More Than a Mirror: The "Dynamic" Horse

Howdy friends! I am humbled by the positive reaction to my latest book, More Than a Mirror. Throughout this year I'll be offering up key thoughts and ideas from the book. This month, I want to share thoughts on the important concept of The "Dynamic" Horse...

We have multiple groupings of horses and herds at Horse Sense, separated due to physical, mental, and emotional attributes. And, while we can utilize many of our successfully rescued and stabilized horses pretty much any time, several of them still have issues which make them undesirable for close client interaction. Make no mistake, these issues are not isolated to rescue/rehab horses; “normal” horses can present like this just as often. In any event, at Horse Sense we call these horses “dynamic’ horses,” horses who have issues that limit the kind of in session work in which they participate.

In the course of our rescue and rehabilitation work, Horse Sense has maintained a few horses whose “dynamic” behavior provides some interesting opportunities for growth and learning in client sessions. One horse was actively beaten and is very reactive to rope and is headshy; another horse is so confident he’ll just step over humans over humans and keep walking. Another horse, who was mentioned earlier, flips back and forth between confident and fearful. It is not a question of never utilizing them, but about when can working with them best serve the circumstance. Dynamic horses are great for observation and passive/reflective-type activities, circumstances in which there is little confinement of the horse and no physical contact between horse and client; the client and horse are separated by a fence, gate or railing of some sort. The bigger the arena is, the better. These horses can also be wonderful for working one-on-one at liberty with clients in session, with an Equine Specialist who feels confident and comfortable with that horse. Some of the most profound moments reported by clients have resulted from...

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More Than a Mirror: Opposition Reflex and Brace

Howdy friends! I am so pleased that my latest book, More Than a Mirror, has been so widely embraced! Throughout this year I'll be offering up key thoughts and ideas from the book. This month, I want to share thoughts on the important concept of Opposition Reflex and Brace...Howdy friends! I am so pleased that my latest book, More Than a Mirror, has been so widely embraced! Throughout this year I'll be offering up key thoughts and ideas from the book. This month, I want to share thoughts on the important concept of Opposition Reflex and Brace...

Reflex and Brace
Being an “Ambassador of Yes Rather Than Minister of No” is an important Parelli™ concept we use when helping our clients develop awareness of Opposition Reflex and Brace, in themselves and others.

Opposition Reflex is an instinctual behavior, in both horse and human, usually observed as an automatic impulse to do the exact opposite of whatever pressure is being applied. Since the horse is a prey animal, and the human is a predator, it is in the horse’s nature to oppose whatever the human thinks is a good idea. A predator’s “good idea” is often not a good idea from the prey animal’s point of view! Therefore, the horse automatically chooses the opposite of what the human is asking. This is also the case with clients presenting with Opposition Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder.

With people, as with horses, often there’s a really good reason for choosing to do the opposite of whatever the authority figure has suggested. The idea of illustrating Opposition Reflex in horses can be introduced to clients as something they may recognize in themselves.

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More Than a Mirror: Attunement and Horses

I am so excited that my latest book, More Than a Mirror, is now available! Throughout this year I'll be offering up key thoughts and ideas from the book. Since this is the title of my book, I thought it most appropriate to start here...

The Concept of Attunement vs Mirroring
I find the concept of “attunement” my preferred language for describing what happens when horses connect with humans. I think horses attune to the clients much more than becoming “mirrors” that passively reflect clients. Horses pay attention to what humans do and say about themselves, in mind, body, and spirit. And by drawing attention to that, clients learn how to do things in themselves and for themselves by first doing it with a horse. Horses are wonderful at being clean listeners; they can attune and connect to others without losing their selves, something many people aren’t able to do.

As we sort out the various ways we talk about our work in our field, I want to invite others to consider the concept of “attunement” as opposed to “mirroring.” As mentioned in the previous section, attunement to me is a much richer and deeper concept than mirroring. Our field often uses the term “mirroring” to describe what the horse does in client sessions, but I think the process is different than simply “reflecting.” When I think of reflection, I think of the mirror, in this case the horse, being subsumed to the process. But the horse doesn’t disappear in relationship with us in EAP/EAL; the horse obviously continues to exist.

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