Everything You Need to Know About The Horse With Trauma

[seoxeee]

Trauma occurs when a living being is subjected to a painful experience, or a series of painful and repeated events that produce a wound so deep that it not only does not heal, but also induces a series of uncontrolled and dysfunctional reactive or protective behaviors in the victim. Sometimes the dysfunctional behavior is reactivated only when the wound is touched i.e. if the traumatic experience is repeated, and sometimes often as in horses, the wound is so deep that it causes chronic damage physical, emotional, and behavioral that permanently alters the horse's natural predisposition and balance, with all of the harmful consequences that follow.

As we all know, horses communicate in many different ways than we do; whereas we primarily use speech (and expect the horse to completely understand us), the horse primarily uses body language, with speech used only when absolutely necessary. As a result, we tend to overlook any trauma symptoms that may be caused by the horse. So, what are some of these indicators? It can be as simple and subtle as cribbing, locking up (or freezing), swaying (also known as weaving), an unexpected reaction to what appears to be nothing, mouth displacement, or even teeth grinding. More serious symptoms may include constant bucking, bolting, or even charging. Any of these indicators could be an indication of a serious problem that is deep within the horse, a traumatized horse is first and foremost a horse who has had his complete and total trust betrayed, and his wound is always one of abuse or neglect. The human who was entrusted with caring for the horse has hurt him for so long either intentionally or unintentionally that it has permanently altered his behavior and made it impossible for him to interact peacefully with other people. I can always tell when a horse has experienced significant trauma because it is frequently regarded as difficult and uncooperative, resists our requests, or exhibits unexpected behavior that doesn't seem to be influenced by the situation. Alternatively, the horse may be completely desensitized and act robotically when we ask it to, it is an automaton because it completely disconnects from everything around it, including itself, and because it obediently complies with commands.

From my own observation, a traumatized horse can know itself even when it is part of a herd, nevertheless, it never seems to be able to connect with the other animals, who either ignore it or push it away. He no longer understands the code of the herd i.e., the natural language as a result of the trauma, which makes him relate little and only to the extent strictly necessary for his own survival, it seems as though those around him are aware of this and avoid him. In my opinion, this is because he is so broken and estranged from both himself and those around him that he is unable to engage in the kind of organic interdependence that has existed for millennia and is geared toward the common good.

Because it virtually always acts on his behalf and does not gather other people's warning or horse medications signals, in nature it would probably be the first to pass away. He displays some autistic child-like behavior. In the best case scenario, he finds a favorite herd member who accepts him despite his relational disability and who in any case never plays with him a horse's natural reaction when living in a herd. If there is no restorative human intervention or a human to take care of the horse and aid in its healing, the horse will keep a very long distance from humans and will not approach us even if everyone else does so calmly.

It's always a process of re-sensitizing the horse and reactivating some of its natural resources that have been harmed by trauma. Usually, all i can do is open a door and try to guide it out of its darkness through an aperture beyond which there is a neutral point from which to start again. It's as if the horse wakes up from a protracted nap and begins again, but whether it can depends on how severe the trauma was to begin with, some horses have permanent injuries and damage. Witnessing a horse experience pain is one of the most powerful and moving things you will ever see. However, i'm not sure if you should do it in public with severely traumatized horses, some spectators had to leave because they could not handle the idea of all that suffering dissipating. As i previously stated, following that passage (which unblocks the trauma but does not heal it), a "relational and potential space" is produced in which the horse consents to approach us. Since he is aware of the extent of the devastation we are capable of causing him, it is not the same safe haven it was the first time when he had complete faith. The more profound the trauma he is carrying inside, the greater his fear will be, and the more the process of reconciliation will proceed. It'll take some time. You must spend a lot of time with them and treat them with a lot of patience and infinite delicacy because their limit of relational endurance will always be lower than a "healthy" horse. Horses that have been abused and traumatized and who agree to return to put themselves in our hands after a trauma are very fragile crystal beings that break more easily and quickly retract refusing to cooperate, even to cost of going back into the dark. They are like chronically ill patients who require medications and ongoing care; the drug for them is us. In every situation, they require more and more regular expressions of respect and love from us.