What is the difference between animal communications in person and remotely?

A lot of people think it’s weird that I prefer to connect with an animal remotely, using a photograph of them as a reference to make the connection. I understand that it seems really odd from an outside perspective, but there is a logic to it!

I want to be certain that I’m communicating using psychic skills with them. I don’t want to accidentally be interpreting their body language, or subconsciously inferring things from their environment. It gives me and their owners some reassurance that it is their pet speaking, if I minimise how much external data I get.

Say if I walked onto a stable yard, and met a horse in his stable. There is a horse standing by the gate looking at him, whinnying, and pacing the fence line. There is a saddle and snaffle bridle on the wooden fence, and I can see a riding arena with a grid of jumps set up. If I were a charlatan, I could weave you a likely story about who your horse’s best friend is, that their saddle is slightly the wrong fit for them (most saddles could do with a bit of a fine tune adjustment), that they get excited by jumping and that they dislike being ridden in a snaffle bit. Probably mostly things you could believe are true, but that information definitely didn’t come straight from the horse’s mouth! Now imagine an alternative scenario. I stay at my office and you send me a photo of your horse. In it he isn’t wearing any tack, and is standing in a bog standard grassy paddock. I can’t see any other horses or equipment in the photo. I tune in and I get a sense of his personality. He shows me a tall, dark bay horse and tells me that his mane is too short - you recognise that as his turnout buddy (his owner got too carried away with the solo comb recently). He complains a bit about the lack of grass at the moment, and when you ask if he likes his work he shows me the view of riding through picturesque hills - the riding holiday you took him on a few years ago. He doesn’t mention jumping until you ask, and it turns out that the reason he doesn’t is because it’s neither fun nor dull to him, but he definitely has a favourite type of work, which is hacking! See the difference?

That’s not to say that I can’t communicate face to face with an animal - it does work, I just have to tune out more distractions, and I spend a lot of it exactly the same as when I’m in my office at home - with my eyes shut, concentrating on what they are sending me! I worked this way recently with Charlie, a friend’s horse, and it was fun to relay to his person how he was talking about showing off his nice trot, and later to watch him flash a snazzy trot off into the field when turned out - something he apparently hasn’t done for a long time! I must admit that the best bit of communicating face to face is when I’m eyes closed deep in concentration and I receive a little nuzzle nudge nudge on the cheek and a warm snuffly nose with sweet grassy breath enquires if I got that last bit! Yes darling, I will emphasise how much you really do like the apples you’re getting in your feed at the moment!