I am an Empath and though I have learned to shield myself from people, I often feel the animals calling to me, because they know I can feel them. I never really thought much about animals being Empaths until I witnessed my mare have a huge reaction to a Horse that seemed to be having a very unpleasant experience.
After moving back to Colorado, I had arranged a lesson with a trainer, and I had to drive 2 hours to attend this clinic. I had spent the night at the facility, then spent a couple of hours with Enchantress in the morning before my lesson. She was calm and well behaved while I groomed her, but when I started to tack her, we heard a very unhappy Horse on the next property. It was horrible, I could not see what was going on, but I am convinced that something unjust was happening over there, it was upsetting, for me, being an Empath it was bone chilling. Chant became very agitated, nervous, and anxious, she became quite a handful.
I tacked her and then walked her around trying to calm her as we waited for our turn. To no avail. She was high headed and straining to see the situation with this distressed Horse. I was very upset as I had so looked forward to this lesson, and now, in addition to me feeling the distress from the next property, my normally agreeable Horse was losing her mind. Our lesson was stressful and not very successful.
I was devastated that my chance with this trainer was such a disaster, I kept telling him, she is not normally like this, and his words of wisdom were, ‘You have the Horse you have today’, not what I wanted to hear. But I had no choice, the Horse I had earlier that morning was gone, and I had this Horse.
After our lesson, the distressed Horse became quiet and Chant calmed down. I found myself irritated and blaming her for her bad behavior that ruined our lesson, but in my heart, I know that she loves to learn new things and while she is opiniated, she is not disagreeable. She was reacting to what she was feeling from hearing what sounded abusive to the Horse next door. I asked the barn manager about this incident, and he was careful with his words but confirmed that the Andalusians next door were treated harshly.
This got me to thinking and wondering, are Horses Empathic? By her behavior I would say yes. There were two other Horses tied to a trailer less than 50 feet away that were calmly eating from their hay bags, they showed no signs of distress or angst from the Horse that was screaming out.
Horses and humans are both mammals with many of the same physical, mental, emotional and sensory experiences. It makes sense that many animals are Empaths as well. Few studies have been done on this topic, so it is up to us as Horse people to learn to interpret signs of a Horse that suggests’ that they are an Empath.
The Invitation
Notice if your Horse behaves differently around certain Horses or Humans, if so, can you discern what is different in these situations? Is a constant or is it dependent on specific situations? Are there Humans involved or just the Horse? If we are to help them sort out their Empathic response, we must build our connection with them so that they learn that we are there for them. That we are a stability and resource for them to recalibrate and regain balance after absorbing the experience of upsetting emotions.
Delaya Diana © 2020