Humbled by Hero

I am humbled every day by the energy and understanding of horses. I just finished off a weekend of equine bodywork, and it was phenomenal. I worked with three lovely horses in Benton City, and then drove to my friend Nina's place. Nina is the owner of Val, the horse who started me on my exploration of scentwork with horses, and a new equine friend, Hero, an enormous senior former jumping schoolmaster. Hero had been getting harder and harder for the farrier to trim until at his most recent appointment he could not lift his left hind leg at all, even under sedation. Nina was hoping to help both him and Val become more comfortable.
 

Hero caught my heart immediately. He was big, black and stunning, but his eyes told a story of worry and pain. The before and after picture shows a moment in time (or two moments in time), and it’s one reason I sometimes hesitate to share pictures. After all, a horse might move and present a totally different picture just a second after taking the first picture. But if a series of pictures would show basically the same posture, the same habitual ways of standing, then it’s more than a moment in time. And in this case, beautiful Hero tended to stand like a goat on a rock. He also had a reflexive hind end reaction that looked somewhat like shivers. It involved him raising and kicking out his hind legs, with the left more forcefully.

I worked with him lightly and carefully, releasing his ventral and dorsal lines and gently softening his rock hard glutes and hamstrings. I made sure to let him know I would never go past the threshold of what he could endure, and he spent a lot of time processing, his eyes finally releasing a little of their worry. Towards the end, he was able to release his left hind and stand for a little while with it cocked, but he wasn't ready for me to pick up either of his hind legs, so we left it for the day. We decided it would be worth trialing both him and Val with some Equiox before working with them again in the morning.

On day two, we headed out to the barn again to see how far we could get with them. "Oh, they're leaving," Nina said, as both horses headed out the door into the pasture when we entered the barn. I think they wanted to show us how good they felt, as the next 10 or so minutes were a show of speed and dexterity as they galloped and bucked and kicked up their heels. After a bit, I walked down to the bottom of the field and stood, and after a little happy, fancy snorting, both horses trotted up to me to exchange breath and touch. They followed me up to the barn, then took off again when my dog Dandy, who was across the fence, startled them.

Here's where magic happened. If Hero had indicated he didn't want help, I would not have forced it. I wanted him to have the right to say he wasn't ready for more yet after his challenging session the day before. We can mechanically soften the muscles, but if the horse is not receptive in heart and mind, nothing will stick.

When the horses came back up, I walked out with the halter. Hero thought about leaving, and I backed up and waited. He came my way and stood. I held out the halter and he turned his head away. Again I waited. Finally he turned his head and dropped it into the halter. He softly followed me into the barn aisle, where he stood for me to work with him again. Again I released the fascial lines, and I was able to get more deeply into the glutes and hamstrings without his leg reacting as much (or as violently). He was able to let me pick up his right hind, at first with a typical shivers reaction (reminding me so much of my beloved Sadonis), and later fairly softly and easily, but still the left hind was a no-no area. I could touch it, could release the fascia, could massage it up and down, but the moment I approached it he planted it and cocked the right hind and I knew he wasn’t able to lift it for me yet.

I told Nina I thought we needed to be done, even if we hadn’t accomplished what we wanted. I was afraid we would lose everything we had gained if we pushed it because the moment I even thought about asking him to lift his left leg, his eyes grew dark and his body tightened. Nina was concerned, rightfully enough, that if he can’t be trimmed in two weeks it will cause more damage to his posture, so she took a moment to see if he might trust her enough to lift his leg for her. But the moment she moved towards his hind end with the intent to ask him to lift his left leg, he shifted his weight onto it and hooded his eyes. His mouth, which has finally begun to relax, tightened again.

And Nina, being Nina, knew what he was telling her. She backed off, telling him she wasn’t going to ask him to lift that leg. The next moment was magical: In a way we both immediately recognized (it wasn’t the first time that weekend he had communicated very clearly what worked for him and what didn’t) he gave a huge sigh, then very deliberately widened his base in front and cocked the left leg.

And he stood like that for at least 15 minutes, in deep, deep processing, holding a stance he had been unable to hold for weeks, maybe even months. We stood there until he was ready to move, in a space that felt sacred.

It was fascinating that Val was in the stable where he could see and participate. If Hero was anxious, Val was beside himself, but as Hero calmed, so did Val, and time and time again I heard Val take huge, shuddering breaths as Hero settled and was able to let go of his tension. He also gave a series of yawns and neck stretches. And then he coughed.

“Uh-oh,” Nina said. But I remembered a post by Tami Elkayam saying that as horses release their diaphragm they will cough, and given his deep breaths, the way he had been moving right before the cough, and his yawning, I think perhaps he was releasing his own diaphragm. I asked Nina to pay attention to whether he coughed any more or had any signs of illness. Since he is fine, I figure he was probably doing his own bodywork as I was helping Hero.

Both horses are happier in their own bodies. Since we trialed Equiox, the changes could be due to the drug, but I’ve not seen horses play the way the horses played just because they got Equiox, so I think it’s deeper than that. Nina’s working with their legs daily and we’ll see if Hero can maintain enough flexibility that he can get trimmed at the next appointment.