I could go on for days about horses and what they teach us. They are incredible and majestic, and when you learn to speak their language they will turn themselves inside out for you.
Because horses don’t communicate with words, they are keenly aware of our energy and body language. One of the more valuable real world lessons horses have taught me is how my energy affects others.
Horses reflect your energy directly back to you. When you are teaching a horse something, or working to get a job done with a horse, your progress will be minimal if you don’t understand that it is your role in the relationship sets the whole encounter up for success or failure.
In other words, it’s never the horses fault.
The simple fact that we want to blame them, says something about us… not the horse. This means radical self responsibility.
All living creatures are sensitive to our energy, but until we see that, and see the effect our energy has on others, we are wrecking balls in social settings, and completely clueless about it.
We think what’s going on inside of us is hidden and only affecting ‘us’.
I promise you that it’s not.
Our energy sets the tone of our voice, the ‘feel’ in the room, and it is contagious to other people. They feel it even if they can’t put words to it. It can make or break a connection, a confrontation, or a negotiation.
Learning how to get ‘big’ without emotion, to be direct and clear in your communication without dancing, to read when someone is trying but needs space to process are all nuanced skills that I’ve learned from working with horses.
And they matter.
There is no question that I am who I am today because I grew up on the back of a horse.