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Update: Sold out! The Trust Technique sessions for this weekend in Virginia have almost sold out with three weeks to go before the dates. If you want the last slot grab it quick. The remaining slot is July 20th at 2:30pm. 
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 I talk with Christy about how The Trust Technique can help her mule Cowboy dump his traumatic memories. In this article, I discuss the presentation of old fear and trauma that is stuck in the memory and body of one of the mules I was asked to help with the Trust Technique. This post is a continuation of the Fear Series (Click Here) from my Trust Technique sessions during Leatherwood Mule Days. Cowboy is a 14-hand, 5-year-old black mule with a sweet face. It is obvious to me that his owner, Christy, adores him. When I ask her how I can help her with him, she tells me she would like my help teaching her how to help him overcome his traumatic past. She explains to me that when he gets frightened, she can't reach him. She feels disconnected from him, and nothing she does can soothe him in the moment. I tell her the Trust Technique can help. I ask her to give me his history, and she does. He was started well, slowly and kindly. At three years old, he was sold to a man who took him on a 30-mile pack trip in the mountains. He got terrible rubs and soreness from ill-fitting gear and more work than his young body was ready for. While still sore from this trip, the packer's young son tried to ride him. Cowboy came unglued from nobody noticing he was in pain, and threw the child off his back, badly hurting the child. The owner and his wife wanted to shoot Cowboy on the spot but decided teaching him a lesson by tying him up, starving him and restricting water for five days was a better idea. After that they sold him. A mule dealer bought him and put some weight back on him, then sold him on to Christy, who has had him for a year and a half. She says his past makes her sad and almost physically sick to her stomach when she thinks about it. She'd almost bought Cowboy when his breeder had initially offered him for sale. She wishes she had, as it would have saved Cowboy the horror he went through. I am watching Cowboy while Christy is telling me his sad tale. I see him getting more anxious, licking, walking around his stall and breathing harder than he should be. He is picking up the feeling of his past from Christy's emotions as she tells me his tale. I used not to understand the extent to which animals and humans share feelings, but now, with all the experience I have gained helping animals and their owners with the Trust Technique, I am very aware that Cowboy's reactions are coming directly from Christy sharing his past with me. I ask Christy for a chance to work with Cowboy on a rope so I can get a sense of what he's feeling. She puts a halter and a rope on Cowboy. I can see growing concern in his face and body as I enter the stall. His eyes widen and move less. His head raises, and his neck stiffens. There is a lot of tension in his whole body. I can feel his heart racing in my own heart. After working with the Trust Technique for several years, I now strongly feel the animal's reaction in my own body. I always did but I did not stop to recognize that the nervous system response is not my own but the animal's. His nervousness is now palpable to me. I think of what must be racing through this mule's head—a stranger entering his space in an unfamiliar environment. At one time he lived a good life with his mule buddies on the ranch where he was born. At two and a half years old, he was taken away from there, brought to a new ranch where he knew no one, and was not treated well, hurt, ignored and then abused. Then, on to another ranch, and when things were adjusting for him a bit and he was making friends, he was moved again. He is now with Christy, and things are good, but here he is in a new place with a stranger in his space. He must wonder what is to happen to him next. He has only past experiences to draw from. Is he about to be moved? Is another round of traumatic events about to start? The mule has no way of knowing and little trust that things will be alright. As I near Cowboy, I stop for a moment when I see the first increase in his nervousness. I get present and wait for a moment to finish my approach. Christy hands me the rope. I stand very still next to his side and watch him. I see his unease. I see tension in his neck and back. I see his wide, barely blinking eyes. I can feel my heart and his heart beating faster than normal. I still my mind and offer Cowboy a feeling of peace. Christy leaves the stall, and I stand next to Cowboy. He starts to relax a bit, but then he grows concerned about a noise from outside the stall. He raises his head, points his ears toward the noise and stares. New tension enters his body. I come out of the present moment and regard him. He begins to move. I let him but hold on to the end of the rope. He pulls against me as he circles the stall. I do not pull on him. He stops. His body and mind relax a bit. I offer him the feeling of the present moment again. He relaxes some again, and then a new concern arises. This time he feels a need to check out something in the corner of the stall he is standing in. I come out of the present moment and walk to the corner with him. I regard him as he sniffs the wall. When he relaxes a little I again offer him the feeling of peace through being present.  I regard Cowboy watching something outside his stall. Cowboy eventually realizes that I am seeing him, feeling his concerns and understanding his needs. I am opening back up a channel of communication that he has given up on with humans. Even those who love him miss the subtle signs. Through my work with the Trust Technique, I can help Christy to open this channel back up with Cowboy so that she can let him know that she sees, feels and understands him and that she will help him not to feel scared when he needs her to. In this way, they will build their connection and confidence, and Cowboy will be able to relax more in his life. Christy will learn the importance of regarding Cowboy's unpeace. Just listening to him without judgement. She will also learn the importance of holding the space of true peace which is the present moment with out giving into feelings of feeling sorry for him, which can amplify his traumatized state instead of healing it. Christy told me she had had a chiropractor work on him. The chiropractor said Cowboy was tight everywhere, worked on his body to release some tension, and prescribed a supplement of calming herbs. Cowboy is tight because his nervous system is stuck in a sympathetic (fight/flight) pattern from all the trauma in his past. He lives scared. To have someone really see and understand his concerns and then be able to offer him a feeling of real peace is the fix. This will allow him to calm his mind and reevaluate that in the present moment, all is well. Instead of automatically reacting in a sympathetic pattern he will be able to generate new and authentic responses to his environment. When he is not sure about something he will know that he can tune into Christy to help him. While the calming herbs and chiropractic appointments will help, the real fix is the work of the Trust Technique.  Christy does a good job at bring Cowboy's mind down with the Trust Technique  Connie and I discuss how the Trust Technique can help Waldo get over his fear of men. At Leatherwood Mule Days, I had quite a few sessions with Mules who had suffered abuse in the past. The next few articles in this series will cover how those cases presented and how the Trust Technique can help these mules move forward from their past traumas. Many mules still have rough starts and lives. Unfortunately for many mules, they are still considered creatures of utilitarian purpose, not companion animals. They are quite often bred, trained and owned to work, to pull equipment, to pack or to carry people and supplies into the backcountry. Their emotional lives are largely overlooked. They are punished for bad behaviors way more often than they are ever praised for good behavior. Mules who have come out of this type of experience carry their baggage with them. Sensitive mules often become reactive and get labeled as mean if they are scared and object to rough handling. Some shut down and go internal. They do the work but shut out the human. They have frozen eyes and stare beyond us, not wanting to interact or to be caught. Some are always fearful and wary even after they have been with loving, caring and concerned owners for a long time. Some have specific phobias, like being afraid of men or hats or having their ears touched. These last kinds of fears come from bad associations with these objects, experiences or humans in their pasts. There is an old saying that “a mule has a long memory,” and they do. The question many good owners of mules that have had abuse often ask is, “How do we help them forget or at least change their mind and see that not all humans are bad or callous, and not all new experiences or items need to be frightening?” How do you build a connection with a mule that seems shutdown? One answer to this question is practicing the Trust Technique with them, which can help a lot. The following examples in this series of mules that have suffered traumas that I worked with during Leatherwood Mule Days will give you an idea of how these mules present their concerns and how the Trust Technique helps them and their owners set a new course of trust and confidence in each other and build a better connection. Below, the example of Waldo, who is “man shy,” is included in this post. Another two mules with fear issues will be discussed in later posts, so stay tuned. Waldo Waldo is a lovely big mule that belongs to Connie. They have a good connection most of the time. Waldo can become quite concerned sometimes about men approaching. Connie says that Waldo does not trust men and can become reactive when one approaches. This can become a problem when they run into a hiker on a trail or when Waldo needs to get his hooves trimmed or to see the vet. When he does become concerned, he often cannot hear Connie anymore. She can not reach him at these moments to let him know that he is okay. This is because his mind has entered a high-thinking state where he is no longer present but instead locked in an association with something scary that happened to him in his past by a man. He has no way at this point of seeing what is authentic in the moment. His nervous system response has been activated, and no matter how much assurance Connie offers him that he is alright, he can’t hear her. Connie would love for Waldo to be able to trust her enough and to be able to listen to her assurance that he’s okay when he gets scared. Working with the Trust Technique, I have Waldo on a rope in his rented stall. I am standing with him with a nice loop in the rope. I am at his shoulder and am offering him my feeling of peace by holding my mind in the present moment. Waldo will be able to pick this feeling up from me and eventually relax and feel calm and sleepy, but first, I must listen to him tell me in his own equine way why he can not be peaceful. Since peace and unpeace can not exist in the same place Waldo must be able to let go of his unpeace to become peaceful. He can do this with my support if I listen to him. Listen on a micro level; listen with not only ears and eyes but also with a sense of feel for what he is processing. I offer the feeling of peace. When I observe Waldo’s mind coming up instead of going down in relaxation, I come out of the present moment, and I mindfully regard him as we call it in the Trust Technique. I watch all his movements; I watch him walking around me on the rope. I observe where he is holding tension. I watch what he looks at and how he reacts in his body to what he sees. I watch his expression and think of the feeling behind it. When he relaxes again I go back into the present moment.  Teaching Connie the present moment. In this way, Waldo’s unpeace will rise to the surface, and he will be able to dump it with my support. It’s like if I had a small bit of dirty water in a glass and poured clear water into the glass, I’d have to flush out all that dirty water before the glass would be full of clear water. That’s the same process with the equine in the moment we are working with the Trust Technique. We are flushing out the unpeace so that he can find peace. Eventually, with a daily practice of the Trust Technique, an animal can have a much calmer overall threshold of their nervous system and will not be as reactive. They can also process their fears and be calm-minded enough to make new associations with old ways, experiences, and things that once frightened them. Waldo expresses his concern about a man he sees walking around outside his stall. His thinking levels come up, and his neck gets tense. His ears are erect, and his eyes are starting to freeze in his head. I stay very still, and my total focus is on him as he takes in the man and the emotions of concern this elicits in his nervous system. He blows out a bit, shakes his tail and circles around me on the rope. When he comes to a stop, he is a little more relaxed, so I go back into the present moment. Waldo is aware that I am aware of his concern over the presence of the man, but he has also seen that I am calm and in a state of peace. I am giving him a real feeling of security because I am calm, and I also see him and his concern. He stands close to me. This relaxes him. He sighs and starts to relax further down. He has let go of a certain amount of his unpeace. The man keeps walking around outside the stall, and Waldo keeps reacting to him as I watch and listen, offering the feeling of peace as needed. The reactions from Waldo become less and less. Eventually, he lowers his head and begins to rest as the man is still moving around outside his stall. He stays close to me as he sees that I do not worry and that I understand his concern. I am giving Waldo the two things he needs to be able to relax his nervous system and bring it from the Sympathetic state (fight or flight) into the parasympathetic state (rest and digest). Those two things are a sense of peace and the knowledge that he has been seen and understood. This work, over time, will help Waldo change his mind about men. His thinking levels will be low enough for him to realize that no one is being mean to him in the moment. He will be able to make new associations. Perhaps a nice man will give him some treats and help him see that there can be benefits. I teach Connie to do this work with Waldo. As they practice together every day, Waldo will quickly learn that Connie, using the Trust Technique, can help him out when things scare him. He will know that she will see his concern and be able to offer him the support and feeling of peace to overcome his fear. This will build trust, confidence and connection between them. When a hiker jumps out of a turn on the trail, Waldo will know to tune into Connie instead of reacting in a panic. When the vet and trimmer show up, he will look to Connie for support to stand while he is worked on. Connie will have a mental tool to help her control her own thinking so she can help Waldo. The next post will discuss a mule who was started well and then went through a scary experience after being sold and is still anxious from that experience.  Connie offering the feeling of peace to Waldo with the present moment. |
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