How much do we impact our horse?

When my horse Jac started growing a sarcoid on his chest or where his heart chakra was, I wondered how much of my heart break he was mirroring. I had studied Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy at that point and the learning coming from this field was ‘horses can be mirrors or medicine’.

Earlier whilst studying my degree in Animal Science (Behaviour and Welfare), I researched the presentation topic of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and my lecturer was surprised I had as many cases of animal PTSD. This was courtesty of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB). The ASAB had moved away from the narrative of ‘I think, therefore I am’ meaning animals were categorised on cognitive ability. Mainly to justify some of the practices that continue even today. Should you believe animals felt pain, had emotions or spirituality, you were anthropomorphic (putting human characteristics on non-humans). For anyone who truely connects with animals, including scientists that do not receive funding because their beliefs do not fit the popular narrative, this has always felt ridiculous.

“Show me your horse and I’ll tell you who you are” – Monty Roberts

One case I came across, a dog with liver issues and being treated without success. The liver is metaphysically associated with anger. Was the dog angry? Or was he reflecting an anger wound of the owner, or maybe even absorbing the anger to heal the wound? Food for thought. Jac was volunteered to be a case study to a group of homeopathic vets. Whilst they discussed his personality to identify a suitable remedy to support him, it felt like they were discussing my personality. I wondered where does he stop and I begin? How much do I impact my horse? Since doing a Monty Roberts Intro course, I’d retained a quote he used “show me your horse and Ill tell you who you are”. This experience unlocked a deeper meaning to the quote. From traditional cognitive behaviour training I moved into more holistic modalities such as essential oil therapy for animals, zoopharmacognosy, kinesiology and reiki to support emotional well-being.

As my behaviour cases grew, it became apparent it was the human that needed emotional well-being more than the animal. I trained as a counsellor and moved into working with humans. As with animals, I acknowledged the cognitive behaviour modalities but favoured the psycho-spiritual ones. Within shamanic training, a clear belief resonated that the animal Peoples had been on this planet longer and therefore had more wisdom than humans who were the infants. Respectively, the plant, tree and rock Peoples were even older so had more wisdom and grounded into the Earth. Could embracing this wisdom bring more connection back to our fragmented psyche? And consequently project unity into the world aka’as within, so without’. Could uniting our divided psyche help support great change in the world? Moving our collective dial from fear, to love.

A friend used to compliment me on my relationship with Jac. I would always brush it off with ‘he’s one in a million, I am just lucky. He was already trained’. Then along came a fiesty little Welsh yealing, now six, and a 15 year old kicking Arabian mare with kissing spine now 18, who like Jac, have become calm ‘therapy’ horses. The same friend reflected ‘you can say you were lucky once, maybe twice, but by the third horse you have to admit you may have something to do with how they are’. This highlighted two things: a wounding I need to work on of ‘not being able to receive a compliment’ and the realisation that we can positively impact our relationships by working on healing ourselves.

Having specialised in inner child work, I support common symptoms of anxiety and depression. When healed this supports reconnection to your creativity, expression, inspiration, and to all that is. With a teaching background, I integrate psycho-education with counselling to empower clients. Drawing on a mix of Transactional Analysis, psychosynthesis, Matrix Reimprinting, somatic shamanism and animal behaviour. This could look like a mindful walk in the woodlands with one of the horses, a workshop with like minded people or an individual session online or in person, in a room or outside in nature.