Make a Rainbow...

Stella is Settling In

The summer solstice went unnoticed in the field where Stella nows lives.  When you spend 16 hours a day eating there isn't much time for looking at the sun anyway.  The first thing we noticed about horses in general is that they just never seem to stop eating.  I thought there must be something wrong with them.  Were they bored?  But no, even in the wild horses will spend on average 16 hours eating grass and herbs.  Whether the grazing is good or bad they will spend pretty much the same time eating.  If there is loads of grass available to them they will end up getting fat as they just do not stop until they have done their 16 hours.  If there is very little grazing they will not graze for longer to compensate and will get skinny.  Odd.  I'm still trying to get my head around this one.

The rest of the time is divided between standing, lying and grooming.  If you think about this they probably don't sleep for very long, and it seems that they don't necessarily sleep at night.  They may continue feeding in the dark. 

The fact that horses spend so much of their lives feeding means that their necks have evolved to work better when their head is down at ground level.  Everything is in optimum working order when the horse is feeding.  The airways are fully open and the blood circulation is improved.  But if you go to a stable and walk along the row of horses looking out you will see that they are all standing with their heads above their shoulders.  They generally only feed for about 1 or 2 hours and the feed may not be put at ground level. 

Over the last five weeks, since we bought Stella, I have been reading a lot about horse care and I have been fairly surprised to learn that a huge proportion of horse in Ireland and internationally are living pretty miserable existences.  The stabled horse seems to be a very troubled one.  Even stables of a good quality do not seem to be able to provide care that even approaches an adequate level.  The very nature of the stable makes looking after a horse simpler for the owner but much more unpleasant for the horse.  Horses are kept in boxes that may be too small to roll in so as to scratch their backs. They may be taken out for an hour a day and if they are lucky they will get a run in a field.  If not they may get a go on the walking machine.  In other words they go around in a circle for a while then get put back in.  They may not have any contact with other horses and may be able to just look at its neighbours head. 

As a result of their confinement they may develop vices which include biting their own legs in order to stimulate endorphins to relieve stress.  They may weave about at the stable door and the solution to this is to reduce the space available to them at the door.  I could go on.  Overall it seems that horses are seen as commodities rather than living beings that need to be allowed to have space, exercise and company. 

There are better stabling set ups around where horses may come and go as they please, as the weather dictates but it seems that these are in the minority.  I am so glad that stabling is expensive and that we were advised to find a field for her rather than keep Stella confined.  At the moment she is in a huge field with trees and shrubs to scratch off and wander around.  She has three friends who she seems to be getting on well with and she is essentially her own boss. 

 

Here is Stella with her best friend.  I don't know his name but he is a two year old gelding and is very attentive to her.  I think he is a bit too attentive but she tolerates him and they are never far from each other. 

They groom each other quite regularly.  This involves scratching each other's withers - the bit where the mane above the legs.  They line up head on and do each other at the same time.  This will only last a couple of minutes but is important in maintaining bonds and getting to know each other.   

Just before I took this picture I spent about 5 minutes with my hand on her back while she stood completely still.  Her lower lip was doing the wobbly thing that signals her relaxation.  It seems that given the chance Stella will approach me and just stop eating.  I now realise the significance of this gesture!  She is giving up valuable eating time to come and relax near me.  She starts to have a snooze and I approach her carefully.  When she is like this I can lean my head on her or stroke her and she just doesn't move.  Today I just rested my hand on her and stood beside her.  It seemed enough just to make contact.  Her friend wanted to get in on the action too and decided to stop eating and join in on the snoozing.  Over about 10 minutes I just maintained contact by resting my hand on her back or her head.  Eventually we were interrupted by one a third horse that thought this looked lovely.  Stella got a bit irritated and gradually resumed eating.

I have to say that I was extremely relaxed myself after this.  Just to stand there touching her without saying or doing anything was pretty amazing.  I could feel her as she shifted her weight every so often and as she sighed.  I keep having the urge to hug her but I am not brave enough yet and I don't know if she'd even like it so I'll take my time before I try this.  I think that we are both learning a lot from Stella and so far the experience of trying to help her has been a hugely rewarding one. 

An unexpected bonus is that I am encountering a lot more wildlife than I ever have in the past.  There seems to be a family of hares in and around the field.  A collection of three of them passed right behind the horses and into the neighbouring field at one point. 

When Stella was still on the farm in Bridgetown a fox crossed the field while I was standing at the gate.  This guy could be the fella responsible for all the poultry deaths on Jim's farm.  With lots of young to feed he/she has to get food from somewhere. 

I've seen loads of pheasants and many other birds too.  And every day as we cross the meadow we see a hell of a lot of slugs.

Getting back to Stella, we are trying to continue the process of getting her used to human contact.  You are supposed to look at a horse's feet every day and so she must let us pick them up,scrape around and check them for stones or other foreign bodies.  Stella seems to be fine about doing the front ones but has a bit of a problem with one of the back ones.  When she arrived at the farm two months ago she had a large wound on the inside of this leg and so she may still be sensitive about it.  We will gradually sort this out we hope.  We visit every day and it is obvious that she is happy to have us around.  She always sidles up slowly and just eats beside us.  Sometimes she doesn't feel like being petted and signals for us to leave her alone but as I said earlier every so often she will suddenly switch into super relaxed mode and allow any amount of contact. 

We are happy to take our time with Stella and do not want to push her too much.  We hope that in time she will let us do all our grooming and checking without any objection.  She is pretty good already but would really rather be left to clock up her 16 hours eating for the day.  She still has a bit of catching up to do so I don't blame her :)

Stella's New Home

Today was an eventful day for Stella as this morning the vet came out to the farm to insert a little chip into her neck.  This is done so that she will always be traced back to us in case of theft.  Apparently she took it very well and barely moved as the vet used a large needle to inject the tiny chip. She is also on the way to having her very first passport which is now required by law.  This involves the vet filling in a silhouette with all her markings, distinguishing characteristics, her name, our name and her chip number.  She will get a little laminated booklet(I think) in a week or two.

Today was also the day that she moved to the field she will be in for at least the next few months.  We found a really nice field about 4 miles away from our house with plenty of mixed grazing.  To the non horse person that means that the grazing is not the lush pasture that cows like, but much coarser.  Horses wouldn't do well on lush pasture and so they get the more interesting fields, with flowers, weeds and shrubs all over the place.

Here is the Stella posse on the way up to her new lodgings.  As we have no horse trailer Jim generously said that he would drive her here in his.  His son came along for the ride and also to say goodbye to Stella.  They have looked after her well for the last 7 weeks and she has put on a nice bit of weight as a result of eating their grass.  So thanks to them. 

She got in and out of the trailer with no fuss and we gave her some rolled barley and seaweed meal as a treat.  In order to get to the field we had to go through another one with a bull in it so the farmer who owns the land used the bucket of food trick to lure him and his harem to one side of the field while we scurried up the other.  Stella must have been picking up on the excitement and she gave a little trot towards her destination.  By now she is very happy for us to lead her on the rope and no persuasion is necessary. 

We brought her into the field and let her off the rope.  She immediately started grazing and then when she noticed that there were three young geldings (castrated males) in the field she gave a quick whinny of introduction.  They all approached each other quite excitedly and the four of them converged practically touching noses, all at the same time.  Being quite a tense moment they were all a bit jumpy, but Stella quickly seemed to be the one calling the shots.  In the above photo they are neatly arranged into ages as follows....Stella is three, the next one is two and the last two are one year olds. 

The next while consisted of the three gelding following Stella around as she consistently showed them her backside and flicking her tail if they got too close.  The geldings seemed to be very interested in Stella but were not aggressive towards her at all.  It will probably take a while for them to establish who is the boss for certain.  This is always done in any group of horses and involves lots of threatening gestures until all parties are clear on what's happening.  Sometimes horses may resort to all out violence if the gestures are not enough to make the point.  They may kick and bite each other but this didn't seem to be happening here...phew. 

Once the social order is established things will pretty much remain the same with possibly the odd threatening gesture from the dominant horse just to remind other horses that he or she is still very much in control.  Tail flicking, biting and the odd pretend kick are all threatening gestures that are understood by all.

The three boys watching the three boys watching Stella.

The field is 8 acres and is split into three areas so that the horses graze one area until it has almost run out.  Then they are moved to another area and repeat the same process.  Overall we are very happy with Stella's new home.  Tomorrow we will find out if she's happy with it.  As she will be a lot closer now we will be able to cycle up to her at least once a day so we will get plenty of exercise and fresh air while we continue to get to know Stella.

Thanks again to all the people who have made very generous donations to the Stella Fund.  The pressure was taken off us so that we were able to find a good field for her.  We will be paying €30 a week in rent but we think it is worth it as she has lots to eat, will hopefully make friends with the geldings and the field is well tucked so we should have peace of mind that she will be safe there.  Thanks also to the people who have offered us their advice and expertise.  This is much needed too.

Stella has calmed down a lot in the last few weeks and in general seems quite relaxed around people now.  She still has a long way to go but I think she is off to a good start. 

Stella Update

It is a week and a half since we bought Stella and we have been going up to the farm where she is currently staying every day.  We are getting her used to being taking down to the stable and groomed.  The point of this is really for us to get used to handling her as well as for her to begin to trust us and people in general.

At the beginning it was a struggle to get her to come with us but Chris kept coaxing her and trying to gently give her the message that he was the boss and that she had to come.  Today was the first time that she actually looked when we came and gave Chris a cursory sniff when approached.  She also came out of the field with very little instruction and so we felt that we had passed a minor milestone there.

We have to walk her about half a mile to the stable so it gives us a chance to get used to leading her in hand, with a rope attached to her head collar.  As Chris has found out, if she really doesn't want to come there is no way that he is going to win out in a tug of war, so it's all about psychology.  She is gradually learning that we are not going to bring her anywhere unpleasant and so is happy enough to come with us. 

You can see that Stella has filled out a lot since the first photo of her that I took in the same position.  At the moment her coat is nice and shiney and her ribs are only slightly visible.  She is also a lot more relaxed in general.  She is still apprehensive to a degree but people who saw her when she first came to the farm say that there is a massive improvement.  I think she still keeps expecting something unpleasant to happen to her when people are around but she will gradually get used to the fact that we will only do things which will make her comfortable and happy.

When we bring her down we groom her for about 20 minutes.  She was a bit agitated about this the first time we did it and so I sang that lullaby again while Chris gently brushed off the dirt.  This did the trick and the combination sent her to sleep.  Here she is dropping off.

So far it has been a wonderful experience to have bought Stella.  In her own way she is teaching us as much as we are teaching her.  I am getting used to being around her and am also becoming more relaxed as she settles down.  We are still trying to make arrangements about where to keep her but we are fairly confident that we will find somewhere close by so that we can visit her every day. 

We have received huge support for our project and again thanks to every one who has been really generous.  We have just gotten a donation of some brushes and lead rope so Stella has her very own equipment now.  If anyone else has any tack that they no longer need then please let us know as we will have to build up quite a lot of stuff soon. 

In time we are hoping to get Stella into a little bit of training so that she can get some exercise.  We feel that she is a very energetic horse and so she needs a pastime before she starts to get bored of her new idyllic life.  We will keep you informed on those activities.

Thanks again, Maria and Chris

Stella Has New Owners......

On Wednesday the 16th of May Stella (Read her story so far here) was to be sent away from the farm in Bridgetown as she was not suitable for pulling the carriage that Jim had lined up for her.  Although she was a lot calmer now she was still jumpy and Jim had had to make a decision.  The owner of the horse had found another buyer and was anxious to bring her down to them.  Stella was due to go that evening. Chris returned home from his once weekly day of volunteering on the farm distraught and was desperately worried about what the future held for Stella.  We quickly decided that something had to be done and we tried to call Jim to ask where she would be going and whether she would be looked after well.  We could not get through on the phone so eventually we decided to drive out the farm.

We arrived to find that the horse box and pickup were gone.  We were too late it seemed.  But Chris got out and had a look around and found Jim getting the horse box attached to the pickup beside the stable.  Stella had been brought down from the field and was ready to go.  We asked about her fate and Jim did not think it was a good one, so we told him of our plan to buy her.  With some relief he and his son thought that it was a good idea, however they warned us that it was a lot to take on.  But we decided that if it was at all possible for us to look after her then we would have to do it.  The owner was rung and Stella had won a reprieve.  The next day we went out with a hurriedly rounded up €2300.  The deal was done and €50 luck money was returned. 

And then the reality of what we had done hit us.  We were still sure that we wanted Stella but now we had to try and find somewhere to keep her as well as the money and the know how, none of which we possessed.  An appeal has been sent out to every one we know for support and we have had a generous response so far....thanks so much to every one who has dug into their pockets!  However we are still well short of the money that we need to raise in order to secure Stella's future.

Here is Stella today grazing with her friends on the farm.  Jim has kindly said that she can stay there for a short time, while we find some where else for her.  She has 5 other friends here, four horses and a cow called Mary Moo.  She also has plenty of space and peace and quiet.  As you can see she has put on a nice bit of weight since the last pictures were taken of her and she seems quite relaxed as she chomps away continuously. 

So at the moment we are mostly concerned with helping Stella to make a complete recovery from her past traumas and neglect.  As far as we can tell she is not expecting humans to be nice to her and as such she prefers to keep her distance.  The only thing she associates with humans is pain, however at the farm she has encountered a new kind of person and is slowly beginning to tolerate a bit more contact.

We are going up to her every day in order to spend some time with her and to figure out how to help her.  We have to pass through a beautiful meadow on the way and the theme music to Little House on the Prairie keeps going through my mind!  Here are Chris and Bailey coming up through the buttercups, clover, vetch and other unidentified wild flowers to visit Stella.

Here is Chris just sitting near to her today as she chomps some more.   Bailey the dog is eager to get some attention too.

And here he is patting her just a little bit.  She tolerated it for a few moments before moving off slowly in order to find more grass.

Jim lent us some books on horses and one of them was about healing horses.  It is called "What Horses Say".  It is all about a woman who believes she can ask horses questions and that they answer her.  She uses the information she picks up to help heal them.  Where ever the information is coming from I thought I'd try this with Stella.  Yesterday I asked her what she would like me to do in order to help her.  I got the impression that she would like me to sing to her.  So today I went up to the field and did just that.  I started with the Mongolian lullaby I mentioned before, followed by Sarah McLaughlin's Arms of an Angel.  I sang for about 10 minutes and the horses seemed very interested.  They just stared at me.  Stella sat down for a few moments before having a scratch and a roll around and then got up.  I needed to get some water so I went and had a break for a few minutes on the other side of the fence before coming back and having another go.  It seemed as if they were at least registering the fact that I was singing my heart out in the middle of a field with hail stones pelting down, hoping that some farmer would not wander along and think he had found a crazy person!

But the sun came out and I started again.  By now the horses were all the way over on the other corner of the field, busily eating more grass.  It seems that they eat for 24hours a day. 

I decided to do one rendition of Arms of an Angel before settling into the lullaby again.  Fairly quickly they all stopped eating and after about 5 minutes Foxy and Kualité sat down, lazily looking over at me. 

Then after another 5 minutes Stella sat down.  By now the three on the ground were resting their noses on the grass.  It seemed that it was too much for them to have to carry the weight themselves.

Foxy got up again and Quaroba took her place while Stella decided it was too much and had to lie down completely.

Once Kualité saw that it was OK to lie down she followed suit.  Kuaroba also lay down completely and was just settling in for a nice snooze when Kualité started snoring and gave them all a fright, including herself. 

They stayed sitting however, with their noses balancing on the ground.  Foxy the elderly horse didn't return to sitting position but barely moved for the entire time.  It seemed as if they had all been drugged.

By now Mary Moo had joined in too. But then she seems to be sitting most of the time anyway.

Here is a video of the horses during the lullaby singing.  Unfortunately it didn't occur to me to video them at the start.  I will see if it works again tomorrow and I'll put up a new video if it does.

After a few moments I walked away and left the field watched by 6 pairs of eyes.  Once I had left they all began to get back to the business of wandering around eating grass.  This had been the only time they stopped in the 5 hours that I was there.  In all I sang to them for about 40 minutes.  Hugo was the only one that stayed out of the lullaby session as I think he finds it difficult to sit down.  More on him later....

If you think anyone else would like to read this post please pass it on, along with an appeal for support.  Anyone with advice, some land near Limerick city where she might have some friends or a donation towards her upkeep can email me at the link on the left.

Here is a picture of her having a trot after a drink of water.

Thanks to everyone who has encouraged and supported us in our efforts to secure a brighter future for Stella.  She is a beautiful horse and deserves a chance to experience what it is like to be content.  I will keep everyone up to date on her progress and on ours as we adjust to the fact that we suddenly own a horse!  I have a feeling that she will bring us all somewhere wonderful. 

She already has....

A Mistreated Horse is Hoping for New Home

On my visit to the organic farm in Bridgetown, Co. Clare I met a horse named Stella.  She is a new addition to the collection of horses on the farm so now there are five.  This horse is here on a trial basis and is hoped to be used to pull a small carriage every so often.  Unfortunately she has a sad history and as a result is extremely nervous around people and for this reason she may not be suitable for the job. 

As you can see Stella is quite thin but apparently she has already put on weight in the two weeks that she has been at the farm.  Previously she lived in a shed in a garden for most of her days and was trained to race sulkies on the road.  As part of her "training" she received a lot of abuse and in general she did not have a happy life.  At the moment Jim is treating Stella with Bach flower remedies and lots of gentle reassurance and is hoping that she may recover her trust in people.  If she doesn't he may not be able to keep her as he would then need to buy another horse that would do the job intended for Stella.

While I was there I offered to do a little bit of healing on Stella in the hope that it may improve her chances of being given a permanent place on the farm.  I sat down on a bucket just out of kicking distance and started to "listen" to her.  I have found that if I close my eyes and "listen", with my mind to the mind of the other person or animal, an amazing array of images appear as if from nowhere.  I don't try to think about what the images mean or dwell on them, I just let them play out like a video.  It seems that simply listening to some one else is enough to help them. 

Stella ate her hay while I listened to her.

I sat for about 10 minutes and saw many unpleasant things in my mind's eye.  The over riding emotion that was pouring from Stella was confusion and fear.  I could see her cowering and trying to retreat from abuse and not understanding what was happening.  She was falling over and trying to get away but was rooted to the spot.  She could not escape. 

When I am listening to some one I find that the "video" that I see goes through episodes.  Every few minutes the images will go onto some other emotion or memory.  At one point Stella seemed to want to lash out at the people who were hurting her.  She was angry and I just listened to her until she was done.  For a few moments I got distracted and when I came back to Stella I got the impression that I was now seeing the real her.  She was dancing from one foot to the other, was happy and full of mischief.  I listened to her for a few more moments as it seemed that she wanted to show some one who she really was.  She wanted to connect with some one.

I left her alone so she could settle herself and enjoy the peace and quiet of the farm and I went for a cup of tea.  Later I came back to her and sang her a piece from a Mongolian lullaby which I picked up from the film "The Story of the Weeping Camel".  I only know one line and it repeats for as long as you want and I sang it to her quietly for about 10 minutes.  Half way through it she began to nod off!  I've never seen a horse falling asleep before and it was extremely hard to not laugh.  She was exactly like some one on a bus who keeps dropping their head and closing their eyes and keeps waking up again. 

Jim seemed to think that Stella looked sleeker and a little more comfortable after her listening session so hopefully she will begin to come back to her real self soon.  Later on he took Stella out for a walk to try to get her used to working with him.  Here she is coming back looking beautiful.  He thinks that a long walk to the Burren might help her to get used to the fact the her driver will treat her well and that she doesn't need to be nervous any more.

I will listen in on Stella every so often and hopefully with all the care and attention that she is receiving as well as the good food and exercise she will make a good recovery and get to stay on the farm for a long time to come.