The Soul Connection with Horses by Suzanne E. Cote
(www.o-books.com)
Horses teach humans how to live healthily, deepen our innate wisdom and enable soul-to-soul connection.
In her book Soul Connection with Horses, Suzanne Cote integrates concepts of awakening and spirituality as understood in Eastern and Western philosophical, religious and therapeutic traditions, and discusses how many of them are intimately related to the physical and mental characteristics of the horse. She argues that horses are models of spiritual awakening in humans because they live in a constant state of presence. Both science and experience tell us that simply being with a horse can bring healing and spiritual vitality. In a state of presence, we become attuned to the subtle movements and attitudes of the horse and are able to see ourselves in a new light. Here, spirituality is not treated as a distant and esoteric concept, but as an understanding of ourselves and the world that goes beyond our animal nature, our deep sense of being alive, and our spiritual concepts. It is the awareness that we are one with all beings, that we are one with life. This is the deep, beyond words, knowledge that the horse communicates to us that we should pay attention to. It is the wisdom that the horse holds within, what the horse wants to “teach” us as a model of living from our soul, our spirit, our inner essence and the source of all life.
Soul Connection with Horses begins by comparing the shared characteristics of humans and horses, focusing on how both species understand the phenomenal world. Until the Industrial Revolution transformed the landscape and inner world of Western life, we freely learned life lessons from other mammals and by observing the laws of nature. Since humans became familiar with horses (about 6000 years ago), we have not only admired their athleticism and beauty, but also been taught by them about healing plants, enjoyed the physical connection of riding, and immersed in their serene presence. Today, when we consider how horses experience their environment, how they process emotions, and how they express their needs, we see how close they are to the human social, psychological, and spiritual experience of life. This closeness is not significantly affected by domesticating horses, as long as their physical and psychological needs are met in a meaningful way. Experiencing the phenomenal world through the eyes of a horse allows us to understand how they balance within their nurturing herd while also opening us up to fresh inner experiences.
The soul connection with horses has three basic premises. First, in Western culture, human conditioned thinking acquired through social norms disconnects us from our innate wisdom, but a close connection with a horse under expert guidance can reawaken healthy physical and mental pathways. Second, a direct connection with nature and animals allows us to observe natural laws in practice and learn new pathways to wholeness. Third, because horses cannot lie, they expect an honest and authentic connection and ask us to experience ourselves realistically in a secure relationship.
By letting horses teach and guide us, we can awaken our capacity for greater self-compassion, acceptance, and spiritual awakening. Suzanne Cote argues that to increase our healing and awakening potential through our connection with horses, we must treat them as sentient and sensitive beings worthy of respect and compassion. As our equals in a trust-based connection, horses work with us, not for us. In equine therapy and learning, we invite the horse as a co-therapist and co-teacher to help us re-establish intuitive ways of knowing that may be buried by habitual overthinking. Recent research supports the idea that if we are swept away in a river of mental constructs and biases over which we have little control, we are unable to take in new information, severely limiting our capacity to learn and grow. But our intuition can be listened to, and immersion in nature can help us rediscover our connections to animals, the natural environment, and each other.
When we form a meaningful connection with a horse, the horse reminds us that we are inseparable. Horses challenge the myth that humans and nature are separate and function independently. They also challenge the myth of individual separation by showing how healthy it is, both mentally and physically, to live in groups. Horses bestow upon us the ability to mirror our human thoughts and emotional states. They also expect us to know this learnable language, as they communicate with each other through subtle body language. Science confirms that horses read us through our body language and our senses, which can detect our heart rate, adrenaline levels and other biochemicals that activate in the body. By learning to read the language of the horse and seeing him respond to us honestly and directly, we begin to recognize overlooked parts of ourselves. Horses sense who we are and what we think we are. Horses are not interested in our appearances, but in our true state of being. As the horse responds directly to this, this ability provides equine-assisted practitioners with a valuable tool for identification and change.
Through centering techniques and practices rooted in philosophical and spiritual explorations cultivated over millennia, Suzanne Cote introduces the concept of making meaningful connections with nature, ourselves, and other beings. She brings meditation and mindfulness practices into the presence of the horse, teaching us how to experience the here and now as the horse does for us. By considering how the horse experiences the world, processes emotions, thinks, and expresses needs, we can see the world through the horse's eyes. In doing so, we can learn to let go of our assumptions about who the horse is, and, with expert guidance, let go of our assumptions about who we are too.
The book explores the lines of communication between practitioner, client and horse, highlighting the process by which horses can guide us towards wholeness. Although the writing is primarily aimed at practitioners, it is highly relevant to horse lovers and anyone wishing to deepen their connection with nature and animals. Counseling techniques such as narrative therapy, which recognises the natural human tendency to live through stories and project meaning onto others (including horses), are adapted for the equine-assisted space. Because people live through stories about who they are and how the world works, through brief exercises with horses, personal stories are identified, questioned, externalised and ultimately reshaped. Through simple but carefully conceived exercises with horses, where projections, metaphors and personal stories are played out, people experience the choice to move out of ineffective ways of thinking and being.
The underlying premise of this book is that human conditioned thinking separates us from our innate peace and wisdom, and that any approach to working with horses, whether psychology, psychotherapy, coaching or counselling, can lead to spiritual consideration if we allow it. The invitation of this book is to listen to the client's ontological questions in the presence of the horse, a highly gifted Zen master, and witness the clear messages emanating from these open-hearted mammals. The job of the equine professional is not to provide solutions or answers to ontological questions, but to sustain the client's questions and insights in the presence of the horse. Soul Connection with Horses invites horse riders, equine professionals and those seeking a spiritual connection to walk among the horse's hooves, experience the horse's worldview and access the wisdom of the soul. Suzanne Cote's vision is for us to live as comfortably from our heart and soul as we live from our heads, knowing that we are as free as a raging horse with the wind blowing through its mane.
Treating a horse as an equal partner in an equine-assisted space, while respecting the horse's intuitive wisdom, can lead to life-changing mental and spiritual understanding, learning, and healing. 
Introduces the concepts of awakening and vastness as understood in many spiritual traditions, and shows how horses effectively model awakening in humans. Through this approach, horses help us reconstruct natural connections and intuitive ways of knowing that have been obscured by conditioned thinking and ineffective personal stories. Horses show us that we can learn to live from our soul, trusting our intuition and making meaningful connections with ourselves, other people, animals, and the natural environment. When we consider how horses experience the world through their senses, how they process emotions, and how they express their needs, we see that horses live in the same social, psychological, and spiritual paradigms as humans. When we follow the practice of equine therapy and learning to its logical conclusion, horses naturally lead us to the questions, “Who am I?” and “What is life?” Horses help us transcend dysfunctional personal stories as we step out of ineffective ways of thinking and being and discover connection and wholeness. This book invites horseback riding enthusiasts, equine-assisted practitioners, and those seeking spiritual connection to walk among the horse's hooves, experience the horse's worldview, and access the wisdom of their own souls.
SOUL CONNECTION WITH HORSES by Suzanne E. Court is available at www.o-books.com or wherever books are sold.
Book link: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/o-books/our-books/soul-connections-horses-healing-equine
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