Partnering with a horse provides a unique opportunity to work with unconscious and semi-conscious levels of oneself. As prey animals, horses require a high level of clarity from those around them, and also a high level of awareness and sensitivity. The fight or flight mechanism is so easily triggered in horses and so if a person wants to work with them in an effective and safe way, they need to find the ways in themselves that will not activate that mechanism but that WILL activate TRUST and RESPECT.
If a horse, for example, braces against the touch of a person, then they are not feeling clear and they are not working with them. The person needs to find greater clarity and often greater softness. How often do we try and force things upon ourselves in this way?
A horse could go to a very high level in the athletic or show world in this state of reactivity and most do, but this is not the kind of leadership we want to promote. The following are some highlights of the continuing journey of discovering, with the horses, how to be a true and natural leader, as a human being on the planet Earth at this time.....
Emotional Intelligence
What does it mean? Some of the signs of a person with a high degree of emotional intelligence is that they have the ability to read the feelings of others, to truly be present in any situation and also, they have the ability to control their own inner states.
Horses are naturally profoundly emotionally intelligent. They can read a person's feelings, thoughts, and know where they hold tension or trauma in their body. It is not always automatic though- many horses have suffered trauma themselves and have gone into partial or full retreat from other humans and even from other horses, so it can take a little work to bring them to the safety of being their natural selves once again.
Conducting Oneself
The conductor of an orchestra is a good analogy for the kind of leadership that a horse needs and will train a person in. There are many levels of things going on all at the same time, working together to generate something harmonious, powerful and moving. The one difference is that the music is mostly improvised and it is new every day. The conductor of an orchestra knows all of the music theory- how to read and interpret the notes, keys and time signatures; they can lead the members of the orchestra through warms ups and practices and self-disciplines. So there are certain practices and that are important to know and good for the horse to know, but ultimately, a great conductor will surrender to the music.
When a person works with a horse, they must run their intentions through their entire body and energy field, together with their mind, activating the full intelligence of their system. This requires a certain level of harmony within the person, so as to conduct oneself with ease, confidence and clarity.
Growing Lights
How does this connect with growing brightness in the world, the Patch of Diamonds mission and Leadership of the New Kind? Well it's all about growing the natural charisma and power of a person through getting into the driver's seat of one's own life (so to speak), harnessing the many parts of self to a clear purpose, finding the ways to see it through with compassion, inspiring others to do so through the brightness that process causes AND…watching the miracles of healing bloom in those around us as that share in the glow of a person doing what they love to do!
For more information and connection about it, please be in touch- we'd love to hear from you!
