Those Little Accomplishments

Day 3. Sam is so amazing! He has already learned to trust while going through his stall gate. He walked through his gate beautifully, without fear. He is going to move along extremely quickly in his training.

Sam even went over his agility jump in both directions! Going left and right, his gates were easier and more natural. Sam took his jump going to the left wonderfully. To the right, however, Sam took his jump out of his natural flight response. The subsequent jumps to the right were much easier, he was still unsure, but he trusted us enough not to run off after he jumped. Wow. In just one day Sam has moved from "No, I'd really rather not do that!" to "Well, if you want me to, I'll try." on things that require great amounts of trust.

Sam's previous foster home said he didn't cooperate very well with the farrier. Taking this into consideration, we started work with his feet. We try to pick up his feet and hold onto them for a bit, just to make our farrier's job easier when he comes. We figure if he will let us hold them for a while, he might let the farrier too. Sam allowed us to pick up his front feet and hold each of them for a few seconds. In situations like this, it is crucial to remember: these animals do not have to let us do anything, but they allow us to, so we need to treat them with respect.

The Scars. These are a (figuratively) touchy place for him. Though he allows us to physically touch the scars, he has a lot of emotional baggage attached to them. Through reiki and other forms of energy work, we are trying to let him release this baggage. It seems to be working. Even though it is only a little bit at a time, he is releasing  his emotional baggage, and it is lightening up his eyes and face, but most importantly, his soul. We will keep working with him to release as many of the emotions tied to the scars as possible, but it will take time for him to be ready to release them. Sam has to be ready to rid himself of those emotions before we can do anything to help with that. We can help get him ready by proving a safe and loving home to nurture his soul.

Sam, you are so gentle and have such a beautiful, gentle, and loving soul. Thank you for opening up to us.