Equine Interaction Retreats, LLC

YES! They absolutely do! A comment I frequently hear after introducing clients to the herd is that they had no idea horses personalities could be so different.

Although horses personalities may not be quite as complex as humans, they certainly feel and express emotion, and vary on a personal level around their amount of energy, curiosity, calm, fear, trust, playfulness and more. Sadly, despite this great variation, the thing that comes up the most is “Oh, is he stubborn? Lazy? Mean?” The problem with these types of attributions is that they over-humanize horses and tend to be overly negative.

Horses live in the here-and-now which is part of why they are so great for teaching us how to be more present. And because they live in the here-and-now, they have no concept of how to be manipulative or flat-out mean for no reason. Their behaviors are often more simple than that and are expressions of emotions like comfort/discomfort, fear/confidence, trust/mistrust, and survival via flight, freeze, or fight (if they have to).

Often what we label as “behavior problems” are actually the lack of communication and understanding between the horse and human. Horses are actually HIGHLY attuned to those around them as a survival mechanism, and notice extremely subtle clues coming from those around them. Pretty much 100% of the time when a horse “acts out” it’s because we as people have failed to notice the things they are trying to tell us, or our unawareness of pain or discomfort the horse is feeling. Past perceived trauma can also produce these so-called “behavior problems”, but in realty they are the horse simply trying to learn from his or her experiences in the past and attempting to protect themselves.

During our equine interaction retreats, even more personality shines through from each of our horses because we start from square one, understanding how horse behavior and emotions work and why, and then start our interactions with them through a focus on trust and consent. We find ways to give the horses choice and freedom, and then invite them to come alongside us in relationship rather than for a means to an end (e.g., riding). We even consider the horses’ opinions on which human they want to pair up with! The range in personalities of the herd lends a lot of insight into the personalities and individual challenges that people bring with them and opportunity for expressing and revealing the strengths that come with it.

Interested in learning more? Join me for one of my upcoming retreats! The Fall 2023 Women’s Equine Interaction Retreat in the beautiful town of Leavenworth, WA is now open for registration.

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