Making the connection 

 

Luna is a 20yr old, Arab/thoroughbred/Spanish mare, who was rescued by her current owner, Rose. She was born in the military and trained for many hours a day as a bullfighting horse. She was trained the traditional way know in Spain as ‘Doma Vaquera’, to be used in a bull ring, to bait and eventually kill a bull, for the entertainment of others. Fortunately, she never made it to the ring, but was still exposed to the heavy hands of men, who pride themselves on using pain and fear to dominate the horse. She was very well trained and a fast learner, but all at the expense of destroying the sides of her mouth from the constant pulling with a hard bit. Her nose is scarred with marks of abuse from a serrated metal noseband know as ‘serreton’. The sides of her mouth are permanently swollen, and hard skin has formed around the edges, with indentations of where the bit has been constantly pressing.

Over the years Luna and Rose developed a strong relationship of trust, and she rode her several times, but the pain in Luna’s mouth started to become evident each time she was ridden, and the mare developed a habit of rearing whenever the reins were pulled.  The problem progressed to the point where the mare would be out on a hack, stop and head straight back to the stables at a trot. Fear of pulling on the reins and hurting the mare, Rose began to lose control of her, to the point where she had given up on riding her at all.  Rose had several trainers try to ride her but Luna insisted on continuing to rear and head home, her behaviour intensified whenever they reached the beach, as the open space allowed the mare to escape with more haste.

When Rose finally asked if I would have a look at her, Luna had given up on being ridden.  She had lost all trust in men and only trusted Rose who was afraid to ride her, so as not to hurt her. In seeing the mare I could tell there was something in this mare’s eye that told me she was the link to bringing back the joy to these stables and wanting to be ridden by her old friend Rose. I immediately suggested to Rose that no bit should ever touch this mare’s mouth as my help would be of no use if the trust were broken after working with her. My first task was to make the connection with this mare. Knowing she is fearful of men, I had to keep her away from Rose, who she trusted and felt safe with, so that I could invite her into a conversation by using body language.  I wanted to tap into her self-preservation instincts which would help to make her want to consider me as a friend.  Even after she trusted me, the mare needed Rose’s approval in order to hand herself over to me completely, I was truly amazed by this act as it showed me just how much trust they actually shared.