DANCING WITH DOLL: Life and Leadership Lessons Learnt Through Accessing Animal Wisdom

By Davina Herbert

Davina has been communicating with animals for years in her Pet Energy Therapy business and with her own personal furred and feathered tribe. In this book Davina shares the lessons that her mare, Doll, and other animals taught her over the years. These lessons are all life lessons and can be applied equally to your life whether you have an animal or not.

In this book you will learn:
• How to be the leader in your own life;
• How to regain your trust in yourself;
• How to have confidence in yourself;
• The benefits of listening to yourself; and
• How unique and important you are to the world.

Davina Herbert is passionate about animals. As a Human – Animal Communicator, Davina relays messages of wisdom and support from animals to their human friends. Her vision is to see a world where animals have a more equal role in society.She enjoys laughing at her own jokes and dancing like no one (except for the dogs) is watching.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9781447826026

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Welcome friend! I would like to take you on a journey. A journey of remembering that you are a being of energy and that your very essence is that of love. You are unique. There is no one else like you on this planet. If you let yourself shine, the planet and everyone on it will be so much richer.

To help you remember who you are, I am going to tell you stories of wisdom that I have learnt from animals. I am a human–animal communicator. In my business of Pet Energy Therapy (P.E.T.), I help clients to access the wisdom that their animal friends have to share with them.

I see animals as sentient beings who experience consciousness. Like us, they are able to experience love and connection. My vision is of a world where animals have a greater role in society and are considered equal. I believe that now is the time to take steps towards that vision. Any change has to start somewhere. It starts with you. If we as individuals don’t start stepping up and saying, This is who I am, and this is what I believe in, we will end up with a world in which we don’t want to live.

I believe that it is not only possible, but easy to communicate with animals. The communication that animals have offered to my clients has shown me that they have a wisdom and a knowing, that can greatly contribute to our lives if we are willing to receive it. Imagine what a different world we could create if we regularly tapped into animal wisdom.

The Doll referred to in the title, Dancing with Doll, was my mare who died on the 21st of September, 2022. Throughout the years that we had together, she shared wisdom with me that I am able to use to live a better, more loving life. I also include in here some wisdom from other animals who have been part of my family or with whom I have worked. I’m calling this book Dancing with Doll to honour Doll and also because most of the stories and lessons in this book came from Doll.

This book is for all those who believe that animals can share wisdom with us if we are open to receive it. If that sounds like you and you believe that magic and miracles do exist, then pop on your unicorn glasses and read on.

Chapter 1

ARE YOU LISTENING?

Idon’t remember a time when I have not been fascinated by horses. There have been many examples of horses and horse symbols throughout my life. I was given a paint by numbers set as a child. The subject of the painting was, of course, a horse. I still have that painting hanging up at home. When I was little, I convinced my father that trail riding was an awesome father-daughter bonding activity. That was a win-win for me as it gave me the opportunity to spend time with Dad and with horses. When I was young, a doctor that I went to had a rocking horse in his waiting room. I would have loved to have ridden it. Every time I went to that doctor, I would look at the rocking horse enviously. I stopped myself as I felt that I was too old to go for a ride. Since I was around six years of age, it was only my perception that was preventing me. Plus, I never told anyone that I wanted to go on the horse. I just kept my wishes and dreams to myself. Where in your life are you keeping your wishes and dreams inside? Is it time to give them wings and let them fly?

I started to have horse riding lessons when I was in my late thirties. I had just finished with adult synchronised ice skating and was looking for a new hobby. One day I decided to go trail riding. Whilst I had fun, I felt that I would have enjoyed it more if I had known how to ride. I knew then that horses and horse riding were going to be my new hobby. At the time, there was an equestrian centre down the road from where my parents lived. They provided lessons for all ages. So I signed up for group lessons. My first horse teacher was called Bob. He was what is called a schoolmaster horse. That means that he was a horse that had been there, done that, and was hard to startle. Horses are flight animals. What does that mean? When faced with danger, they are likely to run first and work out what to do later, from a safe space. As humans, we too have a ‘flight or fight’ response. When we are faced with a situation that we find dangerous or threatening, sometimes we will run, and sometimes we will stay to fight. When learning to ride, it is important to have a horse whom you can depend upon to take care of you. You don’t want a horse who is easy to startle and likely to take off at a gallop or dump his student on the ground because of a perceived threat.

I enjoyed my riding lessons so much that I started to look at what else I could do to have more time with the horses. That started me thinking about buying a horse of my own. My father suggested that I start by leasing a horse. The benefit of that plan was that it gave me time to ensure that this was something I really wanted to do before spending a chunk of money. At the stables, there was a horse called Honey who was available to be leased. This was a perfect arrangement. If I decided that I didn’t like the experience of caring for a horse, then I could just hand her back to the owner. Caring for a horse can be a lot of work. If they are not in paddocks with abundant grass, they need to be fed morning and night. They also have to be provided with fresh water and bedding and have their stalls cleaned out on a daily basis. I continued to lease Honey until it was time for both of us to move on. It was at that time that I felt I was ready for my own horse. I knew what was involved in horse ownership, and I really enjoyed it. My next step was to tell everyone I knew in the horse world that I was looking for a horse. Enter Ms Doll into my life.

I was told about a horse in the local area who was up for sale. So I went to meet her and have a test ride to see if we would suit. When I got to the stables, I was shown a Stock Horse mare (female horse). A Stock Horse is a type of horse that is typically used for working with livestock. This mare’s job had been to muster cattle. The cattle mustering contract was not renewed, so she was up for sale. When I asked what her name was, I was told, Brown Mare. This puzzled me. I could see that she was brown in colour and that she was a mare. Why weren’t they telling me her name? Finally, I realised that her name was Brown Mare. I took twenty-four hours to make a decision. At that time, I was not willing to trust my gut instincts. I worried all night about what was the ‘right’ decision. The music from Hello Dolly, the musical, kept playing in my head during the night. That’s how Brown Mare ended up being renamed Doll. After my night of ‘tossing and turning’, I decided that I would purchase Doll and see how things would work out for us.

We had around fifteen years of adventures together. There were ups and downs during that time. Fortunately there were many more ups than downs. Not long after I got Doll, she got out of her stable yard and was walking around the equestrian centre. How exactly that happened is not something that I can recall. The part that I do recall is chasing her around and around the chicken coop that was near her stable yard. I was friendly with other people down at the stables, and they were watching this show with great amusement. At the time, I struggled to see the fun in this situation. I can laugh about it now though. We must have looked very funny. I didn’t have the knowledge or experience at the time to know that by being behind Doll, I was actually pushing her on. So, the entertainment that night was provided by the Davina and Dolly Show. We were both active participants. After that experience, I wanted to learn more horse skills so that I didn’t have to go through that again. I always wanted to do the best for Doll and be the best equestrienne that I could be. Since I started riding as an adult, I had a low opinion of how good I was going to be able to be. Most of my riding friends were kids. They had no fear. If they got hurt, it was time off school. If I got hurt, it was time off work without a way to pay the bills. Despite all this, there were no thoughts in my mind of quitting this path of adventure with Doll.

I started to educate myself on horsemanship. It seemed to me that this went hand in hand with the riding lessons. Horsemanship covers more than riding. It is about how to interact with the horse on the ground as well as in the saddle. I felt that this was what I needed to be able to build the foundation of a loving relationship with Doll. So I read books and attended courses on horsemanship. Some of these were with Doll, and some were without. I was on a journey of being open to ideas and concepts and keeping those that resonated with me. It was up to me to find out how to create a relationship between the two of us that worked for both of us. Around this time, Monty Roberts, who is a well-known horse trainer, gave a clinic in Toowoomba. That