How horses taught me about big and small trauma responses in people – in somatic sessions and in everyday “kinda hard” conversation topics.
As a kid, I spent every waking moment I was allowed with horses, for about 10 years of my life. Horse language felt more natural to me than human language.
Often times horses would ‘spook’, as they say – or suddenly get frightened by something. When you’re a teeny kid working with a creature about the size of a small car, you have to be continuously paying attention to subtle body cues and your general environment. If your not, you might get squished by your big ol horse friend on the ground, or thrown off their back while riding.
Horses taught me, it doesn’t much matter about the why – if we don’t both calm down together, things are gonna stay in a freaked out state. So, no matter what, our first step is to try to get a lil more calm-vitality before any further conversation. I find it’s just exactly the same with people.
Forever and ever, thank you horses.
Relational Awareness 