Beasts of Burden

As I have delved deeper into animal communication I have learned that often the animals I speak to not only want to talk about just themselves and their immediate problem, but also their entire species history and the burden they carry for all of their kind.
I had this experience first working on an incredible Grand Prix dressage horse, we'll call Redwood. I get the name Redwood, because the first thing that struck me about this horse was that he had the same kind of energy of a huge, old growth redwood tree. His legs were like trunks, shooting down into the ground; and his eyes clearly reflected an old soul.
Redwood was supposed to be a winning Olympic dressage horse--every one who had seen him and his rider had left awe-struck and inspired.
But instead of making it to the Olympics, Redwood began colicking.
And colicking again.
After numerous colic surgeries, he was passed from one owner, to another, each thinking they could salvage the huge horse with a heart that beat like a redwood tree.
Each time he began colicking again.
When I met him he was at a rehab facility, and my communicating was part of his re-hab.
After I moved past the awe and gratitude of working with such a magnificent soul and a huge heart, I began getting story after story from Redwood, all filled with grief and sadness.
Redwood and seen too many things in his performance days. Too many stressed horses. Too much sadness. Abuse. Disappointment.
He began discussing the things he had seen in his days. But as I traced the trail back, I was surprised to be told a story about use and abuse that traced back to the moment that man began riding horses. Redwood carried not just his own grief, but the grief of an entire species, used for a purpose they were never intended.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this." Redwood told me, grief running off of him.
We were never supposed to use horses as a killing machine to carry us to war. Or as a sports car to win ribbons at shows or races.
Somewhere along the path of horse and man we did what we always do, which is to take perfect and twist it into something perverted.
After sharing his sadness with me, Redwood also showed me pictures of what *was* intended for the relationship between horses and man. Horses did come to be with us, that was always their intention. But they wanted to be with us to teach us and heal us. They wanted to be with us as teachers and healers, not as slaves or tools. They were willing to work along beside us in the fields and on the plains, but only if respected and admired as collegues and friends. They want to carry our pains and our sicknesses--but only if we are willing to listen to them and grow in the areas they show us.
In the scene Redwood showed me was something both immensely beautiful and sad; something I will never forget and always aspire to in my relationship with all the horses I come across.
I hope others will be inspired to aspire to this as well.

Recently I have been given the phrase "beasts of burden" when connected with the horse spirits. The horses want me to know, that they are not just beasts of burden due to the weight they carry on their back--it is due to the weight they carry in their hearts, the burden they take from all of us, their people, to try to relieve us of our weight and our sorrow. The horses, as a unit, are asking for my help in guiding people to release their own heart burdens, so that the horse's loads might be lighter. This is the work I do in working with riders and equine facilitated therapy session. This is the work the horses have continually guided me back to.

My purpose on earth, I realize now, is to serve them. And that means assisting the horses in healing hearts--both their own, and ours.