Spiritual Transmission with Horses

Transmission is the flow of consciousness between guru and disciple. Do you believe your equine friend is like a guru in your life? I believe that my horses are the teachers and guides in my life that I can trust. This trust is mutual and has been earned through building a relationship with each other.

Spiritual transmission is the transfer of spiritual information from one point (the horse guru) to another point (you the disciple/student) or too many points (students) simultaneously.
One context to examine this is someone on a spiritual path who approaches the guru/teacher, or in this case the horse, with an open mind and heart who is ready and willing to learn. Some people might have a negative implication when they think of disciple because it is often implied with submission, coercion or punishment. However, a true disciple is one who is prepared to study a prescribed discipline in order to gain the knowledge and skill to master that discipline. Something I believe we horse people can identify with being most of our goals or intentions are to master some sort of discipline with our horse. This can range from English, western, dressage of even natural horsemanship. A student engages in a chosen discipline for the joy that comes from undertaking a path of learning that brings knowledge, wisdom, and the means to live a healthier and more meaningful life.

For those of us who are serious students of a horse discipline, we understand that to master our art of horsemanship we must follow a prescribed discipline. It doesn’t matter what equine discipline that you fancy too, you have to consider how much you are willing to invest into that discipline and what you can give up to become accomplished.
It is a good idea to consider developing the following attributes if you want to become a student and hopefully someday a master of your chosen discipline.

First, you need a relaxed attitude and an open mind along with patience and self-responsibility; the capacity to listen; sincerity and industriousness. In the beginning, it is vital that you know your horse teacher and have a relationship, bond, and trust with him or her. You must feel confident that your equine teacher holds the authentic knowledge that you seek.

As you engage in the teachings with your equine partner, it is essential to have faith in your horse as well as yourself. You need to develop commitment and a resolve to stay on course. This may consist of taking one step forward and two steps back, but commit to maintaining a forward momentum. Your horse teacher will only transfer their knowledge if you are receptive, keen and enduring. Only then can the horse pass his or her gifts to you and truly have a significant impact on your life.

Transmission is something that occurs naturally in life. However, it is not always in an easily, recognizable form. Every time you meet someone there is an energy exchange. We exchange information, feelings, and emotions in some way, shape or form. An example of this is when your horse picks up on how you are feeling on a particular day. If you had a bad day at work and are really stressed, chances are your horse will sense your mood and not give you the best ride. This is an opportunity to learn from your horse. Listen and take a deep breathe. Get yourself grounded and centered-this will along for you to flip your emotions around, release the unwanted stress and proceed with a better ride. We all know that horses are the great mirrors of our emotions, so listen to them!

We as horse and animal owners have most likely heard one story or another of how closely linked animals are with people. For example, the service dog who senses when a person is going to have a seizure. Or perhaps the story of when a twin sibling sensed from the other side of the country when something was wrong with his/her sister or brother. These close bonds are all forms of transmission.

My understanding is that in a spiritual life, when one meets a great master, they hold spiritual knowledge and their consciousness and energy is vibrating at an extremely powerful level. If you are open to this relationship and energy, then you can allow yourself to resonate with this master (or in our case the horse teacher). When the student meditates on the relationship with the master and intends to awaken their inner guru, the higher awareness that lies dormant in all of us will come alive. At the same time the awareness takes place, the transmitting energy and knowledge that is guiding and unfolding the student. When this happens, the out guru and the inner guru merge into one. Provided the student continues to engage in this effort of meditation the state of self-realization will occur.

Through the exercise of developing a meditation practice with your horse a deeper awareness will occur along with the transmissions and interchange of energy, feelings, and information that take place between all beings. The more your consciousness unfolds you will be able to differentiate which energy is coming from you and which is coming from your horse.
Many people block themselves from having a connection on a spiritual level with a horse because they have a fixed image in their mind that spiritual may mean religious or of a doctrine. It is said that transmissions from spiritual masters occur constantly and is available to all if we can tune into it. So today, I encourage you to open your mind and seek that spiritual connection with your horse and see what he has to teach you!