At the place where I turn around on my walk and head back towards home, there is a pasture.  And in the pasture lives a White Horse.  He grazes here and there and when I walk by he raises his head and looks in my direction. One day I stopped to connect with him.  He was fairly close to the tall deer fence where I was standing.  I don’t know his name to call him and I had no treats to temp him, so it must have been his curiosity that drew him closer. I closed my eyes and imagined scratching him.  Just a simple picture in my mind of my fingers rubbing and scratching the itchy places he must have on this warm spring day while still wearing remnants of his winter coat.    I stretched my hand through the square openings in the metal fence as he came over to sniff my hand.  I began scratching his chest and his neck vigorously and he positioned himself right alongside the fence so I could reach his back and withers. I scratched all the many itchy places he showed me by positioning his body under my hands, which was rather convenient owing to the tall fence with its mesh-like openings. I couldn’t move my hands much, so he moved his body. It was a delightful interaction and I stroked his freckled face and cupped his soft nose in my hand before saying goodbye and continuing on my way.  The next time I walked his direction was a few weeks later.  I was happy to see him in the pasture and I stopped by the fence.  He was all the way on the other side, grazing contentedly.  He raised his head.  I closed my eyes and imagined scratching him, just like the last time I connected with him and using the same imagery. He began trotting in my direction, crossing the pasture swiftly and coming directly towards me!  His enthusiasm made me smile and it warmed my heart to know he clearly understood my intention. He came right up alongside the fence so I could reach him and again showed me all the places he wanted to be rubbed and scratched.  Such simple and pleasant interactions, yet they illustrate how easy it can be to experiment with animal communication. Use your imagination the next time you are with your animal and see what surprising things happen when you hold clear pictures in your mind. And the fun ending to this story is that I got to meet him up close without the fence in the way and learned that his name is Seamus!