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I try to capture the texture of life here in my Instagram feed. I don't post pictures of work with clients, for obvious reasons (privacy!) but these images, and the words that go with them, express what I love and am inspired by, and the essence of what my work - especially my equine assisted therapy work - is about.
![“There are people whose presence is encouraging. One of the most beautiful gifts in the world is the gift of encouragement. When someone encourages you, they help you over a threshold you might otherwise never have crossed on your own. [...] Encouragement also helps you to engage and trust your own possibility and potential.” John O’Donohue, Eternal Echoes.
Over the weekend, I saw the power of encouragement up close. Co-facilitating, with my dear friend Margaret Pickering, a clinic for riders on working with fear and trauma, we got to acknowledge the pain of encountering criticism, bullying and judgement when we were struggling or uncertain - and then to feel how growth comes (more) easily when we offer each other our encouraging presence.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with such beautiful souls - two- and four-legged. And also for a quiet-ish day at home today to integrate and reconnect with the herd. It struck me, observing Djinni here, that a lack of encouragement is just as dispiriting for horses as it is for people. Of course it is.
#potenthorsecoaching #encouragement #equinetherapy #equinefacilitatedlearning #equineassistedlearning #equineassistedcoaching #equineassistedpsychotherapy #therapyhorse #integration #safeandsocial #johnodonohue](https://scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/186739504_139143781585186_6879942795733435126_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=EKVe5hlWuwQQ7kNvgFG6wvH&_nc_oc=Adg6ImJ9sjrepOB4apmoq4NyXTE3X-Qt3xHnLPgTUPvwIesrUuLKr-vP1IGad-EI2-E&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=A17p-9NbH0TxANFjC0gCs01&oh=00_AYDiUoeRXHjLh1kcSOnG2c54WoBNx2011mKlAGkwGgBbyg&oe=67B0E5E9)
![“In the field of therapy, horses are often said to act as mirrors to people. The vision of their society as competitive, hierarchical and aggressively status-seeking [underlying many models of horsemanship, albeit more subtly these days, perhaps] reflects the worst qualities of our society, but it is a distorted one. A truer vision reflects our better qualities: immense sociability, the ability to respect each other’s living space and style, delight in harmless playfulness, the capacity to unite against common enemies and the possibilities of negotiating to avoid conflict, the realisation that true friends outweigh any material hoarding. More than ever, as the world approaches a tipping point where the destruction caused by non-adaptive behaviour is liable to sweep all before it, we need these qualities. [...]
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We have a lot to learn, not just about them but from them. Inside every domestic horse is a feral one with the same certainty about how life should be lived.” ~ Lucy Rees
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These times are calling for a lot of grounding, play, and connection, but also a lot of reframing and re-evaluating. A lighter workload has given me and the horses more time to hang out with no agenda at all, and the golden autumn weather here in Canterbury has invited lazy afternoons lying belly-down in the grass, much to Anam Cara’s amusement. Just after this picture was taken he thought he might have a roll too.
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Which is a lovely illustration of Lucy Rees’ thesis - I’ve finally had time, thanks to the lockdown - to read her wonderful book Horses in Company - that what really guides horse behaviour is not dominance, but the interweaving of three principles: cohere, synchronise, and don’t collide. There is no leader making decisions for the herd, more a fluid dance of suggestions between all herd members.
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You’re having a roll? What a great idea 🐴🌞
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#potenthorsecoaching #equinetherapy #equineassistedtherapy #equineassistedlearning #equineassistedpsychotherapy #thehealingherd #equineethology #lucyreesequineethology #horsesincompany #anamcara #nonviolentcommunication #hanoverian #therapyhorse #naturalhealing #earthandsky #homeground #horsewisdom](https://scontent-iad3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-15/95285219_593365804865458_4090616097860718407_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=BoDXXFRXk7oQ7kNvgH6M_-t&_nc_oc=AdjCImCfFkxMJsq4YkJh6pwHq3125BKfRo7Nj5YXN6M_CFVzlGC7V-Z8ZNyC9Tx5o6g&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-2.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AYCExZNPlCm8oJvM8mPScvm1ODhAb_EP5NGqBcLrej3S4w&oe=67B0C94E)
![“When we are young and our soul-lives collide with the desires and requirements of culture and the world, indeed we feel stranded far from home. However, as adults we continue to drive ourselves even farther from home as a result of our own choices about who, what, where, and for how long. [...] But, even when it is our own dismal choices that have blown us off course - too far from what we need - hold faith, for within the soul is the homing device. We all can find our way back” ~ Clarissa Pinkola-Estés
I’ve made my share of dismal choices over the years, but through it all, my soul spoke to me at every possible moment, whenever my mind wasn’t busy with something else, of home. And this longing for home always involved horses - images of them, or the sensation of riding them.
When I finally went to my first EFLC training, I realised that that soul voice had indeed been a homing device.
This life with the herd is home.
And here’s Ginger, settling in to his new home. He hasn’t quite realised yet that round here, you can be fairly certain that a passing human is not going to interrupt your nap... #potenthorsecoaching #soulwork #equinetherapy #equineassistedtherapy #equineassistedlearning #thehealingherd #angloarab #appaloosa #cominghome #clarissapinkolaestes #womenwhorunwiththewolves](https://scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-15/84111978_107405000721502_2451563394618503091_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=1BHMQKjZ_N4Q7kNvgHIYLfK&_nc_oc=Adj_lOxmyN924lcUn_HkIm7yUDqy1X60MBWqayNAgT3UdqDzPmc9_i6Cpy79XlfIAm8&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AYDcfBOdyPyIjMOiGmgR56dCkpwger_FFO4waebbb9MlaQ&oe=67B0D8AA)
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