The courses are now back in full swing and our trusty herd of horses are doing what they do best: helping veterans with life-changing injury along the road to recovery.
We always say at HorseBack that we don’t take things for granted, but we realise now that we sometimes do. Our horses are carefully chosen for their character and temperament, because there are some equines who simply are not suited to this kind of work. And our herd is exceptionally well-trained; we prepare them for their demanding job by working on their physical and mental strength. We know them so well and we’ve watched them be so brilliant for so long that we do, almost, take for granted that they can do what they do.
However, it’s been fascinating to watch them come back into their full work. There are some who slot into their old role without turning a hair. They might have been up on their Scottish hill for the duration, but they return to their job as if they’ve never been away. For others, there is a definite re-entry period. They need to be helped through it, to be reminded of their capabilities, to be given a little time and encouragement so that they can rediscover their mojo.
This gives us a salutary reminder of the great horsing rule: work with the horse you have that day. Just because your horse could do something marvellous last week, it does not mean they can do it the next week. They might have a sudden swerve in their confidence; they might have built up a hidden store of worry; they might be scratchy from lack of sleep. (Horses need REM sleep for full function just as people do.) This is a principle that reads across to humans. We always have to remember not to take people for granted, and not to make assumptions about them. When we work with our veterans, we take them as they are in the moment. Just because someone has made great strides on the path to recovery, it does not mean they might not have a set-back, or revert to old patterns, or suddenly be overcome by old pain.
And that’s why the horses themselves are so perfect for this kind of work, because they do this naturally. It is dug into them to live in the present. They respond to the human in front of them, in the moment, so they don’t come with that freight of judgment. They don’t have a ‘You should’ in them. They don’t think that you should be better, brighter, more capable.
This is incredibly liberating for the veterans who come here. What horses love most is authenticity. It is part of their prey animal heritage. So our veterans know that they can be their absolute selves with these animals. If they are having a bad day, they can tell their horse that and the horse will accept it. What horses hate is when you rock up with a boatload of fear and fret and pretend that you are fine. They can deal with human pain and sorrow as long as the human is honest about it. That’s what is known as congruence – when the outside matches the inside as closely as possible. And this is an incredibly powerful mental habit to get into. You can learn that it’s all right to admit to weakness, rather than hide it away in the shadows of shame. You can learn to do that with your horse, and then you learn to do that with the people in your life. So, as always, our wonderful horses give us lessons in what is most important in life. We learn from them every day, and we never stop appreciating what they give us.
