Why Do They Do That?

Why Do They Do That?

“Unexplainable” Behavior Challenges De-Mystified

Does your animal friend sometimes behave in strange ways and you can't seem to figure out why? This week at my local barn this exact situation occurred, and I was able to clearly communicate why the horse was acting so strangely.

What do I mean? The horse that I spoke with, Jay, has been with his human for only two months. This poor horse only has one functioning eye, he has a degenerative muscle disease, and he's been passed around through so many people. As you can imagine this is a bit unsettling for an animal who has so many challenges. His human has been really good to him, even though health surprises continue to pop up with this horse. Now this is not an old horse this horse is only seven years of age. That's considered quite young in horse years because horses live to be about 30 years of age.

So this is how the situation unfolded…

Over the past few days, Jay started to show nervous and anxious behaviors around common items that he's familiar with. For example, a paper towel and a brush.  The paper towel is used to wipe his eye and he started to shy away from that with fear. He became reactive to being brushed.  Then, a strange sound which normally wouldn't faze this horse made him jump and break out of the crossties. (If you don't know, crossties are ropes used to keep your horse in a safe space in the barn so you can groom them safely.)

His human asked me “Why is he acting so skittish, he’s been like this the past few days and I don’t know why?” 

I paused and I spoke with Jay and he told me he was terribly nervous about the upcoming arrival. I asked what arrival are you talking about? And he said. “My human is getting another horse. The horse arrives tomorrow and I'm worried that I'm going to go away again. I'm worried that I won't have the home and the care that I've been receiving.” He disclosed to me his concern and worry about being passed around from person to person with some people not really caring for him but just using him. It's a very sad tale and I certainly have love and compassion for this dear horse. He is receiving good care and attention everyday and he is enjoying it so he doesn’t want to lose that.

As I was speaking with Jay, I asked his human the questions that were bothering Jay. Jay asked, “ Am I going to have to go away?” His human said. “No he was going to keep him.

Jay also wanted to know for how long would he be with his human.  His human said well for as long as I can manage it.

He asked about the new horse and his human replied that the new horse could possibly be a friend for this horse. So I took it a step further and I said. “Oh you mean that he's going to have a buddy? He's going to have a friend that he can rely on and that he can run around in the fields and play with?”  And his human said yes if they get along with each other.

As I stated the message about having a buddy and being able to stay with his human and at this barn, Jay yawned three large, long yawns. As you know, yawning is a form of releasing tension and Jay was holding a lot of tension.  I noticed that Jay became calm and balanced and was no longer acting skittish for the remainder of the day.

This is one of the beautiful things about animal communication!

We help the animals to ease their worries and their concerns simply by communicating with them about what they don't understand or what hasn't been told to them. In the case of Jay,  his human didn't tell him what was going on.  The unknown worried Jay. His human doesn't quite understand animal communication and that animals have souls but maybe with this experience, he does have a better understanding.  

I do find it helpful to tell your animals, upfront, what is going to be happening when there are changes in their living situations, from luggage coming out for a trip, to moving boxes, to a new family member joining in.

If your animals are demonstrating unexplainable behavior, please contact me so I can shed light on what their worries and concerns are and how we can remedy them together. Contact me for answers to your questions:  [email protected]