When people think about Craniosacral Therapy and Horses they initially think about “Doing” Craniosacral Therapy on a horse. While this can be very powerful work for a traumatized or injured horse, I have found through my experience with horses that they are in fact the superior healers.
Horses are naturally attuned to the Physiologic Tidal movements of the Breath of Life and are experts in ‘listening’ to the field. Their whole orientation of awareness is, by design, very wide. Biologically, they have the ability to maintain a constant perceptual awareness that includes the entire field around them, all the way to the horizon. At the same time, horses also listen intently to what is happening directly in front of them. Evolution has given the horse an ability to see nearly 360 degrees. Their eyes are positioned almost directly on the side of their face. The 360 degree eyesight allows them to see all the way around their huge bodies, except for directly in front and directly behind them. Not only do they have such a wide range of vision but they also have exceptional hearing. A horse’s ears can move 180 degrees enabling them to single out a specific area to listen. The combination of the eye and ear movements allows the horse to orient itself exactly toward sound and movement without having to turn the head.
Eye and ear movements are important parts of nervous system function. In fact, what we see and hear has the ability to either put us in a fight or flight response, activating the sympathetic branch of nervous system or regulating the body into the resting and digesting mode of the parasympathetic nervous system.
Cranial nerves innervate the eyes and ears. More specifically, there are 13 nerves in the human brain (12 in horses). These cranial nerves are the only nerves that root directly into the brain stem (rather than all the other nerves of the body which root into the spinal cord). The brain stem controls the flow of messages between the brain and the rest of the body, specifically with regards to breathing, swallowing, heart rate, blood pressure, consciousness and whether one is awake or sleepy. In essence, the brain stem is the main center that regulates the 3 branches of the nervous system. (sympathetic, parasympathetic and social engagement nervous system). The cranial nerves take the messages from what is seen and heard and “tell” the nervous system to either activate fight or flight due to danger in the field or to regulate the body into the restorative aspects of ‘Being’ where we can be restful and digest.
Horses are the ultimate prey animals. A horse’s entire nervous system is wired around survival. They are also equipped with the amazing ability to sprint long distances when needed. A horse’s keen sense of survival is so refined that it has an extraordinary memory and rarely forgets.
At the same time, they have evolved to manage the ebbs and flows of nervous system function by curbing any use of ‘unproductive energy’. In other words, they are always listening and watching the field, ready to spring into action, but they can quickly shake off any activation of the sympathetic nervous system to rest again watchfully in parasympathetic nervous system function. We see this in their amazing ability to literally shake off from head to toe and through licking and chewing when they are integrating information.
From a trauma standpoint, both horses and humans can have an extremely hard time recovering from activation of the sympathetic nervous system. For humans, this isdue partly to the ongoing stories we are constantly telling ourselves and to an oversized cerebral cortex that hard wires us to create meaning to our experiences. Horses also have highly developed memories coupled with a nervous system upgraded for survival, but they do not have an ongoing monologue and can shift in the most beautiful and settling ways under the right kind of relational field. Horses, like humans, are extremely social creatures. However, horses have evolved along the way to rely on their relationships to help inform their nervous systems when to let go. In turn, they offer us both an amazing mirror to the patterns we carry into our relationships and teach us how to regroup and settle around nervous system activation.
Horses are herd animals and rely on each other for survival. They have learned to regulate their nervous system with the help of the herd dynamics which has further evolved into relationships with a human counterpart. Research has shown that horses and humans have developed a unique way of communication with one another, a kind of third language, neither fully human nor fully equine.1 Linguists consider the communication style between horses and humans an “embodied language system”, a way of communication that relies on touch, emotional connection and being attuned to each other’s physical movements. Building a relationship with a horse can be a symbolic and dynamic process that recognizes the horse as a sensitive, decision-making being. The relationship over time can become synchronized through this type of embodied communication. This is one of the main ways horses can help humans develop a different kind of knowledge, one that is rooted in the body and centered around attunement.
Furthermore, horses can learn very quickly to trust the dynamics of a relationship to focus on what is happening right in front of them even if there is something scary or new happening in the field. This is a very creative way of practicing differentiation in the field when it comes to relationships, something that can be extremely difficult for trauma survivors stuck in a physiological trauma cycle. For instance, if a horse has never seen something, it will initially be afraid of the new thing. I will use the example of a plastic bag blowing in the wind. However, if a horse has developed a secure relationship based on trust she knows that she can rely on her human guides to lead her through the new experience. A famous horseman, Pat Parelli, took a picture once of himself on a calm horse standing next to a mountain lion. This is an extreme example of how a secure trusting relationship between a human and a horse can help keep the horse regulated. Horses rely on group dynamics for survival! In turn, no one can help another to be regulated unless they themselves can stay regulated. So, in turn, these relationship dynamics between a horse and human can teach both about resilience, trust, attunement and self regulation.
Evolutionary-wise, what horses need most is a safe relationship in order to heal. Does any of this sound familiar? To me it feels a lot like all the aspects of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy.
It has taken me a very long time to be able to get enough felt sense in my own body as to what the work with a horse does, how being with a horse affects my own nervous system. The work is so subtle yet powerful in the ability to shift out of inertial fulcrums and return time and time again to midline.
Horses offer several advantages in helping us develop a variety of personal skills. Their size naturally offers a unique opportunity for someone to overcome fear and develop confidence. Horses experience a large variety of emotions similar to humans, such as fear, joy and sadness. They are intuitive and social animals with distinct personalities, attitudes and moods. They have defined roles within their herds comparable to human dynamics. Because of these similarities, horses can demonstrate and teach self-awareness, honest communication, trust, healthy boundaries, leadership, patience, assertiveness, play, affection, nurturance and more. Most importantly, horses have the ability to mirror exactly what human body language is telling them and therefore provide us with metaphors and lessons about ourselves to help facilitate change. This unique method enables clients to learn about themselves and others by actually participating in activities with the horse.
Horses are the perfect companion for trauma resolution. The question of how is always the challenge for me in my work. How can I put into words what sitting in the presence of a horse does to the nervous system? The simple act of being in a giant creature’s field slows one’s nervous system down. In order to connect with a horse, one has to slow down, develop patience and pause. In other words, building a relationship with a horse is very similar to building a relationship with a human. And it offers an amazing opportunity to practice things like creating appropriate boundaries. A horse can weigh up to 1500 lbs so if you are walking alongside the horse and she moves into your space, it is important to know how to communicate your need for space and to set boundaries about distance between you and this 1500 pound animal.
Their amazing ability to shift while in contact in the relationship is admirable. Horses love lots of energetic space, pacing and pausing. If a horse gets confused about what you are asking in the relationship, it will benefit greatly if you take a moment to pause. Horses are experts in reading human emotion. Having such a refined ability to read the field, it is no surprise that they can gauge the proximity of humans quickly. Horses rely on human counterparts for their survival. So the dynamics of the relationship between horses and humans is an important aspect of their wiring and survival.
This form of somatic exploration has become one of the most important ways for me to explore my own shadow work as both a Biodynamic Craniosaral Therapist and Licensed Midwife. As a birth worker, our shadows become bigger because we work directly with family dynamics during the birthing process. I have seen many midwives behaving inappropriately with families because of their as yet unprocessed unconscious birth patterns and childhood traumas that emerge during another’s birth experience. So, for myself the priority to keep moving through the somatic experience of the shadow is very important for helping women and babies to have gentle births. A midwife must be very clear within herself and be able to differentiate her own body’s signals during a birth from those of the mother giving birth in order to accurately assess whether there is a real emergency at a given moment.
I began this piece by discussing ‘Doing’ with a horse. While there are many things that are also worth ‘doing’ with a horse, perhaps I have inspired you to learn how to “Be” with a horse? Horse as Teacher.
1 GAME, A. (2001). Riding: Embodying the Centaur. Body & Society, 7(4), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357034X01007004001