When I finally managed to get a head collar on her, I took her for a very short walk down our driveway and she was clearly struggling in this new environment, puffing away and looking panicked. She then leapt with all four feet off the ground when three noisy geese took off from a neighbouring field. Even the neighbour’s small cat was eyed with a huge amount of suspicion in fear that it might attack at any moment.  Her anxiety levels were so high, she gave the impression she could “explode” at any moment. I was having to keep myself calm and breathe deeply so as not to add to her worries.  She was even disturbed by meeting new people. One friend said to me that she looked as if she were saying “have you come to take me away from here?”.

 I contacted Sue at Friends Of Baxter Animal Care in a desperate bid to ask for Ruby to be added to the group distance Animal Reiki sessions, to try to help Ruby settle into her new life.  I have previously used Reiki for myself when I burnt myself out in a very stressful job working long hours and also on a previous rescue horse, with huge success. 

A one to one distant Reiki session was agreed for Ruby first and within just a matter of hours it was apparent that Ruby was benefitting hugely. Her whole personality changed – it was as though a switch had been flicked on! She no longer stood at the back of the stable worrying when we approached, she stood initially just behind her stable door, peeping over the door at us and waiting patiently for her food. After a further session, Ruby stood waiting for me with her head hanging over the stable door, all excited to see me and I got the most incredible neigh from her. Putting her head collar on was suddenly incredibly easy. As I held it up to her, she put her head into it!  She led to and from the field calmly, even when one of our own large fluffy cats was having a “wild” moment chasing something right past her feet!  It was apparent she was beginning to feel safe now and she had shavings (her bedding) stuck to her coat so she had been lying down to sleep in her stable of an evening, which is a huge sign that she felt secure. 

After the third one to one session, on three consecutive days, she even allowed me to bathe her desperately sore legs with warm water and antiseptic, something I previously had not been able to even get close to doing.  She has continued to allow me to gently rub cream into her legs without kicking out and has continued to improve following the group distant healing sessions.