Elemental Lives

Esperanda! (Altamiro x Ciente)

A primal scream, nostrils flared, neck arched, an eruption of equine energy

Of snow and wind and freedom of expression for all.

Inhale and savour

Unbridled beauty!

The Tao.

The way of free range horses!

Wilderness out my door,

Winter number twelve,

The austerity of this way of living has altered my perception,

Expanded my manner of being,

Is much preferred to the modernity of the city and human domination of day and night.

Here the elements rule - neither kindly nor unkindly,

Free from pretension, 

Stimulating ancient stirrings of innate cooperation, capability, creativity,

A flow of beginnings and endings and new beginnings.

How rich life is!

Earlier this month, during one particular two day "snow and blow", a lessening of the conditions prompted the horses to come out of the forest and into the open, coming up near our dwelling where Kevin was preparing a toboggan load of hay for me to bring out to them.

But the storm was not finished!  The roaring, bitter wind and snow intensified.  And the horses ran back to their forest shelter, knowing I would soon arrive, knowing I would spread out enough dried summer for all...knowing no storm lasts forever... 

When you begin to see through the eyes of horses you will enter another world.  In this world, laws more ancient than ours are in effect.  Existence is clear and uncomplicated.  Every step into this world lets us sense more deeply, breathe more freely.  A quiet rhythm encompasses this life.

    --Imke Spilker (from her book, Empowered Horses)

Ask the Expert

Today's journal entry is a collaborative effort that requires a bit of an introduction.

Back in April of 2009, the Journal of Ravenseyrie was fortunate to be given permission to reprint The Horse Too is Allowed to Say “No” an article by Imke Spilker, author of Empowered Horses. More recently, a reader named Cyndi left several comments sharing her enthusiasm for Imke's writings along with a handful of questions, which quite naturally would be prompted by such a "radical" approach to horse/human relationships.


Within the comment section of that earlier journal entry, I provided my personal thoughts and answers for Cyndi--if you missed them, you can read by following the hyper-link for the article above.



Both this particular article and the Empowered Horses book were translated into English by my friend Kristina McCormack. Kris was kind enough to share Cyndi's queries with Imke Spilker, and together Kris and Imke generated a dialogue of their thoughts and perceptions which Cyndi's questions had sparked. It is our good fortune that these deep-thinking women have been willing to share their "answers" within today's journal entry.


As readers move through the thought-provoking text I hope you will enjoy some recent scenes from Ravenseyrie (where it is still very much wintertime).




Cyndi's Comments and Questions:

I finally finished "Empowered Horses", and plan to start re-reading it soon! I really enjoyed it, and found it to be quite inspirational. I would love to spend some time watching people like Imke, to better grasp what she does with her horses, as I am unsure about what I am doing, and I am a visual learner :o)

I do have questions. Some of the horses, like El Paso and Passaro, who were so volatile...how did they do routine things like hoof trimming with these guys before their transformations? When it takes years to get some of these horses to this point, what do you do for vet visits and such?

It was interesting to study the body language of the horses during play. I can see from the pictures that my mare is often showing signs of playful pleasure. What about head tossing? Some would say that head tossing is a sign of irritation by the horse...or can it also be play? I suppose it would depend on what other parts of the body are doing, to interpret that properly.

I have heard that if you let your horse act out or do whatever it wants, that that can reinforce rude behaviour...for instance, a horse may learn that if he does a certain behaviour, people will back off. At what point does the horse start coming around?

I'm sorry for asking so many questions, but if I don't ask, then I won't know :o)

I highly recommend this book.

Kristina McCormack:

When Lynne first drew my attention to Cyndi’s comments, she asked me if I would respond with an account of my own experiences with Khe-Ra and her hooves. Khe-Ra is a “volatile” young horse who had major issues about a number of things, including having a hoof held up. The simple everyday experience of having a hoof cleaned made her tense, fearful, and angry. Trimming was out of the question. As I wrote to Lynne, I hesitate to bring up how Khe-Ra and I dealt with this, because I do not want to imply that what we did -- and did not do -- was the "right answer" or even applicable to *any* other horse-human interaction. The answer, for me, to these kinds of questions is: there is no one right answer.

Imke Spilker:

Yes, you are absolutely right! The answers to such questions are found first and foremost with the horses themselves. But in the book of the Empowered Horses there is also quite a bit about this. Actually, I wrote the book precisely because of these kinds of questions that Cyndi poses. Even the title “Empowered Horses” (“Selbstbewusste Pferde) is one -- my personal -- answer to our “problem” of volatile horses.” A horse that has become empowered, will no longer flee. He will “stand his ground.”

Kris:

My own experience with the book of the Empowered Horses is that there is so much to be learned in its pages that it requires many readings, with close attention to the photos. Even now, every time I open it I find something new. Yet, Imke receives quite a bit of correspondence from readers who want something more. Having read the book once and been moved by it, they want to know what to *do* to put the principles of the Empowered Horses into practice. They want guidance, instructions, exercises. They want to watch Imke work with horses, so that they can learn from *her.* This desire, this “need” for answers from an expert seems perfectly natural. After all, how are we going to learn if not from someone who knows? We want to do the right thing for our horses, so we seek out what we think are the best possible experts with whom to study. The mistake we make is seeking out only human experts. We begin to learn when we realize that the real expert on this subject about which we are so passionate, the best possible teacher, is this horse standing next to us right now. We begin to really learn when we devote ourselves to “studying” with him.

Imke:

In that spirit, what good does it actually do to relay stories of Passaro’s or El Paso’s farrier visits? Vets and farriers do not try to hurt horses, they do not want to harm them, do they? In all honesty, my feeling is that stories like this are not very useful -- they tend to bring people further away from their own horses. And it is their horses that this all should be about.

Kris:

If I want to have a closer friendship with someone, do I go watch two other friends interacting with one another? And if I were silly enough to try that, what could I possibly learn about the person with whom I want to be friends?

Imke:

Yes, exactly!. What kind of a person on a date would continually text other friends for suggestions and advice about what to say next?

Kris:

I think we do this with horses because we’ve been taught lies -- for example, that horses are dangerous, stupid, need to be shown who is boss, etc. -- and that there is a “right” way to “handle” them. We want to learn that right way. And, it seems so much easier to follow a detailed “recipe” formulated by an expert, than to cultivate our own awareness and truly be in the moment -- moment after moment -- with a horse, listening to him with an open heart, responding intuitively. So, -- almost unconsciously -- we continually look for “one size fits all” instructions

There is no general rule or procedure for interacting with "volatile" horses, or any horses for that matter .... except maybe to LISTEN to them, to pay attention to what they're trying to tell us. That in itself is a huge undertaking, and worthy of all the energy and attention we can give.

Everything depends... on the horse, the person, the relationship between them,the situation, the individual moment, and countless other variables.

Imke:

Nevertheless, most humans want certainties and methods and other humans to whom they can attach themselves.

But how can I expect a horse to believe in me more than he believes in other horses, when I myself listen more to others of my own kind, when I more readily give them my trust, than my horse -- who is actually what this is all about!?

Kris:

Aren’t we humans silly? Just look at what we do, over and over again -- we want to know how our horse feels, what he is thinking, how we can help him feel better, move better, how we can be a better friend to him .... and instead of asking him, spending time with him, entering into a real dialog with him, we seek out another human -- one who likely does not know this horse at all, has never even laid eyes on him.

We study with this person, we hang on his every word, we watch him interact with other horses and we strive to do our best to do what he does. We work so hard to be good students. We follow instructions to the letter. And, in the end, what have we learned?

Mostly, we’ve learned to deny our own feelings, instinct, and intuition -- yet these qualities are precisely what we need to “hear” and understand the horses in our lives. We’ve learned to shut out our horse. By studying the human experts, learning their formulas and methods, diligently imitating them -- we make ourselves blind and deaf in our interactions with horses. We forsake the living reality of here and now and cling to the abstract -- someone else’s words and gestures.

When we have spent a lifetime learning to deny our feelings and intuition, being told to rely on them sounds just plain crazy... and frightening. We don’t trust ourselves. (No wonder, when we’ve always been taught that some expert knows better.) We don’t trust Horse. . We only trust other human beings.

And we call horses herd-bound.

Kris continues:

So, basically, Imke’s answer to these kinds of questions is: “Ask the expert, the real expert! Go to your horse!”

Which brings up one more question, namely: If we should learn primarily from interaction with our horses rather than from other human beings , why then do you (Imke) give seminars and lessons? Why do you even teach?

Imke:

Your horse is and will always be the best expert to ask, even when you
come to a clinic with me. My task there is to transmit and translate. If someone comes just to observe, “to see how it is done,” I will gently explain that "it" cannot be learned by watching me, and I will send him home to his horse.

We can begin to understand only when we have completely moved out of the observer
perspective and engage with the horse ourselves. Interaction with the horse is the path to understanding.

It is true that sometimes a person stands in front of his horse, absolutely clueless -- and the horse is just as clueless regarding the human. In that situation, I try to “open the gate" so that the two of them can come together.

Sometimes the horse-human pair has a history together, a great deal of accumulated “baggage” over which they stumble again and again. But the fundamental problem, the essential difficulty in the horse- human relationship is actually that horses are too nice to us. They will do almost anything for us. Give a human a hoof and he'll take the whole horse. We human beings do not notice that we do this, or, if we do, we have no idea what to do about it.

My teaching is for people who envision their horses empowered, who want to help them become more powerful. If you want to see me for the sake of seeing Imke Spilker, I will gladly say “hello” to you and we can chat for a while. But that will not satisfy you. It cannot. That which is essential happens between you and your horse. As long as you do not realize that, there is nothing I can do.

On the other hand, if you are someone, who, in the company of horses, always asks yourself: “How do I fit-in here, what can I do with these creatures that will not harm them?” or, even better, “how can I, a human being, make myself useful to them?” -- if those are your questions, I have some suggestions for you!

How thankful I am to Cyndi for posing her good questions and for Kris McCormack and Imke Spilker for their provocative responses. Not too unlike a Zen koan, I think that the perceptions shared in this dialogue serve very well to lead us to meaningful personal realizations where our horses and our inner sense of what is appropriate in any given situation is spontaneously revealed, moment to moment precisely because we--horse and human--are more tuned into each other than anyone or anything else.

(Please click on image to see larger format)
Photos courtesy of K. McCormack

Imke Spilker - Wild Horses

"The sight of them pulls us under their spell."--Imke Spilker

Having devoted the prior two journal entries to beauty's dark side and Altamiro's glorious wild horse expressionism, another article written by Imke Spilker has been presented to me at a perfect time for its first publication in English here in the Journal of Ravenseyrie.



This article was initially published in 1995 in a German environmental magazine called Umwelt Direkt, appearing in the segment Nature and Man. The title of the article is, Wild Horses and, like me, I think you will be amazed at how far ahead of her time Imke Spilker was, to be writing fifteen years ago about things we are just now coming to terms with.

The translation of Wild Horses is by Kristina McCormack. All the photos accompanying the text were taken by me, here at Ravenseyrie, with the exception of the black and white image of Imke Spilker and Reno which was captured by Hans-Peter Gerstner.

Many thanks to Imke Spilker and Kris McCormack for trusting the Journal of Ravenseyrie with the publication of another thought-provoking article.

Wild Horses
by
Imke Spilker

Earth has been subjected by mankind -- this idea characterizes now as ever our behavior toward the environment. But subjugation is not the only answer we can give to the living world around us.

Nature in Germany is tame. No bear lurks deep in the woods, every tree has its owner, and the wind-and-waterproof Goretex jacket resists every bit of bad weather. We have our Nature firmly in hand. We love her, enclose her, cultivate her. We help the turtles cross the street, live in a nature conscious way, and feel like her big brother.

****

They fly off into the distance on thundering hooves, confidently tossing their flowing manes, eyes flashing they rear and gambol, full of unbounded power and joy in living: high-spirited, playful, free horses. The sight of them pulls us under their spell. Horses, it is said, are noble, proud, symbols of freedom and power.

Human beings go into the mountains and desert, in ice and snow, into oceans and virgin forest seeking primordial wildness -- always remaining outside it, only observers. Because wildness is fright and yearning all in one. The magnificent, colossal unboundedness provokes horror when we feel completely at its mercy. Powerless, abandoned to a Nature that we no longer understand, that we no longer trust, panic seizes us and we feel alienated, strangers in a strange land.

Horses are tame harmless pets. Work animals sacrificing themselves in the service of mankind. Livestock. We love horses. They are familiar to us. Horses are strong and fast, far surpassing humans in their powers. Domestication has done little to change that. When they are left to themselves, they shift effortlessly back to a wild horse existence. Horses do not need us.
As long as the river stays in its bed, the garden is free of weeds, and our apartment is free of vermin, we feel at home in nature. Subjugated, she allows us harmony. We feel in unison with tamed nature. But as soon as Nature “leaves the reservation”, comes too close and becomes unpredictable, the uncontrolled-ness of it all disturbs us at the deepest level: we decimate, cultivate, train.... It is still fascinating for man to control, “break”, and bridle the horse -- that symbol of wildness. Dominated Nature, that carries him.

But horses are not wild! They are afraid of us and our incomprehensible world, they sense our conflicting emotions, they would like to trust us, and above all they do not make an attempt on our lives with their superior strength. Horses are not only NOT aggressive, they are actually addicted to harmony -- a characteristic that has made them extraordinarily useful in the history of human beings. Their working days are over. Today we have stronger, faster, more easily maintained machines. But, the fascination with horses is intact.
The fact that they are no longer needed as beasts of burden offers us a new opportunity, but instead of seizing it and learning a new art of partnership from horses, we instead still use them --- as leisure-time appliances. Horses are drilled, controlled, enslaved like (almost) no other animal. Every step is proscribed for them. The arsenal of methods for completely controlling and dominating an animal that once roamed free on the steppes is continually perfected. All too often this “creature of the wind” loses his health and his joy of living because of this.

It could be different. We could become familiar, intimate, with the horse as with a friend. We could give up control and bridling and entrust ourselves to a togetherness that bridges the separation between animal and man.
Horses can teach us harmony, unity between inner and outer. They can take away from us the fear that underlies our preference for separation and control. If we learn to open ourselves to them and perceive their subtle language, we will also come closer to our own true nature. For life -- and this applies to us, too -- is always somehow unpredictable. Thank goodness!

Photo: H-P Gerstner

Communication instead of control -- that changes even the horses. The conscious, proud art of movement engenders a new and healthy perception of self. Dance and play, horse and human -- elevated, exhilarated, joyful and free.

“And Allah took a handful of south wind, breathed into it and created the horse ... ‘I have given you the power to fly without wings and triumph without sword..’” --Bedouin tradition

When the Answer is "No"

Zorita and her 2009 filly, Segura

In today's journal entry, I'm addressing a comment left by June regarding the concept of honoring the horse's "no".

June wrote:

Another question/comment - both Lynne and Imke seem to take the horse's "no" as absolute, or am I wrong? Whereas KFH will argue back - there's a nice sequence of photos in "What Horses Reveal" where KFH is riding without tack in the middle of a huge open area, and the horse doesn't want to go over a ditch. But Klaus says, "yes, we are going to." The horses is annoyed, saying no - and of course, without tack, is at liberty to do whatever he pleases. But in the end Klaus prevails in the "discussion." I think he calls it a "gentlemen's disagreement."

Whenever we are engaged in a relationship with another being there may arise occasions when one or the other may have different  ideas about how a given situation should proceed.  In my opinion, disagreements can be handled a number of ways depending on how each individual feels within the situation they are facing and how resolutions are presented. 

A dictator obviously responds much differently than a friend when a request is met with resistance.  A dictator meeting with resistance aggressively uses whatever means is necessary to gain a "yes".  You could say in that instance the "yes" is absolute--it is the only answer the dictator will accept and any discussion of the matter is forbidden.  When friends encounter a similar resistance to a request (depending on the content of the situation), to accept a "no" as unquestionablly absolute would also mean any discussion of the matter is forbidden.  Both scenarios to me reflect a stifled relationship, something less than ideal, where one individual's "voice" is absolute and the other has no option but to accept what is given.  Such a situation demonstrates inequality in the relationship, each demonstrating inflexibility and neither is the type of relationship that I feel is healthy or mutually beneficial.

My personal feeling is that I very much doubt Imke accepts a horse's "no" as absolute in every situation...and I certainly do not.  Every time we encounter a situation where resistance arises, the content of the moment is variable and absolutes have no place in resolving things.  Only a perception centered on kindness and nurturing which facilitates discussion allows both individuals in the relationship to fully understand the dialogue they are having.  It is not about absolute authority or unquestionable obedience.  It is not about using physical pain or mental intimidation to enforce our will over another. 

While many people want horses to respond without questioning why, like pressing the button on the dashboard of an automobile,  I want more from a relationship with a horse than reliable, half-hearted obedience.  I feel this way about all my relationships, and it is very important to me to know that whomever I am interacting with is responding freely and participating because it is a mutually enjoyable affair.  This applies not just to the other individual in the relationship but applies to me as well.  A great deal of inquiring into my feelings and those of another means that lots of discussion is encouraged so that we each are fully aware of what "yes" or "no" mean in any given situation.

 Tobacco (a.k.a. Mugs)

Just yesterday, one of my canine companions (Tobacco) provided a good example of how I use a nurturing perception and discussion to come to a full understanding of whether "no" is, indeed the final and absolute answer to an offer I made.

There have been occasions where each of our four dogs did something to make one of the horses uncomfortable and so were aggressively chased.  While Shelagh, Maeb and Ganja will still mingle with the horses but keep themselves extra vigilant to how the horses are responding to their presence, Tobacco avoids them at all costs.  Oftentimes this means that Tobacco will say "no" to going for a walk with the rest of us, or if while out on a walk with the rest of us should we come upon the horses, he will turn around right then and there and run back home.

Tobacco is amazingly perceptive and he knows that when the horses are eating they will not be looking to make sport of chasing him and he will walk right by them as we leave to go hiking, or he will use an alternate route to get through the fence of the yard so he can accompany the rest of us on a hike.  If, as it sometimes happens, all routes leaving the yard are flanked with horses, Tobacco will not come for a walk no matter how much discussion takes place and certainly when he is that committed to saying "no" I accept it with no hard feelings between us, for he has convinced me he truly is not willing.  I would cast a pallor on our relationship if in such a situation I got out his collar and lead and dragged him along--he would not think me a worthy leader and he certainly would question our friendship.

Yesterday was a beautiful pre-spring day, with lots of sun, temps just warm enough to initiate a little melting, and being my day off, I felt a nice long hike was in order.  Tobacco thought so too, and engaged along with the other dogs in great leaps of anticipation as I began to put on boots and outerwear.  When I opened the door and we all excitedly tumbled out, Tobacco quickly noticed that Altamiro and his family were all milling around the gate.  There would be no getting through that way.  He then looked at the hole through the fence to the east and noted that Mistral's group were all standing by that opening and he would not be able to get to the open fields that way either.  So even before I got the door closed he slipped back into the house and said, "No, I don't want to go!" 

But I just knew he really wanted to go...I knew his "No" was not absolute, even though he delivered it pretty emphatically.

So we had a discussion.

I cajoled him and told him I just knew we could find a way by the horses, "Please, Tobacco, come with us, it will be fun and you know it will be fun!"  He still said "No!  I cannot go."  But even as he relayed this he remained in the doorway instead of wandering back to his bed in the other room.  This told me he actually was willing to discuss things further.

I knew he would be a little sad to be left behind today, he just needed more encouragement.  "C'mon Tobacco.  You can do it!  We'll climb over the fence to the north, I'll help you."

I was pressuring him, I know I was, because he began whimpering and dancing in place--but I knew his "no" wasn't absolute--nor did he want me to accept it as absolute.  I knew Tobacco really wanted to come with us--so I kept up the pressure because it was the type of nurturing, supportive pressuring that helps one make a breakthrough through a difficulty that is holding them back from a good experience.  "C'mon Tobacco, we'll do it together.  I know we can make it over that fence!  Let's go!"  And after those encouraging words Tobacco said, "Yes!  Let's go!" 

Before I could even get the door closed and walk over to the north fence, he was already there, checking his options, and in one deft, confident move, he lept up onto the top rail of that fence and then sprung off it in full gallop to the north, leaving the rest of us to find our own way over the fence!  We had a marvelous hike that day!

Where Mistral is standing looking at me is the place in the fence where yesterday Tobacco jumped so he could go for a hike with me and the other pups.  (The horses were not in this exact location at that time.)

I cannot speak for how Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling carried out his discussion with Janosch as he convinced the horse to walk into the ditch.  He called it quarreling, but I feel it was something similar to the exchange Tobacco and I had...that it was based on a nurturing perception of the situation.    Since Klaus was riding in the big wide open completely free of tack, Janosch could easily have made his "no" definitive by dumping his rider and running away.  Instead he remained in the discussion with Klaus and a breakthrough to something better ensued.  Klaus may have projected to Janosch, "You must do this because I say so", or he may have projected "Please, my good friend, I insist, because I know you can do it and it will be good to have this experience."  I'm inclined to think the later was the case, because somehow I don't imagine a strong character like Janosch would accept being dictated to.

In Empowered Horses, Imke Spilker wrote about a situation where she proposed something new for her horse Toppur to try to which she said:

"Toppur retreats in response to my actions and refuses to comply with my request."  --Empowered Horses pg. 96

We all recognize that Toppur had said no.  Did Imke take it as absolute?

She does not, rather she first apologizes for unintentionally confusing him and for causing him to resist and question her reasons for the request she had made.  (Empowered Horses pg.83) 

Shall she accept his "no" and leave matters there, or might she not use the opportunity to explain herself better and make the request from a new place of understanding?

"The more independent our horse is the more quickly he will question the purpose of the work.  Our answer to his question is crucial, because with it we set the course of our relationship.  'Because I say so.'  This answer, emphatically given to the horse, reveals the two-legged dictator.  So, all that went before is really just a prelude to this.  Even the answer, 'Because there is a barrel standing there,' or, 'Because there is a tire on the ground,' does not change the dictatorial drift.  It merely defers the more concrete answer, 'And I want you to go around this barrel.'  Despite everything, horses can--perhaps after a period of hesitation--decide to go along with their person's new idea, even if there are many reasons not to.  It is one of the wonders I wish to tell you about in this book.  Despite everything, horses will go along with us, all on their own, of their own free will, just because we do not obstinately try to force them.  I do not have to assert my will, but nevertheless, my horse complies.  That is a great gift.  The answer that I give Toppur in this instance is, 'Because I think it is important, and because I would very much like it.' Instead of using pressure or exercising power I do exactly the opposite.  I ask my horse to simply try it." --Imke Spilker /Empowered Horses pg.96

And Toppur agrees to give it a try.  Had he still resisted following Imke's idea, if he was still somewhat open, my sense is she would have likely found a different way of presenting her request that he would feel able to comply with, but ultimately she would have honored "no" if Toppur insisted (and likely she would have apologized to him once again).

In sharing with us the manner in which Kirsten asks Kim to leave his pasture mates and join her for some playtime in arena, Imke gives us another example regarding how she regards the horse's "no".

"What would have happened had Kim turned away, if he had signaled, 'No, thank you?'  What would Kirsten do?  She would, one more time, clearly invite him to join her, perhaps also letting him know that it meant a lot to her.  But, what if Kim still did not want to come, if he had even walked away?  Kirsten would respect his position, take away the halter, say her goodbyes with a treat, and leave him in his pasture because his hunger is greater than his desire to join her." --Imke Spilker / Empowered Horses pg. 35

This has been a rather long answer to June's question and probably the short answer is simply to say that I take my horse's "no" as absolute only if I am convinced he feels absolutely committed to saying "no". 

A Non-Ordinary Tapestry of Learning

Kevin Droski of the Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve sharing some late day sun with the half-Sorraia stud colt, Interessado
(One of my favorite photos) 

Summer 2009

I have had a most difficult time finding the best way to share this story.  Initially, I relayed events in point to point, linear fashion, which had the effect of protracting non-essentials in a tedious way.  My second version abbreviated certain aspects which while lessening the runaway verbiage unfortunately rendered the emotional agony within the chain of events flaccid, hollow, almost illusionary, though those sensations were painfully real at the time.  I've decided to approach the story differently today, starting from the "turning point" rather than at the beginning.  So here we go...




In response to an almost hysterical accounting of our inability to completely remove Porcupine quills from the muzzle of our half-Portuguese Sorraia/half-Kiger Mustang yearling stud colt, my friend in Quebec settled me down by providing a different viewpoint to consider...a perception which my heart and soul had felt from the beginning of this unfortunate incident, but which traditional horse-keeping/pragmatic-minded voices kept overriding, causing me such emotional conflict I began to feel unwell.


With his permission granted, I'm going to share a portion of the email my erudite friend sent:

Hi Lynne,
 
Gee! Don't hurt yourself my friend...
 
This situation is not as dramatic as you seem to think it is.
 
Maybe you are just trying to help him too much. Why don't you let him think it over a little? After all, it is his decision, eh?
 
In any case I would suggest that if you try to pull out any of those quills, your priority should be to get rid of the deeper ones, if you see what I mean.
 
If he doesn't let you, well, then things will follow their course. The quills will travel inside his nose's flesh and the body will react to this aggression with swallowing and infection. Of course you could then administer an antibiotic (Longisil) through injection, but I don't believe it is necessary - the risk being that he would freak out and get the wrong message.
 
He is young, healthy and strong and he will come out of it for sure. Do you realize how much he learns about you through this experience?

There are several potent, transformational messages within this reply.  Can you see them?  Do you feel them?

The very first morning after we moved here to Ravenseyrie, our dog Tobacco had an encounter with a Porcupine.  He had hundreds of quills on his nose, in his mouth, even down his throat, sticking out in painful awkward, unreachable angles.  It was the first of several such encounters, each requiring a trip to the veterinary clinic and an application of general anesthesia to remove all those harmful quills.  During those times, we were made aware of the horrific damage that could be done to dogs if all of the quills are not removed.  Remaining quills soon migrate through the flesh and have been know to exit out the eyes, enter the lungs, pierce the heart, cause infectious illness or death.

 Porcupine, image found at Wikipedia Commons

All the local people we met had nothing but tremendous hatred for porcupines due to the danger their quills pose to livestock and because of how destructive they can be to wooden structures (which they gnaw upon). Their first course of action when faced with a porcupine is to get a gun and shoot the animal as a preemptive measure against potential damage.

Porcupine quills are modified hairs, thickly coated in keratin and provide this gentle, non-agressive, slow-moving animal with a spectacular means of defense.  A porcupine protects itself by fanning out its tail and causing its quills to stand upright, but contrary to certain misconceptions, it cannot "throw" its quills at a target.  Animals that brush against the porcupine or attempt to bite it quickly find themselves impaled with these sharp organic needles, and it takes a rather determined tug to pull them out.   These quills are very firm, strong and slow to deteriorate--even though they are hollow inside.


So, with the knowledge of how painful and potentially damaging the situation was, Kevin and I were in rather a panic to remove those quills from young Interessado.


While I had played quite a bit with this primitive, black grullo colt, getting him accustomed to having his head handled and even fashioning a "halter" out of the old leather rein I keep for such manner of training young horses, I had never actually put a factory-made halter on the young lad. As I approached the youngster, he looked at me with definite discomfort.  The quills poking out of his nose dramatized his unease, but he let me scratch his withers and neck and slip my lead line around his neck. As I carefully drew the halter (a simple grooming slip actually) up to his head, he rebuffed my offering of the halter and began to walk away. I let him go and then tried again, this time holding him with the lead around the neck while I attempted to put the halter over his head again. This time without hesitation, he bolted violently away, pulling free of the lead rope, but, thankfully, calmed himself immediately and went over to stand by his brother, Animado.


Wielding a  pair of needle nose pliers, Kevin had come on the scene with alfalfa cubes and this soon got Interessado's attention. I don't know how he did it, because both Animado and Interessado were constantly moving their heads to be in a better position to take these treats from Kevin's hand, but Kevin was able to extract several of the quills, with absolutely no restraint or confinement of Interessado!  After a few more extractions, the pain offset by "cookies", the black grullo colt decided he'd had enough this this type of attention and moved off with the rest of the herd to graze.  It was amazing to me that he had been able to eat his breakfast oats and now could take up grazing peacefully with a muzzle full of quills!



With those horror stories of migrating quills fresh in mind,  I was not soothed by the tranquil grazing Interessado was doing and so, with even greater loving determination, I presented him with the halter and a plea that he come with me so we could remove the rest of those quills.  In her book, Empowered Horses, Imke Spilker wrote,  "Running off, fleeing and turning away always mean:  NO!"  And using all of these options, Interessado made his "no" obvious.  I could understand and appreciate his response completely...the colt was fully aware that I meant to capture him, physically restrain him and force him to accept (endure) our well intentioned ministrations.


In my early twenties, I remember one time getting a very large and painful sliver in my foot from walking on a roughed up wood floor.  I knew that I would have to get the offending object removed, but I could not manage to extract it myself--my fear of the pain made my hand too shaky.  My roommate at that time was even more timid about such things than me, but her boyfriend felt he was up to the task.  Even feeling his kind intentions and steady hand, I instinctively kept pulling away.  It took a glass of wine and a diversion of my attention (via clever conversation) before I was able to let the tweezers do their job.  This memory prompted me to suggest to Kevin that we consider asking our veterinarian for an oral sedative, which would make it easier for Interessado to accept our help.


After a phone consultation with the veterinary office, Kevin left to go pick up the prescribed "Atravet" granules and in the meantime, I went back out to be with Interessado.


Mistral and his followers had crossed over to the east sector of the property and were grazing at the edge of a shady grove of trees.  Interessado let me come up to him and itch his back and neck and I made no attempt to halter him.  Instead I went over to sit upon a rock in the shade.  He followed and soon was standing over me with his quill-festooned-muzzle right at eye level.  While itching his chest, I showed him my pliers and asked him if I could pull out another quill.  He lowered his head, kept steady and I plucked one out!  He jumped only a little and while I took up itching his chest once more, he again dropped his head into a steady position where I could pull out more quills with the pliers.  In this manner I made a little more progress removing those "foreign whiskers", until Interresado decided he wanted a break and wandered to a nearby tree to rub his rump.  I went over to him and offered to do a proper job with itching his rump, which he readily accepted.   Then, once again, he just stood quietly by me and put his muzzle in my face.  I raised my pliers to pull some more quills, but this time he kept moving his head (saying "no") , so I gave up trying and figured we would just wait now for Kevin to return with the sedative.


While waiting, I reflected on how effortless it was to pull out those quills when the colt gave me permission to do so.  I also was particularly aware of how difficult it is to catch a horse who does not want to be captured when he has the free range of 360 acres.  Continuing to feel that it was vital that we remove those quills but that it was equally important to do it in a cooperative way, I was really counting on the sedative to help us gain that cooperation.


When Kevin returned, we mixed the Atravet granules with oats and presented it to Interessado and he readily began to eat while we guarded his space to keep the others in his herd from stealing this medicated ration of oats.  (Remember, we are in the big wide open with no separation between us an the rest of the herd.)  Then we waited the prescribed 45 minutes for the drug to take effect.   There was no effect however, and each time I would offer the halter, Interessado would rapidly leave my presence and go stand by his equine friends, eyeing me with distrust.  Kevin telephoned the veterinarian for suggestions and received instructions to triple the dose of Atravet.  Even at triple the dose, there was again, no sedative effect on the colt whatsoever--Interessado was just as determinedly adept at distancing himself from any attempts to be haltered than if he had not received any drug at all.  I could approach him, scratch him, fuss with his mane and tail, but any attempts to restrain him with a rope on the neck or an offering of the halter would provoke a swift departure from my presence.


Kevin consulted with the veterinarian once again, and soon was off to the clinic to pick up hypodermic needles and a bottle of "Rompum".  Our plan this time was to inject this more powerful sedative as a team--with one of us distracting Interessado with horse cookies while the other gave the injection in the top of the rump.  Upon Kevin's return, once again, reading our intentions perfectly and wanting no part of our plan, Interessado responded by moving away from us, with great wariness and distrust which deteriorated to the point where he would not let either of us near him at all.




During all of this we could see that some of the quills were becoming shorter, moving their way further into Interessado's flesh.   I was visualizing those quills migrating upward, eventually piercing an eye or entering the brain...  I became more agitated, more horrified at the potential damage these quills could do and more determined that we would have to override Interessado's desires and impose our own, for we believed his life depended on it!


By now the horses had roamed in their grazing all the way to the far east fence line, and while we continued to see if Interessado would willingly let us halter and doctor him, our neighbor, driving by on his way home stopped to find out what we were up to.  In his typical cattle rancher's manner he assures us he can get close enough to put a loop over the colt's neck, he can hold him and get him to a tree, where he'll snub him up and get the job done.  He says its the only way...  At first, I say, "no thanks" and walk out to where Interessado is, with just my leather training strap.  Kevin and the neighbor exchange a few more words and the fellow drives on home.  Interessado  walks up to me and let's me scratch him--after him avoiding me just  a short while before, my hope is renewed.  He let's me put a loop around his neck, and is happy to have me itching him.  With Kevin looking on, I'm feeling like maybe our luck is turning and we'll be able to get Interessado sedated and remove the remaining quills without struggle or mental trauma after all.  I pick up the leather line, looped around his neck and ask him to follow me (a game we've played to mutual delight prior to today).  Interessado responds by instantly bolting free from me and running about seventy feet with the extra length of the leather loop dangling down and catching under his hooves.  A leather loop hanging around the neck and trailing its extra length on the ground isn't a safe piece of tack to have on a loose horse in the middle of the wilderness.  It took another long time of just hanging out with him before he would allow me to come close and take the leather strap off him.  I finally accepted that, obviously, this method was not going to work for us.


I am ashamed to admit that as the late day light began to make longer shadows across the landscape, our sense of panic that "We must do something!" began to push out all our usual mantras of partnership, shared leadership and friendship.  Sometimes, don't friends have to make hard choices for each other?  Was this not a situation where the "more knowledgeable" humans had to do what was in the best interest of the health of the animal in his and her care?  Kevin went off to fetch back our neighbor and take him up on his offer to help catch and doctor Interessado.  When Kevin and Bill returned, I abandoned this colt to the rougher skills which my neighbor had in mind and I abandoned the honoring of a horses "no" and I walked back to the house, feeling mentally and physically ill.


At first, Interessado wouldn't let Kevin and Bill anywhere near him, but after realizing Kevin was carrying a pan of alfalfa cubes, he reconsidered.  Repeatedly, Kevin put the pan down for the colt and when he lowered his head to eat the cubes, Bill tried to quietly slip a soft, loop of rope over his head.  Repeatedly, Interessado evaded such attempts to capture him.  Their next plan was to halter Mistral and using him as a leader, walk the group back over the fields to the old cattle sorting corral by the house, figuring they'd get everyone in the corral and then separate out all except Interessado who would then be much easier to catch.  Mistral wouldn't let himself be haltered, but Zeus was a willing candidate and soon I could see the group coming towards the field by the house.  Unfortunately, I could also see trouble on the western horizon, for our stallion, Altamiro, and his family band were walking eastward even as Kevin, Bill and their rag-tag herd were headed westward.  (Again, remember the horses all live on one large open tract of land, and even though they have separate herds there are no physical fences between them.)  Altamiro spotted Mistral's herd and snaked his family into a tight pack, then went off to the east to challenge the oncoming group.  Suddenly, I saw Zeus rearing up and pawing the air and the rest of the group was turning and running away.  Kevin somehow managed to get the halter off from the panicked Thoroughbred gelding and soon he and the others in Mistral's group were out of sight.


Darkness was settling in on them, so Bill told Kevin he would come by in the morning and they could try again.


With virtually every element in the universe seemingly bent on thwarting our attempts to doctor this colt, we went to bed feeling that while we would certainly renew our efforts to remove those quills, we would try to get Interessado in the corral and try on our own to work things out and not get our well intentioned but rough-minded neighbor involved.  

While Kevin was working on shoring up some weak spots in the corral the next morning, the very insightful email from Jean came in, and prompted us to step well back from the way in which we had been forcing the situation.


Kevin and I had been so convinced that Interessado was in grave danger from those quills that we lost a bit of the unity we have otherwise been living with here at Ravenseyrie.  We began to assume that we knew better than nature and that we could not trust things would resolve themselves without our manipulating them to fit modern concepts of what is right and what is wrong.  We had fairly well reverted back to a dualistic mindset that pits humans against nature.


In his book, Plant Spirit Medicine, Eliot Cowan wrote:

"Dualism might be defined as the illusion that there are two discreet principles in the universe:  self and other.  Dualism implies isolation, conflict and a continuous struggle of opposing forces.  For this reason, actions based on dualistic vision are simplistic, aggressive and destructive...The dualistic dream engenders an endless procession of conflict, aggression and destruction as each "solution" creates new problems to be attacked."

Cowan's words aptly describe that warm summer day when we were faced with a "wild" colt who's muzzle was afflicted with porcupine quills.  Each "solution" we attempted created its own set of problems and as the day progressed, we found ourselves further and further away from the holistic manner of beingness that we had been dedicating ourselves to--in fact we were behaving aggressively and had we prevailed, something in the relationship between us and Interessado would surely have been destroyed.

"Do you realize how much he learns about you through this experience?" 

Yes, Jean, I sure do!  

And I have learned much about myself as well...


So, what happened after that?


Well, I will surely not leave you hanging!


We decided against luring Interessado into the corral and instead went back to asking for his participation and direction rather than imposing our own agenda on him by putting him in a situation where his "no" was not honored.  As before, we offered to him our services, by asking him if we could pull out the quills.  Each time he softly turned away from the pliers.  So I found myself repeatedly going out to wherever he was on the landscape and checking in with him to see how things were going, and to offer my help if he wanted it.


What transpired over the course of days and weeks was a marvelous example of a young colt showing me that he had the situation under control.  Never once did Interessado seem set-back by what he was experiencing, but simply took everything in stride, exploring for himself various options to assist in his recovery.  I've got a series of photos I've taken and some video clips to help illustrate.


Do you see the Cedar (Arbor Vitae/Thuja Occidentalis) fruits laying on the ground?  From the very first day, Interessdo sought out and began eating these.  The essential oils of the Cedar tree helps support the immune system in addition to providing antifungal, antiviral and anti-inflammatory capacities among other grand uses.


Interessado was also selecting old Cedar stumps to rub his muzzle on.  You'll have to turn your head to see the videos.  (When I take photos with my camera turned sideways, it automatically puts the photos horizontal, however I forgot it doesn't do this for capturing video footage.)

Between those quills which we were able to remove and those that may have fallen out through rubbing, there were also many that migrated into the flesh, little by little, until they completely disappeared.

Interessado had numerous small abscesses from the invasion of these migrating quills, but none so great that he required intervention.  He continued to eat breakfast oats, graze the fields, drink from the creek and in all ways seemed very much himself.

In just a few days those porcupine quills had completely disappeared, and after a week, there remained only one small abscess. 


During this time, Interessado was as easy to approach and engage in games as before. 
 











Would this stud colt have been equally at ease with me if we humans had succeeded in capturing him, holding him in tight restraint and removing the quills against his will, or would the groundwork of friendship and trust have to be rebuilt, with always a bad memory persisting between us?


For those individuals, like me, who feel drawn toward developing relationships with horses that are based on completely different concepts than traditional dominator models, looking once more at pertinent excerpts from Imke Spilker's book, Empowered Horses, we understand how essential choice is in the relationship and how vital free space is for the horse to express his choices in ways that are very clear.

"Free space is what creates the possibility of a true dialogue. The horse can leave or he can come, he can say "yes" or "no". We want the horse to sense his freedom, to feel it, to realize it...We want to share pride, joy, and time together with the horse, not force ourselves on him. that can only happen if the horse is with us of his own free will. For freedom to even be possible there must be several options available, among which free choice is permitted. In addition to the option of coming along the horse can walk away, keep his distance, do something else. And he must know that he has this freedom and can use it at any time."


"Yes", or "no" translated into the language of open space is to approach or take flight. In open, free space the horse speaks a visible language that every human being can understand. In such free space the horse the person can learn to refine his skills of observation to such a degree that he begins to sense his horse's feelings. that ability makes him independent of academic theories or clichés of conventional wisdom that perhaps do not even suit his individual horse at all. Instead of being informed by opinions or contradictory advice, he now experiences directly and first hand the needs and preferences of this one unique horse. This horse protests when he is over-faced, discusses things that do not make sense, and rejoices when he does something exactly right--understanding!"  --Imke Spilker/Empowered Horses pg. 37

It was particularly difficult to stay true to these concepts when faced with what appeared to be a medical emergency, and I still feel it was important that Kevin and I try to intervene and help this colt in the best way we could.  We do give up a lot of human control by granting our horses so much space to live, making it all the more important to establish willing cooperation, since (as this situation with Interessado has demonstrated so vividly) traditional means of "capture" are at a definite disadvantage in a wilderness setting.  Even a completely "broke" horse could have avoided doctoring in this setting if he chose to.


We have learned that not all mishaps in the lives of wilderness horses require human intervention.  We are not so much "controlling owners" of these horses as we are "caring supporters" of them, and the best way we can support them is to recognize that when things are "right" they are almost effortless with all the elements at play working together for a common end.  When things are "wrong" there is dualism, conflict, escalating aggression, disorderliness and constant pitfalls keeping us from reaching the common end.  This does not mean that there may not come a time where the concepts presented in the book, Empowered Horses, are the best fit for a given situation.  To hold rigidly to any one concept is a sure way to stimulate duality and separation, which will close one off from the best possible approach to the situation being presented.  This is one of the trickiest aspects to nurturing holistic interactions...there must be fluidity in all things...


From his book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Japanese Zen master Shunryu Suzuki tells us:

"The cause of conflict is some fixed idea or one-sided idea...If you understand the cause of conflict as some fixed or one-sided idea, you can find meaning in various practices without being caught by any of them.  If you do not realize this point you will be easily caught by some particular way, and you will say, "This is enlightenment!  This is perfect practice.  This is the best way."  This is a big mistake.  There is no particular way in true practice.  You should find your own way, and you should know what kind of practice you have right now.  Knowing both the advantages and disadvantages of some special practice, you can practice that special way without danger.  But if you have a one-sided attitude, you will ignore the disadvantage of the practice, emphasizing only its good part.  Eventually you will discover the worst side of the practice, and become discouraged when it is too late.  --Shunryu Suzuki

With all these things in mind...Kevin and I now have a dart gun on hand with tranquilizers should a true emergency arise that makes it obvious that immediate intervention is essential.  And should such a scene present itself here at Ravenseyrie, based on the things we've learned from this experience, if what we are doing is right, it will be almost effortless in how the common end is achieved.


Let's close with a few photos taken of Interessado just this morning.  How thankful we are for his spectacular self-healing and for the non-ordinary tapestry of learning he provided us.  (And thank you, Jean, for providing an invaluable turning point for us!)