Books with Spirit – Joyfulness between horses and people

Here is a lovely poem for those who enjoyed following Gulliver’s journey from the horse with the dead eyes, to one with a blossoming personality.  Anne says that she wrote the poem spontaneously.  

Anne:  “Yesterday I had a major breakthrough with Gulliver and the poem just came from how the experience felt.  He felt safe to interact and particpated wholely.  Even sharing territory was different, if he had been a cat he would have curled up in my lap and gone to sleep.”

My eyes shine brighter each day.

My fear melts away

As I connect closer and closer

To the newness of my present moments

Emerged from tension

I see you, I look to you

I am with you

I am no longer afraid

I am soft

My feet touch the ground lightly

My step rhythmic

I am aware

I look to you

I see you, I want to follow

Then we walk together

I am joyfully being in my present moments.

You are obviously doing a lovely job on each other Anne!

For those who read about the start of Gulliver’s transformation, in February this year, here is an update on how he is going.  For those who would like to read the first email from Anne about Gulliver, it is in the February archives or go to “Readers Letters” on the right hand side of this page.

Anne:    Gulliver continues to improve.  He looks the picture of health.  Finally he stopped mutilating his tail and backside caused by the heavy pinworm infestation that he had had for quite some time.  I know almost nothing about this boy’s history.

He enjoys playing focussing games with the gym ball and the beach umbrella.  I worked with Alexandra Kurland in 2003 in New York, so clicker training has been part of my approach for a while.  It helped him stay present and in his body in the beginning of our connection.

I have found your Zen approach wonderful for allowing the release of so much accumulated stress. (That is the approach in Zen Connection with Horses) Learning to learn is one great thing.  Learning to release emotion and see Gulliver understand that he can do that is just beautiful to watch and feel.

Then he didn’t have to try and control himself because he did not have anymore the big volcano of emotion to hold down.  It puts a whole new focus on emotional control.  When such a shut down horse comes out, there is so much buried emotion and trash to release. (Me: Do those of you reading this post, realise what a big deal this is?  The volcano of emotion of this traumatised horse simply isn’t there any more… Well done Anne, congratulations to both of you!)

Gulliver still has his moments – and those moments are awful energetically. 

However, I see the eyes blink, soften, look and understand.  From a kinesiology perspective (Anne is a kinesiologist) he is talking to himself internally and showing understanding to me externally.  (Anne’s emphasis here)

This is different from the beginning when he first started to come out from behind those dark dead eyes.

The other breakthrough is that now he will CHEW when he is moving.  Before he would only do this once he had stop.

We are getting an ongoing connection.

Hey, when I get the look of “I am with you, let’s dance”, he is a real star.

I appreciate having a deeper way to experience this connection.

Regards,  Anne

I have seriously enjoyed reading about Gulliver’s journey with Anne.  Congratulations to both of them.  And I look forward to the next installment!

You don’t need a problem horse to get beautiful results from the book and audio lesson set Zen Connection with Horses – but when you do have a problem,  it is seriously wonderful to watch these horses release their old pain and bloom. Click here to go to the bookshop with my personal “love this book or get your money back” guarantee.

Two months ago I purchased a TB gelding that has all the makings of a stunning perfermance horse.  He is 13 years old,and we know very little about him. I bought him, knowing I was buying a severely shut down, depressed horse. He is the horse I mentioned in the pin worm article. 

I have read through Zen Connection, but haven’t listened to the audio track yet, so I am going from my first impressions.

Gulliver was so shut down, he looked like he had left the building.  His eyes were glazed over and he stared into space.  In the moments when he emerged from his cocoon and he feels safe, it is easy to see he has been trained and knows his stuff.  More often, particularly since his has started to feel better, being out of the cocoon has made him feel vunerable and he verges on the edge of “not so sure”  and  “oh shit’ zones.

He looks like he is always on guard. He has a weird energy about him.  This is a very sad way for him to be.  I also feel he is a kind and generous horse.   I think this horse has given a lot of himself. 

Today I played with some of your ideas from Zen Connection with Horses.  I thought I would look for any relaxation,  him looking at me, and see how we could work with this in the spooky spots in the arena.  Most of all I waited for The Chew.  There were also other signs a blink, a sigh, yawn, chew.

Black, blank staring eyes turned to soft amber enquiring eyes.  He then went from being on guard, to wanting to come to me. He connected. 

Next revelation!  I had taught Gulliver headlowering  to help him relax and he picked it up well, it did help.  Headlowering worked by suppressing the tension, but the tension was still there.  So I waited for the chew like you described.  Yes he was now genuinely in his comfort zone.  So a turning point. 

I will keep you posted on our progress.    Cheers Anne.

Jenny’s comments:

I don’t know about you guys, but I had tears in my eyes reading that bit about his eyes going from blank “to soft amber enquiring eyes”.  One of the saddest things that I see is not the “stuff” that that happens to a horse, but those dead eyes that tell you that this horse is broken.  It is sooo… cool to have a way to come back from that.

Zen Connection with Horses and her own innate talent is what she has used to make this breakthrough.  You have innate talent too, no matter who you are - everyone does.  Zen Connection with Horses, with it’s 8 audio lessons that you download to your MP3 player and take out to your horse, helps you to understand and develop that talent. 

I have altered the time on this blog so that first time readers read these emails about Emma’s lovely journey with her horse Rosie in the right order.  So for the regular readers, just skip to the next post.  Everybody else, read on and enjoy!

I’ve had a number of people say to me over the years, “Oh dear, I don’t think I want to hear my horse, I don’t want to know what my horse thinks about me.”  And I’ve realised that although they talked like they were joking, that that is a very real concern for some people – if only subconsciously.

Why indeed would we want to know what our horses think, if we had no simple way of changing that for the better for us and our horse?

If you could be interested in a beautiful journey with your own horse and never having to be worried about what your horse thinks of you - here’s a new perspective, click here for an email from a reader.  My reply is in italics.

I have changed the dates on this blog, so that both Emma’s emails are side by side with the first email reading first, so that if you are reading them for the first time, you can enjoy them in the order in which they are meant to be read.

You will share her beautiful journey with her horse Rosie – as she is making it.  It’s a lovely glimpse into something quite special.

Click here for the rest of Emma’s email, with my reply in italics.

Debra wrote:    Hi Jenny,

TC and I have been making great progress. I find him more excepting of me and he seems to be teaching me a lot.

I have a question I hope you may have an answer to. I have been doing a form of Natural Horsemanship and in the course they do what is called a  ‘passenger lesson’ where the horse can go where ever he wants to as long as he  maintains the gait you ask for. The rider doesn’t direct the horse at all for a total of 30 mins.

Upon working with TC and using your suggestions, I am starting to feel this is giving the leadership role to the horse. What do you think?

I am now changing to your ways of communication and it is a success I sure thank you for reading this and your help a couple of weeks ago.          Regards Debra

This is such an interesting question, click here to read my reply

I love it when I get emails from people telling me how much they love my books or what a beautiful change has happened for them from reading one and putting it into action. 

It’s especially nice to get an email from someone like Stormy May, who can help spread the word to sooo…. many other people.  Stormy May is the producer of a beautiful documentary called “Path of the Horse” – a “must see” journey with some amazing horsemen and horsewomen.  I cried to hear people like Klaus Hempfling, Linda Kohanov, Nevzarov, Carolyn Resnick and Mark Rashid expressing my thoughts about the consciousness of horses.

And Stormy May loved Zen Connection with Horses so much that she couldn’t put it down.

Here’s what Stormy has written for our website:

“Zen Connection with Horses gives a simple formula for how to begin or refine true communication with horses.  This skill is a prerequisite if a person wants to shift from dominance to partnership with his or her horse and Jenny makes learning it fun and straightforward, like scales to practice on the piano.  Do your horse a favour and put the information in this book straight to work!”

Stormy May, producer of “The Path of the Horse” documentary.  For your copy of The Path of the Horse go to Stormy May’s website www.stormymay.com or if you are in Australia, then www.pathofthehorse.com.au

I must tell you that emails like this one from Jenny, about rediscovering the joy that is riding and horses, just make my day! 

“I just want to thank you and Bobby for your book Bobby’s Diaries. Since I purchased it from you at the (Connected Riding) Clinic in Warragul I have spent time most days with my horse Luke and am writing a diary myself about the insights I am receiving from him.”

Click here to read the rest of this lovely email from Jenny Spilsbury

Here’s an excerpt from an email to the discussion group that is based around the life and horse enriching book “Bobby’s Diaries – Straight from the Horse Mouth to You”.

“I have been discussing some issues that my horse and I have with Jenny and have been thrilled to find that “Bobby’s Diaries” seems to be able to answer questions that have haunted me for years; and in the recent past been screaming in my ear. 

I am thrilled to see that Jenny doesn’t use the terms respect and disrespect but instead discusses horse leadership rules. It was like lifting a huge weight from my shoulders placed there for many years by traditional horse people that demanded that I, “Make my horse respect me”. That of course is an impossible task as I believe that respect can only be earned through trust and understanding.

How wonderful to know that if the leadership role is lost it can be regained. There have been times that my horse’s leadership has been invaluable to our safety, this swapping of leadership makes for a lovely partnership.”

Click here to have a look at the book that is enriching so many horse lovers lives.