09/22/2024
Meet donkey! I failed to ask his name, because he's easily distinguishable amongst all the horses as the only donkey and my mind just goes to Shrek! 😅
I planned on doing a follow up session on Ratón, but he was on a trail ride. Then I tried to connect with another horse named Oreo, but he was a bit spooky and I wanted him to choose me, show interest, and walk up to me on his own before I work on him. I want him to feel safe. It was only him and I in the small fenced in area, and he kept creeping away from me every time I came near. So, I took my time picking up some trash in the same space. He definitely got more comfortable with my presence in general, but still didn't want me coming too near him. I took out my heart chakra tuning fork and just stood there striking it, holding it in front of my chest and humming its note. He was very intrigued, curious, and receptive to the sound frequency. He looked at me several times, and I could tell it calmed him, but still did not want to be approached. I can respect that.
Suddenly, in the larger pen adjacent to the one I was in, I heard donkey calling to me loudly with his hee haw! Hee haws! And I laughed. He was standing at the fence clearly looking at me like hey! What am I? Chopped liver!?! 🤣 Okay! Okay! I hear you, donkey! I got you! See, he was there last time when I was working on Ratón. Donkey remembered me.
So, I worked on donkey instead, and he was very affectionate; greeting my hand with his nose, leaning in toward me with his neck, grateful, and receptive to therapy.
Poor thing was covered in flies and I had to keep shooing them away. There was a whole swarm of them congregated on this p***y sore under his eye that would just instantly magnetize back on it the moment I shooed them. Before leaving home I had made a horse safe, essential oil blend mixed with coconut oil that I created for another horse, Bonita. She had some awful fly bites that she's extra sensitive to and scars I wanted to help heal. Bonita was out working, but this blend has all the right healing oils in it including helichrysum which I know from personal experience will crust over puss. It worked perfect on the exposed skin under donkey's eye. I'm so glad I had it, and I'm so glad he spoke up and called to me if only for this reason! Some of the oils are also a fly deterrent, so they instantly stopped congregating on that spot. Thank God!
I pretty much just bonded with donkey. I did do neck and tmj work, a little thoracic work, and barely any lumbar work, because I was still wanting to practice some things from my collections coaching class. The biggest starting point is getting them to raise their head and neck in intervals to strengthen the thoracic sling. He did do this with me several times then lost interest and wandered out into the sun from the shade while I was grabbing my forks for his lower body. His back is oddly flat and wide. I'm not sure if this is typical of donkeys?🤷🏽♀️ I'm kind of doubting it is. I worked for a bit more, but that sun was beating. I tried to communicate with him energetically to follow me back to the shade. He was non-compliant, and I just let him be for that session. The more compliant he becomes in the future, the more bodywork reward he will get! 😉🫏💜
