Our Thoughts Affect Our Horses

If We Believe it, We Can Do It

I have been looking into the power of beliefs. What I am observing is that our thoughts affect our horses, whatever we believe, somehow becomes reality. If we feel we can't do something with a horse, it's usually best to not even begin until we have removed the 'I can't do it'. The inside becomes the outside, our intention is a powerful thing, and if we believe we cannot do something then we are right. Horses always pick up on what we are thinking, sometimes I think they can read minds. If we are about to do something we are not sure of, before we commence, we need to make sure our thinking is ‘I can’. This is a hugely important thing for both horse and person. We are much more likely to succeed if we do this.

An example of this is something I saw with a person picking up a horse’s hooves recently. The woman was sure she could'nt do this, and when she went to pick up the hoof her hand was stiff and controlling, to which the horse objected and reacted by kicking out. This of course scared her and validated her fear of picking up the hoof. I then went to the same hoof and picked it up knowing that I can, my hand and arm were soft. The horse repeated the kick out with me, but I didn’t fight, I moved with the hoof then calmly brought it back to where I wanted. The horse felt the change in energy immediately and stood there with the hoof in my hand easily. The woman’s ‘I cannot’ became a reality, and my reality 'I can', also did. We talked about changing her mental belief, then shewent back to the hoof and picked it up with confidence and a relaxed hand. The horse obliged without a problem.

This is not just about skill. Horses most definitely perceive our thoughts, energy and intentions, their empathy skills are huge compared to ours. A horse will fit into whatever we believe. This idea can be confronting. It means we must take responsibility for what is happening. We prefer to blame others for our problems and issues, the government, our parents, our horse…. It is so much more comfortable if someone else is at fault. We complain about others and try to change them, but we remain the same.

When we take responsibility for our own reality, it means doing some work on ourselves, and making changes. This is uncomfortable on several fronts. First it means admitting that what we are currently doing may not be the best way, then we must think about and research alternatives and finally we need to actually change what we are doing and how we do it. The last step can be the hardest. All animals are creatures of habit and we are no exception. It can be extremely hard to change things we do in the external world, and even harder to change inside. But this is what is needed to move forward with horses. There is something about horses that pushes peoples buttons, makes them look at parts of themselves they would rather not. But at the end of the day, if we have a horse in the paddock then some part of us has chosen this journey.

We can look at our beliefs and see if they are limiting us. If they are, we can pull them out and see if we want to keep them. If we choose to keep them that's our choice, but if we choose to grow and change, we will find our horses doing exactly the same thing right along beside us.

Suzy Maloney B.Eq.Sc.Dip.Couns.

Happy Horses Bitless

Considerate Horsemanship

Ph: 0401 249 263

Email: suzy@happyhorsesbitless.com

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