Using Animal Communication for a Deeper Connection with Your Horse

There is a growing desire among equestrians to learn more about animal communication to connect more deeply with horses. People are beginning to know, sense, and feel that there is much more to understanding equines besides just reading their body language.

It’s important to have a great trainer to learn the fundamentals of good horsemanship and riding, and also a good support team (farrier, veterinarian, et cetera) for a horse’s physical wellness. But what about a horse’s emotional wellness or spiritual connection?

Horses are great feelers. As sentient beings, they have emotions like we do, and feel love, joy, gratitude, and connection with each other and with us. They can also feel anger, frustration, fear, and sadness based on current life circumstances or past traumatic events.

As prey animals, we know they easily move between sympathetic (fight, flight, freeze) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) states.

Clearing Stuck Emotions

As a trained animal communicator, I find it’s very helpful to be a part of a horse parent’s support team when it comes to enhancing their horse’s emotional fitness. We often focus on just the physical nature of the horse, and yet there is a great mind-body connection that also needs to be addressed.

I’ve found in many sessions that behavioral issues are linked to emotions that need to be acknowledged and released. I’m grateful for my training in various emotional clearing techniques that greatly benefit horses (and humans, too!) when they are used in communication and healing sessions.

Horses can have stuck emotions such as “lack of control” or “frustration,” and can be more governed by fear and past traumas rather than feeling grounded and connected to current reality.

When I first adopted my horse, she was guarded and had stuck emotions around abandonment that I helped her to clear, and then our bond grew through trust.

All animals, like humans, can also have heart walls. This is something Bradley Nelson, D.C., discovered in his Emotion Code work. These can prevent horses from receiving and experiencing the good that is here for them now. Sometimes horses also need to release emotions they still have from old barns and owners where they used to live and weren’t happy, so I’ve helped them release the past and start with a clean slate.

In addition, horses are often seen as incredible spiritual beings because they spend a lot of time in a meditative state and can be very still and loving. Many people feel safe crying around them and feel that they evoke awe and wonder.

A Voice and a Choice

These spiritual components are another part of good animal communication, and we can delve into what our horses truly want to be doing in their lives and with their humans. Some want to be great athletes and enjoy physical exercise and competition with their humans; some want to be teachers and healers in equine-assisted therapy or coaching; and others would prefer to be companions without specific work.

We can learn their unique preferences and purposes when we learn to speak with them. It helps them to feel understood, honored, and content when they are allowed to have a voice and a choice.

Many times, horses want to know our expectations for them in our riding relationships. They want to know if and when they will be moved or transported, and if a herd member will be coming or leaving.

They want to express their thoughts about the other members of their support team, such as their vet, farrier, trainer and rider. They also want us to know what bothers them and how they are feeling. All of that information can help their emotional fitness once we are able to understand them better and meet their needs.

What many horses love to communicate is their heart’s desires for their life (their “purpose work”) and how they want to help their humans. They want their humans to know how much they are loved and often want to share how they see their humans. They can have great guidance for how their humans can heal and improve all their relationships.

When animals can get messages across, it makes both their lives and ours easier. They can ask for what they need and want for themselves and for us as well. We don’t need to guess or become frustrated; we can learn how to be helpful to them.

Time after time, I have witnessed a horse’s relationship with his human grow stronger immediately after a session because he finally feels like he was able to fully express himself.

Try It Yourself

In addition to hiring a great animal communicator to be a part of your support team for your horse, you can also learn how to become one yourself. Whether you want to become a professional or you just want to use the skills personally, there are many benefits to animal communication.

At the core, it comes down to a horse feeling seen, heard, valued, and appreciated. Here are some of my top tips and tools to begin horse communication.

1. Permission: Ask your horse if you have permission to chat. I’ve found they always want to talk, as long as it’s a good time and they are in a restful state and not in the middle of playing with friends or taking a lesson, et cetera.

2. Space: Create a specific time and place where it’s quiet and you can bring a journal and really focus on listening and practicing.

3. Intention: Set an intention to connect from your heart space to theirs. You can even put one hand on your heart and the other on your horse’s heart and breathe for a minute. Feel how much you love your horse, then set an intention to receive information from him. Start with simple questions, such as, “How are you feeling today?” and “What are you enjoying today?”

4. Surrender: Let go of attachment to an outcome by staying curious and having fun. Keep it light, simple, and flowing. Assume you already know this skill and can do it! Stay open to how you might receive information, as we are all a bit different with our intuitive skills.

For instance, I am more clairaudient, so I hear what the horses say. If you feel and sense a lot, you may be more clairsentient, and if you see pictures or images, then you may be more clairvoyant.

5. Receive: Keep your body posture open and stay in your heart space. Breathe. Don’t overthink. Smile if you find yourself in your head. Go back to how much you love your horse. And allow your imagination to lead. Just write down whatever comes forward.

6. Gratitude: Thank yourself for trying and being willing to experiment. Thank your horse and share why this practice matters to you. Set another time with your horse for consistency and to improve over time.

How to Clear and Ground

In addition to communication, healing work is also important to offer horses. Equines are often at their safest, for themselves and others, when they feel grounded to their space and land. They feel their best when they are in their own energy signature and not carrying stuck energy.

Clearing: One of my favorite ways to help a horse is to clear his energy field by gently clapping around his body. First test the clap to make sure he doesn’t startle, then move around his body with the intention that stuck energy will leave. Watch to see how your horse likes this and if he is receiving (for example yawning, blinking, nodding, getting sleepy). I have a video demonstrating this on my YouTube channel.

Grounding: You can also put your hands around a horse’s hoof by the coronary band and gently press and imagine your horse connecting more fully to the ground below. Ask for healthy Earth energy to come up into your horse as well. Do this on each of the four hooves. This is great to add to a hoof picking routine or to do before you ride.

Enjoy these new experiences with him and you’ll grow your human-horse-heart connection. Your horse will thank you!

This article about using animal communication for a deeper connection with your horse appeared in the October 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!