Friday, January 29, 2016

BRINGING INANNA AND HIDALGO HOME: Picking up the baby wild horses.


Early on the morning that we were going to pick up the baby wild horses, my dear friend, Mary Burg, and I sat quietly on our hotel room beds in Craig, Colorado, and connected with the babies through the ethers as we had done several times before.



We reassured them that this would be a safe passage; that we meant no harm.  Through our imaginations, we walked through all of the steps we would be taking with them :  we would arrive in our big truck and trailer; they would be separated from their moms; they would be leaving their moms and the other baby horses, the family band that they knew, and they would get in the trailer and come home with us.  We told them that we would love them unconditionally and take excellent care of them.

Knowing that horses are highly sensitive to scents, We sprayed ourselves and the inside of the trailer with the essences Adaptation, Separation & Travel, and Balancing Oil, formulated and purchased from wild horse expert, Mary Ann Simonds, with whom I had been mentoring.  I am convinced that these essences have had a huge impact on the babies’ transition from the wilds to the domesticated life they will live at our ranch, and I am eternally grateful to Mary Ann for sharing her wisdom and expertise.

 When we arrived at the ranch, the gentle wrangler had already brought the mares and foals into the corrals.  This was a poignant moment for us all.  I could feel how much this cowboy cared for these horses; how much he, too, wanted this transition to go well.


The three of us worked as a team moving and separating the babies from the mares, and putting them in a corral right next to the mares so that they could say their good-byes. 


Then we gently and slowly pushed the babies toward the chute that led to my trailer.  We were able to separate all but one white colt from the two colts we would be bringing home.

To our surprise, those three colts jumped right into the trailer on their own!  I am convinced the essences had everything to do with creating a safe space in the trailer.  Donald got in the trailer with the babies, trying to find a moment to sort out the white colt, and just before we decided to push them all back out and start again, I encouraged everyone to imagine that the white colt would jump out on his own, which he did!   The power of intention!


After expressing our gratitude, we slowly drove away to the sound of soft pawing in the trailer, and the distressed calls of the mares.  I was overwhelmed with so many feelings: the sadness of the mares for the loss of their babies and the joy of the privilege to live with them; the fact that if I hadn't adopted these babies, they would have gone to the holding pens, potentially for the rest of their lives.  The current 49,000 unwanted wild horses standing in holding pens across the United States, with no easy solutions to the complex dilemma of how to best manage them and the range that they depend on for their existence. 


May Inanna and Hidalgo be the mascots for my commitment to tell the story our wild horses in such a way that inspires an awakening to creative problem solving, collaboration, and contribution towards  conscious care and management for these sensitive, powerful creatures. 

With love and gratitude,

Deborah Inanna