Davina HerbertWe have a large animal family which is comprised of horses, dogs and chickens of various ages and stages in their lives. Our oldest horse, Duke, is in his mid twenties. He was once the main male of the herd. Then a younger male horse, J.B., came along and took over as the head male. By this time, Duke couldn’t be bothered with horse ‘politics’. So he relinquished his spot and ‘retired’ from the leadership position. Yet I’ve noticed that whenever the herd is concerned, everyone still looks to Duke for leadership – even J.B.. Often Duke will go off on his own. Sometimes he goes off with Buddy, the second oldest horse and they spend quality time relaxing together without having to worry about looking out for the youngsters. Luckily with how the paddocks are set up, Duke and Buddy are able to get some alone time. With the average age of the herd being much younger than it was a couple of years ago, the herd dynamics have changed a lot. The herd that we had when Ms Doll (my mare) was around, is not the herd that I interact with today.
There are also lots of different dynamics happening with the dogs. My oldest girl, Layla Lou, often can’t be bothered with the younger ones. So I need to make sure that she has a place where she is comfortable and can relax. Then there is the issue of the older dogs getting slower and a little less mobile than they were when they were younger. Often they now require a little bit of help to get in and out of the car. I rarely take the dogs into the paddock with me when I’m feeding the horses these days. The young ones are too energetic and bouncy around the horses; and the older ones don’t move quickly enough to get out of the way of the horses, if necessary. Daisy Mae and Chevelle are at a very different stage of life to Layla Lou. They are still young and have lots of excess energy. So there has to be daily time for Daisy Mae and Chevelle to run in the yard and do zoomies together.
Sometimes it can be difficult and challenging to juggle all these different needs. Watching my beloved fur kids get older and slower is not easy. In fact, I sometimes struggle to see them getting older. To me Ms Doll looked as youthful when she passed as the day that I first met her. I didn’t ever want to see her get older, as I knew that would mean that we would have to say ‘goodbye’. I do believe that energy doesn’t die, it just changes form. However, it is still hard to adapt to the changes of not being able to go into the paddock and see Ms Doll and other beloved equine family members who have passed.
Having a multi-generational animal family is not very different to a multi-generational human one. There are a lot of challenges involved and it can be an emotional roller coaster. It’s much more fun to say ‘hello’ and welcome new life than to say ‘goodbye’ to beloved family members. At the end of the day, I feel that my life is much richer for knowing such beautiful souls, however long or short a time they are in my life.
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If you are struggling to balance the various needs of your animal family (and the human one), I’m offering a one hour online animal communication session for $120 for the month of September. You need to book and pay by the 30th of September, 2024 to take advantage of this offer.
Davina helps you to have better communication with your animal family. This helps you to have a more enriched and harmonious future together. To find out more go to:-
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