In a world overflowing with gifts- many of which we often forget the miracle of such as water, the 5 senses, a flower, sunshine, starlight- being able to interact with a horse is truly a powerful and transformative gift among them.
In a similar way that spending quality time with a child can generate qualities in an adult- things like peace, joy and playfulness, so being with a horse can be a powerful, even life-changing experience. The presence of this ancient, powerful, graceful and dignified creature activates certain inner qualities and states in a person that are not often felt in modern life.
Spending time around horses is known to stop depression, anxiety and the general state of 'fight or flight' that so many people live in today with such detriment to health and well-being. It is now common to hear stories of people with various disabilities, at-risk-youth, war veterans and people with PTSD, to name a few, finding deep healing and well-being through interaction with horses.
The horse has fed, clothed and literally carried humanity through wars and conquests of foreign lands, made farming and transport possible and maybe now is being called upon to offer healing in various ways.
Communication in a horse herd is a natural and mostly pure template that has sustained a resilient and adaptable equine species for 50 million years- about 47 millions years before the first known human genetic appeared on Earth.
As humans, in most parts of the world, we now live in a brain-dominated society that's grown out of sync with its environment. By connecting with the intelligence of the equine ways of communication and leadership, we can retrain and re-synchronize those parts of us that are out of balance.
It usually makes a big impression on a person when they discover that they can cause a 1,000 lb, powerful creature to want to follow their every move, even without words or physical force!
Examples of Positive Impact of Learning to Lead With Horses:
o Increased confidence, calm and groundedness
o Better ability to create boundaries, to say no and to respect one's own needs
o Ability to be more simple and clear in one's communication
o Better skills of concentration; being fully in the present moment with attention to detail as well as the larger ecology (both physical and energetic)
o More in control of one's inner states- nerves, emotions, thoughts
o More empathy & awareness of what one causes in others
o Less reactive, more responsive to need
o More trust in oneself
Even interacting with a horse in such a simple task as grooming them will naturally evoke these adjustments in many people, with only a few basic instructions and guidelines from an experienced horse person. It is an intuitive exchange that grows with every interaction as a person comes to realize that in this world of the horse, it does not matter so much what you know or how fast you can do something or how you look. It truly matters what is inside of your heart and mind, how much you trust your instinct, your body and your feelings as well as your ability to flow in rhythmic response as a part of the herd- no longer holding yourself as a completely separate entity.
And for some horses, it also matters whether a person carries themselves with dignity and grace,in order for them to more willingly follow. For these particular horse characters, some more advanced levels of horse communication skills include:
o The ability to shift from total, throughout stillness to intensity of action and back again in moments, with correct timing, fairness, clear reasoning and according to need
o The ability to bring into unity the various levels of oneself- the physical, emotional, mental, intuitive and creative parts of a person, all working together in concert without contradiction or distraction, so that the personal presence is fully harnessed to a clear purpose and intention