Today I worked with an ex-riding school pony with a phobia of hills. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but he's living in the Welsh mountains.

By the end of the session, I'd created a road made of rubber matting and had him walking up and trotting down without a problem. Tomorrow we shall see if I can get him doing it on tarmac.

Can you imagine me explaining this to a psychiatrist?  I think our conversation might go something like this:

Psychiatrist: Now, how do you feel when the animals talk to you?

Me: Great. Well, usually, that is. Sometimes I feel sad, because they communicate how they feel, so I'll feel how they feel.

Psychiatrist: I see. [long pause] So the animals feel sad do they?

Me: Yes, sometimes. That's why their humans ask me to help them.  Because they may have emotional -

Psychiatrist: Humans?

Me: That's right.  I prefer using that to 'owner' if I can.  The humans may feel their animal has an emotional or psychological issue of some kind, other treatments have drawn a blank, so they ask me to try to help.

Psychiatrist: [Writing down on his notepad the letters B-A-T-T-Y very slowly] I see.  Interesting. And how are you able to help?

Me: Well, so say for example I'm working with a pony who's phobic of hills.

Psychiatrist: Hills?

Me: Well, it wouldn't be a problem for a pony hacking on flat ground, but this one lives in the Welsh mountains, so it becomes a daily nightmare for the human just to get him exercised.

Psychiatrist: [sucking ambiguously through his lips] This is clearly a problem.  How do you deal with it?

Me: Well once you've unearthed and resolved any emotional issues that may be underlying the fear, such as past negative or traumatic events, then it's just a matter of desensitising the pony to the environmental stimuli that are triggering the fear response.  In this case it's the fear of slipping on the tarmac road.

Psychiatrist: So how do you do this?

Me: Well first of all, to remove the auditory stimulus of the sound of hooves on tarmac, I visualise the pony walking on a rubber matting -

Psychiatrist: You visualise hooves - and rubber matting?

Me: Yes, using telepathic communication, the animal conveys pictures and feelings of what he's experiencing, which I can then work with therapeutically, and then I send him positive pictures, sounds and other stimuli to reinforce the desired feeling state.

Psychiatrist: [circling the letters B-A-T-T-Y very heavily] And so how long have you done this - visualising.

Me: Oh, for donkeys years, but therapeutically with animals since 2006.

Psychiatrist: So it must feel quite stressful after all this time?  You've been feeling under psychological strain?

Me: Not at all. I love helping animals.  In fact, I have some books planned, so I can help other people help their own animals.

Psychiatrist: [withdrawing 2 valium from the top pocket of his white overall]  Ah, well we'll see about that.

Well, it might be something like that. 

I suspect animal intuitives, therapists and healers have a long way to go before they are truly accepted and understood by the majority, but we should embrace that. 

Each step along the path, each positive result, each relieved, grateful 'owner' and most of all, each animal that goes away feeling better, leads us to a world where animals will be better helped, cared for and understood, irrespective of whether humans believe that it is possible or not.