Why Horses?

The horse is a universal archetypal symbol of courage, beauty, strength, and power. There’s not a person alive who’s not moved by a swiftly moving horse. They draw our attention.

Horses and humans share a similar social instinct. We are both hard wired to connect – to be in relationship. To survive, we must be part of the group (herd or community) and contribute to it. As soon as we are in the horse’s space, the horse is asking: Who are you? What do you care about? Who am I in relationship to you? A conversation begins. Horses respond to the energy that is around them. Through their behavior they mirror and reflect the mood, tone, and quality of our energy which becomes valuable information and feedback in the equine-guided education process.

Most people will accept feedback from the horse in a way they wouldn’t necessarily accept it from another human being. The horse doesn’t care about our job title, how much money we make, or what kind of car we drive. The horse is not judging us and doesn’t have an agenda. The horse is not listening to the blah, blah of the words we are saying. The horse is listening to how we’re being…to who we’re being…and responding to us in the present moment. If we change, the horse will change. When we see that the horse is at consequence because of something inside of us, such as tightness in our body, we are often motivated to change for the sake of the horse, even more than for ourselves.

Horses accelerate the change process. In order to be around horses, we have to go outdoors. Just being in a more natural environment shifts us into a different level of presence. It helps to bring our awareness out of our head (busy mind) and into our body, to a more somatically-integrated state of being. When we approach our topic or inquiry in this state, we are able to access more information, leading to more possibilities and choices. A visceral (felt in the body) experience integrates more deeply and helps to create sustainable change.