Restraining horses: control
I was wondering what I could write next, so I asked my guides and they showed me an image of a horse that was being restrained. He tried to escape this restrainment through prancing, but several humans held him down with ropes…
Then I saw this billboard in the streets with a sign: “Looking for Horse Tamers” an advertisement for a new TV show where several teams are challenged to ride fast cars….
I have always found it quite strange why humans want to control nature. When I learned more about horses and their specific energy I found it even stranger why we, as humans, would want to control and tame a horse… an animal that carries the energy of freedom…
As everything in the world around us mirrors our inner selves and because we as a society think it is quite normal to control and tame nature, I cannot help but see that we are controlling and taming our own selves. I also see that there are people who do not support this common idea anymore and are trying to set themselves and the world around them free.
The inner dragon
Then I saw a message from a spiritual teacher that I really appreciate… He was talking about dragons. I experience quite a resemblance between dragons and horses, although horse energy is quite different. The message from this spiritual teacher was: “Tame the dragon, don’t let the dragon devour you… be in your heart, create the balance between the upper world and the under world. Don’t get out of control through following your desires alone (too much below) or loosing your focus (too much above)… Keep your focus from the heart… and from there be the new paradigm.”
The dragon he speaks of is the inner dragon, a strong current within us that can either destroy or create. When we are able to master its energy we can guide it toward creation.
The human desire
From my human perspective I am very confused about freedom and especially in relation to horses… It is hard for me to write a clear message about it, so I will take you further with me on my quest.
When I see horse trainers interacting with horses it is the one thing that makes me feel that something is not right. I have the impression that when humans interact with horses they impose their own wishes onto a horse. I guess this is the reason why my guides want me to take a look at it, because this upsets me and because I have been struggling with this question for quite some time…
I believe interacting with horses is not about control, about breaking or taming them. I believe that when we approach them with each of these concepts in our mind we are losing the horse in a lesser or greater degree. In this case we have a fixed idea on how to approach horses and we go toward them with our own devouring inner dragon. We either destroy or control them. But we are not creating together.
Yes when your grounding is very strong you can overpower them. But a grounded state of being alone reduces a horse – human relationship to a power struggle. We need a strong grounded energy to be able to be there for our horse and go through experiences of anxiety or aggression, but we also need a higher perspective. We need to bring in a cosmic connection and we need an open heart. Because without love we cannot create, we can only destroy…
When we stay fixed in making a horse do what we want, even with greatest ideals and words bore in mind, we are still imposing our human perspective on them. We can say we pray or say we are there for the horse, but are we really?
Aren’t we just trying to make the horse do what we want, so they can give us what we want in our human world?
Who decided that they needed to adjust anyway?
No harmonious, equal relationship can exist when one of the parties goes into authority and dominance.
Did anyone ever wonder what horses truly want and start the relationship from there? Isn’t that true freedom, having a choice and then being able to go through with it?
I decide to go to the horses and ask them how they see freedom within the interaction with humans…
Perspective from the horses
I go into meditation and toward the thousands of horses. They are many! I see that they are all coming very close together. They are all pushing against one another about to take off. I am quite surprised. Then I see that a huge herd of horses takes off. Power!! I see the big mass split up into two streams. One stream goes right and one stream goes left. I am closest to the right stream so decide to follow them. They have such a strong pull that I cannot do anything else but follow them… I decided to go in a horse to have the experience and understanding.
I am in a horse in this massive herd, this stream goes toward humans… The horse I am in goes to a human, a woman… She is white and she has blond, brown long hair and she has a ponytail. I have no idea who she is, but I feel she exists. I see that she is very relaxed and that the horse who approaches her is respectful of her space, she does seemingly nothing. I see that she radiates… I try to understand what it is about her… I decide to go further and meet several famous horse trainers, most of the times I feel that as a horse my throat is blocked and gives me a feeling of subordinance, one time I experience that I go out of my body… Another time I take off into the sky and go higher and higher. This feels like relating on another level than the physical realm. I guide the horse, myself, back to earth, because I want to understand their view in relation to the more physical interaction… I feel my hooves touch the ground and end up with the woman I encountered first. I do not understand what it is that she does that is different, because I see her do nothing specific, but I feel as a horse that I can keep my power and that the relationship is respectful both ways…
When I opened my computer and decided to check Facebook I saw a post, I decided to read it and I was amazed because in the photograph I saw the same woman I saw in my meditation. I read her text and to my further amazement it is about partnership with horses… It is exactly how I feel it. She writes that dominance is not the way to deal with horses. And that leadership is relative within a herd, research has shown these results: some horses take on this leader role more often because of their character, but different horses can be the leader at some point! This is exactly how I perceived horses interact… This is why, she says, she sometimes lets her horse decide which way to go, where to stop etc. But she says, you must be able to take on leadership whenever it is necessary…
The horse peoples
The horsepeoples are those who can channel their own power and desire toward creation. They are able to give a horse freedom of choice. They know their own abilities. They have a strong focus that gives direction through intention, but allows the flow of life to flow through… They can understand the language of horses and can speak it. They are always striving for harmony and balance. They are love. They are guardians of the sacred space. They recognise the gift that a horse gives them. They are light hearted. They are open to a creative exchange and continuous inner growth…
Trauma, fear or aggression
What about horses with trauma that are in fear or are aggressive? Because these horses choose to get rid of the human as a way to survive most of the time. How can they experience freedom within a relationship with a human?
I feel so much sadness… I feel I am in the dark. I am a horse that is traumatised. I see myself go to a healer and I feel I need so much love… I feel the healer is so loving and sends me her energy and I feel my energy field is transformed. Slowly my pain dissolves and I become lighter. I go to another healer and she works differently. She is light and connects me to this state… I feel that I need healing first. My heart needs love… And I need time. If I am pushed into physical interaction I feel it is too quick. I need to be able to decide when I want to take this step… I feel I want to be loved unconditionally… for who I am…
I see a fearful horse, she is very nervous. She moves around all the time. I see her eyes wide open. Then I see how she becomes aggressive and starts biting. I think they mean that aggression and fear go hand in hand. First comes fear and then aggression. I have the feeling they want to say that they already said it with the previous message about traumatised horses. But I ask what about horses that are easily in fear. How can we interact with them? First I see something moving, like a string that moves in a serpent-like manner… The movement doesn’t stop and it is repetitively and soft. Then I see the gears of a car, I see that the gear is brought to another gear.
I don’t know too much about cars so I have to ask my partner, what the gear means in relation to a car and speed 🙂
You need to overcome a certain resistance. Every gear is adjusted to the speed with which you ride. The first gear has an enormous capacity to remove the initial resistance of starting to drive. We cannot go faster than the first gear allows. Because you already have movement you need less capacity in the second gear to overcome the resistance. In the second gear we can go a bit faster…
The gear is about adjusting the ratio. The motor doesn’t get overburdened (stressed) because of the gear when it is operating in the right gear. If we would only use our accelerator the motor would completely block or explode.
The gear takes away the overload on the motor and reduces the resistance.
Translated to interacting with a horse: when we bring our horse into movement, we need to be able to dissipate the stress that is brought up in a horse. We also need to start slow, because we cannot go faster than what is possible in relation to the resistance they express. The initial resistance will be huge, but when we can remove the stress we can go to another level with less resistance. When we cannot remove the stress, the horse will completely block or explode.
Helena Sidiropoulos