July 16, 2025 • 34 mins
Ellie Laks from The Gentle Barn and I share some of our favorite, joyful, inspiring stories about communicating with animals and discovering their rich inner lives. We don’t always realize how multi-dimensional their worlds can be. In this episode, a horse named Whisper who, has gone on to the Rainbow Bridge “appeared” – literally as a shadow that kept crossing the room (you can see this on the YouTube video podcast) – until Ellie told Whisper’s very moving story of healing and transformation. I tell a story about my cat Wolfie, who told me when it was time to pass – the exact day and time. When you open the door to animal communication, you enter a rich and delightful world that opens our eyes in so many ways. These heartwarming stories will inspire you go deeper in all your interactions with animals. And they will love you even more for joining them on this delightful journey.
EPISODE NOTES: Whispers from the Rainbow Bridge: Animal Messages of Love
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EPISODE NOTES: Whispers from the Rainbow Bridge: Animal Messages of Love
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-human-animal-connection-pet-life-radio-original--6669311/support.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Live.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is Pet Life Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Let's talk pets.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to the Human Animal Connection Show, where we believe
we can communicate with all animals. Join us as we
explore the thirty three principles and healing methods of the
Human Animal Connection. As animal lovers, we know that you
share our commitment to making the world a kinder place
for all creatures. Together, let's embrace the transformative healing power
(00:29):
of the Human Animal Connection.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Hi.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Everyone, it's Jeanie Joseph, executive director and host of the
podcast The Human Animal Connection. So glad you're with us today.
I have Ellie Lax and she's the founder of the
Gentle Barn and this is a wonderful place where they
do work with rescue farm animals, different animals and bring
people in to have wonderful experiences. And as you know,
in The Human Animal Connection, we work with our therapy
(00:54):
donkeys and our therapy dogs and we've just been wanting
to trade stories with each other, and we thought we
just didn't have a show where we just tell some
stories and things that just come to mind about the glorious,
wonderful moments of our work with animals. So Ellie, say
hi to everyone.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Hello. I'm so happy to be here, and these stories
are amazing. It really illustrates how magical animals are, how
much they have to offer, and how much we all
as humans can benefit from them. So I'm excited about
this episode.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Yeah great, So what's your first story that you want
to tell us.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I'm having trouble picking a story because I have so many.
I know that's hard, but I do have an amazing
story that it's one of my favorites. We had a
turkey we'd like to bring her to events. So we
brought her to all kinds of different events where people
could pet her and snuggle with her, and she would
fall asleep in people's laps and she would really show
(01:50):
people who turkeys are. But one particular event we brought
her to, there was a band there about one hundred
feet away, and as the band started playing, she immediately
raced as fast as she could over to the stage.
And I'm following her, going, oh my god, where is
she going. She's never done this before, And I'm like,
racing after this turkey. And she ran until she was
(02:13):
front row center. Oh, and she closed her eyes and
she started swaying to the music. Oh, and I was
so in shock by watching this, and I sat down
on one of the folded chairs and literally watched my
turkey speaking the music for three hours. And people would
(02:34):
come and they would like gather around her, and everybody
would dance. And now she's dancing with all these people.
And I watched this go on for three hours until
the band finally broke for lunch. Wow. When they finally
stopped playing, she opened her eyes and she looked back
at me like, oh my god, we got to get
to our booth and blocked herself back to the booth.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Oh how fun.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Then yeah, and then she people cuddle and sit with
her for the rest of the day. So when we
got home that day, I was like, oh my god,
we have to have a radio in the barnyard for her,
and so we did. We set up a radio, and
no matter what kind of genre of music was playing,
she was always planted right next to the radio, their
eyes closed, swaying to the music. So around that same time,
(03:20):
we had a group of high school boys and girls
who had either physical disabilities or emotional differences, you know,
stuff that they were all individually working on, and they
came as a group to participate in our year long
piece enhancement program, and the first time they got there,
I picked up one of our chickens and I kind
(03:41):
of went to each person individually to see if they
wanted to pet her or even hold her. When I
got to this last teenager, as I was about to
offer her the chicken, the counselors jumped in front of
her and said, no, don't offer her the chicken. She's
a very violent girl's she you know, she scratches us
and bites us. She's very violent in the school and
(04:03):
in the home. Please don't give her the chicken. But
we have a rule at the Gentle Barn that every
single person could define who they are for themselves in
that moment. I don't care what they've gone through, I
don't care what they've done, I don't care what's said
about them. In the moment where they're standing on gentle
barn soil, they can tell me who they are. So
I explained this to the counselors and they kind of
(04:25):
rolled their eyes and said, okay, it's on you if
the chicken gets hurt, and they walked away. So I
asked this girl if she wanted to pet the chicken
she had a huge smile on our face, and she
nodded yes, and she pet the chicken, and she was
delightful that entire day. Later on, I learned about her
that she was actually mute, and she has not said
a word in twelve years. So it became my mission
(04:48):
in life to help her speak. I was asking the
counselors what was she like before she stopped speaking, and
they said that she loved to sing and dance. And
I was like, well, I have a turkey that likes
to say oh oh. I invited this beautiful teenage girl
to come and sit next to me while I sang
to our turkey, and I explained to her the importance
(05:10):
of music for this turkey. So for three months she
stroked the turkey and sat next to me with a
huge smile on her face while I sang out loud.
But by the fourth month she started humming along with me.
By the fifth month, she started singing, And by the
time she graduated our program, she was fully vocal, both
in the classroom at the Gentle Barn and at home
(05:32):
at azing. Because of this little girl or teenager and
our turkey and their shared love of music.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Oh, that is so beautiful. That is so beautiful. I know,
there's so many wonderful stories about music and animals, and
you just never know what kind of music they're going
to like. And I know, like people who who do
competitive dog dancing dancing with their dogs, they'll tell you
that you can't train a dog to dance to a
song the dog doesn't like.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I mean, it makes sense, yeah, right, exactly.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
You know, so they'll try different styles and some like salsa,
some like mariachi. You know, you just never know what
they're gonna like. But in our class, canines teach compassion
where we bring the therapy dogs to work with high
school students who are in counseling in the classroom and
and we have them sing lullabies to the kids, you know,
just we will use the dog's name a lot and
(06:23):
the song, you know, and then just make up the
words to broms lullaby whatever. And it's so beautiful because
we teach the kids that, oh, you're doing this to
help the dogs relax, which is true. The dogs go
completely just you know, sleepy and relax. But of course
it's helping the kids relax because nothing like singing a
lullaby to a sweet little thing, you know, to make
both of you and the animal feel good. So that's
(06:46):
just a lovely thing to do to bring So I
hope people listening will maybe try that with their animals,
you know, like one of my dogs, Sofia. So I'll
say I can't sing, but this is and I'll model
this as students. I said, I can't sing at.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
All, but Sophie, I love you. You're my sweetest of donkies,
and I love you. Yes, I love you, You're my
little Sophie.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
So it's important to use their name in the song
a lot if they know their name, and it's just
a wonderful thing to do. So try that at home.
Try singing to the animals who share your lives.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You know. It's really really interesting because as an animal
communicator I talk to animals for clients all over the
world and not all the time, but many times the
dog or the animal will talk about the person singing
a special song to them, or playing special music in
the background, or meditating with specific music. They are absolutely
(07:43):
aware of singing and music and there are animals that
really love it very very much.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Yeah, it's great. And if you're putting music on for
your animal when you leave make sure that you know
that that's the style that they like, because it is
there are a lot of uniquenesses. Some animals like classical,
some like new age, so I'm like different things. So
make sure that you are certain that that's what they
like before you leave it on. That's a great Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
No, that's a really good point because of course there
are animals that prefer it quiet and don't like the
noise or don't like the genre of music. And imagine
being stuck at home for four hours listening to music
that you hate. That's really really important to know that
your animal enjoys the music and what kind they like.
Very good point.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
One of my early stories with animal communication was this
was when I was living in New York City. I
was in the movie business. I was a totally type
a person. You had no animals or anything like this,
and I started having these dreams that I was going
to get a cat. And it was like, what, you know,
how am I going to do this with my fourteen
hour days? You know, It's just like I just couldn't
see it. Finally, I said, okay, well, if I'm going
(08:49):
to get a cat, the cat's just going to come
to me. And I said that and forgot about it.
So one night, middle of the winter, New York City,
you know, twenty five degrees, and I hear a sound.
I lived in a like the ground floor apartment in
the back, and I hear this sound. It sounded like
someone was trying to break in my window, which had happened,
so it was really scary. So I yell all kinds
of things, which I won't yell here because you know,
(09:10):
but anyway, so I yell at this thing and I hear, yeah,
this tiny little sound, and I go, oh, no, I
don't have anything, you know, I don't have a cat, bugs,
I don't have a litter, I don't have food. I
had some milk, so I said, all right, I'm just
it's so cold. I'm just going to go out, open
the door, give this cat some milk, and go back
to bed. You gotta get up early. I got a
big shoot tomorrow. So I opened the door, put the
(09:33):
milk down. The cat walks right by the milk and
right inside my door, like this is high home. This
little tiny thing, you know, not like a tiny kitten,
but like a teenage kitten. It was just amazing, you
know that this cat who I named WOLFI. And Wolfy
was with me for sixteen years and when it was time,
(09:54):
you know that it was getting to be that time,
Wolfy told me, you know, gave me about a year
or two noteiculd I was, so this was my sole cat,
you know, about a year two, Wolfy said I'm going
to be going, and another cat, stray, kind of found
us kind of in a similar way. And Wolfe said
to me, you know, like it was that time the
vet was saying, well, I think we should make the
point for euthanasian I didn't feel right, and I said, well,
(10:16):
maybe I should just ask Wolfy what he feels. He
said to me, well, I want to go. I want
to go at home with you, and he gave me
the date. He said, I'm going to go between three
and five am, and that's exactly what happened. So he
went at exactly that time in my arm. So I
was able to be with him and it was just
really beautiful. And you know, I'm not against euthanasia when
(10:36):
it's needed, but it was really important to ask the
animal what their preferences are and so that you can
feel complete, because it really helped me knowing that I
had honored his wishes. Yeah, that made a big deal
to me.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
No, I'm so glad that you shared that story because
you bring up so many good points. Look, here's the truth.
Animals are blessed with euthanasia that they don't have to suffer,
they don't have to go through elongated struggles and illnesses,
that we get to set them free when they're ready
to go. But there are times when euthanasia is overused
(11:15):
or used too early, because just because we have euthanasia
doesn't mean that animals can't still pass on their own
when they want to. And I have a number of
animals that I talk to as an animal communicator, and yeah,
sometimes they say, oh my god, I'm done. This is terrible.
I got to get out of here, and then you
set them free. Other times they ask for more time
(11:36):
and they say, even though I look like a mess,
I don't want to leave yet. I'm not ready. But
then other times they'll say, I am ready, but I
don't want help. I want to pass on my own.
And when animals want that, it's such a blessing to
give them that. Oh yes, absolutely, you know, on animals,
we'll say like, well, here's my bucket, list, or here's
who I want to be there, or here's the tree
(11:59):
I want to lay under. They have wishes and it's
wonderful when we can fulfill them.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Yes, it is absolutely beautiful, Absolutely beautiful, We can do that.
So I want to tell a little story about Oscar,
who was my first therapy dog, and he had been,
you know, literally a prisoner of war. He had been
forced to be a pig hunter in Hawaii, where they
starve them to make them more aggressive. You know, it's
really really rough circumstances. He escaped with it this many
(12:27):
years ago. A very expensive GPS caller was, you know,
hundreds and hundreds of dollars at those times, and they
didn't even you know, they didn't come and get them.
And so I was working with him at the shelter
he had been passed his due date. It was a
kill shelter in those days. And finally I took him
home and he became just the most amazing therapy. He
was the gentlest, sweetest dog, even though he'd been through
(12:49):
scars all over his body, missing teeth, the sweetest dog
I had ever met. And I would sit I was
working with soldiers with PTSD who were hospitalized and they
would sit in a circle and he would go around
and say hello to each one. He could tell someone
was afraid, he would just skip that person, but he
would go and sit. What would do, he would do
what's called an alert, which is he would sit and
just look at the person who was suicidal he knew,
(13:12):
and he would just look at them until they melted,
until they got down on their knees and started making
baby dog and you know, loving this little guy. And
he just had that ability. I was able to find
out from the nurses he was one hundred percent right,
you know, because I didn't know anyone's story or anything,
but he knew he could tell the difference between who was,
you know, who needed a little extra love that day.
(13:33):
And that's what really began my journey with working with
therapy animals was Oscar was his ability to smell suicidality
was so important. This was the early days of the
war twenty ten, so you know, it was not really
being talked about, and soldiers didn't want to mention it
because they could lose their status in the military if
they admitted that. So it was really helpful to have
(13:53):
a dog who knew just who needed. What, Oh, that's
so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
And these animals really do know it can see inside
a person in ways that we can't. At the Gentleburn,
we work with kids from foster agencies or on probation,
or from drug and alcohol rehab centers, or people from
domestic valance shelters, hemmeless shelters, or veteran centers, and hurting
(14:18):
individuals that are not in agencies, and we never ask
for their file. We never speak to someone beforehand. We
don't want to know about them. We just want them
to come and experience the animals, and we know one
hundred percent that those animals will know exactly what to do,
and they always always do. We had a beautiful racehorse
(14:41):
named Mamma Dear, and because she was raised in the
racing industry, she wasn't very warm and fuzzy with kind
of me and my staff. We would try to groom
her and scratch her and massage her, and after five
minutes she'd be like all right, already, like enough. But
the teenagers would come and she hold still for them
(15:01):
for hours. They could crawl underneath her, they could hug her,
they can lay on top of her, they could do
whatever they wanted, and she would not move because she
knew that they needed her. And even our cows and
our cow hug therapy sessions, if someone is just too serious,
(15:23):
they'll lick them or prants around or do something silly
and funny to make them laugh. If someone is really
flighty and kind of stuck in their head, they will
meditate with them to ground them and center them. And
when someone is in real trauma like suicidal ideations or PTSD,
(15:43):
or in real loss and grief, they will literally wrap
their necks around them and hold them for hours. They
know exactly what that person needs, and all we have
to do is facilitate their interaction.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Beautiful, so beautiful, they are so yes, so much. We're
going to take a short little break. When we come back,
you're going to hear more wonderful stories from Ellie Lax,
founder of The Gentle Barn, and Genie Joseph The Human
Animal Connection.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
We'll be right back, hey, friends. If you like what
you're hearing and want to learn more, check out doctor
Joseph's book The Human Animal Connection, Deepening Relationships with Animals
and Ourselves, or visit the website The Humananimalconnection dot org
(16:32):
to book an online consultation. Thank you for loving animals.
Now back to the show.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
Let's Talk Pats on Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Welcome back to the Human Animal Connection Podcast. So, Ellie,
we were talking on the break. You said your horse
was kind of coming in and giving them this feeling
that he wanted his story told. So tell us about Whisper. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I keep thinking about Whisper, and it's almost like she's
in my ear, going tell my story, tell my story.
Her birthday or what would have been her birthday, is
coming up, so I think she would love for me
to tell her story. Whisper has a very very long,
kind of painful story that she actually doesn't like when
I tell it. So I'm gonna tell her story the
(17:24):
way she likes me to tell her story. Whisper is
extraordinarily resilient, very brave, very strong. She has gone through
enormous trauma and come out the other side victorious. She
was very angry when she came to the Gentle Barn,
and we had to work extensively on helping her. And
(17:46):
one of the first things is she had no trust
for us. She was very, very, very angry because she
had been through enormous emotional, mental, and physical abuse. She
had cigar birds on her butt, she had holes on
either side from the spurs, she had her chest rubbed
raw from the saddle strap. She had no confidence or
belief in any one, and she felt completely alone in
the world. So the first thing that I had to
(18:09):
do was I to show her that I trusted her,
because when you give someone your trust, then oftentimes they'll
want to return the favor. And it was very dicey
because she was, you know, she was offering to bite
and kick and trolling around and rearing up, and it
was kind of a scary situation. But instinctively, I knew
(18:30):
that I had to show her that I trusted her.
So I walked into her stall and she was racing
around and kicking and bucking and rearing and screaming and
charging and biting at me. And I stood in the
center of her stall and I closed my eyes and
I kept saying, you have my trust, you have my trust,
you have my trust. My husband was going, Ellie, get
(18:51):
out of there. That is so dangerous, and I was like, no,
I have to do this. And what was interesting is
she was doing all kinds of posture and offering, but
She did not touch a hair on my head, and
that was very intentional, right. She wanted to show me
how angry she was, and she actually didn't want to
hurt me.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
And as I sat there with my eyes closed, offering
her my trust, she de escalated until finally she stopped
what she was doing, stood in front of me, put
her mouth on mine, and we breathed each other in Wow.
That was the beginning of her healing.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
We worked for the next four years. What happened to her?
She was savagely abused under saddle, so the man wanted
her to do cattle roping with him, but she Okay,
Jennifer is not in the room, and that shadow just
passed behind me. Okay, And Sharon is sitting at her
desk and has not moved. Oh hello, whisper. If anybody
(19:50):
that is watching saw that shadow pass behind me, there
is no one moving in the office, so I think
that is whisper saying hello Hello was pre valid. There
it is again, There it is again. We will anyway.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
We're having a shadow phenomenon. For those of you who
were watching and not just listening, we've been having a
shadow move with it somewhere somehow in Ellie's room, even
though no one is moving, there is a shadow that
has been walking back and forth. And we weren't deciding
whether we should tell you this story, but now I
think we have to tell you. Go ahead to finish
whisper story. So for the next fourth.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So, Whisper was savagely abused under saddle, and this man
wanted her to rope cattle with him, but prior to
meeting him, she had never met a cow in her life.
And instead of giving her time to figure it out
or to teach her, he just sat on her and
gave her commands that she didn't understand, and when she
didn't follow the commands, he beat her silly. She started
(20:47):
fighting back because she's a fighter, and every time she fought,
he would hurt her even worse, and it became just
this snowball of trauma. So once I gave her my
trust and she softened and we breathed each other in,
we embarked on a four year journey of sitting on her,
asking her to do tiny little things that of course
she knew how to do, like take a step forward,
(21:09):
take a step to the left, take a step to
the right, But instead of following those instructions, she was
triggered from her trauma and she would explode. And it
gave us an opportunity to sit very quietly on her
and say, tell us more. And she got to buck
and rear and kick and scream and bite and turtle
around and speak with her body and talk about her
(21:32):
anger and her trauma and her sadness and her pain,
while we very quietly just sat on her and let
her tell us what she had inside of her. And
little by little, the more she got to do that,
the more she expressed herself, the softer she got, the
quieter she got, until after four years she literally had
(21:54):
said all of it and there was no more trauma
left inside of her. And the very very last day
we brought her out to the barn. Out of the barn,
she said, ah, here we go again. But instead of
saddling her up and doing the exercises with her, I
took her halter off and I said, whisper, you're free.
(22:15):
You will never be ridden again. No one will ever
harm you or objectify you ever again. As long as
you live, you're free. You're seen, you're heard, you're respected,
and we will honor you till the end of your life.
And she kind of looked at me, like, really, are
you sure? Are you serious? And I said, yes, you're free.
And she went off and she grazed on the grass,
(22:37):
and her and I had the most extraordinary rest of
her life. What I would do was I would take
her out on the walking trails, and when we passed
that very last house, I would take everything off of
her and set her free, and I would walk and
she would graze, and then she would lift her head
and realize that I had walked on and she would
gallop to catch up with me, and I walked beside
(23:00):
her like a dog with nothing on her, and she
grazed and she galloped, and she played, and we ran together,
and we explored together, and her and I had a
relationship unlike any other relationship I've ever had with any
other animal in my entire life, because it was not
about riding her or controlling her or training her. It
(23:22):
was about both of us, all feet on the ground,
side by side, exploring the world and having an equal relationship.
And it was so beautiful. So at the Gentle Barn,
we worked with a lot of angry teenagers right who
have been told to sit down, shut up, and follow
the rules. Who have been mirrored that they were bad
and wanted and unlovable, who are incarcerated or recovering from
(23:46):
being in gangs or drugs. They've had really, really hard
pass and they've been mirrored from society at large that
they were like didn't have any value. And Risper was
so instrumental in their recovery because they would come to
the Gentle Barn, they avoided eye contact, they had their
(24:06):
arms folded across their chests defensively, and all I had
to do was tell Whisper's story and they immediately identified
with it. They immediately saw themselves in her shoes. And
by telling Whisper's story and loving her so much, they
knew that I accepted them and didn't judge them. And
of course, after telling her story, they always wanted to
(24:29):
meet her and she was their hero, modeling that expressing
anger is so important in their healing journey, and after
you express your anger and you heal, then moving on
and finding your own family and your own tribe and
your own happily ever after is possible, and she inspired
(24:51):
them to do it in their own lives, and she
was just she did such good work at the Gentle barn.
She was one of our healthiest horses. She was at
the twenty six years old, but she had a full body.
She was a quarter horse, so she had this big, gorgeous,
big black butt and this muscular body, this beautiful face,
this little pink spot on her nose that I love
(25:12):
to kiss.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
And she was doing great.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
She was eating, she was doing wonderful. And one day
I was down in the barnyard and she looked at
me and she said, please spend some extra time with me.
I don't have much time. And I was like, oh
my god, Whisper, you're perfectly happy. What are you talking about.
You're so healthy. And she was like, just trust me,
I don't have much time left. Please spend time with me.
So of course I did, and a week later she collicked. Wow,
(25:39):
And for those of you that might not know, colic
is a stomach ache in horses. But it could be
a twist of the intestines, it could be a tumor
wrapped around the intestines, it could be an impaction, and
it can very often be fatal. So we took her
immediately to the hospital. They rushed her in for emergency
surgery because she did have several tumors wrapped around her intestines.
(26:01):
She walked out of the surgical suite and into the
recovery room. But she and when she was in the hospital,
I was able to walk her, you know, take her
out for walks in between the orange orchards and the
beautiful eucalyptus groves and the olive trees. I was able
to spend all day long for months in the hospital.
(26:26):
We bonded so completely. And then after a few months,
she collicked again and there was nothing else they could
do to save her, and we had to help her
out of her body. But the fact that she was
warning me that her end was coming, the fact that
we were able to spend that uninterrupted time at the hospital,
(26:47):
just me and her for months, it was such a gift.
And I will always be grateful for the relationship that
we had, the deep connection that we had, and all
the hundreds, if not thousands, of teenagers that she saved
just by sharing who she was in her story.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Yeah, it was just absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
And she would be churning. She would be turning twenty
nine in May on May first, and it's her and
I love her and I'm glad that she joined us today.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
I'm so glad she joined us today. And it's amazing
because once who started telling her story, we had no
more movement in the background, no more shadows. So you've
been seen and heard, and many more people going to
be hearing this story of Whisper. Thank you Whisper for
visiting us in this powerful way. And yeah, a beautiful, beautiful, Well,
(27:39):
let's see, let me pick a story. There was a
dog a client I was working with doing some animal communication.
She had rescued a dog that had probably been in
a puppy mail situation. So this was a dog that
was really very shut down, would not leave the house,
not even to potty, you know, and just really rough ride.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
She was a senior, very loving, but she had a
you know, it's tough because she the dog was too
scared to do anything, really just wanted to sleep in
her bed. And at one point, you know, she was
having her doubts about whether or not she could manage this,
handle this, and the dog, Sophie said to her in
a in a voice she could hear. She said, Sophie,
(28:22):
the dog said, don't give up on me. And that
was the turning point, you know, and now where she's
at a point where mostly she'll go out to potty
and you know, some progress. We can put a harness
on her and you know she can play and do
some different things, but never going to be you know,
like some other dogs. You know, this is not like
the vet has to come to her. She can't get
in the car or anything like that. But she is
(28:43):
the most amazing dog. So sometimes well I'll talk to
her and I say, Sophie, how you know, how's been going?
And she'll go, oh, I'm busy. And I was like, okay,
so I think I told you this story that that
she took us on a little journey. I said, so
tell us what you better do? You she is with
other animals, and she took us to see the cows,
and she put us in the center of all these cows,
(29:07):
and they came and licked her, you know, the cow's licktor,
just as cows do it. You know, such a beautiful
inner life she has.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
This.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I mean, we call her Sophie the Buddha because she
she just externally she doesn't appear to be having much
of a life. But if you find out what she's
up to it's very, very rich. And one day her
purse said to Sophie said, so oh, I tell you
she the person bought her this expensive toy. And she's
on a budget, you know, but she bought her this
(29:35):
expensive duck. It was like a sixty dollars toy because
she loved this duck and she gave it a Sofie
Sophie was like, eh, you know, like no interest in
the duck, right, she has some toys, but this sixty
dollars duck meant nothing to her. But it was Sophie's birthday,
and I mean it was the person's birthday. And she said, Sophie,
what are you going to give me for my birthday?
She said to the dog, And the dog said, ah,
(29:55):
you can take the duck. Take the duck. That was funny.
It's such such depth of understanding. And you know, Sophie
will often say things to us that just makes us laugh.
You know, she just has this sense of humor, and
it's so interesting because externally you would say, this is
not much of a life. You know, she doesn't meet
any other dog, she doesn't go anywhere, but she's got
(30:17):
quite a beautiful world.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
You know.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
That's really something.
Speaker 6 (30:20):
Yeah, yeah, I love that story. That is so beautiful
because it really is true animals in particular. I think
humans can ask for travel too, but I think that.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
We're less likely to do it because we're so entrenched
in this physical world. But animals, I mean, that is
part of their makeup. They are constantly meditating, going other places,
connecting with one another, talking to the birds, and the
birds tell them what's going on and out in the world.
They know things that you would never realize that they know.
(30:51):
As a matter of fact, our cows. When people walk
into the cow pasture and they're wearing leather shoes, they're
always surprised that the cows come over and lick their boots,
and it's like because they know what leather is. They
know that that was a cow. They know that animals
are being slaughtered, They know that people are struggling out
in the world. They even though they're in a little pasture,
(31:14):
they have a worldwide understanding and view of what is
going on in this human planet, and they'd want to help.
Many many times, I will talk to my client's animals
and they'll show me like I spend so much time
sleeping because I can go places, and my body can
move faster than it can in real life. Sometimes they
(31:37):
tell me that they're on the other side, meeting friends
over there, preparing for their transition. I have a sixteen
year old dog named Bingo, and he was used to
be very very active, walking, hiking, swimming, going to the beach,
following us around, sitting in our laps, cuddling, and recently,
I would say over the last six months, definitely, if
(31:59):
not last year, he has taken to having these very
very very deep sleeps, extraordinary deep sleeps. But it's not
the kind of sleep where if you make a noise
he wakes up. It's the kind of sleep where it's
so deep that there are several times where I'll come
and try to wake him up because I'm leaving the
room or I'm leaving the house and I need him
(32:20):
to wake up, and I'm petting him, and he is
not in his body. He is somewhere else, he is
interacting with other beings. He is not in his body,
and no matter how much I talked to him and
pet him, he will not wake up, and I have
to wait for like thirty minutes, and then thirty minutes
later he'll come back. To his body and he'll come
(32:41):
find me and he'll be like, I'm so happy to
be Bennett. I'm so happy to see you. This is
where I was, and he'll tell extraordinary stories of travel.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Yes, yes, it's fazing. Well, this has been absolutely delightful.
I think we'll have to do this again because I
know we've only got tapped the beginning of all of
our story. So this has been so delightful. So Ellen,
how can people find you if they want to connect
with you or support you. Well, to find out more
about my animal communication and energy healing that I do
(33:10):
for maybe your pet, you can go to.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Ellilax dot com.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
And to find out more about the Gentle Barn, Come
huggy cow, cuddle a turkey, give a pig a tummy rub,
and find out for yourself how amazing these rescue animals are,
please go to Genlebarn dot org and of course we
can be.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Found on all social media platforms as well.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Well. Thank you so much for being a part of
our Human Animal Connection podcast and if you were watching,
I hope you got to enjoy the shadow. That's been
really fun. Well, thank you so much. We'll see you
in the next episode.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
By for now.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Thank you for tuning in to The Human Animal Connection Show.
Please visit our website, The Humananimalconnection dot org. There you
can sign up for our free email newsletter, book a consultation,
or check out our blogs and resources. Our best selling book,
The Human Animal Connection is available on Amazon, and your
(34:03):
donation of any amount keeps our nonprofit organization providing life
changing services.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on petlifradio
dot com
Live.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is Pet Life Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Let's talk pets.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to the Human Animal Connection Show, where we believe
we can communicate with all animals. Join us as we
explore the thirty three principles and healing methods of the
Human Animal Connection. As animal lovers, we know that you
share our commitment to making the world a kinder place
for all creatures. Together, let's embrace the transformative healing power
(00:29):
of the Human Animal Connection.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Hi.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Everyone, it's Jeanie Joseph, executive director and host of the
podcast The Human Animal Connection. So glad you're with us today.
I have Ellie Lax and she's the founder of the
Gentle Barn and this is a wonderful place where they
do work with rescue farm animals, different animals and bring
people in to have wonderful experiences. And as you know,
in The Human Animal Connection, we work with our therapy
(00:54):
donkeys and our therapy dogs and we've just been wanting
to trade stories with each other, and we thought we
just didn't have a show where we just tell some
stories and things that just come to mind about the glorious,
wonderful moments of our work with animals. So Ellie, say
hi to everyone.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Hello. I'm so happy to be here, and these stories
are amazing. It really illustrates how magical animals are, how
much they have to offer, and how much we all
as humans can benefit from them. So I'm excited about
this episode.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Yeah great, So what's your first story that you want
to tell us.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I'm having trouble picking a story because I have so many.
I know that's hard, but I do have an amazing
story that it's one of my favorites. We had a
turkey we'd like to bring her to events. So we
brought her to all kinds of different events where people
could pet her and snuggle with her, and she would
fall asleep in people's laps and she would really show
(01:50):
people who turkeys are. But one particular event we brought
her to, there was a band there about one hundred
feet away, and as the band started playing, she immediately
raced as fast as she could over to the stage.
And I'm following her, going, oh my god, where is
she going. She's never done this before, And I'm like,
racing after this turkey. And she ran until she was
(02:13):
front row center. Oh, and she closed her eyes and
she started swaying to the music. Oh, and I was
so in shock by watching this, and I sat down
on one of the folded chairs and literally watched my
turkey speaking the music for three hours. And people would
(02:34):
come and they would like gather around her, and everybody
would dance. And now she's dancing with all these people.
And I watched this go on for three hours until
the band finally broke for lunch. Wow. When they finally
stopped playing, she opened her eyes and she looked back
at me like, oh my god, we got to get
to our booth and blocked herself back to the booth.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Oh how fun.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Then yeah, and then she people cuddle and sit with
her for the rest of the day. So when we
got home that day, I was like, oh my god,
we have to have a radio in the barnyard for her,
and so we did. We set up a radio, and
no matter what kind of genre of music was playing,
she was always planted right next to the radio, their
eyes closed, swaying to the music. So around that same time,
(03:20):
we had a group of high school boys and girls
who had either physical disabilities or emotional differences, you know,
stuff that they were all individually working on, and they
came as a group to participate in our year long
piece enhancement program, and the first time they got there,
I picked up one of our chickens and I kind
(03:41):
of went to each person individually to see if they
wanted to pet her or even hold her. When I
got to this last teenager, as I was about to
offer her the chicken, the counselors jumped in front of
her and said, no, don't offer her the chicken. She's
a very violent girl's she you know, she scratches us
and bites us. She's very violent in the school and
(04:03):
in the home. Please don't give her the chicken. But
we have a rule at the Gentle Barn that every
single person could define who they are for themselves in
that moment. I don't care what they've gone through, I
don't care what they've done, I don't care what's said
about them. In the moment where they're standing on gentle
barn soil, they can tell me who they are. So
I explained this to the counselors and they kind of
(04:25):
rolled their eyes and said, okay, it's on you if
the chicken gets hurt, and they walked away. So I
asked this girl if she wanted to pet the chicken
she had a huge smile on our face, and she
nodded yes, and she pet the chicken, and she was
delightful that entire day. Later on, I learned about her
that she was actually mute, and she has not said
a word in twelve years. So it became my mission
(04:48):
in life to help her speak. I was asking the
counselors what was she like before she stopped speaking, and
they said that she loved to sing and dance. And
I was like, well, I have a turkey that likes
to say oh oh. I invited this beautiful teenage girl
to come and sit next to me while I sang
to our turkey, and I explained to her the importance
(05:10):
of music for this turkey. So for three months she
stroked the turkey and sat next to me with a
huge smile on her face while I sang out loud.
But by the fourth month she started humming along with me.
By the fifth month, she started singing, And by the
time she graduated our program, she was fully vocal, both
in the classroom at the Gentle Barn and at home
(05:32):
at azing. Because of this little girl or teenager and
our turkey and their shared love of music.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Oh, that is so beautiful. That is so beautiful. I know,
there's so many wonderful stories about music and animals, and
you just never know what kind of music they're going
to like. And I know, like people who who do
competitive dog dancing dancing with their dogs, they'll tell you
that you can't train a dog to dance to a
song the dog doesn't like.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I mean, it makes sense, yeah, right, exactly.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
You know, so they'll try different styles and some like salsa,
some like mariachi. You know, you just never know what
they're gonna like. But in our class, canines teach compassion
where we bring the therapy dogs to work with high
school students who are in counseling in the classroom and
and we have them sing lullabies to the kids, you know,
just we will use the dog's name a lot and
(06:23):
the song, you know, and then just make up the
words to broms lullaby whatever. And it's so beautiful because
we teach the kids that, oh, you're doing this to
help the dogs relax, which is true. The dogs go
completely just you know, sleepy and relax. But of course
it's helping the kids relax because nothing like singing a
lullaby to a sweet little thing, you know, to make
both of you and the animal feel good. So that's
(06:46):
just a lovely thing to do to bring So I
hope people listening will maybe try that with their animals,
you know, like one of my dogs, Sofia. So I'll
say I can't sing, but this is and I'll model
this as students. I said, I can't sing at.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
All, but Sophie, I love you. You're my sweetest of donkies,
and I love you. Yes, I love you, You're my
little Sophie.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
So it's important to use their name in the song
a lot if they know their name, and it's just
a wonderful thing to do. So try that at home.
Try singing to the animals who share your lives.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You know. It's really really interesting because as an animal
communicator I talk to animals for clients all over the
world and not all the time, but many times the
dog or the animal will talk about the person singing
a special song to them, or playing special music in
the background, or meditating with specific music. They are absolutely
(07:43):
aware of singing and music and there are animals that
really love it very very much.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Yeah, it's great. And if you're putting music on for
your animal when you leave make sure that you know
that that's the style that they like, because it is
there are a lot of uniquenesses. Some animals like classical,
some like new age, so I'm like different things. So
make sure that you are certain that that's what they
like before you leave it on. That's a great Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
No, that's a really good point because of course there
are animals that prefer it quiet and don't like the
noise or don't like the genre of music. And imagine
being stuck at home for four hours listening to music
that you hate. That's really really important to know that
your animal enjoys the music and what kind they like.
Very good point.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
One of my early stories with animal communication was this
was when I was living in New York City. I
was in the movie business. I was a totally type
a person. You had no animals or anything like this,
and I started having these dreams that I was going
to get a cat. And it was like, what, you know,
how am I going to do this with my fourteen
hour days? You know, It's just like I just couldn't
see it. Finally, I said, okay, well, if I'm going
(08:49):
to get a cat, the cat's just going to come
to me. And I said that and forgot about it.
So one night, middle of the winter, New York City,
you know, twenty five degrees, and I hear a sound.
I lived in a like the ground floor apartment in
the back, and I hear this sound. It sounded like
someone was trying to break in my window, which had happened,
so it was really scary. So I yell all kinds
of things, which I won't yell here because you know,
(09:10):
but anyway, so I yell at this thing and I hear, yeah,
this tiny little sound, and I go, oh, no, I
don't have anything, you know, I don't have a cat, bugs,
I don't have a litter, I don't have food. I
had some milk, so I said, all right, I'm just
it's so cold. I'm just going to go out, open
the door, give this cat some milk, and go back
to bed. You gotta get up early. I got a
big shoot tomorrow. So I opened the door, put the
(09:33):
milk down. The cat walks right by the milk and
right inside my door, like this is high home. This
little tiny thing, you know, not like a tiny kitten,
but like a teenage kitten. It was just amazing, you
know that this cat who I named WOLFI. And Wolfy
was with me for sixteen years and when it was time,
(09:54):
you know that it was getting to be that time,
Wolfy told me, you know, gave me about a year
or two noteiculd I was, so this was my sole cat,
you know, about a year two, Wolfy said I'm going
to be going, and another cat, stray, kind of found
us kind of in a similar way. And Wolfe said
to me, you know, like it was that time the
vet was saying, well, I think we should make the
point for euthanasian I didn't feel right, and I said, well,
(10:16):
maybe I should just ask Wolfy what he feels. He
said to me, well, I want to go. I want
to go at home with you, and he gave me
the date. He said, I'm going to go between three
and five am, and that's exactly what happened. So he
went at exactly that time in my arm. So I
was able to be with him and it was just
really beautiful. And you know, I'm not against euthanasia when
(10:36):
it's needed, but it was really important to ask the
animal what their preferences are and so that you can
feel complete, because it really helped me knowing that I
had honored his wishes. Yeah, that made a big deal
to me.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
No, I'm so glad that you shared that story because
you bring up so many good points. Look, here's the truth.
Animals are blessed with euthanasia that they don't have to suffer,
they don't have to go through elongated struggles and illnesses,
that we get to set them free when they're ready
to go. But there are times when euthanasia is overused
(11:15):
or used too early, because just because we have euthanasia
doesn't mean that animals can't still pass on their own
when they want to. And I have a number of
animals that I talk to as an animal communicator, and yeah,
sometimes they say, oh my god, I'm done. This is terrible.
I got to get out of here, and then you
set them free. Other times they ask for more time
(11:36):
and they say, even though I look like a mess,
I don't want to leave yet. I'm not ready. But
then other times they'll say, I am ready, but I
don't want help. I want to pass on my own.
And when animals want that, it's such a blessing to
give them that. Oh yes, absolutely, you know, on animals,
we'll say like, well, here's my bucket, list, or here's
who I want to be there, or here's the tree
(11:59):
I want to lay under. They have wishes and it's
wonderful when we can fulfill them.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Yes, it is absolutely beautiful, Absolutely beautiful, We can do that.
So I want to tell a little story about Oscar,
who was my first therapy dog, and he had been,
you know, literally a prisoner of war. He had been
forced to be a pig hunter in Hawaii, where they
starve them to make them more aggressive. You know, it's
really really rough circumstances. He escaped with it this many
(12:27):
years ago. A very expensive GPS caller was, you know,
hundreds and hundreds of dollars at those times, and they
didn't even you know, they didn't come and get them.
And so I was working with him at the shelter
he had been passed his due date. It was a
kill shelter in those days. And finally I took him
home and he became just the most amazing therapy. He
was the gentlest, sweetest dog, even though he'd been through
(12:49):
scars all over his body, missing teeth, the sweetest dog
I had ever met. And I would sit I was
working with soldiers with PTSD who were hospitalized and they
would sit in a circle and he would go around
and say hello to each one. He could tell someone
was afraid, he would just skip that person, but he
would go and sit. What would do, he would do
what's called an alert, which is he would sit and
just look at the person who was suicidal he knew,
(13:12):
and he would just look at them until they melted,
until they got down on their knees and started making
baby dog and you know, loving this little guy. And
he just had that ability. I was able to find
out from the nurses he was one hundred percent right,
you know, because I didn't know anyone's story or anything,
but he knew he could tell the difference between who was,
you know, who needed a little extra love that day.
(13:33):
And that's what really began my journey with working with
therapy animals was Oscar was his ability to smell suicidality
was so important. This was the early days of the
war twenty ten, so you know, it was not really
being talked about, and soldiers didn't want to mention it
because they could lose their status in the military if
they admitted that. So it was really helpful to have
(13:53):
a dog who knew just who needed. What, Oh, that's
so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
And these animals really do know it can see inside
a person in ways that we can't. At the Gentleburn,
we work with kids from foster agencies or on probation,
or from drug and alcohol rehab centers, or people from
domestic valance shelters, hemmeless shelters, or veteran centers, and hurting
(14:18):
individuals that are not in agencies, and we never ask
for their file. We never speak to someone beforehand. We
don't want to know about them. We just want them
to come and experience the animals, and we know one
hundred percent that those animals will know exactly what to do,
and they always always do. We had a beautiful racehorse
(14:41):
named Mamma Dear, and because she was raised in the
racing industry, she wasn't very warm and fuzzy with kind
of me and my staff. We would try to groom
her and scratch her and massage her, and after five
minutes she'd be like all right, already, like enough. But
the teenagers would come and she hold still for them
(15:01):
for hours. They could crawl underneath her, they could hug her,
they can lay on top of her, they could do
whatever they wanted, and she would not move because she
knew that they needed her. And even our cows and
our cow hug therapy sessions, if someone is just too serious,
(15:23):
they'll lick them or prants around or do something silly
and funny to make them laugh. If someone is really
flighty and kind of stuck in their head, they will
meditate with them to ground them and center them. And
when someone is in real trauma like suicidal ideations or PTSD,
(15:43):
or in real loss and grief, they will literally wrap
their necks around them and hold them for hours. They
know exactly what that person needs, and all we have
to do is facilitate their interaction.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Beautiful, so beautiful, they are so yes, so much. We're
going to take a short little break. When we come back,
you're going to hear more wonderful stories from Ellie Lax,
founder of The Gentle Barn, and Genie Joseph The Human
Animal Connection.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
We'll be right back, hey, friends. If you like what
you're hearing and want to learn more, check out doctor
Joseph's book The Human Animal Connection, Deepening Relationships with Animals
and Ourselves, or visit the website The Humananimalconnection dot org
(16:32):
to book an online consultation. Thank you for loving animals.
Now back to the show.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
Let's Talk Pats on Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Welcome back to the Human Animal Connection Podcast. So, Ellie,
we were talking on the break. You said your horse
was kind of coming in and giving them this feeling
that he wanted his story told. So tell us about Whisper. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I keep thinking about Whisper, and it's almost like she's
in my ear, going tell my story, tell my story.
Her birthday or what would have been her birthday, is
coming up, so I think she would love for me
to tell her story. Whisper has a very very long,
kind of painful story that she actually doesn't like when
I tell it. So I'm gonna tell her story the
(17:24):
way she likes me to tell her story. Whisper is
extraordinarily resilient, very brave, very strong. She has gone through
enormous trauma and come out the other side victorious. She
was very angry when she came to the Gentle Barn,
and we had to work extensively on helping her. And
(17:46):
one of the first things is she had no trust
for us. She was very, very, very angry because she
had been through enormous emotional, mental, and physical abuse. She
had cigar birds on her butt, she had holes on
either side from the spurs, she had her chest rubbed
raw from the saddle strap. She had no confidence or
belief in any one, and she felt completely alone in
the world. So the first thing that I had to
(18:09):
do was I to show her that I trusted her,
because when you give someone your trust, then oftentimes they'll
want to return the favor. And it was very dicey
because she was, you know, she was offering to bite
and kick and trolling around and rearing up, and it
was kind of a scary situation. But instinctively, I knew
(18:30):
that I had to show her that I trusted her.
So I walked into her stall and she was racing
around and kicking and bucking and rearing and screaming and
charging and biting at me. And I stood in the
center of her stall and I closed my eyes and
I kept saying, you have my trust, you have my trust,
you have my trust. My husband was going, Ellie, get
(18:51):
out of there. That is so dangerous, and I was like, no,
I have to do this. And what was interesting is
she was doing all kinds of posture and offering, but
She did not touch a hair on my head, and
that was very intentional, right. She wanted to show me
how angry she was, and she actually didn't want to
hurt me.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
And as I sat there with my eyes closed, offering
her my trust, she de escalated until finally she stopped
what she was doing, stood in front of me, put
her mouth on mine, and we breathed each other in Wow.
That was the beginning of her healing.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
We worked for the next four years. What happened to her?
She was savagely abused under saddle, so the man wanted
her to do cattle roping with him, but she Okay,
Jennifer is not in the room, and that shadow just
passed behind me. Okay, And Sharon is sitting at her
desk and has not moved. Oh hello, whisper. If anybody
(19:50):
that is watching saw that shadow pass behind me, there
is no one moving in the office, so I think
that is whisper saying hello Hello was pre valid. There
it is again, There it is again. We will anyway.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
We're having a shadow phenomenon. For those of you who
were watching and not just listening, we've been having a
shadow move with it somewhere somehow in Ellie's room, even
though no one is moving, there is a shadow that
has been walking back and forth. And we weren't deciding
whether we should tell you this story, but now I
think we have to tell you. Go ahead to finish
whisper story. So for the next fourth.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So, Whisper was savagely abused under saddle, and this man
wanted her to rope cattle with him, but prior to
meeting him, she had never met a cow in her life.
And instead of giving her time to figure it out
or to teach her, he just sat on her and
gave her commands that she didn't understand, and when she
didn't follow the commands, he beat her silly. She started
(20:47):
fighting back because she's a fighter, and every time she fought,
he would hurt her even worse, and it became just
this snowball of trauma. So once I gave her my
trust and she softened and we breathed each other in,
we embarked on a four year journey of sitting on her,
asking her to do tiny little things that of course
she knew how to do, like take a step forward,
(21:09):
take a step to the left, take a step to
the right, But instead of following those instructions, she was
triggered from her trauma and she would explode. And it
gave us an opportunity to sit very quietly on her
and say, tell us more. And she got to buck
and rear and kick and scream and bite and turtle
around and speak with her body and talk about her
(21:32):
anger and her trauma and her sadness and her pain,
while we very quietly just sat on her and let
her tell us what she had inside of her. And
little by little, the more she got to do that,
the more she expressed herself, the softer she got, the
quieter she got, until after four years she literally had
(21:54):
said all of it and there was no more trauma
left inside of her. And the very very last day
we brought her out to the barn. Out of the barn,
she said, ah, here we go again. But instead of
saddling her up and doing the exercises with her, I
took her halter off and I said, whisper, you're free.
(22:15):
You will never be ridden again. No one will ever
harm you or objectify you ever again. As long as
you live, you're free. You're seen, you're heard, you're respected,
and we will honor you till the end of your life.
And she kind of looked at me, like, really, are
you sure? Are you serious? And I said, yes, you're free.
And she went off and she grazed on the grass,
(22:37):
and her and I had the most extraordinary rest of
her life. What I would do was I would take
her out on the walking trails, and when we passed
that very last house, I would take everything off of
her and set her free, and I would walk and
she would graze, and then she would lift her head
and realize that I had walked on and she would
gallop to catch up with me, and I walked beside
(23:00):
her like a dog with nothing on her, and she
grazed and she galloped, and she played, and we ran together,
and we explored together, and her and I had a
relationship unlike any other relationship I've ever had with any
other animal in my entire life, because it was not
about riding her or controlling her or training her. It
(23:22):
was about both of us, all feet on the ground,
side by side, exploring the world and having an equal relationship.
And it was so beautiful. So at the Gentle Barn,
we worked with a lot of angry teenagers right who
have been told to sit down, shut up, and follow
the rules. Who have been mirrored that they were bad
and wanted and unlovable, who are incarcerated or recovering from
(23:46):
being in gangs or drugs. They've had really, really hard
pass and they've been mirrored from society at large that
they were like didn't have any value. And Risper was
so instrumental in their recovery because they would come to
the Gentle Barn, they avoided eye contact, they had their
(24:06):
arms folded across their chests defensively, and all I had
to do was tell Whisper's story and they immediately identified
with it. They immediately saw themselves in her shoes. And
by telling Whisper's story and loving her so much, they
knew that I accepted them and didn't judge them. And
of course, after telling her story, they always wanted to
(24:29):
meet her and she was their hero, modeling that expressing
anger is so important in their healing journey, and after
you express your anger and you heal, then moving on
and finding your own family and your own tribe and
your own happily ever after is possible, and she inspired
(24:51):
them to do it in their own lives, and she
was just she did such good work at the Gentle barn.
She was one of our healthiest horses. She was at
the twenty six years old, but she had a full body.
She was a quarter horse, so she had this big, gorgeous,
big black butt and this muscular body, this beautiful face,
this little pink spot on her nose that I love
(25:12):
to kiss.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
And she was doing great.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
She was eating, she was doing wonderful. And one day
I was down in the barnyard and she looked at
me and she said, please spend some extra time with me.
I don't have much time. And I was like, oh
my god, Whisper, you're perfectly happy. What are you talking about.
You're so healthy. And she was like, just trust me,
I don't have much time left. Please spend time with me.
So of course I did, and a week later she collicked. Wow,
(25:39):
And for those of you that might not know, colic
is a stomach ache in horses. But it could be
a twist of the intestines, it could be a tumor
wrapped around the intestines, it could be an impaction, and
it can very often be fatal. So we took her
immediately to the hospital. They rushed her in for emergency
surgery because she did have several tumors wrapped around her intestines.
(26:01):
She walked out of the surgical suite and into the
recovery room. But she and when she was in the hospital,
I was able to walk her, you know, take her
out for walks in between the orange orchards and the
beautiful eucalyptus groves and the olive trees. I was able
to spend all day long for months in the hospital.
(26:26):
We bonded so completely. And then after a few months,
she collicked again and there was nothing else they could
do to save her, and we had to help her
out of her body. But the fact that she was
warning me that her end was coming, the fact that
we were able to spend that uninterrupted time at the hospital,
(26:47):
just me and her for months, it was such a gift.
And I will always be grateful for the relationship that
we had, the deep connection that we had, and all
the hundreds, if not thousands, of teenagers that she saved
just by sharing who she was in her story.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Yeah, it was just absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
And she would be churning. She would be turning twenty
nine in May on May first, and it's her and
I love her and I'm glad that she joined us today.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
I'm so glad she joined us today. And it's amazing
because once who started telling her story, we had no
more movement in the background, no more shadows. So you've
been seen and heard, and many more people going to
be hearing this story of Whisper. Thank you Whisper for
visiting us in this powerful way. And yeah, a beautiful, beautiful, Well,
(27:39):
let's see, let me pick a story. There was a
dog a client I was working with doing some animal communication.
She had rescued a dog that had probably been in
a puppy mail situation. So this was a dog that
was really very shut down, would not leave the house,
not even to potty, you know, and just really rough ride.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
She was a senior, very loving, but she had a
you know, it's tough because she the dog was too
scared to do anything, really just wanted to sleep in
her bed. And at one point, you know, she was
having her doubts about whether or not she could manage this,
handle this, and the dog, Sophie said to her in
a in a voice she could hear. She said, Sophie,
(28:22):
the dog said, don't give up on me. And that
was the turning point, you know, and now where she's
at a point where mostly she'll go out to potty
and you know, some progress. We can put a harness
on her and you know she can play and do
some different things, but never going to be you know,
like some other dogs. You know, this is not like
the vet has to come to her. She can't get
in the car or anything like that. But she is
(28:43):
the most amazing dog. So sometimes well I'll talk to
her and I say, Sophie, how you know, how's been going?
And she'll go, oh, I'm busy. And I was like, okay,
so I think I told you this story that that
she took us on a little journey. I said, so
tell us what you better do? You she is with
other animals, and she took us to see the cows,
and she put us in the center of all these cows,
(29:07):
and they came and licked her, you know, the cow's licktor,
just as cows do it. You know, such a beautiful
inner life she has.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
This.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I mean, we call her Sophie the Buddha because she
she just externally she doesn't appear to be having much
of a life. But if you find out what she's
up to it's very, very rich. And one day her
purse said to Sophie said, so oh, I tell you
she the person bought her this expensive toy. And she's
on a budget, you know, but she bought her this
(29:35):
expensive duck. It was like a sixty dollars toy because
she loved this duck and she gave it a Sofie
Sophie was like, eh, you know, like no interest in
the duck, right, she has some toys, but this sixty
dollars duck meant nothing to her. But it was Sophie's birthday,
and I mean it was the person's birthday. And she said, Sophie,
what are you going to give me for my birthday?
She said to the dog, And the dog said, ah,
(29:55):
you can take the duck. Take the duck. That was funny.
It's such such depth of understanding. And you know, Sophie
will often say things to us that just makes us laugh.
You know, she just has this sense of humor, and
it's so interesting because externally you would say, this is
not much of a life. You know, she doesn't meet
any other dog, she doesn't go anywhere, but she's got
(30:17):
quite a beautiful world.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
You know.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
That's really something.
Speaker 6 (30:20):
Yeah, yeah, I love that story. That is so beautiful
because it really is true animals in particular. I think
humans can ask for travel too, but I think that.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
We're less likely to do it because we're so entrenched
in this physical world. But animals, I mean, that is
part of their makeup. They are constantly meditating, going other places,
connecting with one another, talking to the birds, and the
birds tell them what's going on and out in the world.
They know things that you would never realize that they know.
(30:51):
As a matter of fact, our cows. When people walk
into the cow pasture and they're wearing leather shoes, they're
always surprised that the cows come over and lick their boots,
and it's like because they know what leather is. They
know that that was a cow. They know that animals
are being slaughtered, They know that people are struggling out
in the world. They even though they're in a little pasture,
(31:14):
they have a worldwide understanding and view of what is
going on in this human planet, and they'd want to help.
Many many times, I will talk to my client's animals
and they'll show me like I spend so much time
sleeping because I can go places, and my body can
move faster than it can in real life. Sometimes they
(31:37):
tell me that they're on the other side, meeting friends
over there, preparing for their transition. I have a sixteen
year old dog named Bingo, and he was used to
be very very active, walking, hiking, swimming, going to the beach,
following us around, sitting in our laps, cuddling, and recently,
I would say over the last six months, definitely, if
(31:59):
not last year, he has taken to having these very
very very deep sleeps, extraordinary deep sleeps. But it's not
the kind of sleep where if you make a noise
he wakes up. It's the kind of sleep where it's
so deep that there are several times where I'll come
and try to wake him up because I'm leaving the
room or I'm leaving the house and I need him
(32:20):
to wake up, and I'm petting him, and he is
not in his body. He is somewhere else, he is
interacting with other beings. He is not in his body,
and no matter how much I talked to him and
pet him, he will not wake up, and I have
to wait for like thirty minutes, and then thirty minutes
later he'll come back. To his body and he'll come
(32:41):
find me and he'll be like, I'm so happy to
be Bennett. I'm so happy to see you. This is
where I was, and he'll tell extraordinary stories of travel.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Yes, yes, it's fazing. Well, this has been absolutely delightful.
I think we'll have to do this again because I
know we've only got tapped the beginning of all of
our story. So this has been so delightful. So Ellen,
how can people find you if they want to connect
with you or support you. Well, to find out more
about my animal communication and energy healing that I do
(33:10):
for maybe your pet, you can go to.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Ellilax dot com.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
And to find out more about the Gentle Barn, Come
huggy cow, cuddle a turkey, give a pig a tummy rub,
and find out for yourself how amazing these rescue animals are,
please go to Genlebarn dot org and of course we
can be.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Found on all social media platforms as well.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Well. Thank you so much for being a part of
our Human Animal Connection podcast and if you were watching,
I hope you got to enjoy the shadow. That's been
really fun. Well, thank you so much. We'll see you
in the next episode.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
By for now.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Thank you for tuning in to The Human Animal Connection Show.
Please visit our website, The Humananimalconnection dot org. There you
can sign up for our free email newsletter, book a consultation,
or check out our blogs and resources. Our best selling book,
The Human Animal Connection is available on Amazon, and your
(34:03):
donation of any amount keeps our nonprofit organization providing life
changing services.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on petlifradio
dot com
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