If you attended Cat Walker’s evening seminar “The Secret Life of Bones” you should give yourself a little pat on the back. You saw it coming. You saw that the quiet but burgeoning hero to the equine world that is Cat Walker would have something relevant for you. For your horse.
In the room there were 35 passionate people that had traveled from interstate and across state to our lovely little town of Camperdown, that were to be Cat’s first official audience.
There were bones sprawled out all over a table with gloves and hand sanitizer at the ready. I don’t think the Golf Club function room had ever seen such a… function.
But if anyone there was expecting clinical, bone chillingly cold facts they would have been disappointed. For the beauty of Cat is in her story telling. And there wasn’t a bone on the table that didn’t have a name, a face and story. In fact, that was my favourite piece of feedback from the evening and I overheard it whispered behind me. “I love that they all have names.” I don’t think there would have been a person in the room that disagreed.
Professors Jack & Jazz
We were taken through the lives and times of horses close to Cat’s heart, some that had spent years with her and some only hours.
We were read to from her “little black book”, her accounts of palpations and assessments. The photos showed gorgeous, fat, fluffy bums that looked just like horses we all have in the paddock. They also showed sad, worn out faces and bodies. Just like we too have all seen before.
These horses all had pain and discomfort. Some were vocal and pissed off. Others were tired and obliging in their misery. Some hit the ground with their problems already festering, congenital deformities that can make living a chore. To put their head down and graze takes practice and compensation. To gallop around a race track or to engage and collect takes… Well, it can take lives actually.
But just before we wanted to stand up and drown our sorrows at the bar, we would be reminded of the love that does exist between horse and human and the time and money that is being invested into research by people like Cat.
And the biggest reminder of all? Those bones on the table. These horses died for a purpose. People like Cat are telling their secrets and it is up to us as horse owners and professionals to sit up and listen. You can change the story for your own horse. You can listen, learn and learn some more.
The highlight for me was that at 11pm on a freezing cold Autumn night, there were people hanging around in the car park with a tub of bones, still wanting more. Still interested in the secrets that Cat, and her little herd of ghost horses, had to tell.
Many thanks to Georgia Lillie for her efforts in making this idea a reality, organising and hosting a wonderful evening, and summarising the night so beautifully!
Disabled and doubly neurodivergent human, former equine anatomist and bodyworker (no longer practicing due to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome complications), experienced equine advocate and educator, and budding disability advocate turning my sights on Australian Government policy and practice while elevating lived experience in research for horses and humans alike.
This blog is currently inactive but I occasionally check in on Facebook. Please check out the articles I keep it alive for and take something home to your horse ❤️