Horses and Human Emotional Intelligence

Horses and Human Emotional Intelligence in Equine Assisted Life Coaching

Equine Assisted Life Coaching is similar to Equine Assisted Therapy in that the horse becomes a bio-feedback mechanism for personal growth however it differs from EAT in that our Life Coaching programs primarily focus on acknowledging and mastering our innate personal power in order to harness our potential and then apply it to achieve our future goals .............

Our philosophy is that the “Spirit” retains the blueprint of our DNA and if we can channel this energy effectively then our physical/emotional problems resolve themselves.................in other words we master “mind over matter”

20 years of research and observation led us to develop the Whole Body Intelligence System, a technique that works to integrating the left (logical) and right (creative) brain into our energy system. Once this is achieved we can then tap our innate potential and convert this powerful source into energy to succeed.............. The secret lies in balancing brain function
Once we can concentrate our whole body intelligence on where we are going our past no longer has any hold over us. When these “negative” blocks in energy are identified they can then easily be transformed into personal power

In today’s society, the ability to “succeed” has been focused on our intellect, our logical approach to situations and our scholastic achievements but now as we look around us we see that this is not enough and that many people are not coping using this left brain facility alone.

People are not coping due to an imbalance or a void in their emotional intelligence, which cannot be “taught” through left brain interaction at school. Our left brain is equivalent in size to our right brain but we do not use our left and right brain equally

E.Q. or healthy emotional intelligence is a function of our right brain and is achieved when we can apply our intellect successfully, when we can have harmonious relationships with others in all situations and feel good about ourselves. It is the key to Spiritual, emotional and material success in life..........because they all become one

In our programs the horse acts as a positive mirror for healthy emotional intelligence because horses have their logic (I.Q.) and their instincts (their E.Q. or non-verbal communication) balanced

With an understanding of Energy Medicine we see another quality of the horse in that he/she vibrates at a higher frequency, an energy that equates to a sense of serenity, self confidence and calm unhurriedness. .............It represents the Alpha frequency of Mother Nature which is the human natural state too.

The human mind is mostly in the logical Beta state with racing thoughts that are often scattered by emotions. This ultimately has a bearing on our energy field, which affects our self esteem, our ability to make decisions and the ability to cope with life generally. Whereas we see in the horse a quiet strength of mind, dogged determination …….and confidence……….the horse never questions who he is.
The horse has this trust and a belief in himself because he does not have an emotional component mentally second guessing him and holding him back.

During a life coaching session the Holistequine Life Coaching horses bypass the human emotional centre and respond only to their client’s “energy field” therefore if they “see” a block in the client’s “aura” they respond accordingly……...

The horse sees so called “negative emotions” such as anger, frustration, guilt etc which is held in the body’s aura as “un-expressed energy”

My gelding made me aware of the way horse can “see’ human auras many years ago. He would snort and back away from some people while at other times he would happily walk up to others.

I later realised that this snorting and backing away was because he was “tuning into” what he perceived as human negative energy.
Over the years as I began to clear my own blocks and refine my own perceptive channels I was gradually able to see what my horse sees……….

His gift to me is a system that enables us to apply this “reaction” as a bio feedback tool and we now use this W.B.I. system in many areas within E.A.L.C. As stated earlier, most social problems that people experience are the result of poor emotional intelligence. The blocks can be recent or can be caused by long forgotten negative events buried within the subconscious mind. These old programs can often play out in people’s lives as low self esteem and lack of confidence and invariably hinder our ambitions and dreams.

When these emotions or feelings are not understood or are not able to be released they can become stifled or internalised
Unexpressed negative energy if not communicated in a healthy manner often causes anger, which more often than not is then projected onto others or conversely it can result in disease, unhappiness and depression which is this same “energy” internalised

During the interactive exercises in the Life Coaching sessions our horse partner demonstrates to us when our thoughts, ideas and wishes are not congruent with how we act.
We all have dreams and expectations in life and want good outcomes but if these things do not happen and if we don’t fulfil our goals we often cannot work out why.

To get our desired outcome we need to have our vision or desire aligned with our “will to do” or, our emotional intelligence aligned with our logic.
For example if we wanted to make a chair (vision/ desire) we would first use our creative (right brain) intelligence to “picture” this chair, design the chair, work out what tools we need etc, then we would need practical (left brain) component i.e. the energy/willpower to make the chair happen.
This “energy/will power to make it happen” or our will to do is energy, our Spirit and is directly related to, and can be negated by a low sense of self (lack of self esteem) i.e. our emotional intelligence

“Intelligence” then is not just a function of the mind; it includes gut intelligence, instincts and “a sense of knowing” from somewhere deep inside us.
The horse has perfected this combined intelligence over the course of his evolution as a survival mechanism and now he/she can show us how we too can balance the two and use this to accomplish our goals

The work at our centre resulted from observations of how the qualities inherent in the horse strengthened our own human energy field and how the strength, determination, sensitivity and mindset of the horse by osmosis seemed to instil the same qualities not only in ourselves but also our clients. Over the years we began to understand the vibrational effect horses had on people’s health and wellbeing.

As we started to attract clients and students it became clear that something very powerful was at work here.
People would arrive with headaches, sinus problems and an array of minor ailments that would disappear after being around our horses. People would cry and release old programming while working with a horse of their choice.

What we were seeing was that our family of horses (the elders, the middle aged horses and the youngsters) acted as archetypes in people’s lives, and that issues created years ago by those absent family members could be cleared by the horses. The unconditional love (or service) that the horse provided was reaching areas that no human practitioner could access.

A private life coaching session includes the client, the equine coach and a human practitioner/facilitator who has been trained to a level of “higher perception” or “sensitivity” which then enables them to intuit the “finer” communication coming from the horse
Equine Assisted Life Coaching Case Study
A client recently presents for life coaching session. Peter is 25 years of age and doing a Marketing degree at University.
The session starts with some very simple interactive exercises between client and horse (no riding is involved in these Life Coaching sessions).
Peter chooses a horse he feels comfortable with, an older gelding he is ‘drawn to” (ponies and goats are equally as effective in this work)
However when asked to do a very simple task Peter’s horse Jed will not respond.
As we go through the exercises Peter has been asked to ‘set his intention”, to project “out” his thoughts and dreams for the future, to focus on his goals and what he wants to accomplish in life…… no response from the horse.
Because Jed, our horse life coach has not seen enough “energy” around Peter’s request he does not see Peter as strong, committed or as a leader in his field so, of course he does not respond.

Everything, including our thoughts and intentions are vibrations and if the energy surrounding Peter’s “vision” for his future is not powerful enough nothing will happen…………..and without knowing why Peter will then find exactly the same “negative” response when he goes out into the world

In other words, if our thoughts and emotions are not congruent with our actions……our horse will not “see” any energy and therefore will not respond……this is an example of “like attracts like” and if the vibration of the two are not in unison ….nothing happens

Usually what happens next is frustration and anger as the client’s ego is wounded, Peter has seen Jed’s lack of action as rejection and has taken this lack of response from his horse personally

Because our work here involves bypassing the “emotions” and dealing directly at the level of “programming” we do not need to dwell on past events
The human ego or energy field is altered by negative programming from the past which in most cases the client is totally unaware of, this causes a “block” experienced as low self esteem and a feeling of “not being good enough” and sits in the energy field sabotaging our conscious efforts.

Our human Life Coach Practitioner has been trained in clearing their own intuitive channels and are then able to “read” the situation. In Peter’s case there was an “issue” which was subconsciously holding him back, an issue he was unaware of that had been buried since childhood. The particular horse Peter who he chose to work with is the patriarch of the herd, an older wise soul who carries a sense of “authority” and who carries the true masculine principals, a principal which is the vibration of unconditional love from Father.

To resolve this situation was simple. ………….. All Peter needed to do was to acknowledge and then embody the true masculine principals within himself

The issues around the “father figure” that were imprinted in Peter’s subconscious as a child are now reassessed by the “adult” in him and these new qualities can now be internalized within himself ………….and the old energy is automatically released.

Feelings of anger and frustration have now been replaced with inner peace………. and more importantly, it has given him a new mindset of empowerment and inner strength to take out into the world.

Not surprisingly, because this new realisation has now altered Peter’s “whole body intelligence” it has changed him at a deeper energetic level which has also been validated by what we now see as a positive change in the horse’ response. …………now, while doing the same exercises Jed acknowledges the improvement in Peter’s changed energy field and happily takes his lead.

By osmosis a healing has taken place

Many of us have problems that can sit for years in the subconscious mind but when we come face to face with the horse, these beings of unconditional acceptance and love mirror back to us something that resonates deep with ourselves………a reflection of our possibilities at the level of our spirit.

They recognise a real sense of “who we are” , a quality that we can then reach in and claim.

We also work with ponies in children’s programs and we have 3 mares who work as life coaches in empowerment issues for women.

These 3 mares represent the three ‘ages” of the feminine…….the Virgin, the Mother and the Wise Woman…………..they are horses that, through this process can open us up to our true sense of feminine Self worth.

We have found that because working with horses in this way is a transpersonal process anything that “comes through” or is intuited through the horse is absorbed more readily as truth

The reason many humans suffer constant pain and confusion is that deep in our subconscious we feel we are unworthy, and because of this misguided programming we have mostly cut off from the true essence of who we really are.
The horse sees straight through to our soul and looks into our powerful Spirit and can then reflect this purity back to us.
We see in the horse a mirror of the grace and the powerful being that is our potential.

How Horses can help instil Healthy Emotional Intelligence
Evolution means change. As humans we are meant to be growing personally and spiritually and to do this we need an understanding of ourselves and our higher purpose in life ………..and we need to be working towards creating a scenario of doing everything with unconditional love.
There is so much in life to discover, so much we do not understand and, we believe so much that the animals can teach us.
For example a herd of horses can teach us how to work successfully in a group; show us how with co-operation, harmony and an acute sense of non-verbal communication we can bring the best out in each other.
It is part of life that most of us have grown up in families where our parents and authority figures did not have healthy emotional intelligence, they were still children emotionally and mentally themselves; meaning that because our parents in many cases never had their needs met by their parents or by their parent’s parents they have not been given the opportunity to pass emotional maturity onto us.
If, as children we did not have the unconditional love and the deep sense of emotional security required we will not grow up as confident powerful adults. Our emotional/mental glass will be half full.
Anyone who has ever worked with a horse will know that just “asking’ or “wanting” him/her to do something is just not enough…..there must be a level of commitment, a level of determination, and in the case of the Holistequine horses, a level of “energy” that resonates with the horse as “a purity of intention”,

This “level of energy” is then used as a bio-feedback tool or “energy meter” and this system has been incorporated into a wide range of social, wellbeing and health issues, including personal empowerment and parenting skills, leadership in corporate and sales, healthy relationships, wealth creation etc

The greatest gift from the horse is their ability to alter human consciousness and heighten our perception, a gift that allows us to live in the present moment

Through the horses and the natural world we can effectively balance our left and right brain, reclaim our path in this Spiritual process, and go on to discover our inherent potential.
Horses reflect back to us our true essence…………..and mirror the courage, serenity, commitment, inner strength and the unconditional Love we need to incorporate into our own lives in order to be healthy, whole beings

........... In my horse I see a mirror of myself, I see a mirror not only of my human insecurities but I also see a mirror of my potential strengths……we are one and I cannot separate him from me
When I find the courage to acknowledging this Oneness I can then change my insecurities into strengths
However to do this and to become “empowered” I must first obtain my horse’s level of consciousness………. for empowerment is obtained by a belief in one’s self…………a belief in one’s Spirit that is reflected through the horse........V. Garrett

Holistequine.....................Maximizing human potential through the Spirit of the Horse
www.holistequine.com
E-mail info@holistequine.com