“Open up your heart and let your horse in.” We all love our horses, or all of us here do anyway. So what is it that makes that loving a two way street like Tammy and Dana in the photo here?
Communication AND taking action on that communication, is what makes that loving a two way street.
Deciding that you want to be able to communicate or communicate better with your horse is one of those foundational moments that can change your life and theirs. Feel it as you take this Lesson out to your horse – get a glimpse of how being listened to is fundamental to a horse’s mental, emotional and physical well being.
This is a subtle connection for most people the first time. The connection – the “Feel”of the connection – gets more and more easy to notice and easier to use with practice.
Don’t worry if you don’t get this straight away – I’ve never met anyone I couldn’t teach this to. We’re all utterly unique and we can’t copy someone else’s way of doing it. Sometimes it takes practice and sometimes it takes someone like me pointing it out to you. I’m planning on doing some live events teaching this connection and Feel for your horse thing, so make sure that you’re registered for those emails. You’ll find the registration form underneath the Key to the Kingdom of Horses video here.
The Lesson
If you have a photo of your horse easily available, then go and have it with you when you listen to the audio. Or you may prefer to download this Lesson to your mobile device or print it and then go out to your horse and do the Lesson there.
There is a Written Version of the Audio below so you can read along with the audio, which I understand can be especially useful for those who have English as their second language.
Audio Troubleshooting
If you ever have trouble playing an audio that wants to stop/start all the time, then listening to it on your computer or mobile device instead of over the internet will fix the problem. (To download, right click here and “save link as” or ” save target as” – however your computer likes to save and you’ll find it in your downloads file, called The First Key to Happiness with Your Horse.)
WRITTEN VERSION OF THE AUDIO
The First Key To Happiness with Your Horse – written so that you can print it and take it out to your horse (or copy and paste it into another program for printing if you don’t want to print out all the rest of the website page).
You are already connected to your horse. You ALREADY experience that connection to your horse, everyday.
MY job is to get you to NOTICE how you experience that connection, so that you can start to use that connection deliberately to be a really good rider and to be really good with your horse.
In this exercise, I am looking for you to notice in great detail how YOU feel so that when you connect to your horse, you will notice the difference.
So starting at your head, scan your body from your head to your feet, noticing how you feel.
Do that now while you are listening to me. Take your attention to your head and slowly work your way down, notice your head, move your jaw a little and notice how it feels, move your neck a little and notice how that feels. Check your shoulders, notice any tension there.
Move your back just a little bit and notice how that feels. Wriggle your hips a little and notice everything about how your pelvis feels.
Feel your legs and then your knees and then wriggle your feet a little – noticing everything about how they feel.
Now, keeping your attention still on your own body, that’s the key to this – keeping your attention on your own body – either close your eyes and picture your horse in your mind or look at that photo or look at your horse in front of you.
Now notice anything that changes in your own body.
Allow your attention to wander over your body noticing even the subtle ways in which you feel different.
That change will be you feeling the connection to your horse.
Horses most commonly communicate feelings. Whatever change you experienced though, whether feelings or tension or pain, that change IS you feeling your horse.
Now if this was your first time, you may not be sure whether you noticed any change at all.
Chill out. I have taught this to hundreds and hundreds of people and NEVER met anyone who couldn’t get it.
This is a VERY short audio and LOTS of you will need longer than this 3 minutes to really get this.
And some of you will find this exercise easier when you are actually with your horse because you can see them lick and chew in response to you and that will give you the validation that you are no doubt looking for.
This is important, especially for those of you who haven’t read my books – your horse licks and chews when they understand you, they lick and chew when you understand them. It’s a physical signal of shared communication. You can notice that from now on!
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to deliberately do this connection exercise EVERY TIME you are around your horse until it becomes second nature to notice your horse.
Take this audio or the written version of this audio out to your horse and practise and if you still have trouble noticing the difference, then contact me for some help. Even the free programs are well supported here!
Notice when your horse chews and notice what you are thinking when your horse chews.
Noticing this connection is the first step in increasing your understanding of your horse. And this understanding is the foundation for being a better rider and being really good with your horse.
The next video will arrive in your Inbox tomorrow. Anxiety and fear is sooo common with horses and it really gets in the way of good communication. So tomorrow we’ll talk about this Second Key to Happiness With Your Horse – understanding what to do when you notice that your horse is anxious or afraid.