The Healing Power of Horses
If you know me a little, you will know that horses are very special to me and that they have a very important place in my life. Since I was little I have dreamed of having a horse, I asked for it every year in the letter to the Wise Men or Three Kings. (In Spain back then, we did not use the tradition of Santa Claus but we have always had the Three Kings from the East who come on the night of the 5th of January).
I asked for it every year but it never came, although one year they did bring me a wooden horse! And I thought that I had not made it completely clear and that next year I would explain it better. Every morning of January 6th I would wake up thinking that the Kings would have left a horse for me at the entrance of our apartment (where no large animal fits very clearly!) and somehow the horse would have been silent without making noise so that I could rest during the night. I laugh thinking about this now and so appreciate the magical thinking of childhood.
When I was 8 years old I started horseback riding, with a teacher at school who had one at home and from there I gradually improved, but I never competed, and I never got to have one of my own. My parents took me to class but my mother didn’t usually come because she was afraid something would happen to me, it caused too much worry for her! Adolescence arrived, my focus shifted, and I stopped attending the classes. I remember feeling so sad and envious when I saw one of the girls get her own horse, so I decided to move onto other things.
Years passed until I signed up again, I felt something was missing and knew that this was it. I was 17 years old at the time, and continued horseback riding for another year or so, until leaving once again to pursue my medical degree. After completing my studies, I returned to my home town and started once again. I have not stopped since.
As a Doctor, it can be so challenging to find Peace.
When I came back it was for a reason. Horseback riding was a source of joy and healing for me. The sport forces me to be in the present, to not think about anything else, it brings me happiness and peace. Working as a physician is a stressful and at times all confusing profession, and horseback riding is one of the only things that really takes my mind away from my patients, the anxiety and the stress that faces medical professionals.This is what happens to me when I go horseback riding, it’s the ONLY thing in my life that makes me stop thinking about my job or the things that worry me.
I have a very restless mind and I always have new ideas, sometimes empowering, sometimes less so. There are of course blessings to this tendency, however it also has its challenges. This comes up especially in relation to my work. My work fills my life with an enormous responsibility: the life and health of my patients. Working in the emergency room is highly stressful for many reasons, you don’t sleep at home every night, your schedule is constantly changing, and when at work it’s always go, go go. Even when you work as a general practitioner, conventional or integrative, it may be less intense in nature, however there is still anxiety. The worries are now around whether or not you have not correctly diagnosed a disease and the “if “ that comes after: Maybe it will be too late, maybe it will be too late to start a treatment, etc. Or sometimes you suffer because you see someone in pain, with a very important limitation in their life and you don’t know how to help them. You take patients home with you, it can feel like you are carrying the soul and spirit of your patients home with you. Patients put their trust in you to help them stay well, and even sometimes to stay alive.
Sometimes it can overwhelm you mentally, it causes anxiety, sometimes a feeling of guilt, sometimes joy, sometimes it’s hard to breathe and above all it’s hard to disconnect.
My relationship with Horses is my source of Healing.
Being around animals in general gives me that peace of mind that I can’t get when I’m alone. They help me to disconnect from my mind and my attachment to this human self. Horses are sensitive creatures, they feel our emotional state and react accordingly. Thus it’s essential to find that state of focus and calm to stay safe in the process of interacting with them. They are herbivorous animals, they are not predators, rather prey, thus they are programmed to be aware of every shadow, every movement, every sound, every change in the direction of the wind. They are, above all, instinctive survival reactions that rule their life 100%. Being close to someone who is anxious, doubtful, causes them pain, is like having someone toxic by your side who drains your energy and disturbs your nervous system.
My relationship to Horses requires mental and emotional discipline, to rise above my fears and worries and be steady and calm and trusting.
I love those animals so I don’t want to be a source of toxicity for them. That’s why I force myself to be aware only of them, without thoughts that torment me or responsibilities that crush me.For me, the most important thing is to create a bond with them, a bond of friendship, not of I am your master and you have to obey me, but one based on respect for each other.
I want them to know that I will take care of them if they trust me, and that also I will trust them with my life. And it is as simply as this, trusting them is a huge exercise in humility. In fact, if you talk to my teacher she will tell you that she finds it interesting that I almost prefer to spend time walking with the horses after the riding class rather than just riding!
For me it is not learning to do that turn that I want to do or that the horse walks obeys my commands; for me, my hope is to achieve a deep connection with the animal. This is achieved by treating the horse with respect and not as an object. I think this is what is really healing about the relationship with them.
I do not want to make the horse do something that is totally uncomfortable and painful, I want him to do it because he enjoys doing it with me and because he knows that I will take care of him above all else. I hope that they can feel protected and are also able to disconnect from external stimuli and enjoy that time together because they are not alone, because you are a part of their pack.
The key to therapy with horses is precisely this, learning to regulate your emotions, to live in the present, and not constantly thinking about the possible future. To love unconditionally, to learn how to be a part of a healthy relationship, to also trust the other one and not to think that everything only depends on ourselves.
Life is lived in community, we are better because we have worked as a group, because we have trusted other people. It is not possible to evolve by subtracting, only by adding. Our mind always instinctively advises us towards survival, just like what happen to horses, but we have the power to see that we are not our mind, we are a person who lets himself be advised by his/her mind, and his/her mind will often advise him/her with fear, precisely to prevent anything bad from happening to you, but if you listen to your mind too much, you will never achieve anything at all, because it leaves you without self-confidence. We must learn to listen to it only when necessary, but understand that the mind is only a counselor, it is not our essence!
If you enjoy the company of animals, you suffer from anxiety, you live too much in the future, you have constant fears, obsessive thoughts and you don’t trust yourself, treat yourself to an equine therapy session one day, I’m sure you won’t regret it!
And please let me know how everything went! I would love to hear.