This morning was great, beautiful and after this I’m going to take a nap, ptsd is kicking my ass today, so I do what I need to make it through the day.
But before that, as I got out to the ranch, I played with Zoey for a while. Yesterday was rough for both of us. So to see her back to normal, wanting to play, filled my heart with joy. Zoey has a lectin intolerance, which causes her to projectile vomit if she eats the wrong things.
I felt so guilty because I thought I’d try some different protein in her breakfast, and I instantly knew that she was hurting, her tummy was upset. I’ll explain lectin intolerance in another post, but it’s real and it causes bad things to happen.
So this morning when she wanted to play ball and was feeling good, I felt good.
At that time they still had mental health professionals, and equine specialists, with Level 1, 11, certifications. When I took my three day training, it was in 2009, so I’m sure the curriculum has changed a bit. It was one of the most amazing learning experiences I have been through. And I got a certificate that gave me 23 college credit hours in counseling.
I usually go into these type of things as an observer…but at the beginning of the class the instructor told us to not be surprised if feelings, emotions, reactions come to the surface.
At the beginning of the class, on the first day, there were horses in the arena, just hanging out. Enough for all of us, and we had to choose a horse and bring him or her back to the other end of the paddock, with no halter, no food, no ropes, nothing, just ourselves and our ability to communicate what we wanted our chosen horse to do.
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I walked around a bit looking at the horses and trying to get a feeling, and ended up choosing a 4 year old cutting bred gelding. He was amazing. (I almost bought him and took him home.). I managed to communicate what I wanted him to do, and we made it back to the other end of the paddock. No halters, no treats, no buckets of food…just me and the horse.
The next three days brought out “stuff” that I had ignored for years. Stories were told by licensed mental health professionals about their experiences using this type of therapy, some I cannot share because of the nature of the sensitivity of the patients and their traumas. But I will say that one story showed how much this type of therapy works…a young child who didn’t communicate due to extensive trauma, began to open up with a gelding he had bonded with and was finally able to speak his truth, and begin his healing.
Check out all of the good ole’ Levi’s favorites, or the new groovy stuff.
Needless to say, I’m going to go through the training again, for a refresher. Just for my own well being at least.
If you are interested in this… a fully licensed EAGALA team consists of an equine specialist, and a licensed professional therapist. One person can’t be both.
Lately I’ve been isolating. Rarely talking to anyone, 80% off of social media, other than YOUTUBE, and Instagram.
I feel ok about it because I’m going through challenges right now.
Having to fundraise for vehicle repairs is embarrassing. But I have no disposable income. I’m building my channels on YouTube and Instagram, but I’m doing it organically, and that takes time. But that’s what I’m doing.
If you’ve seen any of my posts, you’ll know that I drive a 24 year old Jeep Grand Cherokee… don’t get me wrong, I love this ole girl, but she’s got 270,000 thousand miles on her and she’s starting to roll smoke.
I am on disability, and $1000 dollars a month is rough to live on. I know that my following will increase, because I share real, blunt content, and nothing about it is fake. It’s my life, and I’ve come to the conclusion that there are others that struggle, and I don’t want them to feel alone, like I have in the past.
So if you can help, I would be greatly appreciative. I will share exactly what donations will be used for. Either rebuilding the jeep engine, or finding another vehicle.
I will not spend a zillion dollars, because I have to be able to fix it myself. Although my son is my mechanic, and he does the work. He said that an old worn out engine will start doing what mine is, and eventually I’ll have to rebuild, or find something else.
Here’s a Story 