For the last 13 years, my great joy in life has been helping people and their pets create more loving, harmonious, supportive relationships. As a child, it seemed natural to “just know” what an animal was feeling or thinking. Each summer while visiting my grandparents’ farm in Kansas, I renewed friendships with Susie the dog (and, if I was lucky, her puppies), Pepper and Flicka ~ the horses for us grandchildren, and Daisy the milking cow. Pepper, a gentle Shetland/Quarter horse, and I rode together through the countryside year after year. As he aged, he walked more slowly. I remember after one peaceful ride when I was a teenager, I knew he preferred that I not ride him again. And I didn’t. Instead, I’d spend time with him in the pasture, petting him and talking with him as he grazed contentedly.