Blog #2

March 27, 2016

Calgary Stampede’s powers that be, decided to have a horse breed display and demonstration during their World Famous Calgary Stampede in July 1977. We were contacted about Horse Heaven ’77 and invited to come and promote our Norwegian Fjord Horses and participate in the daily demos. Once at the Stampede Grounds, horses put away and the booth set up, we met other breed enthusiasts promoting their individual breeds of horses. Robyn Hood and Phil Pretty from the Icelandic Horse Farm, who lived in the Edmonton area along with Christine Schwartz, newly arrived from Germany, had their Icelandic Horses there. Louise Burton and Hugh Richardson, also from the Edmonton area were there with their Peruvian Paso Horses. Many other breeds were represented but the three breeds, Fjords, Icelandics and Peruvians were unusual from the other more common breeds and lead to lasting friendship between Orville and I, Robyn, Phil andChristine, and Hugh Richardson.
Robyn and Christine introduced us to Robyn’s sister, Linda Tellington-Jones when we took one of her clinics that Linda was giving in the Calgary area. It was a enjoyable experience learning something new and out of our normal sphere of training horses. Linda also commented about carrying on conversations with trees. Took me years to wrap my mind around that one!!
All of us ended up moving to the Okanagan area in BC in the 80’s.

In March 2016 while taking part in a Health and Wellness Fair in Vernon an old friend I had not seen in years came wandering by. It was so good to see Christine and to exchange what we had been doing in the years we had not seen each other. While chatting I mentioned to Christine that her story she had shared with me in the early 80’s was the first of many stories and incidences that led me to become an Animal Communicator. I asked Christine if she would share her story of her Icelandic horse Valur, as what had happened to him left a big impact on me when Christine shared his story those many years ago. It still evoked an emotional charge in my body even after 30+ years.
Here is Christine’s story.

I first heard about Animal Communication in the early eighties and really wasn’t so sure about the whole concept. The horse or dog was going to tell you what he thought, felt, wanted, had experienced? Really? I am sure there are some clever people who make all this up and charge those owners hoping for some answers a pretty penny.

Then in 1985 I think it was, my very easy going, mellow Icelandic horse Valur came in from the pasture with severe rope burn on 3 legs and a huge welt on his croup. He was not a horse to fight if he should have gotten caught up in anything and even the vet could not figure out where he could have sustained these injuries which were so clearly rope burns. There were no ropes or halters in the pasture and his injuries remained a mystery until I finally came up with the brilliant idea to call Penelope Smith for an Animal Communication consultation.  To make it even weirder, she was in California, my horse and I in Edmonton, Alberta Canada and all this was going to take place over the phone.  All she asked for was his name and what it was I wanted to know. Within seconds she commented on his good looks and how chatty he was. He mentioned how much he enjoyed his life in the herd he was living with, showing off his skills in breed demonstrations and told her to tell me to completely trust him with the young 5 year old girl who was riding him. He loved her and would take great care of her. Penelope had not heard any of those facts from me, so that got my immediate attention and all doubts flew out the window.

He then told her that the night he was hurt some men had come and put a rope around his neck. They had parked a horse trailer on a side road and were going to take him. He knew this was not right and refused to go with them, so they proceeded to tie ropes on his legs to drag him out of the pasture. The area this happened was at the far end on a roughly 80 acre field, near a noisy highway and a long way from the house. Valur then proceeded to tell Penelope that the dogs came rushing over and chased the guys off. I immediately remembered that we were up very late that night doing some work in the house and all of the sudden the dogs jumped up and barked frantically until we let them out. Once outside they took off and we did not see them again for quite some time.  They did indeed help Valur and with the road nearby and the distance there is absolutely no way that they could have heard the commotion. But they knew he needed help.

A few days after the consultation I found the rope in the far corner of the field and we did see some tire tracks in an area where nobody should have been. I am so grateful to have had the closure to know what really happened and had to make an immediate trip to the pet shop to buy the dogs some extra large treats.
Christine