Are Our Horses Emotional Dumping Grounds?

As a horse person, I know all too well how time and place disappear the moment I drive up the gravel road toward the stables. I often experience how the thoughts and tensions that have built up throughout the day simply disappear when I am at the barn. And how I am always a happier version of myself when I drive away.

Where does it all go?

I have often thought about how wonderful it is that my horse can do this for me. It takes away the negative thoughts, releases the stress from my body, and helps me be present in the moment.

But just as often, I have wondered what this means for my horse and how she experiences being around me. Because where do the tensions, stress, and fleeting thoughts go when they leave me? Does my horse become a kind of dumping ground that simply takes on my emotional waste?

I can clearly feel the difference in my horse’s mood, her willingness to work, and her energy when I am happy compared to when I am having a bad day. I cannot always be happy, but I genuinely try to be positive and open with her, just as I do with my friends and family.

After all, who really wants to spend time with someone who simply unloads their problems and then drives away?

When horses communicate

That being said, I am only human. Recently, I went through a busy period, and even though it was busy in a good way, things had piled up, and I had developed a rather hard knot in my stomach that simply would not go away.

One day, while I was at the stables, I had a rather unusual experience. My horse almost always comes to greet me when I approach the paddock. But this day was different. She stood not far from the fence, yet she didn’t come toward me. When I walked over, she looked away. She seemed completely uninterested in coming with me or even spending time with me.

That day, I did something different from what I normally would because of how she was behaving. I stood a little in front of her and looked in the same direction she was looking. I decided to stand there and see what happened. She could choose whether to stay or leave. I took a deep breath and just stood there.

She stayed where she was, and after a couple of minutes, she took a few steps forward and deliberately pressed her muzzle against my stomach. Then she yawned. And yawned. And yawned. For a very long time. When she stopped, I realized that the hard knot in my stomach was gone. I felt light and relaxed.

As I write this, I know it may sound a little hippie-like. But that is exactly what happened. I had never experienced anything like it before, and I really wanted to talk to someone about it. Someone who might help me understand the experience.

About Bettina Stecher

Bettina Stecher is 47 years old and works as Editor-in-Chief at Malgré Tout. She has a background in marketing, communications, and equine physical therapy. She owns a five-year-old Spanish mare.

Bettina trains her horse using horsemanship and a combination of academic and classical dressage. She has a strong interest in biomechanics and passionately advocates varied training that motivates, strengthens, and improves the horse’s flexibility.

What does the horse think?

I decided to share my experience with Ditte Young, who works with telepathy and more. She did not seem surprised at all when I told her what had happened. To Ditte, it was completely natural for horses to do something like this, and she suggested a session with my horse to explore the experience further. I gladly accepted, and below is an excerpt from the conversation between Ditte and my horse.

Ditte:

“Your mom told me that she had a unique experience with you. She told me she was stressed and felt a knot in her stomach because she had been so busy.

She went out to the paddock to get you. You didn’t seem particularly interested in her, as you usually are. Why was that?”

The Mare:

“I don’t like stress. I want peace and order, structure, and boundaries. So, when I sense that my mom is stressed, I don’t want to be around her. I had sensed for some time that it was escalating, but that day she was so tense inside.”

I am not the one who is supposed to take that away from her. I am not the one responsible for making her feel better by being her hobby. Even though I am her breathing space and sanctuary, and I am free-spirited, I can enjoy that when it comes from a balanced place.

Ditte:

“Your mom told me that instead, she stood next to you that day to see what would happen. After a few minutes, you stepped forward and placed your muzzle against her stomach, then yawned repeatedly for several minutes. When you stopped yawning, the hard knot in your mom’s stomach was gone. What happened for you?”

The Mare:

“The moment my mom became curious, she was present in the moment. She wasn’t demanding anything from me. She was simply BEING with me. That is a completely different energy. You humans haven’t understood that yet. You begin by having a thought. Depending on that thought, your body produces certain substances that cause it to react, for example, by relaxing or contracting. That affects your magnetic field within and around your body. That is the magnetic field you also refer to as energy. When you change your thoughts, you also change your energy.”

“You humans change your energy very frequently. We horses can remain in the same energy for a very long time. Things move so incredibly fast for you humans. The moment my mom changed her energy, she resonated with me again.”

“Many people use us horses to feel better in one way or another. But perhaps you don’t consider that we receive your energy. So, we spend a great deal of time releasing it again. We absorb everything you send out. You know that. When you are stressed, we become stressed. This applies to all the energy you send out. Stress is only one example.”

“I placed my muzzle against her stomach to show her that I could clearly sense that there was a hard knot right THERE. I stayed there for a long time to show my mom how deliberate that action was. If I had done it for just a second, she might not have noticed or might have thought it was a coincidence. But I stayed there. Because it wasn’t a coincidence.”

Energy doesn’t disappear – it travels on

What I took away from Ditte’s conversation with my horse was, in many ways, something I had already been thinking about myself. But it was communicated in a very direct and unfiltered way. It has made me reflect on the energies I pass on to my horse, both positive and negative.

Personally, I will use this experience to set a goal of meeting my horse in a neutral place, where we can simply be together without disruptive energies interfering. Perhaps a somewhat ambitious goal, but a goal nonetheless.

Ditte Young

Ditte Young is an author, speaker, therapist, and clairvoyant. She has worked with animal communication since 2000. Ditte is a trained clairvoyant, body and organic psychotherapist, craniosacral therapist, and healer.