People often mistakenly have an assumption our horses are perfect and that's why they do the learning work, but this simply isn't true.
One of our horses is anxious and can get caught in a pattern of scanning the horizon for danger rather than their awareness being everywhere (hyperfocus).
One of our ponies let's people do what they want for an easy life, rather than seeing herself as an equal, setting boundaries and sharing what she needs (submissive).
One of our ponies gets scared they're not going to have enough and bullies the others rather trusting and sharing the resources (fearful and aggressive).
These in our eye's aren't failings, they're communication and an opportunity. Alongside continuing to improve our set up to meet our herd's needs:
- We spend time role modeling self awareness to the anxious pony - We demonstrate boundary setting to the passive pony - We request calm and measured communication from the worried and aggressive pony.
This is because, sometimes behaviours become habits and just like humans, the ponies don't realise they can be anything different.
After a while we see:
- the anxious pony being more relaxed and able to focus on things of their choice at will - the passive pony setting boundaries and saying no - the aggressive pony reigning themselves in and toning down their communication.
We offer the same service to our clients.
What is so great about the ponies having their own growth and learning journey's is we can share these topics with clients in ways they can understand and relate.
For example, the building of perspective. How does it feel when a pony nudges you because they wanted something? Where in our lives do we "nudge" others in ways they may find confusing, intimidating or unpleasant? What might the pony be saying with that nudge? What need is trying to be met? How could we communicate differently to get the same outcome?
By seeing the issue in another, we gain perspective and can access our wisdom.
This is just one of the many ways that horses are valuable learning aids and incredibly useful in helping people to understand and relate to themselves better.