Providing peace and a healing touch for animals in pain

The dirt road leading to the horse barn has fenced pastures on either side. Here, horses nibble on short winter grass or hay. Wind chimes hang from some of the trees. Barn cats roll in the dirt. It is quiet and peaceful.

This is one of the locations for the Horses of Pamlico Etc. (H.O.P.E) in Reelsboro, created for horses in the county who have suffered abuse or neglect.

Sharon Vandiford, the founder of H.O.P.E., sees me and motions me to the furthest fenced pasture. In a circular training arena, a regular volunteer is training a new rescue horse. A high school student, also a volunteer, sits on the gravel watching their progress.

Further out in the pasture, a woman named Michele Rodriguez stands next to a brown and white horse with spots, an appaloosa, named Saunders.

“She is amazing,” Sharon says, nodding in Michelle’s direction. Saunders, who is 30 years old, has deep sockets where his eyes should be. He has cancer, which took over his eyes and his sight. To make him more comfortable, his eyes were removed last year, Sharon says.

“When we did the surgery, Michele was here hours before, calming the horses. They can feel it; they know something is happening,” says Sharon. Saunders’s father, named Christopher (who was 34), was there by Saunders’s side. “Michele created calmness. She made the surgery possible without chaos and trauma among the other horses.”

I watch Michele work with Saunders in the field. Her hands are placed low on his left side rib cage, near his heart. His mouth quivers. She whispers, her head close to his. She wears a colorful, knitted ball cap. No treats. Woman and horse move together as if holding a private conversation. He switches his body weight from side to side. His nose sniffs her closely.

After 20 minutes, Saunders slowly walks away, at ease, to graze on his own.

Michele smiles to herself, leaves Saunders, and chats with his new companion, a curious horse named Cash. Then she walks over to me to sit at a nearby picnic table.

“People think I’m crazy” she says, talking about reiki, this 2,000-year-old Japanese holistic practice—a healing art. She works with many animals in need in Pamlico county, not just horses. She defines the ancient practice as an exchange of the heart—led by the animals—in order to heal them. Most of the time she is hired to work with animals at the end of their lives.

“It works in many different ways and it’s sometimes hard to see. Horses are the most intuitive,” she says.

She points to Saunders. “He’s my heart; we connect,” she says. She has been coming to see Saunders for over two years, since before his surgery.

Reiki involves chakras, or energy centers, that boost energy and peace, she tells me, like small wheels that should be turning. Animals have eight chakras; people have seven. Dogs have them under their paws. I know very little about chakras or energy centers, but there does seem to be a calmness that follows her around the farm.

“For 23 years, they are my teachers,” she says of the animals. She started reiki with people, then animals. She moved to Arapahoe in 2015 and co-authored four books on the topic. Her practice focuses on behavior, meditation and communication. It is never forced; the animals lead.

Her local business is Healing Touch Animal Reiki. She does overnight end-of-life care and care for animals when their owners can’t care for them on their own or might have to travel and leave their animals behind. But she is a caregiver, not a pet sitter, she says.

“I can tell when it's their time to go,” she says. “And with the pandemic, it has put people in a mental state—the animals carry that.”

A stray cat jumps up and lays on the table in front of her, looking for a caress. She slowly pets it while talking to me, as if she has known this cat her entire life.

Looking exhausted, she gets up to go home. Sessions with animals going through pain, like Saunders, who still suffers from cancer, is emotional. It drains her. She needs to rest, to recharge.

“I have a pull to be here,” she explains. “Animals are my purpose, my passion.”

*If you have an animal in need of a caregiver, Michele at Healing Touch Animal Reiki can be contacted here.

*Horses of Pamlico is looking for volunteers to visit the horses or help with farm repairs. They would like to have regular volunteers who can commit to at least one day a week. No experience with horses necessary. Must sign a waiver. Text Sharon Vandiford for more information, 252-474-7838

Send any photos of Pamlico County my way, especially if they show some of our history or your own family memories. [email protected]

To see my work, check out my Instagram page @andreabruce

Donate to Down in the County and become a vital part of growing our visual and written history.