"Past the Five Senses"

The world we experience around us is not limited by the five senses. We as human beings have the capability to have some amazing experiences with the animals and world around us if we take just a little time to allow ourselves to connect. This is not a magic trick but being who we were created to be in living in harmony on the earth with the creatures, nature and each other.  There is so much more to us and our lives on this earth then we realize. Through my own experiences I have found that even the animals know our intentions and what we are about even if we don't.

 When I was growing up, my parents had a working ranch in Presidio, TX with horses and cattle. My mom likes to tell a story about the time that she was in the kitchen and I was two years old and was playing with some toys around her feet. She says she was busy with what she was doing and lost sight of me for a few minutes which was enough time for me to toddle out the door. Instead of hanging out in the yard, I had headed for the pasture where we kept the horses. At the time my father had bought a palomino mare that he was breaking in to ride. He was still working on taming her as she was high spirited. When I got to her she was rolling in the dirt on her back. By the time my mom found me I had already crawled through the fence and walked up to the horse climbing on her belly.

My mom first said she was horrified of what she saw but then she realized that the horse had stopped moving and was laying perfectly still as I sat on top of her. The other horses had gathered around me and were nosing the mare and nibbling on me.  Instead of running out in panic mom said she carefully went out and called my name softly coaxing me out of the pasture. I did eventually slide off the mare and crawl back through the fence into my mother's arms.  The mare then stood up shaking the dust off then ran off nipping at the other horses playfully.

Years later when I was needing time to myself I would walk out into the pasture and climb up on my big black horse whose name was Jupiter. He was a 16 hands registered quarter horse and the love of my life. All I would do was drape myself around him, as he grazed in the pasture, enjoying the calmness of his energy as he walked around.

When I was ten I would spend the summers with my father in Taos, New Mexico. He would go there to paint and to sell his art at his gallery there. Instead of renting or buying a house, he would set up his tepees and camp out on his friend's land. He always brought his horses, dogs, goats and sheep with him to keep him company. So, it wasn't unusual when we returned to camp late one afternoon after being in town all day to find our camp had been ravaged by a pack of wild dogs. After checking to see if all of our animals were okay and seeing that they were fine we headed into the tepees which had been heavily investigated. That evening was dedicated to cleaning up. As I was cleaning I got it into my head to tame one of the dogs to take care of.

The next day I didn't go into town to work at the gallery but stayed at camp. My father always took his dogs to the gallery with him so I was alone with the other animals that were there. Not sure how to go about it, I sat down outside and started to try to telepathically move into the field of the dogs. For the first few tries that day I didn't have any results, until late in the evening when I was trying again and heard a whimper behind me, then a low growl. Excited I didn't respond but continued to concentrate on sending out unconditional love to this animal. I had my eyes closed and then felt something come up to me and sniff around.

I wasn't able to see the dog as it kept hidden but the next day I tried it again and then again the next day. Finally on the third day when I heard the whimpering I reached out my closed hand out and was licked.  I opened my eyes and there sitting in front of me was a very scruffy medium sized dog looking at me wagging it's tail. That day was the beginning of a beautiful friendship and I soon had my own dog that I called Fritz.

Looking back I see that we all share the ability in remembering in not limiting our own awareness of the world around us but to live and experience past the five senses as there is so much that life has to offer us as multi-dimensional beings.

Note on pictures: 1st picture of Ana age 5.  2nd picture of father, A. Kelly Pruitt.  3rd picture Ana on father's horse.