Horse Telepathy: How to Use Simple Animal Communication Skills to Load onto the Horse Trailer
According to Joan Ranquet, she has the absolute coolest job on the entire planet. That’s because Joan is a professional animal communicator.
Call it telepathy… Call it simply the exchange of pictures, words, and feelings… Or, just call it a gift. Joan uses her unique skillset to help riders of all skills – even at the Olympic level – overcome communication issues affecting their rides.
You’ll love this interview where Joan shares some of her fascinating journey as a horse owner and animal communicator. Plus, she shares a deceptively simple way to better connect with your horse so walking onto the trailer feels like a breeze.
Joan, thanks so much for talking with us today! Growing up, did you always know you wanted to be an animal communicator?
No. I would say that there are three things that people would love to do. That would be to fly, breathe underwater and talk with animals… so on that level, I always wanted to talk with animals. But, when I was growing up, it didn’t seem possible.
I grew up with horses and rode through college. Then, I didn’t have them while I lived in New York City. It wasn’t until about five years out of college that I ended up riding again and getting a horse.
There was an animal communicator who came to our barn and I thought it was the coolest job on the planet. Meanwhile, I’d gotten a degree in theater. I’d lived in New York and Los Angeles to be in the theater and film business. I loved that work, but I suddenly discovered there was somebody maybe with a cooler career than me!
I followed her around and I just couldn’t believe how she would know things about the horses. One of the funny little things I did at the time was I would record her talking to the horses. Then, I would make a copy of the tape for the people who owned the horses.
While making the copy, I would watch the tape over and over and I’d realize, “You know… I knew that about that horse too.” But I didn’t know how. I didn’t realize that I was also picking up on the pictures, words and feelings from the horse.
It’s something that we’re all doing all the time. But we don’t realize it.
Needless to say, I ended up taking some classes and it was very fun. I thought I was doing it for my own animals, but it ended up becoming really where the universe wanted me to be.
That’s fascinating. And it’s so interesting how you were able to discover your own ability with animal communication.
I’m sure our readers are curious how it works. If someone asks you to work with one of their horses, what does that process look like?
Well, on the phone, people would send me a picture of their animal and then we’d set an appointment. During the appointment, I just get very quiet and I connect with the horse.
Animal communication – or telepathy – is the transference of pictures, words, and feelings.
Let’s say somebody is a three day eventer and their horse won’t go through the water jump. I like to find out from the horse, what happened in the beginning and what would help them get through the water jump.
Or let’s say somebody got bucked off and they got very afraid of their horse. When you have situations like this, our feelings get so big, we almost can’t address it. The minute we communicate on that level with the horse, we start collapsing all the big feelings and the story.
And suddenly there’s just this deep connection between the person and the animal. And they can start over no matter what it is.
When you are working with someone, do you need to have multiple sessions? Or, is your goal to help the horse owner communicate with their animal better in that single session?
Well, as an animal communicator, if I have a session, I like to pretty much have one communication session and lay it all out on the table, so to speak.
Down the road, if we have to do some other healing modalities to repair the situation or the relationship, then there might be more than one session.
Additionally, I also have a school. So I teach animal communication and energy healing. I’m training people to become animal communicators.
I love that. Surely some people are uncertain if they’ll have the skill to communicate with their animals. How do you help people past that uncertainty? Or, is it easy to learn?
It’s deceptively simple to learn and then practice makes perfect.
And there’s a lot of doubt in the middle.
All right.
A lot of our readers are really interested in improving performance in the show ring or out on the trails. They want a better connection with their horse so they can stay safe.
Plus, trailer loading is one challenge many people face… So, what are the top ways you see this practice benefiting horse owners?
Well, I’ve helped many people in the show ring and even people that trail ride when they’ve had an accident in the past and they want to get back in the saddle.
Also, I do something else called EFT, tapping Emotional Freedom Technique, and I’ve helped Olympic horses. I’ve been a secret weapon, if you will, on international teams, help riding horses do things, helping horses really relax.
For example, I’ll go up to Seattle in February and I’ll just do barn after barn. It’ll be hunter jumpers, three day eventers, dressage, and two Western barns. So, I definitely am still in it for the horses.
I love watching the light bulb go off for the person and the horse just take a deep breath and go, “Ah.” Because the minute our emotions or our expectations start creeping up, we can’t really see what may be going on for the horse.
Once we kind of let drop off all of that, you can easily have a better performance or a safer ride if that’s what you’re looking for. Safety is huge thing that people want. They want to get back on or they don’t know if they should sell the horse. And that’s so emotional. I mean, that’s so emotional.
You mentioned you had a funny horse trailer story?
I’ll share my story, because I think you’ll see animal communication at work. I had a horse named Rollie and he was a 17-hand thoroughbred. So, he was big.
When I first got him, I heard he didn’t want to get in a trailer, but that would be my toughest thing. And at the time I was living in Seattle. And so, I also wanted to ride with this other trainer that was a half hour away.
So, I canceled all my clients on Wednesdays. I got to the barn at 8:00 in the morning for a noon lesson that was a half hour away, because we were going to fight getting into the trailer. Right? It was like a two or three hour battle, half hour ride, ride the horse. And then it wasn’t such a fight to get him back in the trailer to get him home. But, it was just the way he was.
I’m thinking, if I had an emergency, I’ve got to get him in the trailer. So, I’m going to work with this natural horseman guy that helped me with what I called Trailer College.
So the first day that the guy came over, I had the trailer all set up and the guy said, “Well, just show me what you do. What happens when you go to load your horse?”
I walked Rollie over toward the trailer. And when he saw the trailer, he did what he always did. And he just stuck his feet in the ground and said, “No way.” I’m pulling on the lead rope saying, “Yes way.” And now he’s sinking in even more.
And it becomes this like heightened thing. I get bigger and he gets bigger. And now I’ve added cuss words. And now he adds a little kind of rear and it turns into this whole thing. And I look at the trainer and I was like, “Okay, this is how it goes for a long time.”
And so, he said he was willing to put the horse in the trailer and show me how it’s done. He takes the horse and they have a little scuffle for a moment, but they establish who’s who and in they go into the trailer like that.
He was coming back the next morning and I really thought I would work on this. I would take the advice of my own practice and really visualize what I wanted to have happen. Because that’s half the battle with animals. Right? We go to what we don’t want, because it’s happened repeatedly.
The next morning I got really quiet and right after my meditation, I just pictured the trainer driving up and us having a moment of coffee and me walking my horse out calmly, being assertive, but not aggressive, just the right energy, neutral, but assertive to get him into the trailer.
And sure enough, Scott drove up, I grabbed my horse, we had a cup of coffee and I walked him right into the trailer.
Oh wow.
Some people think they can’t work this way with animals. But you are communicating all the time!
You have to think about what it is you want to be communicating or the behavior that you want. Because, if we have an expectation that they’re going to do something naughty, they’re going to do something naughty. We set them up all the time.
Especially with trailering, learn how to set them up for success.
That’s why I love Double D Trailers. Everything about it has been thought through for safety. So, now you just need to imagine elegantly walking your horse in and staying calm.
I love that story. And I think it’s a story that so many of us can relate to. I’m sure people will find that really helpful.
Yeah. I’ve seen ropes and pulleys and whips and people standing at the flank… and the whole everything in between.
Really it was getting calm, getting neutral, sticking with what it is that I know that I want. And that’s the same in the show ring, that’s the same on a trail ride. It’s the same with a naughty dog. Yeah. It’s the same.
So when someone’s just learning this skill, what is the biggest challenge they often encounter?
They doubt themselves. They doubt that they’re really doing it. You know?
And what do you say to a person who’s doubting themselves or if it’s possible?
Well, there are two things…
One, in the school that I have, we work on neutral animals. So, it’s either to build kind of a muscle, if you are talking to my naughty dog that you don’t know and you get this information verified, then it starts to strengthen your telepathic muscle, so to speak.
And if it’s something like your own animal, you almost have to suspend your disbelief and just pretend for a minute like, “Well, what if I actually could? What if that was really true?” And you started working with the idea that it was true, often you’ll see that it was true.
There’s something kind of magical that happens. And it’s almost like your horse or your dog or your cat will just almost wink at you energetically. Like you’ll just feel this little, “Oh yeah. I did just do that.”
That’s so interesting. What’s something you’ve done that you’re really proud of?
I think my school is the thing I’m most proud of, because I know that I did as an animal communicator and a healer, I had a significant impact.
And I’ve been able to multiply that exponentially by teaching so many other people, even if they just grasp a little bit about it. We’re creating a more peaceful planet.
Yeah. I love that. So, if people want to learn more about your school and your work, where should they find out more?
At my website, which is https://joanranquet.com or I have a lot of free fun material on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/joanranquet.
Wonderful.
Well Joan, thank you so much for spending time with us today. I know our readers are going to be so excited to hear about your story and to check out your website.
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