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Avoiding the boss mentality has really been a challenge to me. When I get an idea and am ready to implement it, I tend to want to act on it straightaway. It has to happen and it has to happen now. The fact that there is a live animal objecting to this, is not an issue to which I am really keen on devoting a lot of time and energy. This used to be my approach and it is something that Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling also recognised in me. How I have tried to deal with it is described below.
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The first real difficulty I experienced when trying to answer the question as to how I was ever going to learn how to achieve a magical connection with horses, was one that I myself created, inadvertently perhaps but no less effectively because of that. What I did was study all that Hempfling has written, watch all his videos, and speak at length with many who had attended his courses either as students or unpaid assistants. What I did not do was actually weigh up what it would really mean if I were to indeed do what he taught as conveyed through those channels, and then actually start acting on his teachings.
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Ultimately, the guidance provided by other humans as to how to achieve a magical connection with a horse is merely that: guidance, and no more. It can help establish the framework, point you in the right direction and even dip your nose in it. At the end of it all, though, such guidance can do no more for you than you can do to get the proverbial horse to drink the water to which you have led them. In the same way that you cannot make the horse drink, so too such guidance is unable to get you to do anything. You have to do it yourself and you have to start now. The beginning of September 2011, the time when I was supposed to be starting a year-long course of training with Hempfling, seemed to be an appropriate time to start doing just that. So I did and in the beginning there was nothing.
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Shared energy with half a ton of vibrant warmblood mare!

Shared energy with half a ton of vibrant warmblood mare!

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The decision that Vicki and I had then made to go on sabbatical for a year, meant that I had made the time available. This was an excellent start. My ability to go into the moment, which I have been working on with growing frequency every day since discovering body awareness exercises and Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now, has also been indispensable. Having the time and being able to live it in the present have made it possible for me to discover a calm joy which I refuse to allow anyone to ever take from me again. This has created a context which is a sine qua non (“without which nothing”) for achieving a magical connection with a horse: you are at peace, you have time, and you are living now.
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It is within this context that I focused my conscious attempt to act on the above-mentioned tips in the course of September. As mentioned, in the beginning there was nothing. Anaïs would still insist on setting a blistering pace during our walks through the forest, break into a brief anxious trot now and then, and refuse to raise her head from grazing during our short breaks. The breakthrough came the day before we had a practice run to load Anaïs on to a trailer in preparation for her trip to the vet for her alternative treatment. Instead of halting or half-halting Anaïs when she threatened to get ahead of me, I consciously resolved to focus on leading through my presence. First, I started walking slightly faster than her until I was a little bit ahead of her. Then I focused my attention on my body, what I was feeling and where. Beyond that I became aware of the cool autumn air on my cheeks, a bird calling up to the right, the dank scent of the wet undergrowth, and then this massive warmblood striding hugely towards my left. There was just the two of us moving down the path in a cocoon of nature oblivious to everything else. Suddenly I sensed a slight hesitation in her stride and felt my body automatically respond to match her. She recovered and I joined her. That was when feeling turned to knowledge. I dropped my energy slightly and sensed her respond to match me. Then I raised my energy again and so did she. We went back and forth like this for several minutes before the contact slipped away as I caught my mind wandering again. What was left though, was the sensation of what had been: shared energy with half a ton of vibrant warmblood mare. Awesome, truly!
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Together in the moment that is always now!

Together in the moment that is always now!

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(Taken from the book, When Horses Speak and Humans Listen. For more information see http://www.horsesandhumans.com/mainsite/whsahl.htm.)

 


 

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One Response to “Achieving an Energetical (“Magical”) Connection with a Horse”

  1. Laraine says:

    Wow Andrew has it been that long since you stayed before heading off on this awesome learning adventure 2011, I have enjoyed reading your insight and am learning from your sharing. I had a slight smile to myself when you spoke about taking charge and moving forward at your pace, I have to admit that I am very much the same, and when people say to me ” you can lead a horse to water but you will not make it drink” I always answer ” just salt the oats and make the horse thirsty and it will drink”
    Thank you for your sharing of wisdom.