Are you being rude to your horse? Energy fields and politeness…

Every living being has an area of personal space around them. This space can actually be measured and photographed using a technique called Kirlean photography. Another term for this space is aura, or auric field.

http://www.hauntednorthamerica.org/article.aspx?id=58

In my experience, horses and other prey animals have a much larger personal space or aura than we people do. People CAN have a large aura, it’s just that many folks make choices that keep them small.

[Interesting side note: some feel that dapples are actually tiny energy vortexes and a sign of healthy and active aura energy.]

I have known about equine personal space for a while. I cannot even remember which conscious horsemanship teacher first mentioned the concept, and explained that you can find your horse’s space by slowly approaching while they are in the field. When they first react to your presence, more of a reaction than just looking at you, you have reached the outer boundaries. You can also use dowsing wands to explore the edges of the aura. Here is a quick basic article on dowsing. I like to use copper welding rods from the plumbing supply store for dowsing.

I’ll add that I am usually pretty respectful of horses’ personal space, and generally start my greeting from outside the boundaries. I stand at the boundary, wait for the horse to acknowledge me, then step forward if I get the sense I am welcomed. I guess I’ve just gotten casual, especially around my own horse family.

So, I had an interesting experience the other day about boundaries and politeness. Mr. T chose to teach me a lesson about etiquette.

Mr T. Photo copyright C. Hair 2015

I was putting T and Lucky out in their runway. As I often do lately, I just stood quietly with them, tuning in to their energy and well, honestly, looking forward to a conversation with them (how many of us secretly dream of being able to talk to our horses and have them talk back. Come on, admit it. Bet you do.) T is normally a bit detached from me, as he isn’t my horse. Or I’m not his person. You get the drift. I mainly interact with my own herd.

Rather than “speak”, T chose to teach me about politeness and show me where his energy field ends. He did this by mentally shoving me back until I was out of his field. Yup. For those of you that do muscle testing and have done the push-pull test or solar plexus test, that is exactly what this felt like. He literally rocked me back on my heels with each “push” that I felt in my solar plexus. Not harsh or hard or aggressive and I could have resisted the energy push if I chose to. I just got soft and allowed it to happen, curious what he was doing.

[side note: Getting soft for me means checking that my breathing is relaxed, allowing my vision to be broad and relaxed rather than focused on one spot, feeling my feet on the ground, and letting go of any attachment to an outcome. Softening, once you get comfortable with the feeling, happens in an instant. It is like a mental and emotional half-halt.]

T pushed me back until I was a good 20 feet away. Then I got this clear feeling, not so much in words, more of an emotion rush, that it’s rude to greet him within that 20 feet. Start the greeting outside the aura. There was no feeling of anger, just a general slight annoyance about the rudeness we (his person and I and humans in general) have shown. He then shut down any further connection and walked past me to move away. As he was passing, he gently touched my hand with his nose, as if to say “no hard feelings”.

Since that day, as I have continued to be more polite about his space, T has become more friendly and more interested in interacting, greeting me when I come out.

You may find it quite interesting to find the personal boundary on your horses and other animals. They will likely thank you for your politeness in respecting their boundaries.