We can read our horses on several levels: a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level. These expressions are interwoven, but each of these levels are portals toward a greater understanding of what your horse is expressing.
Horses have no hidden agenda
When we approach our horse and read him or her, it is important to have an open heart and an open mind. When our mind is already projecting our own pains on our horse, it clouds our communication with our horse. It is very hard to see our horse through this mist of projections and understand what they REALLY want to say. To be able to let go of our projections, it can be helpful to realise that your horse has no hidden agenda.
They do not want to provoke or hurt YOU in any way. It is not about you.
Human interaction: fear or love
In most relationships the human is mostly busy with himself. Every one of us wants to be loved, is scared to be hurt and looks at the world and others from this perspective, from a place of fear.
When we look at the world from a place of fear, we are experiencing what some call the ego. Now the ego does have its benefits, it can work as a motor to help you evolve on soul level. In fact your soul chose you: your personality, your body, your mind, your heart… with all your talents and flaws, to heal… When we are able to heal ourselves, we are able to change our perspective from a place of fear and lack to a place of love.
What happens is that we are able to be very happy within ourselves, we don’t need others to love us, we love ourselves and share this love with others… We are able to see other people’s hurt and leave this hurt with them. We don’t need to change them, but respect their path and choices and stay within ourselves. When you are able to shift this within yourself you are able to experience true love in your relationships and especially within yourself.
Acknowledge also that you are on a path towards love. When your own pain comes to the surface through your interaction with others, it is a chance to see which aspects still need healing. This is how we help one another heal and all move forward to a place of love. We are ALL moving forward on this path…
Horses are love
Horses do not have the same mechanisms within them. They are beings that carry an unconditional love within them, because they don’t have a desire to hurt others for their own (imaginary) benefit. They merely reflect what is there. When a horse experiences pain and hurt, it is because their surroundings imposed this on them. They don’t think the way we humans do. They can make conclusions and see related connections between triggers, but their perspective is different.
Within their physical presence they want to move toward harmony, just like our soul wants for us. This is why horses are such wonderful guides, because they can more easily bring their soul presence into manifestation. They are examples of connection in body.
When you take this knowledge to your horse, you can see and hear him more clearly. If you doubt whether your horse really loves you, take a look inside: Do you really love yourself? Because horses are love.
And yes, the more you give your horse space to feel good, to be able to express his true self, the more love he will be able to carry out into the world, into your world… So you can do something, make changes for the better, but your horse will not judge you for it. He will only show you how he feels within: happy, hurt, in pain, in joy…
When you do project yourself onto your horse and cannot see him or her, you will be disappointed. Because you come from a place of fear and nothing in the world will ever be good enough to fill that hole in your heart. You alone can fill this hole within yourself.
Horses respond to the triggers in their environment. If you change the triggers within yourself and the environment, you will see a change in your horse. A mean horse does not exist! They can be damaged and have layers upon them from the past or present that complicate the interactions. They can be severely traumatized that it may seem that they are devils, but they have no hidden agenda!!
It is up to the human to be the best human he or she can be, to aid this horse to come back to his true self. This is a gift that we humans carry. We can make a change for others…
Day-to-day communication
Horses can express several things: their own current state of being, your current state of being, another horses’ current state of being and their interaction with other horses, people and their environment.
Expressions within an interaction can shift very quickly. In one minute it is possible to read many expressions. It is possible to understand and see every shift, this gives you the advantage to respond before things get out of hand when they might…
When an expression stays longer in your horses’ face, it is important to take a closer look. Because these expressions are another type of communication. In these expressions we can find information about the state of being of your horse. Is he or she healthy, in pain, distressed, happy… I have written about this type of information in the text “Expression and energy of emotions”.
I see these day-to-day expressions and state of being expressions layered one upon another. It is hard to explain the exact details of how I see this, but if you practice you will see the difference…
If you are able to pick up the energy and emotions that your horse is expressing, the language becomes even more clear and detailed. Some emotions are not visible for the eye, but if you see something is up you can be sure to find deeper emotions present…
To whom is your horse speaking?
When a horse looks at you, he is not necessarily expressing information toward you. Horses have a peripheral view and they see a lot more things when it may seem they look at us.
When you look closely at your horses’ eyes, face and ears you can see where their focus lies… When your horse looks at you and is messaging clearly: the ears are completely frontal (not an inch sideways), their eyes are fixed upon you and are looking expressively. Also their inner eye is looking at you. I can see and feel the inner eye opening and feel energy traveling on the communication line…
I will show you examples where my horse looks at me and is clearly talking to me and when she seems to look at me, but actually communicates with another horse or in this case checks out another human. If you look closely you can see the difference:
Shamala (the grey horse) seems to look straight at my partner, but in fact she has divided her attention to him, to her son who stands beside her, to me and my other horse Lupe to whom she is telling to stay away… I see all of the messages she is sending in her expression at once: wonder, question, back off… You can feel it in her gaze, but it is also visible in her ears. The ears show a ‘surround’ listening attitude…
She is here looking at me but is only for 75% with me, 25% of her attention is with my partner who is talking to her… She is already questioning what I am doing over there and is listening to my partner at the same time.
Here she is looking straight at me, from behind her son, I feel her third eye is open and sending information. She is messaging me: “Why are you still over there?” 🙂 (I usually enter their pasture straight away, instead of lingering behind the fence with a camera)
Emphasis
When my horse looks at me in this manner (straight) and is sending information from her third eye to mine (telepathic communication). I know she wants something from me and is showing this very clearly through her physical presence and the energy that comes along with it. It is all about focus.
When this happens I am very attentive. Because my horse is trying to share something that she finds really important. If I don’t understand I ask for an explanation or tell her that I don’t understand. When your horse realises you are trying to listen they will make a bigger effort in talking to you… So even if you don’t understand, acknowledge that you see the communication but don’t understand yet. When your horse feels that he is seen, it is a wonderful moment for both. I remember the first time I realised a horse could understand me: it was so special! It was exciting for the both of us!!
In those moments of focused communication we can see several possibilities of expression as well. It could be a question, it could be making connection, it could be that she is saying she doesn’t like something etc. etc. The combination of ears and eyes reveal more about the subtleties…
Horses communicate a lot with each other in a telepathic way. They don’t need to move themselves physically to share information with other horses. But you can notice it in their eyes and facial expression.
Before a horse really moves toward another horse, they have already communicated with the other horse. If the other horse doesn’t get the message or tries to ignore it, they take action with their physical bodies to emphasize what they are saying. They do the same with us, humans… They could rub against us, lick our hands or really push our arm aside… These are all possible questions from our horse.
The short video on the bottom of this page gives an overview of several elements within the day-to-day interaction language between two horses.