Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary
3 special days at Remus, UK
I had the great pleasure last year of attending a Reiki III and Animal Reiki Teacher Training course set within Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary in Essex. Remus isn’t just for horses, the residents are also rescued Shetland Ponies, Donkeys, Sheep and Goats. And not forgetting the cats whom roam the land and kept us company during our 3 days at Remus, together with Ollie the dog.
Remus is set in 40 acres of land with lush fields and surrounding trees. Now because this was the UK we expected rain of course, but the weather shined down on us instead. We had 2 wonderful sunny days and 1 very windy and cold day, but it stayed dry!!
Remus Sanctuary became very dear to me. I made special connections in 4 very different situations amongst many experiences throughout my 3 days.
May and Star, mother and daughter horses. Stunning ladies with white and silver colourings. I stood outside their pasture and as I held a meditation, both ventured up to see me. After a couple minutes, May made a lovely sigh and they both stayed with me for around 25 minutes. They shook their heads and I said thank you to them both for sharing the reiki space. I couldn’t help but smile at how beautiful this felt for us all.
The group was allowed the opportunity to enter one of the pastures where numerous horses were grazing. We all spread out and held our own meditation space. You could see some horses nudging people who wanted hands on and for others, like myself, we stood there in the amazing energy. After 20-30 minutes as we all started to walk back towards the gate, a few of the horses came with us, they didn’t want us to leave. So, whilst several attendees were with a couple of horses, a different horse gripped my attention. I was 15 feet away enjoying the energy and as I looked over at her I asked if she would like me to come over. She nodded yes. She then lifted her left leg several times and I asked if she would like me to help her with her leg. She nodded about 3-4 times to say “yes come on and get your a** over here already”. I stayed with Dolly, (I found her name out after the session) for another 20 minutes stood at her side with my hand on an old scar on the top of her left leg. What a teacher, educating me to trust myself and to be my first, of many, conversations with horses.
During the 2nd cold and windy day we held spiritual blessings in the barn. Working with a partner we performed a blessing by a stable each. During the blessing, Minstral, a beautiful lady horse with amazing markings around her eyes and face, popped up from grazing to putting her head over the stable door. I felt a connection with her and she was saying yes this feels good keep doing that. As the blessing continued, she stayed with me and moved as close as she could until I had finished. I thanked her so much for her connection and teachings, again about trust and empowerment with a gentle message “you’ve got this”.
Delightful donkeys, oh how this was just the best experience of the day. I held a meditation at the pasture where the donkeys were all quite happy munching a way away from the gate. When I started my meditation all, bar one donkey, came up to me. The group stood close to the gate where I placed myself. We held the space with a few sighs and couple tongues hanging out, theirs not mine, all relaxed and relishing the sacred space. After 15 minutes, one of the larger donkeys put his head over the gate. We touched and stayed for 30 seconds or so whilst I said thank you. And then a queue of smaller donkeys stood head to tail in a line to thank me one at a time. After 30 seconds with each, the last donkey who was slightly larger, stayed with me. First with his head in my hands and he moved slowly and gently against the gate with my hands on him until he stopped where my hands lay on his hips and here we stayed for another 10 minutes. He gently turned back around to put his head in my hands and we said thank you and off he trotted to get food and join the others. The energy was magical.
I now sponsor Minstral and Dolly at Remus, my 2 horse teachers, to thank them for their encouragement and connection. I will never forget my first experience at Remus.
Much financial help is always needed for sanctuaries and Remus is no different. So if you are able to donate any amount of money to such a wonderful place to keep Remus going please do. You can find Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary on Facebook and Instagram with fundraisers or donation pages. Sue Burton the founder of Remus is not one to ask, she is a silent hero amongst many, who works tirelessly for animals.
Thank you to Sue and her team, Kathleen and Leah and all the wonderful animal teachers for a very special 3 days.
Photos by Kathleen and Leah (animalreikisource.com)
