You don’t have to believe. Hang around those horses long enough and they will continue to attune to your energy, thoughts and emotions in undeniable ways. They don’t really care if you believe it. You will have those moments anyway.
A professional horse trainer in the Uruguay group I recently presented a 4-day workshop to, raised his hand the second morning and said, “Yesterday when our group was out with the horses, I realized we were the clients, no longer students learning abstract theory. I saw that the horses responded to each of us differently, and I realized those responses were to the emotions, thoughts and energy moving through each of us.”
The horses continued to demonstrate accurate attunement each day in every activity. By day three, even the remaining couple of skeptics couldn’t deny the clear messages reflected by the horses.
That day Virginia, one of the participants, was working with the big white horse, Amarin. While considering new perspectives about starting a therapeutic riding program in a rural area, she realized how much support she has—a location, horses to work with, people who are ready to be clients, and colleagues who will help. As she spoke about all this with Amarin in hand, another horse, Sarandi, who had been at liberty and not an “official” part of the activity, sauntered through the circle of observers and stood squarely in front of Virginia’s husband who had been viewing the activity from across the circle. Sarandi didn’t move until Virginia got the message—“Here is your biggest support of all.” Sarandi planted himself next to her husband until the session was over. Everyone was genuinely moved.
On the last day when each person was asked to share a key learning from our time together, the horse trainer said, “I came to get tools to use with my clients. I definitely got those. But I’m leaving having learned so much about myself. The learning went deep. I will take time to reflect and digest.” He had come with an open mind and quickly saw for himself how quickly horses, when seen as partners and guides, take us to the real stuff.
Lynn Baskfield, owner of SpiritDance Coaching, www.equinecoaching.com, is a Minnesota based equine guided coach and educator doing individual coaching, retreats, and group workshops for spirited midlife women (and older) around the world. She is also conducting a yearlong apprenticeship program in Australia starting March, 2015 for coaches and horse professionals who want to become qualified Equine Guided Coaches.
© Lynn Baskfield 2014
