The Wisdom of Horses


Why horses?
  • Horses have a lot in common with humans.
  • Horses possess a heightened sensitivity to changes in behavior and non-verbal communication.
  • Horses are able to mirror human body language, which provides important information about our behavior.
  • Horses provide immediate and constant feedback.
  • Horses are emotionally safe and disarming, allowing for vulnerability.

Horses are intelligent and highly sensitive animals with distinct personalities, attitudes, moods and empathetic ability.  Much like people!  They are also like people in that they are social beings and they have defined roles within their herds. They naturally strive for harmony within their social structures.  For example, an aggressive horse will not be tolerated but would be ostracized, threatening its very survival.   In the wild, every horse needs the protection of the group from predators and the ability to share food found by the leaders of the herd.   Other herd activities require good relationships as well such as mutual grooming, game playing or mating.  These traits have largely carried over to our domesticated horses today.

As prey animals, horses possess a heightened sensitivity to changes in behavior and to non-verbal communication and body language, which is readily transferred to their interactions with people.  Their ability to mirror exactly what human body language is telling them, and to provide immediate and constant feedback to the messages the client is giving them, may be one of their greatest gifts to us as facilitators in the work of human development.

These responses give the client and the treatment team information, information that brings awareness of current patterns and motivates change to new ones.  In addition, they naturally provide the benefits of responsibility, assertiveness, communication, and work ethics.  Horses require people to be engaged in physical and mental work to be successful, a valuable characteristic in all aspects of life.

They are also large, powerful, and dynamic, which creates a natural opportunity for some to overcome fear and to develop confidence and can provide wonderful metaphors when dealing with other intimidating and challenging situation in life.  Their size can also be helpful when working with body image issues.

Horses live in the moment.  They are honest and forgiving, attributes we all strive for and which make them ideal and nurturing partners in the therapeutic process.


Horses healing humans.
                                       TM