"The horse is God's
gift to mankind."
Arabian Proverb
Perusing our church bulletin I saw the notice for Pam Thode and her Therapy Horses. It made me curious to find out what these horses were all about. When I called her for more information, she mentioned that at one time the horses worked with handicapped persons but now that they were retired they still enjoyed being around people.
This is the ad: Pam Thode and her Therapy horses cordially invite you to join them for Healing prayer. The intuitive power of the horse is a great force to experience. The horses and I will introduce you to Healing Touch Energy Work, walking the Medicine Wheel and good old horsey love. Bring your pen and paper, paint brush or whatever. This is a time designed for you to just plain relax and grow in your spiritual walk with Jesus.
Today I am headed to see these horses. Will they know about my ankle? Will they detect something else? Will I still have a fear of horses? My curiosity will soon be satisfied because I made an appointment for 1:30 p.m. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for horses and have probably seen every movie or read most books about horses.
After introductions were made, Pam read a poem she wrote entitled, When The Animals Pray. It began with "When the animals pray, they pray with their whole beings. The animals never doubt the Creator. They simply trust in the intercession of the Divine." The beautiful poem (prayer) ended with "And they know that God is love." She maintains that a healing bond can occur when the human and horse find a certain stillness together.
She opened the gate and the four horses came bounding out, kicking their heels, and running across the fenced yard. One even rolled around on the ground! "They are showing off," she said. Before long, they were all grazing yet if we held out our hand with a goodie, the horses would come near to eat out of our hands.
We met Buddy, Dora, T.J. and Chiquita, three horses that are senior citizens somewhere in their 30's. One horse was younger yet they all get along. Pam mentioned how the energy of the horse could be felt and had us hold out our hands palms toward the horse. "Can you feel the energy?" she asked. At one point I felt a bit of resistance and she said, "That is the energy of the horse."
We walked the horses by holding on to the halter rope but my horse knew who was boss. His neck was an unmovable object and the horse did what it wanted. After my unsuccessful session with T.J. I walked Dora, she was a little bit better to move, but I felt nervous and handed the halter rope over to the other lady that was also experiencing the horses for the first time. She had no trouble moving the horse around orange cones on the ground while I felt lucky if I could get the horse around one cone. Her comment of "I have been around animals since I was eight years old" made me feel better since I had not been around horses for over fifty years! Even back then I had a fear of the large animals. It did not help to learn that one weighed 800 pounds!
We were told the story of the mustangs that are rounded up in Southern Colorado and that once the quota is met, the rest are killed for meat. This mustang had markings on the face that resembled tear drops and I learned that when the Creek Indians were sent to a camp many died and the markings represent those deaths. The horse had a beautiful long tail and I mentioned that on Sunday a blond woman sat in front of me in church with exactly the same color in her hair.
I told Pam that she should have brought her horses in to be blessed on Sunday and she said, "Oh, Father Jacob came and blessed our animals." She shared the pictures below taken by Barb Howard.
A wonderful day meeting Pam, learning about the therapy horses, and interacting with the gentle horses was an afternoon well spent!
After introductions were made, Pam read a poem she wrote entitled, When The Animals Pray. It began with "When the animals pray, they pray with their whole beings. The animals never doubt the Creator. They simply trust in the intercession of the Divine." The beautiful poem (prayer) ended with "And they know that God is love." She maintains that a healing bond can occur when the human and horse find a certain stillness together.
She opened the gate and the four horses came bounding out, kicking their heels, and running across the fenced yard. One even rolled around on the ground! "They are showing off," she said. Before long, they were all grazing yet if we held out our hand with a goodie, the horses would come near to eat out of our hands.
We met Buddy, Dora, T.J. and Chiquita, three horses that are senior citizens somewhere in their 30's. One horse was younger yet they all get along. Pam mentioned how the energy of the horse could be felt and had us hold out our hands palms toward the horse. "Can you feel the energy?" she asked. At one point I felt a bit of resistance and she said, "That is the energy of the horse."
We were told the story of the mustangs that are rounded up in Southern Colorado and that once the quota is met, the rest are killed for meat. This mustang had markings on the face that resembled tear drops and I learned that when the Creek Indians were sent to a camp many died and the markings represent those deaths. The horse had a beautiful long tail and I mentioned that on Sunday a blond woman sat in front of me in church with exactly the same color in her hair.
I told Pam that she should have brought her horses in to be blessed on Sunday and she said, "Oh, Father Jacob came and blessed our animals." She shared the pictures below taken by Barb Howard.
A wonderful day meeting Pam, learning about the therapy horses, and interacting with the gentle horses was an afternoon well spent!
"One reason why birds and horses
are happy is because they are not
trying to impress other birds and horses."
Dale Carnegie
Sounds like a wonderful day with beautiful horses. Thanks for sharing this
ReplyDeletePam is a wonderful story teller and explained how she got interested in working with therapy horses....took her six years to learn. She is a spiritual person and at one point the wind was blowing and she sent up a prayer and lo and behold the wind stopped blowing for the remainder of the time we were there. I enjoyed the time with her and the horses and before I left she gave me some cucumbers and tomatoes from her garden. A nice and generous lady.
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