Drawn to horses and have no idea why?

By Rosie Withey, Horses as Teachers, Bristol, UK

This morning I listened to a fascinating podcast, hosted by Hillary Schneider of Women Who run with Horses and features Kim McElroy and Sandra Wallin.

Kim Mc Elroy is the inspiring artist who created the artwork for the deck of cards in Linda Kohanov’s book, The Way of the Horse – Equine Archetypes for self discovery. The images are stunning and last year I treated myself to two of Kim’s paintings which are now adorning the walls of our home. Sandra Wallin is a fellow Eponaquest Instructor of Equine Facilitated Learning, who I had the pleasure of connecting with during a Power of the Herd training workshop with Linda Kohanov in Arizona about six years ago.

Listening to the podcast reminded me of the number of people who are ‘drawn’ to horses and my workshops through no apparent logical search! What I mean is that they haven’t consciously been searching for an Equine Facilitated experience, but just happen to find me! Some pick up a flyer, others dream about horses or have visions of them in their meditations and then see one of my adverts, whilst others say that they just ‘came across’ my website and felt drawn to it!

Call it ‘luck’, ‘timing’ or ‘synchronicity’ I believe that these people are being drawn by some subconscious connection to horses, that they didn’t know existed.

For years I’ve found it frustrating to admit to the marketing professionals that I’ve worked with that there are a percentage of my clients who just seem to ‘find my website’. They aren’t seeking me out (and therefore they have no idea what ‘search words’ they use!).

Call it ‘luck’, ‘timing’ or ‘synchronicity’ I believe that these people are being drawn by some subconscious connection to horses, that they didn’t know existed.

Many of my clients have horses, most had some connection with horses in their childhood, which they want to rekindle, and a growing number have a ‘calling’ to engage with horses, that they don’t understand on a logical level.

The purpose of this blog is to let you know that if you are one of those people who are being drawn to explore the connection with horses, and yet you have no idea why, or what it is that you want to learn – IT’S PERFECTLY NORMAL!

In the podcast Kim and Sandra talk about the potential that ‘what we are seeking is also seeking us’, that we have an underlying purpose. I believe that to be true and I’m convinced that the horses I have been lucky enough to own and partner with over the years sought me out to teach me a thing or two, at the same time as I was seeking them. I often had a very practical reason for acquiring a new horse, but I know that a deeper part of me was also ‘drawing’ in another lesson to be learned.

I could write a book about all the lessons I’ve learned from the different horses that have graced my life. Mmmmmmmmmmm – another idea!

Often my clients are looking for a deeper connection to themselves, their loved ones, their purpose and their lives and yet they can’t describe it tangibly. On their booking form they may write “I just loved the sound of it and I believe the experience will be good for me.”

Horses help us to connect to our intuition, our creative, visionary and authentic selves and so the feedback I receive is often something like this:

“Truly enlightening experience with many deeper discoveries than I had anticipated. More truths brought to light gently and supportively to raise awareness, not judge. I will go back to my therapy business with deeper awareness to support both myself and others.”

You may be feeling drawn to explore connection with horses or you may be curious to find out what you can discover about yourself through being with and interacting with these wonderful creatures.

Can you trust that feeling – without needing to find a logical reason to follow through?

What I’ve learned from horses more than anything else is to trust my ‘hunches’, gut instincts or moments of intuition, however irrational or mad they may have seemed at the time.

I’ve no idea if the choices I’ve made as a result were the ‘right’ ones, but they brought me to where I am today. It was one of those hunches, on an early morning ride, which led me to retrain as a riding instructor and build my riding centre. It was a gut instinct which made me get on a plane to Arizona and travel there six times over a two-year period to train in this amazing field of work which I now love – and it’s through following my intuition that I feel very blessed to have travelled to Egypt, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland with my work.

Can you trust that feeling – without needing to find a logical reason to follow through?

So, if you are reading this blog and you feel drawn to exploring the connection and relationship with horses and it just feels right to get in contact, even though you don’t logically know why, I look forward to hearing from you.

Rosie Withey

Horses as Teachers
Brickyard Farm, Clutton, Bristol, UK

Get in touch:

rosie@horsesasteachers.co.uk
https://horsesasteachers.co.uk