Horse Whispering
The Natural Language of Horses
Building a relationship based on mutual trust,
respect & understanding…
What is Horse Whispering?
Horse Whispering is a natural language. Rather than being something that you can simply learn, it has to be felt & grasped at much deeper levels than merely learning the techniques to get an end result. Horse whispering offers you & your horse the opportunity to communicate with each other, reaching ever-deeper levels of understanding.
Here at Flying with Horses we offer a very unique form of Horse Whispering, which moves way beyond the expression of body language. The more common forms of working with horses in a roundpen is usually making the horse canter around the trainer until the horse shows the body language signs of submission. Often the trainer is taking on the dominant body langauge of a predator.
At Flying with Horses, the main goal of interacting with horses in the roundpen is to gain trust and deepen the relationship between horse and human, never to force the horse into submission. The roundpen is a perfect design that enables the horse to express itself freely, and here that is exactly what we encourage all of the horses to do.
When the horse is free to express himself, then the person in the roundpen is given all the more opportunity to advance the skills of empathy, consistency, calmness, patience, focused intent, awareness and all of the other qualities associated with leadership. By working with horses in this way, the horse becomes the teacher, and teaches humans how best to lead themselves, and when we are ready, the horse willingly submits in trust to us, with glory and pride fully intact.
Leanna playing in the roundpen with Angel, who is showing focus, willingness and free expression
What can we learn through horse whispering?
Through play, following & leading, & other exercises with horses, we are able to gain a better awareness & understanding not only of the horse, but also of ourselves, as the horse will be reacting to our body language, & our energetic & emotional states. If we are in any way not being clear, consistent, authentic or direct, the flow of communication from us to the horse will be compromised, & will be reflected to us through the actions of the horse. In this way, we are able to better harness the skills of clearer, more consistent & flowing communication while maintaining a calm, peaceful state of awareness.
When we re-member how to effectively & clearly communicate our desires to the horse, the benefits of this transformation are not limited to the round-pen, nor only to our relationship with horses. Horse Whispering is a valuable learning experience for people who are compromised in any way when it comes to being, communicating and fully expressing all that they are.
Examples of this are:
People not listening to what you have to say
People not taking ‘no’ for an answer
People constantly pushing into your boundaries
People thinking you are excessively angry
Fear of being honest with yourselves & others
Inability to ask for or accept help
The two extremes of this are the passive victim mode, where nobody respects you, to the other side of the scale where you may be aggressive & over-domineering. Both of these states result from an inability to communicate clearly, which lead to feelings of frustration, isolation, guilt, loneliness, shame etc…
Horses, being herd animals, have highly acute perception in order to survive. They work as a team, within a hierarchy that benefits the entire team & where every member is valuated & integral to the survival of the herd. Every communication that the horse expresses is always for the highest good of the herd. Through this consistent, honest & beneficial means of communicating, we are able to learn how to begin this process for ourselves too, and when we embark on the inner transformation, our outer relationships also benefit as we now have the ability to focus our energy, direct our intent, say what we mean in a clear & consistent manner.
Horse Whispering also helps us to gain confidence in our ability to lead ourselves. Through interactions with horses in the roundpen, we are able to get a feel of where we feel confident in ourselves, & where we feel doubt & fear. When we let go of the negative aspects, we are then freer to express who we truly are, and this is the energy that attracts horses, the energy of self-leadership.
When we have learnt to confidently lead ourselves, the horse will have found their leader in us…
Leanna training with GaWaNi in 2004
