Phase 2 | Finding new Paths

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We implemented a daily routine, with the routine being always the same, but done by different people.

We introduced cooperative care quite quickly, giving him the chance to say "Yes" and "No" when it comes to things like brushing, haltering, bathing and all. We wanted to make sure he knows that is voice is heard, to give him more self-confidence, and a feeling of safeness without it being linked to a human. He understood it quickly and soon he started to be overall more relaxed.

We started to do a lot of liberty groundwork with him. We decided that natural horsemanship would be the best approach to make him feel heard, and to continue to build confidence. We worked on simple things for now, concentrating fully on relaxing and doing everything slow and calming.

We also trained structured target work with pause signals. With him approaching the target, holding position calmly, dozing and resting, and positively rewarding it.

Soon he started to be the stables favorite, with his impish look and the cheeky glow in his eyes.

Working more on his confidence, we did a lot of desensitization training.

But the biggest work was put into his pawing. We gave him a variety of alternatives to help him shift his self-regulation from pawing to something better. We worked endlessly on positively reinforcing every alternative outlet to the pawing. We rewarded him interacting with hay nets, balls, food related games and more. After many weeks of training, he started to get more and more relaxed, sleeping more again... and then, slowly but surely, pawing less.

We tried our best to introduce him to other horses... ... but we still had a long path before us, till we can get him used to them.

-> Loshenka Makeover Phase 2 Literature:

It was incredible how fast the time flew by. My rescue boy Sokrates was already here for over 6 weeks. After the very nice start, it got rough very quickly for us. I've shed so many tears and spend so many sleepless nights helplessly researching how to help him. Sokrates pawed, and pawed, and never stopped. No matter the daytime, he restlessly pawed whenever we weren’t around. He pawed holes where the ground was soft enough, and when on a hard ground slammed his hoof against walls near him and grinded his hooves down even more on the harsh ground. It was devastating knowing I'm not able to relief his mental pain as fast as I hoped to. First everything looked well- he had his first Vet appointment with Dr. Isla Keene coming over right on the first Monday to completely check him through. Luckily Sokrates was well behaved for everything, and most of the tests turned out really well. His gaits and movement looked well, and his short hooves seem to be quite okay-ish for the amount of pawing he does every day. After a lot of nervous questions from my side, Dr. Keene agreed to X-Ray his legs, back and neck to really make sure that there is no hidden reason for his pawing. When showing me the pictures after the X-Ray's, she laughed and said "Look Sweetheart, he is in no pain. It's a mental struggle he is dealing with, because other than that your little boy is absolutely healthy! And the blood tests will be ready Thursday, then we can be completely sure, but I'm expecting them to look well!" I sighed, relief washed over me. Nodding I said, "I'm so grateful you checked him through so well. Crow is coming over later to work on his hooves, and Heather is already called over on Wednesday for the mental struggles. So.. We will put effort in, and make it work. And help him heal". I smiled while Sokrates sniffed into my pockets and then resumed to rubbing his cute snoot onto my jacket. Later that day, our Equine Hoof Specialist Elian Crow rolled onto our property and checked Sokrates hooves. The problem was obvious; with him pawing so much since so many months, probably on hard grounds inside a box, his hooves were short, and broken at the hoof walls. "Look," he said, "Yes his hooves are damaged, but it's really nothing unfixable. I will give him shoes that protect them from more wear and tear, and that will soothe the pain and sensitivity you saw him having when walking over stones and stuff." Looking back onto that day, I agree that I probably should have celebrated those good news way more than I did, before the hard times started.

Two days later, on a sunny Wednesday without any clouds and just a slight breeze, Dr. Heather Alden came. I knew from the beginning already, that she would be the most important help I could get in this Journey with Sokrates. She's an Equine Behavior Specialist, has degrees in Rescue Rehabilitation programs, and works closely with our Rescue Stable & Team for more than 15 years by now. Seeing her greet Sokrates made it all feel even more real. I told her everything I knew about him, and she nodded while being deep inside thoughts scribbling stuff down. We had a long chat about his behavior, looking at phone videos I took secretly from him pawing and stressing while he thought nobody is around. "I think you're right on the origin of his problems." She said, looking through the more sparse than detailed report card. She looked up, sipped a bit of her Coffee and then said "It all sums up very well. He had an accident, and got on stable rest for.. 7 Months said the stable owner? And Sokrates' old owner, the old man, probably kept him company as much as possible. Sokrates was stressed due to many outside factors, a bad environment, and started getting really bad anxiety every time his owner left him alone." I sighed heavily "... and then he died." Heather nodded and smiled sad "Deaths can be really traumatizing, especially if the horse is so isolated and bonded to just one single human." "I told you about my call with the owner of the stable where Sokrates was while being owned by the old man? They told me about how they desperately tried to cope with him, and that every try to shift his focus from humans to horses went absolutely downhill. One of the horses he was standing with on a paddock even hurt himself stumbling through all the holes Sokrates' digged, and somehow his behavior towards other horses grew worse with every day," I made a grimace and sighed. "I don't want to know how painful life had to be for him throughout the last years. Anxiety really isn't a good feeling hmm big boy?" Even though the topic was so very sad, I just had to grin at the impish look in his sparkling eyes. After that, we started talking more in depth about how to help him. The longer we talked, the more reality finally sunk in on me. The whole time, I thought to myself "Ohh that's an easy fix, it will be okay, just a bit of work throughout like 2-3 weeks and it will be gone quicker than I can say Rosé.." But seeing her make notes on her phone, scribbling down the outlines for Sokrates' Therapy plan, making worried "Ahh's" and "Mhh's" made me realize that it will maybe be harder than expected. More difficult. Maybe even... No, I won't believe in that. And yet i needed to know it.. so I asked. "Heather? Will we be able to completely help him? That he doesn't paw anymore?" I turned to her and asked, being very nervous about her answer. "Well, Jace, you know that I never can promise you something like that. But I'm sure that there is hope to make him feel better." But her face said what her voice didn't, and I couldn’t help myself anymore. All the stress and anxiety over rolled me, hitting me with fears and regret. Maybe if I wouldn't have signed up for the Event, he would be with someone now who actually can help him? Maybe I was just not the right person for him. Phoenix, who joined us after finishing a training session with their new rescue girl Saturn, immediately hugged me and told me to shut up when I started to voice the thoughts and fears. Heather gave me a moment that she used to talk to Corwin Mc. Dullen about Saturn and the other Rescue that newly arrived, while Phoenix calmed me down and told me that those thoughts are not true.

I don't remember a lot from the rest of the talk with Heather, nor the rest of the day. What I do remember, is her telling me "Especially in a case like his, he is at the second stage of pathological stereotypies, that's normally the point where I would suggest a treatment including antidepressants and/or antipsychotics." I looked at her absolutely devastated, and my eyes already started to fill with tears again. I hadn't realized how severe his behavior actually was. Two days later, she send me the therapy plan she wrote me for Sokrates.

From: Dr.Alden@equinespecialist.es
To: JaceT@duneheavens.es
Subject: Therapy Plan Sokrates :-)

Hi Jace, here you have Sokrates' Therapy Plan as a result of our consultant session. I believe in you! (And you know where to reach me, if you have questions.)

Kind regards Heather :-)

--> Therapy Plan for Sokrates

Problem Description:

Diagnosis: Generalized chronic separation anxiety conditioned to humans; second-stage pathological stereotypy (pawing)

Suspected Cause: Learned helplessness combined with trauma conditioning = human as sole perceived safety anchor → pawing as stress-response behavior triggered by loss of that anchor

Therapy Goal: Reduce separation anxiety by up to 80% and significantly minimize the associated behavioral issue (pawing). Restore self-regulation capacity and create a socially enriched, low-stress environment.

Milestone Objectives:

• Reduction of generalized stress levels
• Integration of bodywork for physical stress regulation
• Development of self-regulation skills
• Decoupling pawing as a coping mechanism
• Re-association of safety with environment and routine
• Guided socialization with other horses
• Long-term emotional resilience

General Measures:

• Significantly reduced noise level, no-passing area in stable
• Completely stress-free zone (e.g. no vehicles near the paddock, no mucking out in Sokrates' presence, etc.)
• Strictly maintained daily routine with consistently rotating human caretakers
  (e.g. feeding always at 7:00 AM, but performed by a different person each day)
• Environmental enrichment, mental enrichment and daily training sessions (Ground/Libertywork)

Horse-Specific Measures:

• Structured target work with cued rest breaks
• Daily implementation of cooperative care procedures
• Regular use of Tellington T-Touch techniques
• Ongoing desensitization training
• Providing alternative options for him to regulate and positively rewarding interactions with them. (Hay net, food ball, playmat, carrot on string, licking stones)
• Gradual separation training through approach–retreat
• Autonomy-promoting choice training

Supplementary Measures:

• Speaker playing a recording of humans talking to each other
• Daily administration of calming supplements:

Morning

- 10 drops Valerian
- 6 drops Bach-flowers Anxiety-free Mix
- 1 pill Kalium Phosphoricum
- 5ml Vetoquinol

Noon

- 6 drops Bach-flowers Anxiety-free Mix
- 9g L-Tryptophan
- 1 Zelkene Pill
- 5ml Vetoquinol

Evening

- 10 drops Valerian
- 6 drops Bach-flowers Anxiety-free Mix
- 1 pill Kalium Phosphoricum
- 25 grams of the Lavender, Roman chamomile & Verbena-Mix

After that, it felt like everything, but probably mainly me, was a chaotic mess. At the same day, Phoenix and me drove into the city and ran from store to store to buy everything that was needed for his treatment. After a big trip, we came back home, walking to the barn both with completely filled arms. Tired and with heavy legs, I've sat down with Cooper at Sokrates' Paddock in the evening and wrote a time table and Supplement List for me and the others who helped me, to implement the routine Heather suggested us. I thought, that it really was a good plan to try to shift his sense of security to other things than us humans. I tried my best to not let my hopelessness and anxiety take over, but I have to say that it wasn't the easiest task.

The morning afterwards, we immediately started to work with his new routine. We made sure everything is the same every day, from his halter, to the route we take with him to the paddock, to the time he gets his supplements and when and what treats he gets. Everything done in teamwork of me, Phoenix, Liam, Ren and Corwin. It took Sokrates quite a few days to stop looking confused at why there is not one specific human taking care of his daily stuff. The way he tilted his head all the time looking like he was thinking "Oh this again, same thing, different human, what's wrong with these costal people I swear..." was really the cutest thing. And we continued being those weird costal people. He went onto the paddock every day at the same time, with the same other horses in the paddocks next to him, he got told good morning and good night every day at the same times, and was always working with me at the same time of day. Mentioning work- I picked up doing training sessions with him every day. At the beginning I was still a bit unsure if starting this early would really be beneficial to his mental health, because I worried that it would stress him even more. But we started with simple join-up's, working our way up to very easy and slow structured liberty work. Heather and I agreed, that it would be phantastic for his self-esteem to do free ground work with me, and we both were really glad when we realized that he enjoys the sessions a lot. It's been mostly work in walk and slow trot, with me putting heavy focus on breathing and being calm together, while trying my best to keep the sessions interesting and his mind in the moment with poles, cones, lots of gait transitions, halts and circles. Every time he showed signs of relaxation, I positively rewarded him with a break, treats, cuddles or free roaming time with grazing.

Working through my anxiety and big feelings with him was difficult for me. So many sleepless nights, so many questions and researching sessions. I read a lot, and gained a lot of knowledge. I felt unwell, that we couldn't work that actively on stopping the pawing. I remembered how Heather told "It's not about stopping the pawing; it's about changing his environment to reduce his anxiety and then guide him to healthier options to self-regulate at the same time." I sighed. Yes, we were working on those healthier options, but it didn't seem like anything was helping at all. We knew he pawed because of anxiety and internal stress, due to him learning over the time with the previous situations, that this was the only thing that helps him cope. So, we needed to start teaching him better ways to cope with things. We tried many different things over the weeks. We gave him balls to play with, we tried giving him plushies, we hung up carrots on strings, we offered a variety of licking stones and toys we could fill up with treats. We bought him a sensory mat to find food in there, we even hung up a speaker, that played a recording where we talked a bit to each other about God and the world so that he would hear silent talking in his background, for a while. That was just one part of the work though, the second part was, to teach him to actually use the toys and reward him for it. When we spend time with him and were around him, we rewarded him every time he was interacting with one of his things. He understood it pretty much immediately, and really enjoyed all the treats and cuddles and nice words he got for nibbling on a ball or a carrot. After hanging up a camera in his box and on his paddock, we were able to track how his pawing was going. It was still mostly unchanged, with him pawing non-stop as soon as not being around a human anymore. It was draining out the last bit of hope I had left after Heather talked to me that one Wednesday at our first session about possibly having to medicate him for any slight chance of him getting better.

Also, around that time, we started working - and learning - cooperative care together. That was a subject, I was always kind of scared to go closer to. Cooperative care is giving the horse a choice to say "Yes" and "No" to things, to include them into their care, and to include and respect their consent. I was worried that horses couldn't really understand it, and hence saying Yes and No just for the treats and affection, or even laziness. Thinking about it now in hindsight has me chuckling, I realized quickly how wrong I was. The first sessions were all about Sokrates learning how to say Yes and No. I held a brush in front of him, and every time he touched it, I rewarded him with brushing his favorite spots. After a bit, I started to stop stuff I was doing on him immediately when he turned his head away and shifted his weight a bit. And then, to my big surprise, when I offered him the brush a week later as always, he shifted away from me, not touching it. I nearly started to cry of happyness, rewarded him audibly and then offered a different brush, which he said "Yes" to very happily. I started to absolutely love getting his consent. We started doing it for a lot of things. Haltering (I found out he often only says Yes to one specific halter), hoof giving, brushing, showering, getting blankets on, and so on. Over time I saw how he got more confident, and I could swear that the way we implemented his consent into his daily life carried a huge part of his self-esteem.

"How are you feeling?" Phoenix asked, walking with me over the property on a very nice morning to greet Sokrates together. I sighed, "I'm good, I think. I still feel like we don't make progress. Yes- the groundwork is going amazing and we're starting to be an awesome team, and the cooperative care is working phantastic, but that all doesn't matter because he still paws like 4 weeks ago when I picked him up." And it was true; his pawing didn't change even a bit. I watched through the recordings from the cameras all the time, hoping and praying to see a change in his behavior, but there was nothing. "Honey, you know it's not your fault in the slightest, he just needs more time." they looked at me very worried. I sighed, just nodding, and we remained silent till we got to his box, greeting him with lots of cuddles and with him sticking his cute pink snoot into our faces. But yes, I gave myself the full fault for his unchanged behavior. I must have been doing something wrong; I was probably not ready to care for horses with such bad pathological stereotypies myself like this. But I swallowed it, I wasn't ready to give up, I wanted to change his life for the better, and I loved him too much already to just let him go, to surrender him back to the Sanctuary where he didn't have someone caring for him that deeply. So, I continued working with him, we continued with the routines, and continued offering him different Items to play and regulate with. I participated in a weekend workshop about Tellington T-Touch, which are circular movements of the hands and fingers over the entire body of the horse to relive tension and stress. It’s said to help with behavioral issues and stress, and it was something I saw Corwin using before on other rescues. I started to do 10 Minute Sessions with Sokrates every evening, and after a few days I could see how his facial expression changed from tension to relaxation, every time we had our sessions. Not only had it brought him comfort and stress relief, it also had a great effect on our relationship. We bonded a lot through those T-Touches, and I felt our bond grow stronger each day now.

With the strong bond came the next step in our groundwork training. Heather said, that she thinks this exercise will have a great impact on Sokrates' ability to self-soothe. It's a training exercise meant to focus on the horse learning to rest, calm down, and to deal with its own body and mind while self-regulating. She called it "Structured Target work with Pause Signals". It was pretty much about us working in liberty groundwork together, me cueing him to walk to a cone and wait there. It was a long process of rewarding every sign of relaxation at the target-cone, until he started to lower his head, chew and yawn and get more relaxed. I slowly build up those target-breaks from 1 minute to 10 minutes in the end. And after weeks of training, he started to lift up one of his hindlegs and started dozing. I knew we reached such a huge Milestone, and was in full disbelieve. Seeing my stressed, anxious, never resting baby, dozing away fully relaxed was absolutely beautiful. So, we continued with the target work, the cones and the active relaxation. I got him used to the cue "Night Night!," and after a few days more, he walked over to the cone when cued and took a calm and regulated nap for me after me saying "Night Night!" as if he never had done anything different in life.

Walking over the stable's property now, Sokrates' pawing was an always present and all known sound. Everyone knew him, everyone loved him, but at the same time the repetitive noise that seemed to never stop got tiring to all of us. Other horses that were around him while he pawed started to get nervous, and we even had to switch out some of the horses in the paddocks next to his, as we noticed them starting to paw too. His paddock was basically needing maintenance every single day, as the digged holes proposed too big of a danger for Sokrates. I was at the end of my hopes, and one evening, I decided that I will give him one more week. I took a deep breath, while eyeing my pawing horse through the live camera feed on my laptop, and said "Okay, if you don't show any signs of improvement till the end of next week, I will call Heather and Dr. Keene and we will make sure that you get the medication you need." It was a hard decision, but I knew I needed to do something. I couldn't wait longer and do nothing about his mental state.

We continued normally for now - I did give him till the end of the next week so I'm going to use that time - with the routines, trainings and everything. I also started to implement some desensitization work to secure his self-esteem and to learn how to cope with difficult situations on his own. At first, he was extremely spooked by everything I presented him. We worked with plastic sheets, umbrellas, balloons, metal plates on strings that make loud noises, pool noodles and more. He always showed the same behavior, spooking, running, trying to come into my personal space to get protected. And that was something we wanted to change. I talked a lot about it with Heather in many, many calls, and we realized, that I need to teach him that Yes, I am a safe space, but I can be a calm anchor with him learning to trust himself and work through something alone as well. So, we did. We started slow and ever so small, working on a long lunging rope, and a target-barrel. Whenever I brought up something spooky, I cued him to go to the target instead of running towards me. I was always around 2-3 meters away from him, near enough that he feels my calm and reassuring energy, while having him work through his fears by himself. With time, I got him desensitized to a lot of the things we worked with, and soon, even with new stuff, he didn't spook anymore, he didn't ran anywhere. He had changed into an calm -tho still very alert- horse, who stood there, dragon-breathing while eyeing new things, walking around a bit, and then yawning, chewing and dropping his head when realizing that the demon is actually just a pink bottle filled with beads who's not killing him. At first, I was very scared that it would hurt our bond to cue him away from me when he's in stress, but in the end, I understood that this was actually exactly what he needed from me in that moment. Me to be there to guide him how to learn to deal with his anxiety on his own. And he learned it, and gained the ability to regulate himself through a stressful situation while knowing that I am with him.

With time, we also started to introduce him to some of our other horses, to those who were the calmest, the friendliest. The long-term residents with no lingering problems. I was quite unsure how to introduce this, as the whole focus on the last weeks were only on keeping his environment the most stress-free ever, but we all knew that was the long-term goal. "It would be so so good for you my little boy, finding friends is nice, and it would surely help you feel better in the long run you know? I'm sure we can find someone you trust," I said while brushing Sokrates' tail and braiding in new pearls. He blinked at me and then went back to nibbling on some hay in his ball. After a bit of coordinating, we decided to make two temporary paddocks right next to his, with enough space between him and the others so they can't fight over the fence and hurt each other. In one we placed in Rosé’s daughter, and in the other we put in Hermes and Miss Bell. It pretty much went as expected, Sokrates was very unhappy and pawing very aggressively at the fence, while our three loves were really curious and trying to make friends with him. We started working Miss Bell and Sokrates at the same time in the arena to get them used to each other, as they seemed to get along each other the best out of the three companions we placed next to his paddock. It took a few days, but then Sokrates eventually calmed down around her and the other two. We were all very relived, it was a step in the right direction and I gained hope that we will actually be able to get him some friends in the future. For now, it was good that he accepted his fate with having those three close by his paddock.

I started to use the opportunity and spend a lot of time with Phoenix in the arena, who worked with their horse Saturn while I worked with Sokrates. Sokrates being a bit calmer around other horses than a few weeks ago, and Saturn being a very hectic and spicy rescue mare, actually made a great duo for simultaneous groundwork. Not free roaming obviously, but they ignored each other well, each in their respective corner with their owner, while Sokrates provided some sense of anchor for her, and Saturn, being a stubborn whirlwind, providing distractions for Sokrates to work around and learn to focus on me while working. By now I started to pick up his training a bit more, since the cued dozing worked absolutely perfect, and implement more slightly more difficult exercises like shoulder in, shortening and collecting his steps, work in Canter and Trot while changing circles and working smaller and more upright. I've started to really connect to him and we perfectionized my voice commands and body language while working together. It started being super fun, and I was excited to work more with him in the future. "Did you thought about maybe starting to ride him?" Phoenix asked, while we both watched our horses roll in the dirt after their shower. "I did, yes, but that is, if at all, a project for the future. It does not feel like the right time at the moment, or even in a few months, to pursue something like that. He enjoys the liberty groundwork a lot, and I feel like I should be concentrating on that, and on his needs," I answered. I did thought about that often during the first weeks. But somehow, it just feels wrong. I don't really know where that feeling is coming from, but I decided to let the wish to ride him go for now, and just focus on him and his mental state. I looked up again, seeing Phoenix smiling and nodding. "Yeah, I thought so. I like that decision, I think you made the right choice. And if it's meant to be, you can always start riding him in a year or so. You have time," they smiled. While we were distracted with talking, Sokrates sticked his nose over the fence and sniffed curiously over to where Saturn stood, on her side of the fence. We decided to put her in the paddock instead of Rosé's daughter, after Saturn and Sokrates actually did okay while sharing arenas during their training sessions.

And with that, the end of the next week crept up and came closer, and my anxiety rose. I knew what I said to myself two weeks ago, and I knew it was time. Sokrates didn't made any progress on the pawing issue itself throughout the last 6 weeks he was here, and I needed to help him. In the end it wasn't that surprising, as Heather told me already from the start that his pathological stereotypies was already in such a worrying state. I still had hoped the whole time, especially with him making such incredible progress over the weeks with everything else, and I couldn't understand why there was not even a little bit of improvement of his pawing. Sighing, I stood up from my bed to make myself some late-night snack. My clock showed that it was 3am, and I went into the kitchen to grab some milk with cereal. While eating, I opened my laptop to check on Sokrates.

I still remember this night to this day, and I will probably remember this forever; I tiredly blinked at the live feed of his stable's camera while eating my late-night snack, thinking that the camera broke, because he.. he just stood there. But when I noticed a slight movement in his ears and tail, I realized that the camera and life feed wasn't broken- Sokrates was dozing. Standing still and relaxed, sleeping with no signs of any pawing.

Thank you for reading ♡