Pecan Creek Ranch

Anything goes Saturday

Update on Spirit

Over this past week we discovered that Spirit is blind in her right eye and may have limited vision in her left eye. This is definitely sad to learn though this information helped us understand Spirit’s behavior, and signficiant nervous system dysregulation. We can only imagine how frightening it was to move to a new place, with no friends (yet) and not being able to see in one eye and maybe not well in the other. No wonder meeting the members of the herd was so scary for her and why she reacted so strongly when reunited with members who were away for a bit then returned.

Interestingly, since we discovered this, Spirit seems more settled. Just us knowing and responding with this knowledge has settled her nervous system. The herd is doing a great job adjusting to how they interact with her. We are glad to see they are still asking her to learn how to regulate herself. Most of the herd appears to feel that Spirit is highly capable. Iris still feels a strong need to protect her. Spirit is spending more and more time away from Iris. We wonder if she is fighting against Iris’s need to protect and control. The other herd members expect more from Spirit and give her more space to figure things out. Iris’s first response is to swoop in and rescue. Hopefully, this will change as Spirit becomes more confident.

In this video Spirit blows out for the first time. It was an emotional moment for me because it showed me that she is beginning to feel safe here.