How Horses Transformed My Life - A Lesson in Intentionality

Recently someone close to me hurt me deeply. She falsely accused me of something I did not do, and she attempted to convince others that I had committed this huge transgression. I was shocked, hurt, offended, and indignant. In fact the emotions poured out and through me unlike anything I have experienced in a very long time. Then something profound happened.  After all of the emotion processed through, I was left with the clarity of knowing I did nothing wrong. I did not cause this.  I was not responsible for it. I was only a victim if I chose to be. Then I considered other options. How can I use this opportunity to create something that I want? Something that serves a higher purpose? Something that is in alignment with who I am and who I am becoming? 


This is when the interesting ideas started to occur. I began a long process of thinking about my intentions. How do I want my life to be, how do I want my relationships to be, how do I create a life that pleases and fulfills ME. Of course I had had these thoughts before, but somehow this felt different, almost like an elevated sense of consciousness. I was separate from my emotions, and connected to a higher purpose. I began to see how I could choose different responses and make choices that served my intentions versus reacting from a place of emotion. Suddenly I felt much more empowered and capable of designing my future.


This experience turned out to be very valuable to me. It created a quantum leap in my personal development. This was a human interaction that involved no horses, so how did “horses transform my life’? What role did horses have in my newly-found awareness? As it turns out, the horses had a great deal to do with my evolution.  Several of the themes we explore in equine guided experiential learning are manifested in my story. 


Horses process emotion as information. They are masters at processing vast quantities of information to keep them safe. When a possible threat is sensed, horses take action. Once the threat is removed, they don’t continue to obsess over it. They are masters at conserving energy and letting go of non-important stimuli. This frees them to be able to focus on what they want.  In spending time with horses and doing this work, I have had the opportunity to explore horse behavior and consciousness, and what I have learned from them has helped me become a more grounded and successful person. Their lessons serve me well when I heed them.


Michigan, USA


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