Wisdom of Children

Last weekend my soon-to-be-seven year old son lost his fourth tooth. Because the subject matter was close to his heart, the bed time book we read that night was called Magic School Bus and the Missing Tooth. In this book, we looked at not only human teeth, but different sets of teeth from the animal kingdom as well.

Half way through the book we ran into a fairly detailed drawing of the horse’s mouth. I read: “The sharp front teeth cut off big bites of grass. The back teeth chew up the grass. In between, there is a space with no teeth at all.”

Can you see where this is going?

My son looked at the picture and pointed at the horse’s mouth. Then he said: “That’s where the bit goes when you put the bridle on.”

Me: “Yes, you are right, the bit goes right there in that gap. But mommy doesn’t use a bit when she rides.”

My son nodded, he knew about this subject. I continued: “I don’t use a bit because I think it hurts the horse.”

My son turned to look at me and he rolled his eyes: “Well, duh! It’s metal, isn’t it? I wouldn’t want metal in my mouth!”

I pray he never needs braces.

When I told my friend about this conversation, she recalled having a similar one with her niece, then eleven years old. Her niece was visiting for the summer and wanted to see the horse my friend rode. When they came to the barn, the child looked around and asked: “Why do horses live in small little boxes and not outside?” When my friend started picking the horse’s hooves, the next question came up: “Why do horses have shoes on their feet?” And when my friend finally started putting the bridle on, you can imagine the last question (accompanied with a disgusted look): “Why do you put that metal thing in its mouth?”

My friend said she tried to answer these questions the best she could, but her niece didn’t seem convinced. In fact, even my friend wasn’t convinced.
Why is it that small children can come up with such questions, but most adults involved with horses don’t give these facts a second thought? Are we really so trained to not think outside the box or to use common sense? I think it is time we take a hard look at what we are doing with horses and ask ourselves if this is really the right thing to do or could there be an alternative method, one that would allow horses to be horses?

I admit my son may be slightly brainwashed when it comes to the subject of a bit in the mouth of the horse, but I do hope that with what I am doing he learns that it is alright to question things, even something that has been done a certain way since the Bronze Age. He may never become a “horse person” like his mother, but I’m hoping he grows up to be an independent thinker, someone who is not afraid to live by his own standards, even if they go against the mainstream practices.

Take care,
K

Manifesting

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."
-Albert Einstein

Last fall I attended an animal communication workshop by Marta Williams. Marta has a great down-to-earth approach to relating to animals and nature through intuitive communication.

The workshop was emotionally quite an intense experience with participants from all walks of life and many different countries. We laughed and cried together, sharing our often almost unbelievable stories about connecting with animals. I now understand that not only do animals understand what we say and think, they also talk to us, if we are ready to listen. Marta’s workshop was yet another milestone on this long path of mine and changed my way of thinking from “Nah, I’m just imagining things” to “OMG, I actually heard that animal speak to me!”

Maybe you believe me when I say I can communicate with animals, or maybe you think I’m crazy. Either way, there is something I would like to share with you, because I feel that if there is nothing else we do to help animals, this one thing might end up saving the world. What I’m talking about is called Manifesting.

Manifesting is a lot like praying. I’m not a religious person by any standard, but I do feel connected to my spirituality. Manifesting is really just sending good energy from one place to another. For example, you see someone abusing their horse, but there is not much you can do to help the poor animal physically. You can, however, manifest for that animal to get into a better situation, maybe for the owner to change and become kinder or for the horse to find a new home. Or, you could simply send a lot of love to the horse, just to give it strength and to communicate that it is not alone in the world and someone is supporting it.

I’m not kidding, this really works.

You can manifest for pretty much anything. You can manifest for your neighbor to take his dog out more often. You can manifest for the local riding school to start using bitless bridles. You can manifest for people to stop cutting down the rainforest. Anything. You can even talk to the animal itself and get them to manifest for themselves with you.

In her book Ask Your Animal Marta writes: “I have found that it is possible to help animals in a bad situation use their own intention to create a better future for themselves. … researchers are finding that there is real science behind the idea that our intentions have energy and can shape our reality. Or to put it another way: what you think about, you bring about.”

Let’s save the world through manifesting!

K

"The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen."
- Frank Lloyd Wright

More info about Marta Williams at www.martawilliams.com