Horses were once preyed upon by big cats and wild dogs. In order to survive, they had to be fully aware of their surroundings and react quickly to stimuli. Because of this, the horse's senses are extremely acute.
When interacting with people, horses recognize the slightest uneasiness in our bodies. They detect fear, anger and any incongruence between our actions and our emotions. Their ability to sense incongruence in people is amazing and uncanny. Not only do horses notice these disconnections, they reflect them back to us through their behaviors.
The horse's unique sense of awareness and ability to reflect human emotions make them the perfect co-facilitators to help people learn about themselves, others' perceptions of them, and how their actions are interpreted.
Humans, on the other hand, are predators. We have inherent hunter behaviors that make working with horses challenging. Humans as hunters are very goal-oriented. Many times this goal focus blinds us to what is happening around us. We focus so strongly on the goal that everything else is blurred - we ignore valuable input and become oblivious to how our actions and behaviors are affecting others. We often sacrifice others and ourselves for the sake of winning, closing the deal, getting the promotion or buying the next company.
Horses show us a different way of relating with others, our environment and ourselves. Horses teach us awareness, integrity, respect and trust.
In his book, "Working with Emotional Intelligence", Daniel Goleman provides supporting data that successful leaders possess competencies based on five elements: self-awareness, motivation, self-regulation, empathy and adeptness in relationships. Horses are also emotionally intelligent beings and possess many of these same competencies. Their acute awareness tunes into non-verbal communication, including human emotions.
In her book, "The Tao of Equus", Linda Kohanov elaborates on the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and working with horses. She verbalizes what horse handlers have known for years: horses are great teachers of life and relationships.
Working with horses offers a unique opportunity to:
The best lessons allow us to become more balanced and cooperative. Our horse partners bring these lessons into focus and make the learning fun. They teach us to be conscious leaders!
