There’s something about Oatmeal.
As a food source, quite a bit of us humans can say “yum” when having a bowl of Oatmeal for breakfast. But there’s something about Oatmeal, the miniature horse who lives at Taco Bella Farm and is a co-facilitator with me in way too many sessions to count.
Oatmeal came to live at his current home with his best friend, Waffles the miniature horse. He and Waffles were definitely a bonded pair when we first met them in the fall of 2017. It appeared they had lived with their halters on for quite some time as after they moved to their new home it took several months for the marks to come out of their faces. They do not live with these on their faces 24/7 now. We lovingly joke they live in the “horsey Hilton” and are quite pampered and loved by so many, me included. Because there is something about Oatmeal.
There was a young person, a teenager, who had come for help at PBJ Connections. There was a history of trauma and the young person struggled to know who their true self was. There was a lot of anxiety and fear within this person and they needed to take therapy slowly. One session they identified Oatmeal as themself and wanted to sit with Oatmeal and just be because they did not know who they were after all of this trauma. The young person had the whole team, myself and Equine Specialist (ES), sitting with them near Oatmeal on the ground as they slowly began to get closer and just be with Oatmeal, to feel less afraid of themself. It was a powerful session and Oatmeal seemed to know as he often would look at this young person. They practiced being less scared and took breaths as Oatmeal took breaths and by the end of the session Oatmeal and the client became “relaxed”. Oatmeal in that moment helped them to begin to release their anxiety and be a bit more comfortable just being with themself in that moment.
Horses know. Oatmeal knew. It is something that is difficult to put into words and so powerful to hold witness to when these moments happen. Because there’s something about Oatmeal.
Oatmeal has been named many things from siblings to different emotions and feelings like, patience and fear or scared. In some humorous moments he has been called “headbanger” as he ran past a client and his head was moving up and down with his long mane all over the place!
In a recent recovery group with adults he was called “out of control” by one adult in particular. The adult was working on “handling their problem” and named Oatmeal “out of control” as what they needed to handle this problem. The client was using a “coping skill” they had in their hand (a horse brush) and had named their preferred coping skill “joking”. The client kept putting his coping skill on “out of control” who was “pushing and shoving” and when asked what “out of control” thought of his coping skill of “joking” the client stated, “he doesn’t like it.” At that moment a light bulb went off for this client. Joking was a defense and a way to ignore and numb, not deal with their problems in life.
There are many powerful stories of healing and hope where Oatmeal has been a part of in some way. Please join me in helping Team Oatmeal raise funds for PBJ Connections along with his other equine friends to continue providing therapy for all! Because there is something about connecting to yourself in nature, with animals and with other humans that benefit a person’s healing in such a powerful way!