The herd of horses as a learning school ...
Vires Animaliae has a permanent herd of horses that will stay with the foundation all their lives.
These horses were taken care of before the foundation took shape, and officially live there from 2009. A number of horses have been taken care of in the Netherlands in 2005, and this group became the permanent group of Vires Animaliae. This group consists of stallions, mares, youngsters and foals who are added every now and then.
We started doing birth control from 2010 onwards, but sometimes a foal is born anyway, and they stay in the herd until they are at least 4 years old.
How has this formed, and what role does this herd have in our vision?
How did this develop?
Firstly, we took care of a few mares who were found to be pregnant in 2006, and we took care of 1 mare with her child in 2008 in the Netherlands. When the foals were born it turned out to be stallions and we wanted to leave them with their mother until they were at least 4 years old. In consultation with the DA in Vaassen at the time, we looked for an opportunity to make the stallion a stallion, but not to produce children. Together with his advice, we decided to give the stallions an injection to use the birth control. At the time it was for Celeborn and Stream who were 1.5 years old, and a year later also Fullmoon.
But ... the following year Douschka was born, daughter of Ayla, and the then 1 year old stallion Celeborn. What a nice surprise that was. After that, everything went well for at least 3 years, with no more kids being born. Together, this herd grew up with mothers, children and a dad, like a beautiful family.
In 2014, due to private circumstances, a major relocation to Portugal took place. Then suddenly 5 foals were born! We really did not know how that was possible, and together with the DA we looked at what had happened. He reminded us of the outbreak of the neighbor's youngsters a year before, so they were in our land early in the morning.
So this outbreak was a fruitful outbreak, with a huge surprise for us, nice, and not so nice, we weren't expecting 5 extra horses. Anyway, we left the foals with the mothers, since we try to treat horses naturally, and that means leaving the kids with their mothers and fathers for at least 3 years.
We also started to inject the stallions born in 2014 to mid 2015, but occasionally 1 or 2 foals are born. In the meantime, some more horses have been taken care of there, and others have left. There are also a few who stay there, and a few who have crossed the rainbow bridge. That is sadly a part of taking care of animals, sometimes you take care of animals that are in such a bad state, or that the care is only for a short duration because an animal simply wants to go home. (home is for us, over the rainbow bridge)
Function of maintaining this herd, in our vision.
Our stallions, who were already there, started to take care of these foals, and we saw a wonderful interaction in this beautiful herd, and use that for observation and learning opportunities for students and students. The better you can learn what a horse is, than to observe the herd that lives here freely for hours - days. Regularly there are now also coaching horses who want to learn more about what a horse is now. Monique gives the necessary explanation, so that it can be included in the coaching work they do with horses in their own practice.
With the observation you learn, among other things, the body language, the behavior of horses and dynamics in a herd. Observation of the herd also provides a silence that makes you very good at the moment, and stays that way. You are even going to experience the energy in the movements that the horses do, and may say much more. Coaching also happens regularly in the herd and then the horses who want to help come to us. The others then continue to watch from a distance, or eat something in the area. We also do meditation in the herd and that really hates the herd. When we walk in, they really all come to us and cuddling and petting and when we start, they take some distance and are often close to participate. Every now and then a horse comes to help certain people and when they are finished they just walk away. It is so beautiful, the horses can be horses in their whole.
Zeker hier in Portugal is het een eye opener voor vele paardenhouders die hun paarden nog 24-7 op stal hebben staan, en er alleen maar uit komen om te trainen een uurtje. Of ze worden gehouden op een 1/8e hectare met stal, wat echt te klein is voor een paard als je daar verder niets mee doet in vrijheid. Een paard, en zeker meerder paarden op een klein stuk grond krijgen te weinig beweging, en krijgen in de loop van de tijd problemen met hun benen en lichaam. Doordat ze hier nu zien dat het anders kan, laten ze hun paarden mede de hengsten naar buiten op een grote weide. Het is dus ook een voorbeeld voor de mens, om aders te gaan denken over wat nu een paard is en wat het nodig heeft. Het gaat gestaag, maar er komt een verandering in gedachtegoed.
Op dit moment zijn er een aantal jonge paarden zo ver om geadopteerd te worden, daar je ze langzaam uit de basisgroep ziet trekken, en er zijn echt paardjes bij die willen werken, in de zin van, wat meer doen dan in de kudde leven. We hebben deze dus ook ter adoptie staan en hopen dat er mensen zijn die het aan durven om een bijna wild paardje op te nemen, en er mee gaan werken op een natuurlijke manier. Doordat ze in de kudde leven, zijn ze kalm en goed benaderbaar, ze hebben de veiligheid en harmonie van de kudde mogen ervaren, en dat is prachtig. Ze gaan net zoals kinderen die gaan studeren het huis uit, en mogen een nieuwe wereld gaan ontdekken.
Wil jij graag met een groep of in je eentje de kudde komen observeren, laat ons dat weten. Wil jij graag een jong paard adopteren, en een nieuw liefdevol thuis geven, laat ons dat ook weten.
Team Vires Animaliae