The Healing Power of Horses

In the middle of the night, we approached the fence of the pasture and I stood still for a moment. I strained my eyes to make out the shapes that were moving towards us through the darkness. They were so familiar during the day, yet they so looked strange at night, like ghosts as they appeared together out of the shadows. As I walked out into the field I could hear them surrounding me, snorting and running around. There was a certain energy that filled the warm, summer air. I listened to the sound of their hooves against the earth and then I began to search among them. I ran my hands over their bodies and through their manes as I walked through the herd. I felt whiskers tickle my shoulder and a breath of hot air across the side of my face. I turned and touched my hand to a familiar soft forehead to return her greeting. Grabbing a handful of her strong, black mane, I swung up onto her back. I looked out across the field and I saw that my friends I had arrived with were up on their own horses. We had chosen our horses because they were the ones we had connected with. Because those were the ones we loved. Maybe even because something in those horses had reminded us of ourselves. I touched the little bay mare's belly with my legs and guided her over to big, round bale of hay. My two friends were there already, sitting quietly as their horses munched on hay. As my own horse began to eat, I laid down across her back, resting my head on her hindquarters. I trusted her.

From the back of my horse, I looked up into the night sky. The stars brilliantly filled the dark dome above me. It was so clear, and the stars were so thick that it seemed as if they were encircling me, as if I was a part of it all. I felt the warmth of my horse's back beneath me. At that moment my friend asked me, "do you really think we are like the horses that we chose?"

Since then I have turned that question over and over again in my mind and taken it into my heart. I have realized that many times people relate to horses because they can see some aspect of themselves in the horse. A horse can be just as broken as you are. Or just as wild. The horse knows this too. He will be drawn to a person who understands him.

Horses are many things to us today, a symbol of freedom, of beauty, of strength, and a way to remember the days of the wild west. In fact, the horse has carried us through much of our history, through the exploration of the frontier, through the revolutionary and civil wars, right into the age of the of the automobile. He has worked along side us in the farm fields and served us in battle. But the horse is much more than this. Despite the often hard and sometimes horrible treatment he has endured at our hands, through everything he has served faithfully. He has been a companion and friend.

I have loved horses for a most of my life and appreciated them for many different reasons. I love the simplicity of going out on an afternoon trail ride. I love watching horses run and play, and understanding their personalities and quirks. I love the sense of accomplishment felt when you and your horse achieve something together, and most of all the connection felt between horse and rider. The moment where you give a horse your trust and he returns it.

However it is only recently that I came to see horses as an incredible gift from God. Someone once told me that horses have healing powers, and though at first I chuckled at the way the statement was phrased, I have come to understand more about how horses can be healing for people, and I believe this to be true. Horses have a way of reaching deep into your soul, of allowing you to experience a sense of awe, freedom, and grace. When I look at a horse, the images that come to my mind are ones of vast open plains and golden rolling hills, of great rocky mountains stretching into the sky, and at once I feel more connected to creation and to my loving Creator.

I have been lucky to have been able to experience a little bit the healing power of horses. Seen how kids in therapeutic riding programs, or kids at summer camp, light up when they are around a horse; how they are so proud of their horse when they are able to accomplish something together. I hope and pray that God will use me throughout my lifetime to help people who have a need for Him. I think he has developed this passion for horses and how we can connect with them in my heart for a reason. Everyone has different passions, skills and talents. I think there is much joy to be found when we use these things to serve others and to serve the Lord.

To me, horses are a blessing. A wonderful creation from God that, like so many other things, He can use to bring healing, revival, and love.