There will be plenty of you reading this who will know what I mean when I ask the question "have you ever thought about somebody, whom you haven't seen or heard of for ages, and then the next day or even that same day you bump into them, get a call or receive a letter?" Or, perhaps, the telephone rings and you think "that will be so and so". This a common phenomenon and it's just telepathy, a skill we all have but don't really recognise it as such, or indeed, develop the use of.

To put this in simple terms; imagine a stone being thrown into a pond and then see the ripples extending out from the point of impact. This is a visible movement energy, however, not all energy is visible; sound, microwave, radio waves, or heat. There is an energy field around everything including our thoughts, and telepathy is the ability to pick up on those energy thoughts and understand them.

Billy, used to understand and respond to my energy thoughts. He was always difficult to catch and gradually, once I'd recognised the game and communicated that, he would allow himself to be caught. At other times, I'd walk out into the field and clearly think "Billy, the farrier is coming to see you, please will you come in and I promise you can come out again when he's finished." Billy responded immediately, not with the 30 minute run around that I used to experience. Most expert horsemen/women will tell you that they visualise what they want their horse to do and the horse responds, though this is, of course, when there is a relationship built on trust and respect between the horse and rider.

Each of us communicates in different ways with animals; some will quite clearly hear words, whilst some will see pictures, others will get a "knowing" or perhaps an emotion, several will get a physical sensation and most will a get a combination of all. I have come to understand though that the animal communicates the information that we can use at that moment, especially if it recognises that we are trying to help it. To clarify, two people may get two very different communications that will lead them to the same conclusion or solution.

Last year, I was encouraged to attend a workshop with an international animal communicator, Amelia Kinkade, and there learnt some techniques which I have now been able to build upon and develop my skills and get a combination of all the experiences. I did realise though that I have have always been very clairsentient (emotion feeling), though I just didn't understand it. Billy was very aggressive when he first arrived with me and one day I suddenly felt his fear, and knew that he understood my realisation, he was never aggressive with me after that and our relationship deepened to a new level. I never heard Billy talk to me, though my cat, Ricky, is an insolent little monkey! Just after the workshop, I had a cat flap fitted and try, as I might, I couldn't get my cats, Ricky and Freya to use it. I bodily pushed them through the opening, to try and help them get the idea, but then they'd just sit on the other side mewing to come in. So, following the method of visualising every step of the procedure; opening the cat flap and stepping through, seeing it through the cat's eyes and feeling the sensations, I focussed on Ricky. Within seconds, he walked up to the flap, pushed it, just as I'd pictured and stepped through and then walked off with his tail in the air as proud as punch! There are, of course, the downsides to hearing ………. usually when it's the middle of night and there is this incessant concentration of thought hitting you with "I'm hungry!" or "I want to come and sleep on your bed!"

So how can communicating with an animal, help a problem? In the last couple of years, my work has developed in a way that I would never have imagined. I trained as an Aromatherapist and then progressed to using the aromatics with animals, in particular, horses. As the communication skills have developed, the animals will communicate information about their problems through the use of emotion, pictures or words to enable me to offer them the aromatics, which will help release them from the trauma or free an emotion which is the basis of a physical condition. In many cases, I am working with chronic conditions or behavioural problems that haven't responded to the traditional treatments or training.

The clairaudience side of my work is only really just starting to develop, most of the time I'd been using images or feelings to identify the essential oils and aromatics required, until the issues have been resolved. Well, that is until I recently met Zac, a wonderful character in a race yard. I was greeted with "I'm bored………….. I'm bored!" The trainer said "of course he's bored, he's been box rested for 3 weeks from a back injury!" Zac wasn't telling me about the last 3 weeks, he was telling me about his life. He is one of the most intelligent youngsters I have ever met, but when the trainer called me out it was because he had a "big attitude problem" - Zac had become very aggressive and would rear each time he was taken to the gallops. I still smile when I think about him as I had such a wonderful time with this spirited character - he tested me the whole time I was with him. He bit everybody else that came near us, but just played with me by holding my coat and saying "what's next?" As Zac's story unfolded, he really was just a youngster in a big horse's body and just didn't know when to draw the line and back off. Zac needed to think about and contribute to what he was being asked to do, yes, he was a fantastic racehorse, but he also needed the stimulation of working things out and he wasn't being given this opportunity, so he was challenging them all through his behaviour. Our session became one of great fun - he'd politely consider the oils and if he wanted one then he'd gently nudge me and carefully lick it from my hand and if he didn't, he'd try and bite me! It was an hilarious game of who was the quickest! Zac selected oils for his injuries, for his boredom/mental stimulation and to build his self-confidence or, rather help him through the "teenager" stage. The stable hands were all delighted by this calmer chap and responded by building in some changes to his routine to help with the boredom factors.

It was in the same yard that I met Rosie, a pretty chestnut mare who had unexplainable heat in her shins. There was no inflammation, no injury and no identifiable explanation but she was in a lot of discomfort. Rosie had raced for the first time a couple of weeks previously and was set to race again two weeks later. I saw her very briefly on my visit with Zac and, as I left, I started to feel that she was in pain around her ears and that her legs just weren't the problem - just a clue for her trainer, that all was not well. A laser therapist, who'd referred the horses to me, confirmed after a visit the next day, that there was inflammation around her poll and I sent some essential oils for this problem which Rosie happily took and the heat went from her legs. She started back in light training and all was going well and then all of a sudden back came the heat. It was a puzzling situation, so I went to have a chat with her. Rosie wouldn't show any interest in any of my oils or herbs and all I got from her was "I don't want to be a racehorse, I'm not very good at it and I don't want to get better!" Not the easiest thing to explain to the stable lad or trainer. The stable lad helped me out to the car with my boxes and asked what I thought about Rosie and I decided to just take the puzzled route and say "I wasn't sure what was going on as I'd only had one horse before show no interest whatsoever in the oils" - he then turned round and said "she doesn't want to be a racehorse and she doesn't think she is very good at it!" I think I'd just come face to face with communicator who perhaps didn't know it!

If you'd like to know more about animal communication or aromatics then please get in contact, perhaps, you may be interested in joining in a workshop where you can learn how to develop your skills.