I want to tell you about the horse who changed everything for me with EFT. I knew EFT, was trained in it (several teachers and courses) and was certified. I had used it for humans who struggled with fear around their dog or horse. But I had never tried it on an animal.
Meanwhile, I had studied acupressure in the 90’s. I didn’t keep up with the certifications because I was so busy as an animal communicator. BUT, I did use acupressure daily. So this is the day in 2004 when I tried it on a horse!
This is excerpted from Emotional Freedom Technique for Animals and their Humans: Creating a Harmonious Relationship through Tapping by Joan Ranquet, (Findhorn Press/Inner Traditions, 2023):
Shakespeare
First my office phone was ringing off the hook. Then the home phone was ringing. A normal Tuesday meant I had a full day of animal communication phone clients ahead of me. When I saw on the caller ID it was my horse trainer, Chris, I thought, surely, this could wait. Then the cell phone rang and rang. I had only minutes before the first animal communication session would begin. I picked up the cell phone just in case it was an emergency.
“Joan, you need to get out here to the showgrounds. Shakespeare is going after ponies. He’s going to kill them. You need to talk to him.” Chris said. No formalities, no “hi, how are you” just you need to get here. If you know Chris, he’s southern, polite, sincerely asking if you are okay. In other words, he’s not an alarmist.
At the time, I lived in Florida. The showgrounds are in Wellington which was 30 minutes away from home/office and I would be lucky if I could sneak in an emergency phone session with Shakespeare, let alone a drive out there. Not to mention I had just come from out there attending to and riding my own horses that morning. It just seemed impossible.
I suggested I could do it by phone in a bit if I moved things around. I always had wiggle room for an emergency. He simply stated in an almost yell: YOU NEED TO GET HERE. The gravity got me. I told him I was on my way. Miraculously, I fit everyone into the rest of the week (that wiggle room thing) and off I went.
Pterodactyl comes to mind when I think of teeth baring horses and Shakespeare didn’t disappoint. He even appeared to have wings as he went after the kill. Meanwhile, these little girls were perfectly perched on their little ponies like true victims in a horror movie. Like consummate professionals, they steered their pones to safety.
I was simply in shock as everyone else was. Where was this coming from? In previous animal
communication sessions, Shakespeare espoused his love for his human Karen, respected his trainer Chris, had a great work ethic, loved to jump, was competitive yet was a home body. He liked the trail, liked to break up the work a bit but also liked some schedule. He was quirky yet proper without being stiff. He knew he was filling some big shoes for Karen. He had a job. He was a big boned stunning warmblood that talked as if he could show up in any warm up arena, jump around and sit quietly before his jumping class, go in and win. Period. Almost a meat and potatoes sort of guy.
No mention of a pony fetish.
Karen, his person is one of the most accomplished horse women on the planet. Starting with her family and the racetrack in the 70’s and then in the showring. She was a lifelong horse person.
Chris, Shakespeare’s trainer is one of the most unflappable, masterful, confident riders on planet earth.
Chris could jump through a ring of fire on a horse with thunder clapping above and come out on the other side laughing and praising his horse. Like a true horseman, he takes no credit and adores his steed.
Chris couldn’t control Shakespeare. They would jump the jump and then upon landing, Shakespeare would bolt and lurch, ears pinned, teeth bared like a rabid dog, toward any pony on the other side of the jump. Little girls were screaming and cantering off, terrified.
I couldn’t stop thinking about EFT. I thought to myself, I am going to try this. I have nothing to lose at this point. For someone this is life or death, I want to hear what Shakespeare has to say in an animal communication session but we need to employ something here. Some healing. I thought my other technique, Scalar Wave would calm him but wouldn’t change the behavioral pattern in a minute in order to function at a horse show. Yes, long term it would work but we are talking about little girls screaming and could fall off and injure themselves or their ponies.
I said, “I want to do something that is going to seem crazy, and, it is going to look crazy. We need to find a quiet barn aisle, or, you need to not care what people think as you are poking your face!!!!”
We walked Shakespeare through some barn aisles and through what seemed to be a labyrinth until we found an empty barn aisle. I started with an animal communication session. Again, I’ve talked to him before. I knew his essence and favorite things. I knew his fabric, or so I thought…..but I wanted to bring him back to that guy. That Shakespeare.
Once we got quiet and connected, Shakespeare told me a big story he’d never told me before:
Shakespeare told me that in his youth, he was weaned from his mother and sent off
with some ponies. The ponies were mean to him. He was small compared to them and he couldn’t understand why they picked on him. Eventually, he grew and grew and these particular ponies were never nice to him. His experience as a young horse was terrifying. He was still protecting himself when he was like the jolly green giant in size, compared to these ponies all these many years later.
While that seems like just someone’s story to you and me, this story was still life or death for him and was causing that now for others.
I had done enough tapping to know how to script a session from working with humans. Not knowing what I was doing at the time (I’ve created more of a system since then), I just jumped in. I briefly showed everyone the points for EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) tapping. I tapped with my left hand on my own face while Chris and Karen imitated that. With my right hand, I tapped on Shakespeare’s face and body. (You will see the points in upcoming chapters.)
I had Chris, the trainer and Karen the owner repeat after me with the scripting and they tapped on themselves as well.
We started very simply “Even though I hate ponies, I love and accept myself.” We repeated that and then as we tapped through the points, we released the old story of being bullied by ponies. It was long and painful. We went through the loss of being weaned, the hope for friends and companionship with this herd of ponies and the disappointment and feeling of having to survive after being bullied.
Chris rode Shakespeare out in the warmup ring later that afternoon. Shakespeare was better toward ponies and they got through the show, even placing well. Shakespeare may have been tempted, but he behaved.
Later, Shakespeare lived in a barn across the barn aisle from a pony with no aggression. That was world peace in their world. Eventually, Shakespeare was retired with a pony mate next to him.
One round of tapping relieved a lifetime of fear and aggression toward ponies.
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Who knew that this experiment would change my life, the lives of many humans and animals, and become a book? I love it. I love sharing this!!
Have you ever had a moment with an animal where something shifted so fast it surprised you? Drop it below. I love these stories.
