Cows and Tolerance

Auris  Cordis, my black mare, has always had an issue with cows.  When out riding if we approach a pasture filled with cows it can be quite a challenge to ride by peacefully.  Or even to ride by high-headed.  I’m not sure where or how all of this began, but I do attribute some of my unconscious training techniques at a ranch roping clinic as being part of what locked this attitude in.

I was encouraged by the leader to place Auris in a round pen filled with cows in order to desensitize her.  When she refused at the gate the leader told me that she would not enter because she did not believe that I would hit her.  So, I hit her.  Then he came up and hit her harder.  She went in finally, but I sure got the evil eye from her.  She did her best to stay as far away from the cows as she could and stood trembling and wide-eyed until I insisted that she come back out.  This same leader and the owner of the barn told me that I should leave her at the facility for a week in a pen of cattle.  They said that it would be good for her to have to stand up for herself as she would not get food unless she chased the cows away.  This idea I could not stand and I thanked them but said that if Auris did not like cows I was not going to force her to live with them and fight for food.  I did finally stand up for my mare, but I had bought into the paradigm of the day long enough to betray her when it came to her distrust of cows.

Auris  does not like cows.  She has a serious distrust of cows.  We are OK with that.  I had to do a lot of rebuilding work for her to trust me fully again and recently she has shown me how this has paid off.  We had a large herd of cattle move in to what used to be a vacant part of the prairie just last weekend.  The horses all watched the commotion as the cattle made a lot of noise about the whole situation and meandered to get to know their new home.  Their new home happens to be on the diagonal property from us and placed on a hill so the cattle are visible and can be heard by us all the time.  All the horses watched with interest and heightened awareness of their escape routes, but poor Auris was beside herself.  She pranced and snorted all day!  She could not relax.

When I went to talk with her she would run up to me and stand beside me with her head high, not taking her eye off those cattle.  She would allow me to stroke her and discuss how she was safe. I felt the gratitude from her.  This is how I know I rebuilt her trust when it comes to cows.  She looked to me for reassurance while free to choose where she would be in our large sacrifice area.  The rest of the herd was settling in and she just could not, so she would run to me for solace.  This feels pretty good to me.  It has taken Auris the entire week to finally settle enough to look peaceful again.  So maybe having this herd of cattle so nearby will help her find peace with cows in general.  At least she doesn’t have to fight them for food.

So, long story longer….. I have befriended an Afghan man at my workplace.  He was able to come to America with his wife and baby because of the way he assisted the US Army in Afghanistan.  I’ve learned a lot from this gentleman about his religion and his country.  I am deeply grateful for this.  He likes to hear about my horses, so he asked me about them the other day and I told him about the drama with the cattle.

We have had many conversations regarding the religious doctrines of both the Muslim faith and the Christian faith.  We are both open-minded and enjoy learning from one another.  Neither one of us buy into the current rhetoric that creates war between the faiths and quite frankly between the countries.  After I told him my story of how my mare hates cows, he asked why she hated cows.  I said because they are different.  I said see, it even happens in the animal kingdom.  We both got a chuckle out of that.

This man grew up hearing that any human who did not have black eyes, black hair and olive skin was to be distrusted.  He believed it until his soul began to convict him.  He now knows that it is about the souls of individuals and not the doctrines or beliefs that are of the mind that drive discernment of who can be trusted and who cannot.  I give this man a ton of credit for growing up the way he did and growing into the open mind that he has now. He is only 27 so I pray that he has a long life of teaching others who he can impact with his open heart and mind.

Upon deeper reflection of the lesson that Auris is teaching me I can see how fear driven in deeper through trauma can really lock in a belief.  I know that creating global peace is not any easy thing, but after meeting someone like the man above, I feel that there is hope.  I pray that we all stop and listen to our fears without adding the trauma of media rhetoric and doctrines handed down by religious leaders.  Stop, go out in nature, meditate, listen to the fears and really listen to where they come from and how real or unreal they may actually be.  Give yourself a chance to be with your soul so you can hear what it really has to say.  Turn off the daily newscaster who preaches fear and distrust from the screen.  Listen to your own soul.  Read your religious texts and learn to love the messages and lessons for you and from inside yourself, not as interpreted for you by others.  Listen to your own soul and the power that LOVE really has to offer.  God is truly LOVE and if there truly is only ONE GOD it is also true that we can all learn to love one another as we are instructed to do and as our soul knows we should.