4 Steps to a Solid Heart Centered Bond With Your Horse

Ever wonder “How can I feel closer to my horse?”

It is Possible!

Even if you already have a good bond with your horse, you can make it even more heart centered.

A retired Mare shared a loving memory from her past with me: the feeling was soaring like an eagle – completely free and limitless. This was how she felt when riding with her owner. It was hard to know where 1 stopped and the other started; they were in perfect sync every time they rode. How does that happen? It comes down to knowing each other intimately when not riding – that time is just as important as perfecting the riding skills.

Follow these 4 Steps below to Solidify your Horse Heart Connection

1) Create the space:

To solidify the heart connection with your horse, start with creating an intimate space for just you and your horse:

• Leave it all at the door: Before you walk into your barn, stop & shake off all of your day’s troubles, concerns, worries. Leave them outside the door. Go in with a blank slate and be open to simply spending time with your horse, just being present.

• Play some favorite mellow music: Sometimes the barn can be full of activity and noise. Playing mellow music while you’re grooming can insulate just you & your horse creating a calming space in the stall or in your area.

• Visualize White Light: Visualizing a huge bubble of White Light around the stall creates a sacred space for just you and your horse. Using the color White also infuses that space with a sense of peace. And keeps the barn noises at bay.

These first steps are about getting you into the best frame of mind to start building that connection with your horse. Creating this peaceful environment in your head and in the stall, allows for a deeper heart connection to build.

2) Build that Heart Connection:

Now that your head and horse are in the right frame of mind, it’s time to start building that heart connection between the two of you. Don’t worry if this is new to you and your first attempts are not perfect – your horse will respond instantly regardless and even help you along!

• Open up your heart: Start by opening up your heart area and sending love and gratitude towards your horse – similar to greeting a long lost dear friend.

• Visualize a White Beam: Stand within 2-3 feet of your horse and visualize a large beam of white (or pink or purple) light shooting from your heart area into your horse’s heart area.

• Send Love: Imagine sending pure unconditional love from your heart to your horse’s heart.

Horses, in fact all animals, including us, respond to this pure unconditional love energy; they bask and soak it up! Once you make that connection, they will gladly meet you there every time you are together. This is how you keep enhancing your connection.

3) It’s NOT about the Time!

By spending quality time together, you are getting to know each other intimately when you’re not in the saddle. Below are more subtle ways of building that heart centered connection:

• Be Present: Show up and be emotionally present; don’t just be there physically – be there emotionally and mentally as well.

• Be Genuine: Admire the uniqueness of their coat, their muscles, their markings, their features with unconditional love.

• Relish them: Enjoy & celebrate their smells, their feel, their energy.

When you do sit in the saddle, take a moment to re-establish that bond/bridge you’ve been patiently solidifying, and re-connect with those feelings. Horses are so very in the moment that they will gladly meet you in that loving and peaceful space. Experience riding from this place and notice how different you both feel.

4) Rewards and Treats … Yum!

Who doesn’t like rewards and treats? We all do! With that in mind, spoil your horse and they will spoil you back with unconditional love!

• Show your Gratitude: Delectable treats and gratifying rewards (pats, rub downs) go a long way – just like they do for us!

• Spoil them: treat them to a Reiki session (horses LOVE Reiki!) or an Equine Massage. Consider getting yourself attuned to Reiki or learning basic equine massage techniques so it’s your hands that are doing the treating.

• Take them out: Watch them hang out with their herd, graze on fresh grass, roll in the mud (I often wonder if sometimes horses roll in the mud just so their owners HAVE to spend time currying, bathing, and brushing them).

Horses feel you more than they hear your words. The goal in these steps is for your horse to FEEL your unconditional love, your admiration, and your gratitude towards them. If someone was spoiling you in these ways, wouldn’t you be glowing, excited, giddy every time you saw them?

By spending this quality time together, you are getting to know each other intimately when not in the saddle. This intimacy will become the corner stone of your new and enhanced heart centered bond. Enjoy the rides you are both co-creating from this new space!

There is an added benefit of this heart centered bonding time for you as well! As you go about the rest of your day, you will naturally carry this peaceful state with you; take time to notice the difference in your daily outlook.

Please feel free to comment below with any questions or better yet – your experiences! I would love to read about them.