When you hear hoofbeats…

don’t think zebras. Unless you’re in the African savanna. So it is with Equine Guided Education (EGE) and related fields of working with horses as teachers and healers. It is really quite simple: interacting with horses is eye-opening and therapeutic.

Through basic ground work activities, horses provide us opportunities to learn about everything from the effectiveness of our communication to recognizing the difference between what we think we should believe or feel and what we actually believe or feel. Signing up to experience EGE does not require any prior knowledge of horses or horsemanship on the part of the human participants. It requires a spirit of curiosity and a willingness to try doing things differently.

People often ask “what do you actually DO if you’re not riding?”

When you think about the process of going riding, the time spent actually riding the horse is often a fraction of the whole experience. Greeting the horse in the field or the barn, haltering him, leading him to the ready area, brushing him and cleaning his hooves, checking him over for any injuries or sensitive spots, tacking up, possibly lunging before riding, then afterwards, untacking, grooming again, checking hooves for rocks or footing debris, giving him a thank you snack, walking him back to his field or barn, releasing him and saying good-bye… all of this takes a large amount of time and energy. All of this also constitutes essential communication between you and the horse, and can create a bond and sense of trust that greatly assists and improves the riding experience.

All the things people can do with horses besides riding offer a plethora of ways to enjoy horses, bond with them, and learn from them. One of the wonderful things about working with horses in this manner is that such a broad spectrum of horses and people can participate. Plenty of elderly or previously injured horses can do the work. Plenty of elderly or previously injured people can, too.

One of my colleagues in EGE, Agus Vera Alemany, co-founded Terra de Cavalls, coaching “natural leadership guided by horses,” operating on the outskirts of fabulous Barcelona, Spain. Their website does a wonderful job of presenting their work,and in response to the question “Why horses?” the reply includes the following:

Throughout history, for human beings horses have represented the symbol of nobility, strength, beauty, capacity for sacrifice, curiosity, loyalty and sociability. Because of this, they enthuse us and challenge us to go after our dreams, broaden horizons, change beliefs and take a step beyond our “Comfort Zone”… The horse is an animal with a great ability to perceive our moods, our deepest unconscious, reacting by instinct to the energy we give off… When they decide to let people lead them, it is because they find in them an “authentic leader”, whose messages are clear and unambiguous , and who are secure and confident.

For full details about Terra de Cavalls, see http://www.terradecavalls.com/about-us/why-horses/?lang=en

Join me in exploring what is happening in the worldwide arena of horses and human beings. For more than 5,000 years, our two species have coexisted; sometimes we being more reliant upon them, sometimes they being more reliant upon us. Not so long ago, we Americans built our nation with the invaluable service of horses to thank for transportation and security. As the Industrial Age slowly but surely made the jobs of horses in daily life all but obsolete, horses found a prominent place in sports and entertainment. More recently, and just in time to help swing the pendulum of reliance back toward center, there has been a growing trend in people working with horses as healers and teachers.

A little bit of history…

In 2008, just as the recession crept in, I quit my office job to search for something more. I didn’t know what something more would look like, I just knew that it included horses. I had grown up on a farm with horses, but somehow, my life’s own version of the Industrial Age distanced them from my daily life. Despite the proverbial “successful career” I had forged for myself doing Human Relations at a well known production company, my soul was lacking something essential, so I set about reading books, articles, heck, the internet, to find out all I could about what interested me the most: how horses are helping heal souls and how I might be able to become a part of that arena. Horses are partners in pyschotherapy, in physiotherapy, in corporate workshops, in youth programs, in prison rehab programs, in life coaching, and so much more. This is fantastic! So… what could I do? Start talking to people!

I first had the good fortune to meet Lisa Eppley of Acacia Farm (http://www.acaciafarm.com/) in 2008 when I began my quest to get horses back in my life, and she, quite literally, got me back in the saddle and has reacquainted me with my farming roots. Though I don’t own a horse of my own, she has generously let me share the joys of hers.

After contacting, visiting, and experiencing the practices of many wonderful people and organizations involved in working with horses in education and therapy, I decided that Equine Guided Education was the practice that most closely aligned with my personal background, experience, philosophy and goals, so in 2010, I became a certified Equine Guided Educator. (see more about EGE and certification at http://www.skyhorseranch.com/)

Oh, I did go back to a day job in production; I now do Human Relations for a growing animation company, and it is my not-so-secret plan to somehow merge the world of production with the industry of working with horses in the service of teaching and healing. More on that later.

At the 2011 Annual EGE Conference, I sat next to Jill Rivoli one morning, and have not stopped talking to her since! A fabulous blend of down-to-earth and always-open-to-possibility, Jill is one of the most experienced facilitators in horse centered learning I know. (see more about Jill at her website http://newperspectivesusa.com/)

So that brings me to now… I am very excited to be embarking on a joint venture with Jill, designing retreats in the Pacific Northwest that are focused on Equine Guided Education.

Thank you for reading my very first post. I look forward to your thoughts, ideas and questions.

~ashley