by Jim Kerrigan

Created on: May 12, 2010

There are three main things a child has to develop while they are approaching adulthood. They are: trust in relationships, self confidence in one’s abilities, and the possession of an adroit spirit. Ironically, Horses can be the pathway to all of these but this will be seen as true more by living the experience rather than talking about it. However, for the purposes of this article the challenge of talking about this direct experience, in such a way that the intrinsic nature of the experience is clear, is mine.

First trust in relationships: Horses do not understand English or any other spoken language for that matter. Therefore, they do not understand excuses, apologies, or mea copas. They simply see what is there and react or respond to what is actually happening not how someone is describing it. They are one of the world’s sharpest mirrors.

If you give them no reason to fear you they don’t fear you. If you give them no reason to respect you they won’t respect you. If you are trust worthy even when things are weird there is nothing more that a horse wants, when things are weird, than a trust worthy leader. Basically what you put into a horse you get back in spades including neglect. So, the entire endeavor is about relationships and trust and time, immediate gratification and horses are in different universes.

Second, Self confidence on one’s abilities: Consistency and focus is what the horse looks for to take cues from. The horse responds to cues both the ones we are deliberately sending and the ones we are sending without being aware that we are sending. Horses live in the moment they focus on the ever constant now! If we tune into them we will become aware of how our body language, vocal tone and facial expressions can affect others. It’s that mirror thing again. Having confidence isn’t half as important as projecting a persona that says I am confident.

So much of our opportunities in life are created or circumvented by others forming opinions about us through nothing more than how they see us. The horse doesn’t understand what we intended, they have no way of comprehending what was in our mind as we were doing something they only see us doing it and then react to what they see. By becoming aware of our own subtle human mannerisms, gestures, vocal tone and body language we will develop stronger image building behavior patterns. These will cause everything in our environment, not just horses, to view us at

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