Sunday musings - 16 June

You know, it’s quite interesting isn’t it, when we think about it, one of the reasons that we are passionate about a hobby, or an interest, or a career is that we love it so much that, to not do it, we almost wouldn’t be “us” and yet, with that passion comes the downside as well - the agony, the fear of failure, the imposter syndrome, and the stress that comes with lots of the parts of it that make it happen ….

Having livestock, that primarily revolves around “have I got enough feed in” - and, after last year’s dual disaster of the hay, there have been lots of moments of stress revolving around that - and still are!

And, as much as any counsellor will tell you that it’s only possible to have an effect on the things that we truly can control and that we really can’t have any influence on the things we can’t - and weather falls full square into that as we have no control whatsoever over it - those of us with animals can still be found worrying about the weather, the machinery, the contractors, the dates, the times, the moving the livestock, the storage, the just about anything at all whilst looking nervously at the sky trying desperately to put all our tools into play to stop stressing about is it going to rain constantly for several months again ……..?!?!

Of course, as this is related to the general well being of the horses and cows, then time spent with them doesn’t always bring me into the normal calming mood that their presence normally brings - they are, after all, the reason that I am stressing about the weather!

But, that is a good thing for me to feel sometimes, because it reminds me that it is my responsibility to help someone coming to be in a state that is open to the work that the horses and cows can bring - and to help them to accept the quietness that comes when you allow yourself to breathe and slow down just enough to let the horse take over the rest. And it’s my responsibility to ensure that the horse isn’t picking up on too much energy from the person to feel in danger and to not be able to regulate the person down, but rather to allow the person to regulate them up - and then to run away from the “threat” that they then feel.

Someone in America who runs an EAL facility says it’s about leaving your emotional bag at the gates - but to me, it’s like the video that was run awhile back where the person jumps into a swimming pool with their child and the imagery is of him jumping in as a fully kitted soldier and slowly, through the work that is done, having piece by piece removed from him until he is truly able to rise out of the water with his kid and feel “safe”.

From the very first session, you gain benefits from equine-assisted therapy, but it’s partly because, before you even meet the horse, your mind has been opened enough to allow them to work their emotional regulation on your body - so, the counselling starts here!

As for me, next weekend is due to be seriously wet - so I will either be down in the panic dumps of hell or relieved to have got my haylage in by the time I write my next Sunday musings … and be on to the next one - where am I going to calf the Jersey calf and how can I make Moomoo go through a gate that swings the wrong way …?! Never ending list of things to think about - but when I open myself up - a never ending source of strength to be received to help me!