BEYOND Natural Horsemanship:
In this installment, we’re going explore and better understand “ENERGY VIBRATIONS” and how this concept relates to horses and lighter communication with them.
In Part 1 of the “Quieter Communication” blog series, the idea was proffered on how very subtle we can be in giving cues, directions, or messages to our horses. Horses are able to absorb much more quiet, nuanced communication by reading imagery; feeling our internal
emotional energy vibration; clueing into our body language; and having an ability to learn vocal words or cues from us. Horses are also forever in-the-moment (which is where we need to be too!). The article also stressed how important being conscious of our breathing is to having a meaningful relationship with our horses.
The last blog installment also discussed the fact that there are numerous components to more refined communication with horses and that we need to be sure we’re not sending mixed messages. For instance, if our body language doesn’t match our energy or imagery, we’re sending a mixed message which is confusing to our horses.
To be successful in making requests of horses, we must be very present and conscious of ourselves. If messages aren’t executed or understood by our horse, quite often it’s us. We always need work on self-awareness to be able to check ourselves before putting the blame on our horses.
So, let’s dive in to the focus of this installment which is another component of “quieter communication” with horses: ENERGY VIBRATIONS.
The word: “energy” seems to be elusive to most and very hard to conceptualize, but oh so important to horses. When we can become aware of these energies in our bodies .... and when we can intentionally generate specific ones at specific times ... our lives can be positively impacted when interacting with horses, humans, as well as other animals. (also check out a previous blog installment that includes my thoughts back then and some research on the subject HERE)
A Frédéric Pignon video was contained in the Part 1 installment which highlighted his mastery on how virtually undetectable communication can be with horses. In a late 2022 video interview with his wife Magali Delgado, Mr. Pignon speaks of “energy” (at the 7:21 time stamp):
“It’s how we control our own energy and the energy is…..horses base their energy with yours. But for people it’s too early to speak about this really now because people are not ready for energy. They don’t know what it is….they can’t see (it); they can’t feel (it); they can’t understand. Because energy is nothing for people. They don’t understand that energy is a lot for horses…….and how the brain can read this, can receive this, and the horses are very sensitive to this.”
Those who believe there is energy of some sort, sometimes misunderstand how to utilize energy to help their relationship with their horse. Some believe it means high energy, low energy or modulating in-between. I also thought this not too long ago 😔
BUT that’s not quite right as I learned on numerous occasions studying with Dr. Susan Fay (author of Sacred Spaces). (Interestingly in her book’s Preface, Dr Fay was equally overwhelmed by Frédéric Pignon’s and Magali Delgado’s “…..gentle, yet effective, impact they had on horses and people” and it “inspired (her) to be braver than (she) felt to share a new powerful paradigm with (her) fellow equestrians in the form of a book….”.
I’ve been practicing and experimenting with what Dr. Susie (or more formally Dr. Fay) taught me a couple of years ago and I've discovered she was absolutely right. Horses show us the truth and it was very obvious that energy vibrations are one of the key components for successful communication with horses. For myself and my students during the past year, I’ve utilized what I learned and tailored her thoughts and ideas about how to access certain energy vibrations to my circumstances. From my learning with Dr. Susie as well as with a wonderful animal communicator that I know plus learning from my horses……I believe that various emotions create different energy vibrations within us. Different vibrations or frequencies connect and are clearly meaningful for horses. However, each horse’s preference and frequency needed in any given moment/situation can be different.
Energy vibrations are basically found in our emotions. The energetic space you hold emanates a frequency or vibration which comes from the emotion you choose to express. Generally, the higher the frequency, the more positive energy space and the lower the frequency the more negative the space.
For many of us, we tend to be too much in our “thinking” heads as opposed to feeling throughout our body. Ideally, we should try to get a bit away from “thinking” our way through challenges with our horses. Instead, we should try to improve our ability to identify emotions and feel the sensations of what our body feels like when we’re in a certain energetic space. That’s how we get to specific energy vibrations.
To find a way to get into more of a “feelings” space, we need to improve upon our self-
awareness and again move away from thinking, analyzing, and judging. Being present and being able to be attached to and in our bodies and “feel” is the key to unlock the ability to duplicate certain “feelings” when needed for communication with our horses.
As an example, see if you can delve into your past when you were a child. How did you feel leading up to your birthday? There may have been a certain anticipatory feeling, and those feelings were not in your head. The same might be true for you if you celebrate Christmas. Can you latch onto that feeling? Can you identify where it is and how it feels? Can you put a name to that feeling?
I remember when I was a child, and someone brushed my hair. That feeling was a very warm, almost “tingly” pleasurable feeling for me. For me, it was kind of an all-over body feeling. If you haven’t ever had your hair softly brushed, maybe you have a similar feeling with massage? For me, I would possibly call this feeling: relaxed or safe and calm.
It’s all about awareness. Notice how your body feels when you have certain emotions. Once you can feel and identify feelings and or sensations in your body, the next step is to attempt to intentionally generate these emotions or feelings at another time. For instance, you might try purposefully access the feelings (relaxed/safe/calm) suggested above ….. to calm a horse if she/he is frightened.
However, the energy suggested above might or might not be applicable to every horse who’s scared. Some horses need more of what I call a “knowing” or “surety” energy vibration in those situations for them to feel calmer and safer. That same “knowing” energy might be motivating for a horse too….but not necessarily every horse.
As you find various energy vibrations and have a few fairly well mastered, you can experiment with them with different horses and various situations. You might try accessing one when asking something of your horse. You may find what motivates one horse, just causes another to be disinterested or even agitated.
Here’s a side benefit of what I’ve been working on lately….unrelated to horses😬. I have been experimenting with feeling the feeling right before I fall asleep in bed. And guess what!!! When I’m having trouble sleeping and I intentionally generate that energy vibration…..I fall asleep 😴. Yahoo!
By the way, an additional benefit of becoming adept at purposefully generating internal energy vibrations as well as creating "imagery" (covered in the last installment) when working with horses .....is that you'll find when you put these concepts into practice, you'll automatically BE in-the-moment. It's impossible to have a busy mind while being engaged with imagery and energy.
If you’re having trouble understanding this concept and being successful with accessing energy vibrations, We move as One can help you with either in-person lessons if you’re in my primary location in Florida or in my “by appointment” locations in New York and Connecticut. If you’re not in either of those areas, consider virtual online lessons.
In closing, be aware that “energy vibrations” are definitely not a stand-alone component of communication with horses. Again, in Part 1 of this blog series, we focused on “Imagery”. Other elements like appropriate breath and body language need to all work in tandem with our mental imagery and energy vibrations for our horses ….so that the messages are clear and there aren’t contradictions.
Look for the next installment in this Quieter Communication feature on: "Body Language".
