Time for Healing...

From Jim: We have many resident animals at Home At Last that have been hurt and abused by some very cruel and ignorant people. They have scars on their bodies and in their minds that are the result of their terrible treatment. They have needed to have a lot of time to heal. There are those that speak of desensitizing or retraining and that's well and good, but we're about healing here. For us that means giving the critters an opportunity to just be what they are. They get to live in a herd with appropriately tempered herdmates. They have adequate room to move about freely. They have no worries about food or water. They are unharressed. Other than a gentle touch or pet, they are not asked to work at "human" tasks. There is no time limit, no expectation of progress to be tracked, no schedule to be met. Some of our animals will never fully recover. Their injuries were simply too severe, their wounds too deep, their fear too great. We know that and accept it. They will be the very best they know how to be every single day. Please, stop and think about that sentence. Can any of our kind say with complete honesty that we're the best we know how to be every day? I know I can't. The notion that getting well might take too long doesn't make much sense to me. Many "injuries" respond quite well to a long lay-up. We've heard folks complain that this is too long of a wait. They want to ride-NOW. A horse will live 20 or 30 years. If they need a few months now and then to recover from a mishap that doesn't seem like so much to ask. Having equines and getting the most out of that experience is a lesson in patience, not such a bad thing in this day and age of techno-warp speed living. Maybe we need to find time for ourselves to "get well", to enjoy life for itself, to be just ourselves. Time is a precious thing. It slips away no matter how we use it. Once gone, it will never return. I often ask you to take the time to love on your critters. It's your time and can never be anyone else's. How you use it is really up to you either by choice or default. I hope the time you spent reading this will make you think about how you want to use the time to come.