In The Name of Love
In the year 2005 I joined 4-H and started showing horses. I had dreams of wining ribbons with my fast times and taking home trophies from my awesome performances in the pleasure ring. Of course I did not take into account the fact that the horse I chose from my pasture to ride and show was green. She knew her basics-but I wanted her because she could run. She could fly across our pasture faster than any horse we own and I bet she could even put a quarter horse racer to the test (and I’d would have loved the chance to prove it). After all, the fastest time is how a speed show is won and I had high hopes and ideas after watching one of my friends compete at a show. I knew the times to beat, I knew the people I had to out run. Now I just had to prove I could do it.
As the years went on and it became 2006, I realized that my dreams of taking home all these ribbons and trophies was not happening. My horse, (for sake of keeping her privacy I’m changing her name) Enco, fought with me over everything we did-from putting a saddle on, getting caught, cantering, even going through a gate at times to the point where we were the last in and the first out of the ring all the while fighting a rear here and a buck there. We could do the barrels in 2 minutes and 55 seconds at a buck. I’m not kidding. We would buck the whole way around the pattern. At least it was interesting. At one point I overheard a couple a boys trying to guess at which point I’d fall off of her (to give myself credit she never got me off during those shows). I knew my times were not going to cut it but if I am anything in life, I am NOT a quitter. I would not give up this idea of winning.
As 2007 started I had a new goal and new realization in life. It was not winning these ribbons and trophies; it was the time I spent with MY horse. But I could not call her my horse. She didn’t want anything to do with me, or people for that matter. So instead of having to chase her down every time I had a clinic I started calling the horses up for no real reason other than to give them a treat. I was going to trick her. If I kept randomly doing this, she would not know when I was going to catch her for clinics or for a grooming or just to give her food- after all, what horses doesn’t love a good treat. Soon we formed a pattern. She no longer ran from me, but she did not yet always do what I asked. We became a sort of acquaintances on the ground-she tolerated me where as she did not for other people.
Enco was never outright mean to people. She just avoided them at all costs. Somehow during our 2007 year we made a huge improvement in the show ring. Enco and I took home more ribbons than we had the previous two years. Never a real first or amazing time but it was improvement. I stopped looking at ribbons as something I had to have to show off my skill, but as a marker to show how much we have improved. My horse earned those ribbons from hard work that we put in together. I never thought in my time of owning her that I could say we. It was always one of us. She did not like this. I wanted to do that. But now it was we. We were running with good times. Our barrel pattern went from 2:50 to 0:25… can you believe that? 25 seconds! I knew that next year we would have it down to an art and we would sweep the competition right out of the ring.
I am not really sure where I heard the idea of Equine Massage Therapy but somehow I heard about it and had many 4-H people tell me how good it would be if someone learned it. How useful and maybe even helpful to Enco if she got a massage. I thought the idea over but never really put any commitment into the whole horse massage person. I mean, I am in my senior year in high school-I have WAY bigger things to think about… like college and my career path to becoming a vet. I liked the idea, I was just not willing to put the effort forth to get there.
Soon 2008 rolled around. It would be my last year I was eligible to compete in 4-H level competitions but I was ok with that. I knew this was our year. We had such a good partnership going. She no longer ran from me in an open pasture, I didn’t have to corner her to catch her. I was ready and so was she. When we started training that year, I was eager with excitement, she was fresh from the winter. We were clocking good times. I was so hopeful. Enco was responding great. We had a partnership going for real now. She still bucked and proved to be my stinker, but when we went in for a run we ran. She no longer misbehaved on our run, and even seemed eager for it. As soon as it was our time we went. We did not even need that little warm up lap anymore because we were ready as a team. In 2008 I also started my new job working at a hospital. It was on the day I had my first day at work that my life changed.
When I pulled into my driveway Enco was laying in the pasture on her side covered in mud. She was not eating (in the horse world this is not a good thing) or drinking. My mom came out and told me she had limped up to the house, her front right leg swollen 4x’s its normal size. The vet had been there and there was nothing she could have done. We just had to give her some time to heal and wait. We do not know how Enco hurt herself. We believe that she was running and fell in the muddy conditions, due to the excessive rain we have had this season. She had streaks of mud going across her back like she slide. We are not really sure how she made it up to the house.
As soon as I seen her I walked to the pen and laid down next to the fence. I started to cry because my friend was hurt and I could not comfort her and make her feel better. I could feel her pulling away from me. That fragile bond we started to forge broken from her injury. As I approached the fence she got up, no longer trusting in me. I laid there and cried for I don’t know how long. To see such a strong, magnificent animal hurt and laying helplessly like that… it is hard to see. Let alone know. I even got the sense of her being embarrassed over her injury. I walked into the pasture and approached her. She would not look at me and turned her head away.
Our vet came out the next day to check on her and while at our house she mentioned how a bodywork session could help Enco’s recovery. That was all I needed to spur myself forward and in April of that year I ran into Karen Braun from Anam Cara School of Equine Massage. I knew that was where I was supposed to be. That I needed to meet Karen. This class scheduling came out to be perfect for me- as soon as college let out for the summer, her classes were starting and I enrolled in levels one and two.
As I went through the classes I grew as a person. I slowly built that partnership back with Enco. I not only learned massage, but myofascial release and Reiki. As part of the classes we did daily mediations, some even evolving horses. Because of everything I learned at Anam Cara and the people I met I can now say I am closer to Enco that I have been in my entire life. Karen is how I became associated with Young Living Essential oils and add this to my routine of massage. I still felt my journey was not yet complete and even told Karen this. Both she and Tayanne (a previous student who helps Karen teach) suggested that I go and meet a lady named Lori Wegner and maybe she could help. Somehow I never got around to getting her contact information and as I finished my classes and moved on to my next step of helping Enco it was pushed to the back of my mind.
I performed massage on Enco about 3 months after her injury. Prior to this I could put Cypress, Wintergreen, and Peppermint oils on Enco’s leg daily. On the first day I had seen such an improvement that it was unbelievable. Every step of the way I was communicating with my vet. She was amazed by Enco’s progress because of how badly injured Enco’s leg had been. She even took photographs of her leg to show the Vet School of Madison.
Enco’s never ending battle was still going uphill the whole way. In July of that year (2008 in case you forgot) she was diagnosed with Uveitis on her left eye. Commonly called Moon Blindness. Again our vet was called and we were instructed to put medication in her eye and she was to wear a fly mask. It took about a month to get it under control and she has a large cataract from the damage it caused to her eye, leaving a permanent blind spot, but we can finally say we reached the top of the hill.
Enco’s prognosis never looked good at any point during her injury. I was told her chance of coming back to a fully functioning companion was about 80% and recovery time was roughly two years. I was not giving up now. We had come so far. About the time school started the swelling in Enco’s leg was completely gone and she had been diagnosed with a double bowed tendon. Her foreleg literally had two bumps from two different tendons being bowed. I worked on using myofascial release to help clear some of the scar tissue. A month later Enco and I had our first ride after the ok from our vet. We didn’t go far, just around the house and I let her do what she wanted. Two months after this we were riding normally and going on trail rides.
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In the year of 2009 I was happy to say Enco is back to herself-100%. If not better because of the connection we have built from her injury. It is like my own personal Flicka story-my horse getting injured and now becoming the friend I had always dreamed of because of the injury. To this day I swear by massage and oils and to look outside the box. So many people are skeptical of what is different. Enco is proof that hope is out there.
Our journey has not yet ended. In February of 2011 I attended a first aid for serious horse owner’s seminar at the veterinary school of medicine. I was sad to find out that the topics and information I received I already knew, but I still had hope and felt like I was in the right place. That I needed to be here. As the day progressed we had a demonstration of preparing your horse, how if you work your horse on scary situations your horse would be better prepared for a real situation and it would be easier on everyone.
This is when I knew I was in the right spot. Lori Wegner was holding the demonstration section of the seminar. I had never expected to hear about Lori and never thought it possible to find her, but here I was, three years later listening to someone that one of my greatest mentors told me I need to meet. Can you say fate?
As I look back at everything I went through to help Enco I think, look at all the things you do in the name of love. She pulled me out of my comfort zone and made me take the next step to being a better person for her and for everyone else. She taught me more about life than I could imagine and cannot even express in words. I know I am on the right path and even after three years I am still finding my way. I cannot wait for the next step in our journey and to see where it takes us. Enco and I have farther to go and I am looking forward to every heartbreak and happy moment that will take us there. My story has not yet ended- it is just beginning. Now the question to ask yourself is, where does your story start?
