I have been an empath and intuitive all my life — although I had no words or concept of either of those things for the first 40 years of my life. I’d never met anyone who was like me and the only things I’d ever heard anyone say about anyone who was “psychic” was that they were fakes or crazy. It was challenging for me, but I learned to fit in — the old “round peg in a square hole” story. I got really good at using my left brain (the logical, organized part of the brain) because that is what society wants us to do. Even though I didn’t acknowledge my intuition and empathic abilities, they were very much a part of me — just unidentified, unacknowledged and “undercover”.

I had been a Registered Nurse for 14 years when I began to feel that I needed to leave my nursing job and do something else. This feeling got more and more intense over the last year I was working as a nurse. I didn’t realize it then, but my Guides were communicating with me, telling me I needed to do something else. I didn’t know anything about Guides at the time and it was only later that I realized what what happening.

I didn’t listen to my Guides’ gentler suggestions and finally my Guides hit me with a metaphorical Mack Truck — I had no choice but to pay attention to that! I had to take a 2 week leave from work to recover from a massive muscle spasm in my back. (I definitely learned my lesson: always listen to your Guides the first time!) During that time, I realized I had to quit my job as a home care case manager — which I actually, for the most part, loved. But what was I going to do for a living?

I’d been taking riding lessons since college and was always SO happy at the barn. In the previous 3 years, I’d been studying several kinds of alternative therapies for horses — including T Touch and equine massage. It came to me that I should go to school to become a certified equine massage therapist. It was the first true knowing that I’d ever had — a miracle in itself. I knew this was what I needed to do and that I would be good at it and would succeed . . . so I quit my nursing job and registered for a certification course. My riding instructor gave me horses to practice massaging for the 6 months before I could take the course and by the time I got back from the training, I had clients who couldn’t wait for me to start working on their horses! Within 2 years, I’d quit my part time nursing job and was massaging horses full time.

A year after I was certified in equine massage, I was looking for continuing education courses and ran across an ad by a woman in PA who was an animal communicator. I had no idea what that was although it sounded interesting, so I checked out her web site. The web site said she communicated with animals telepathically and she was teaching a class in 6 months. I thought it was completely ridiculous! How could anyone talk to animals, let alone telepathically?! But I couldn’t stop thinking about the class. Finally I rationalized (that good old left brain again) that maybe some people could communicate with animals, but they couldn’t teach me — so I signed up to the class to prove it didn’t work.

Over the next 6 months I started getting intuitive impressions (although at the time I didn’t know that’s what they were) about the horses I was working on — most of whom I didn’t know well, since it was early in my career. It really freaked me out! I would suddenly, blurt things out without thinking . . . “Your horse is really sensitive but he likes it when you . . .,” “Your horse loves his work, but doesn’t like it when you . . .” “Your horse likes to push your buttons, so . . .” Etc. I would stand there paralyzed in the silence that always occurred after the “blurt”. But invariably, the horse’s person would say, “You’re right — how did you know that?” I didn’t have any idea how I knew those things — but I was right every time. Eventually I got used to it and it didn’t freak me out any more.

Two weeks before the communication class I was out working on a horse I knew pretty well. Her name was Charm. She was a beautiful quarter horse mare and she was a princess! She had been a halter horse when she was young. Being a halter horse is all about being beautiful and she knew she was the most gorgeous horse ever. She also felt that her person – Gwen, was put on earth to serve Charm’s every whim. Fortunately Gwen felt the same way — in fact, she feels that way about all her animals. Charm was very particular about everything — including getting wet. If one drop of rain fell, she would “yell” until Gwen came out and put her rain sheet on. The second the rain stopped, she expected to have the rain sheet taken off — and if Gwen didn’t get out fast enough to do that, Gwen would hear about it! Charm was a bit of a drama queen, but she was also very smart and was great about reading people and situations. She trusted me from the moment I first started massaging her. But Charm loved Gwen with all her heart — and Gwen loved her right back.

After her first couple massages, Charm knew when it was her day for me to work on her — and she would always be ready and waiting to come into the barn with me. Charm loved her massages and would totally relax and let me work deep into her muscles.

This particular day, I finished her left side, which was normal for Charm and started on the right side of her neck. It was a solid muscle spasm — Charm was in a lot of pain! I would loosen a spot, she would drop her head (a sign of relaxation in horses) then throw her head up in the air when I got to the next spot. I knew she was really hurting that day. I decided to apply an herbal liniment with arnica to Charms’ neck in the hope that it would help with the severe muscle soreness/tightness — it was in my bag about 10′ away. Even then, I’d normally tell a horse “I’ll be back” if I had to walk away — but that time, I was so concerned about Charm’s pain that I forgot.

I walked over to my bag, with my back to Charm and started looking in it for the liniment. I wasn’t wondering what Charm was thinking, wasn’t trying to connect with her — I was focused on what I was doing. Suddenly, in my head I heard, as clearly as if someone right next to me was speaking, “Where are you going? Don’t stop!” I froze . . . I could hear cars on the road, I could hear the birds, I could hear the other horses moving around — and there wasn’t another human being on the property. I turned around and saw that Charm had walked to the end of the cross ties and was focused on me like a laser beam.

I stood there frozen . . . I will never forget that moment! I remember thinking, “Well, I guess people CAN talk to animals — and I guess I can too!”

I was hesitant to tell Gwen that Charm had spoken to me, but I thought she would understand — and I had to tell someone! Gwen was completely accepting of the idea that I could communicate telepathically with Charm. She said she always felt she knew could understand what her animals wanted and how they felt, so it only made sense to her. She immediately wanted to talk to all of her animals and find out what they had to say!

I took the class to “learn” animal communication two weeks after Charm spoke to me. I talked to many animals of a variety of species, living and in Spirit and the information came through clearly and accurately. It was like I’d been doing it my whole life.

The world changed for me the day Charm spoke to me. It was a true miracle — something that I thought was impossible, actually happened. Now, every time I speak to an animal, the miracle is still fresh and new for me. I will never take animal communication for granted. It is not something that is mine — it is a gift that Spirit and the animals have given to me. I am always and eternally grateful and humbled by this gift.

I continued to massage Charm and Easter (Charm’s daughter — who is a whole other story) for many years, until Gwen and her horses moved to FL. We talked to Charm and Easter, Gwen’s dog and other horses, many times before they moved and after their move as well. Charm crossed to Spirit in 2011 and Easter crossed to Spirit in 2015. They will both always have a special place in my heart.