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How Horses Heal Humans
This week is a little bit of a different lesson as I want to give you a warm, positive feeling to take into the weekend.
I want to thank you for reading my blogs and for your continued support of me and my online programs.
But most importantly… I want to thank you for your continued support and love for your horse.
For loving your horse, wanting to be the best human partner, and wanting to do your best for him or her…
I congratulate you!
It just takes one person to change the world for your horse.
A friend of mine, Susan, told me… “We don’t own horses, we are chosen to be their guardians”.
She is currently the guardian for 18 horses and even though she’s going through a tough time in her life right now, she still thinks about her horses first and does whatever’s necessary to make their lives better every day.
We both laugh at how we feed our horses better than ourselves, the funny stories they have created for us over the years, and the amazing lessons they’ve taught us.
Horses are amazing creatures and beautiful sentient beings that I will love, protect, and be a guardian of for as long as I live.
They help us in so many ways and I wanted to give you all the reasons I know of how horses help us emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
First though, let’s look at the challenges we face.
The Stresses Of Our Daily Lives
It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are in your life, there will always be moments when you have to deal with failure, rejection, loss, or heartbreak.
These feelings make us feel anxious, depressed, and stressed.
And all these bad feelings affect our physical and mental condition causing many types of illnesses.
Negative emotions can damage our body in the following ways:
- Stress weakens the heart and the brain
- Anxiety weakens the stomach
- Grief weakens the lungs
- Fear weakens the kidneys
- Anger weakens the liver
Because of the connection between negative environments and illnesses, researchers are continually looking at ways to decrease these effects and increase health.
Interestingly, studies have shown that being around horses and connecting to them, heart to heart, changes the way your brain behaves.
How Horses Can Help
Being truly connected to a horse results in amazing changes inside your head and your body such as:
- Helps calm your mind and soothes your nerves
- Reduces Stress hormones and Anxiety
- Fights Depression
- Increases blood cells that fight cancer and reduces chronic illnesses
- Improves moods and the ability to sleep by increasing Serotonin
- Reduces blood pressure and lowers heart rate
- Boosts energy and improves well-being
- Produces a positive flow of energy
Your body picks up on these signals to boost your immunity and your healing abilities, which actually accelerates recovery from surgery and illnesses.
Here’s a short video which covers some of the ways horse help us:
10 Reasons Hanging Out with Horses Improves your Health
In our hectic lives we over stimulate parts of our brain, which deal with logic, information and decision-making.
Hanging out with horses is like resetting your brain and allowing downtime for the healing of your mind and body.
Research studies have shown that being around horses has a positive effect on us. It creates serotonin and literally makes us Happier and Healthier
Here are the top 10:
- Improves Mood and Increases Positivity
- Reduces Depression
- Decreases Stress
- Reduces Anxiety
- Calms your Mind
- Increases Energy Levels
- Reduces Blood Pressure
- Increases Focus and Helps you Concentrate
- Allows for Better Sleep
- Helps Fight Chronic Illnesses
Just spending quality time with your horse will bring positive changes to your life.
Horses can hear a heartbeat from four feet away and have the ability to synchronize their own heartbeat with ours.
Which may be why being around horses just seems to automatically calm people down.
Other Ways Horses Help
Therapeutic horse riding has shown its value in improving the overall motor coordination of children with Down Syndrome.
I’m sure my recovery from my car accident was accelerated by being on Jazz’s back in the same manner.
Horses have also been used in conjunction with psychotherapy to help with a myriad of mental issues.
(Nowadays we’d be sure to wear helmets)
I used to use my horses to help autistic children.
Horses helped them open up and speak by connecting emotionally. Here is a picture of an autistic child who said his first word while riding on Jazz with me.
It was an incredible experience for both of us. His first word was “sweet” after once around the arena at a very slow walk. He was so happy and so connected to Jazz.
Horses used in therapy can also strengthen bodies, improve communication, and help people confront their fears.
Horses connect with people in a way no other human can.
It’s a bond that can heal in so many ways.
I hope you and your horse have an amazing connection and you help each other heal.
If you have any questions about connecting to your horse or fun ways to hang out together, please ask. I am always here to help.
You can even book a free triage call where I can help you talk through your situation and see if we can come up with possible solutions.
Stay positive and stay healthy.
Happy Horses!
