. It wasn’t all that deep, so I applied a topical antibiotic, gave Jimmy an extra scope of feed with some ground antibiotic tablets to stave off any additional problems and went back to feeding. All was calm when I left Jimmy in the round pen but of course it didn’t stay that way. After the retirees had finished their morning meal, they began to amble out of the paddock to the pasture when a rather large herd of deer, startled by some unseen menace, choose that very moment to make a mad dash across the pasture. Seeing the fleeing deer, our retirees, mostly former race horses took off to join in the merry chase. Jimmy, seeing his buddies running helter skelter across the pasture and trapped in adjoining round pen, kicked into right brain high gear and started circling at high speed and whinnying for all he was worth. Figuring that I better get him back into the pasture before he slipped and fell, I dashed for the round pen myself but when I got inside, lead rope in hand, Jimmy was way too frenzied to approach safely. So there I was, standing in the middle of the pen with this crazed thoroughbred doing high speed laps around me wondering how to interrupt this pattern. I certainly wasn’t going to step into his path and I hadn’t grabbed a carrot stick in my hurry to get to the round pen. So I used the one tool I had with me, my ability to focus my energy on Jimmy. Every time he passed my shoulder, I bent slightly forward and looked with as much energy as I could muster at his butt. After about three laps, he had one ear cocked in my direction. After another couple laps, he was beginning to slow down just a bit. Finally, after another lap or two, he spun toward me and stopped, front legs planted, head up, ears forward, blowing hard and looking like he wanted to shout, “Oh for heavens sake, WHAT DO YOU WANT?!!!” But he had stopped running and focused his attention on me Rather than trying to approach him at that point, I raised my arm and offered him the back of my hand. He hesitated a moment and then walked over, touched my hand with his nose and let me clip the lead line to his halter. I wish I could tell you Jimmy walked calmly with me back to the pasture but he was still a bit fussed up. So we walked and stopped and backed up and changed directions all the way back to the gate and by the time we got there, Jimmy was willing to stand quietly with me for a few moments after I slipped the halter from his head and before he took off to join his buddies in the field. As I watched Jimmy canter off, I reflected once again on just how powerful a tool our focused energy can be. I had managed to interrupt Jimmy’s right brain pattern and get him to shift his attention to me with what essentially was just a very focused look. It was also a reminder to me of how much pressure we can put on our horses without even realizing that is what we are doing.