Not many people equate spiritual enlightenment with horses. Afterall, horses don’t have spiritual sides, right? Or … wrong?

W.R.O.N.G.

One of the definitions of the word “spiritual” is:

Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material.

How many have had spiritual epiphanies while relating with their horses? I would dare say that almost all do as the horse’s inherent nature is to get along – and in this nature the spiritual aspect of the horse can only relate to the human in a spiritual manner. Of course once the human doesn’t necessarily respond to the spiritual communications from the horse the horse will give up. I mean really – how many times can we say the same thing over and over and over again to a person til we finally give up when that person just doesn’t acknowlege us?

Relating to the horse in an intangible, spiritual manner means our hearts have to be more focused on the horse’s point of view rather than on our own egos – the “I” or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought.

When we ‘have’ horses, we ‘own’ horses we are focused with our egos – what WE want. From our own point of view.

When viewing them from a spiritual point of view we are focused on THE HORSE; on their comforts … rather than on our selves. This opens up a whole, incredible opportunity to step up levels in the relationships we have with our horses. From ‘owners’ to Leaders to Partners and, finally, to Friends and then, if we’re TRULY blessed, to “Soul Mates”.

Now, I talk alot about establishing Leadership with horses. This is an important step for most people as it allows a change of thinking in the human brain. From dominance and control to guidance and care. But once Leadership is established and the horse feels safe and trusting of his or her Leader the relationship can then begin to blossom even further into that of a true Partnership – A relationship between individuals or groups that is characterized by mutual cooperation and responsibility, as for the achievement of a specified goal.

Read that definition of partnership again … focus on the words MUTUAL and COOPERATION.

Let those words sink in.

Mutual cooperation and responsibility for the achievement of a specified goal.

The human cooperates with the horse and the horse cooperates with the human – both focused on the same thing at the same time!

When this happens the relationship goes spiritual … up a level from dominance to leadership to … P.a.r.t.n.e.r.  and F.r.i.e.n.d. And only then can we fully realize the role of “Soul Mate”. One can have many partners and many friends but there’s really only one “soul mate” at a time.

Yes, horses are sentient. Yes, horses understand, Yes, horses CAN communicate and try to do so all the time. They TRY to get along with their humans. But when the human isn’t ready for that level of spiritual communication and partnership with the horse then things just don’t FEEL the same way as they do when both horse and human are on that same wavelength of Partnership. We humans just don’t ‘get it’ sometimes. We struggle with frustration and anger and even aggression towards the horse as if the whole problem lies with him.

Guess what?  The problem isn’t with the horse.

But when we do get it? When we are able to put our egos aside and step from the tangible in to the intangible? It’s truly a spiritual thing – a spiritual enlightenment – something to cherish and a relationship from which we can never turn back with a pure conscious.