Healing Energy of Horses
by Barbra-Ann King

—Excerpted (with permission) from Opening to Consciousness with Relationship Riding by Barbra-Ann King

Have you ever asked yourself why you enjoy touching horses so much? Is it the warmth emanating from their bodies? Or maybe their soft coat? There’s something about touching a horse that makes us feel really good. Maybe it’s because we finally mustered up the courage to get close enough to touch one! Our hands are drawn to the horse like a powerful magnet that we can’t resist. What is this powerful energy that takes over us and makes it irresistible?

Horses have tremendous healing energy and as energetic beings ourselves we are drawn to this vibrating frequency. Have you noticed how we automatically put our hands over a wound or pain anywhere on our bodies when it hurts? Even on other people’s bodies we do this, especially on children. When a child bumps their head, we automatically cover it up with our hands, after removing theirs!

Many thousands of years ago, when humans had not veered away from their natural abilities to heal, they possessed healing energy that emanated mostly from their hands. Our bodies still know that. Furthermore. our bodies also know that we still possess this healing energy. All of us do. That’s why we have an automatic reaction of putting our hands where it hurts. The good news is, we can all rekindle this healing energy from within and use it on ourselves as well as others. It is also very enjoyable to use it on cats, dogs, horses, and any other pets you may have.

When we are urged to touch a horse, we are simply connecting with another source of healing energy, one that can heal our soul. This powerful energy attracts us and when we touch a horse, something inside us quiets and we feel very peaceful. Mind you, in order to feel this, you have to have a clear mind and be in the moment. When we are busy thinking about a hundred things a minute, outer knowledge and experiences cannot enter our minds and guide us toward extraordinary inner experiences. These are known as channels, thoughts, or “knowings.”

The next time you walk up to a horse and have an urge to touch it, think about this and take a minute to clear your mind completely. Make it a more valuable experience by imagining that you are touching a horse for the first time. As you awaken your senses you will create awareness within yourself and open up your channel to receiving messages, guidance, and knowledge from the Spirit of the Horse.

This will also encourage you to be in the moment, the way horses live. They are not internally wired to wonder about what awaits them later (thoughts of the future), nor dwell on what happened a few hours ago (thoughts of the past, although they do have memories). Their survival skills keep them in the “now,” the present moment, in order to be aware of their surroundings and survive any approaching danger. Predators can creep up on them at any time and if they are lost in thought, they might end up being somebody’s lunch. As human beings, we constantly think about everything else in our life except being in the present moment. If you think about it for a minute, there really is no other moment that exists except the present one. In the present moment we don’t have to worry about later, tomorrow, yesterday, the past, etc. The present moment is perfect, peaceful, and fun to be in. It does take a little practice to stay in the moment, but it can rapidly become second nature to you.

When interacting with horses, it is very important to be fully present and in the moment. Not only do we benefit from their healing energy that will calm and sooth our souls, we will also be aware of what they are telling us. By being aware we won’t ignore the small signs in their behaviour that could very well end up being disastrous if not addressed. We often hear horse owners say, “I didn’t see it coming at all! He just bucked me off out of the blue!” In reality, horses do not buck us off out of the blue. They try to tell us in many ways that something is wrong before actually bucking. Because we are not in the moment and we do not understand their language, we miss out on this communication and the end result is usually not something we expected.

A horse’s nature is one of giving, tolerance, and kindness which all contribute to the healing they give us when we are in contact with them. They look for those qualities in us also and together we exchange some powerful healing and knowledge that enriches our friendship and relationship. For those who think that you don’t need all this healing, think again. Healing affects us on various levels and unless we are enlightened, we all need to learn about unconditional love.

Barbra-Ann King is an internationally known published author, horse behaviourist, and founder of the Relationship Riding technique, who lives in Alberta, Canada. She travels year-round sharing her passion with like-minded horse owners. For more information visit www.relationshipriding.com.