Meeting the Herd

Every Wednesday morning for the last nine months you could have found me picking up horse poo! That’s 36 trips or over 200 hours (voluntary work). It’s actually a Zen-like activity but you may well ask why?

My friends at PaintedHorse – human and horse (dog, goat and sheep) – gave me the opportunity to get to know the herd. And, I was extremely grateful.

‘Finally, he described how human beings could tune themselves to the equine frequency by living with a herd and mimicking horse behaviour patterns, moving when they move, resting when they rest, eating when they eat, playing when they play.’ Linda Kohanov, The Tao of Equus

Around ten years ago, I completed three equine facilitated learning (EFL) courses, but this experience took my understanding of how horses live and work together, to a different level. Once the horses trusted me (as a temporary herd member) they began to sense my energy fluctuations and demonstrate a form of telepathic communication. They incessantly mirrored my suppressed emotions and unresolved issues. As prey animals – among the hunted out in the wild – this ability keeps them safe.

Over the months, we did a number of EFL-related exercises but the most poignant was something akin to family constellation work. The horses stepped forward to role play my family members including myself. Is this possible? Whatever, reservations you may have one thing was for sure. Our work together helped! The dynamics of my family situation became more obvious. By observing the horses I could better understand what was happening and why that might be. Armed with this new knowledge, alternative (ways of behaving) presented themselves. Again, the horses seemed to rehearse them (for my benefit)!

‘By learning to recognise how her body language didn’t match her message … was surprised to find that she could get the desired result almost effortlessly.’ Linda Kohanov, The Tao of Equus