…………….By Caroline Thomas

Beautiful Bracken

The hardest thing about volunteering at a Rescue Centre, is to see  the new animals who come in; having been rescued from the worst situations imaginable.  Sue at Remus is amazing,  saving these animals, giving them a forever home, where they can feel safe and loved.  Recently at Remus four beautiful ponies were rescued, each one having experienced a terrible past.  Of these four, the pony who captured my heart was Bracken, a beautiful dun mare whose body was ravaged by starvation and neglect.  She was so emaciated, having being rescued from a field with hardly any food, water or shelter.  All of the other ponies were in a similar situation,  it is so sad, that these amazing animals had suffered so much.

The first part of my journey, was when Sue e-mailed photographs of the ponies to me. This was  so I could concentrate on sending them Reiki, after seeing the photographs of the ponies, I felt very drawn to making a crystal grid out of Rose Quartz. When making a crystal grid it is important to cleanse the crystals first, then lovingly place them around the photograph in a symmetrical order, imagining each crystal connecting to eachother giving off a healing energy. Rose Quartz is the crystal used to heal a broken heart. Offering distant Reiki to Bracken was a very rewarding way of connecting to her,  as I  work in the week and I am only able to get to Remus at the weekends.

The first time I saw Bracken, I was shocked and upset by how emaciated and weak she looked.  As is best practice at Remus, Bracken was in a quarantine stable. She was with Abbey, a young horse who had been rescued at the same time.  Both horses had a large stack of hay each, I watched them for a while, waiting for them to finish eating. It quickly became apparent that these horses were never going to stop; both had their heads down just focusing on eating as much hay as possible. For them it could be their last meal, or so they  must have thought. These horses had been almost starved to death before being rescued by Remus.  I decided to stay quietly in the back ground and allow the reiki to flow. The thing about animal Reiki is that not all Reiki sessions go as you think they should. It’s important to have faith that Reiki will go to wherever it is needed;  always being for the greater good.

It was very sad to hear a couple of days later that Bracken had taken a turn for the worse and had and lost around 30kg in weight. This is a lot to lose, considering she was so emaciated to start with. It is often the case that animals survive in the most difficult of circumstances, only for their bodies to shut down when they feel safe and warm. Over the next week Bracken became weaker, sometimes falling over in her stable. To make sure she did not hurt herself she was never left alone, Bracken was cared for by a rota of volunteers and staff, each having their own special way of making her feel safe and cared for.

I have a healing group at Remus that meets once every two months using the SARA principles. On 6th of February 2010, I was lucky to be able to offer Reiki to Bracken with another wonderful Reiki Practitioner. Sue had asked us to spend as much time as possible with Bracken as she had now stopped eating. On entering the stable, I felt a pang of sadness for this beautiful pony, she looked very weak, having had a difficult night the previous evening falling in her stable. She had hurt her eye and her walking was very unstable. Myself and the other Reiki Practitioner offered her Reiki for over an hour, during which time she started to eat, becoming more interested in her surroundings. As other animals at Remus also needed Reiki we continued to offer it to them, coming Back to see Bracken later. Bracken was a pony whose spirit wanted to live, but her body was letting her down.

On arriving at Remus the next day, Bracken looked even weaker. I offered her Reiki, usually I would stand back and let the energy flow but I could see that she needed her weight supported. She was very tired, her eyes closed as she received the energy. I asked my Angel guides for a miracle, I just could not understand  why this beautiful pony was getting weaker and weaker and  could possibly die. She was safe, and was very loved by everyone at Remus having the best care possible. Surely this was enough?

Life is not always as you hope. I received a text from Sue later that evening saying; ” I am so sorry to tell you, but Bracken has been put to sleep tonight, eating carrots, apples and biscuits. She was with our vet and ten other people”.  I would like to say, that I knew it would be my last Reiki session with her and that I had known that she was  ready to die. I didn’t sense any of that I am afraid. From this wonderful pony, I learnt s0 much about dignity and forgiveness. This gentle, knowing pony had opened up her heart to all at Remus.  Left to starve in a field for much of her life, at Remus  it was clear to see that she loved human company and was able to trust them once more.

When the post mortem results came back it showed that every organ inside was dying and that her intestines were shrivelled up – she stood no chance, her past had caught up with her. How can mankind treat animals like this and get away with it?