Equine Rewilding
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ReWilding generally refers to a worldwide conservation effort to bring flora and fauna back to places
they were once abundant. We are interested in this concept but applying it to people;
bringing back our wild self by disconnecting from consumerism and connecting with the elements and
nature (external world) and our four-body system (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) (inner world).
they were once abundant. We are interested in this concept but applying it to people;
bringing back our wild self by disconnecting from consumerism and connecting with the elements and
nature (external world) and our four-body system (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) (inner world).
In counselling, the wild self is commonly referred to as our authentic or real self, our true essence before we were plugged into our society's systems, or had 'conditions of worth' placed upon us by those around us as we grew up and developed a self-concept that included limiting 'self beliefs' such as 'I am not good enough'. Our self concept is often at odds with our wild self causing incongruence. Horses and other allies from the animal kingdom give people 3 key things which help the ReWilding process; they are 'Congruence', 'Empathy' and 'Unconditional Positive Regard'. These, as psychologist Carl Rodgers coined, the 'Core Conditions' are essential for people to 'self-actualise' or grow towards their potential.
In our experience the ReWilding process happens profoundly when we invite our horses in to help people. Before they could help it was important to allow our horses and ponies to 'rewild' and become their real self. They generally live outside all year around so they can connect to the elements, nature and the land they live on. They live as a mixed herd so they can connect with each other in a four-body system way, physically through to their collective higher wisdom. We don't particularly 'do' anything with them; they are invited to just 'be'. We also applied the same ethos to ourselves so we are not causing any blocks to this work, then we can genuinely invite other people to do the same, to be their real self.
Horses easily tap into our four-body system and they bring things into our awareness, from our unconscious to our conscious where we can process them. They know when we are aware of something which we are blocking or hiding and they challenge our incongruence, which helps bring the real self to the fore. Horses also know when we don't know. I recall one of our geldings working with a a client, indicating physically using his own anatomy, that there may have been sexual abuse or issues in the clients past. She reflected blankly to his physical show. A year on our gelding received a thank you from her because he was accurate. She had blocked the sexual abuse out and had spent a year in counselling processing her past.
Horses sometimes act out the energy they feel from people, like in the example. Other times they stand close to people, or invite them to lie down with them, showing empathy. Sometimes they come forward as a herd or individually. It is not uncommon to have people burst into tears, which can catch them by surprise. They then try to use logic to excuse their outburst. Horses challenge incongruence, so even the smile on your face whilst you feel anything but happy, is detected. We invite people to 'experience' and 'release' their emotions in the great wide open, whilst we step back and allow people the privacy to express themselves more freely with the horses (unconditional positive regard).
Our innate emotions (anger, fear, sadness, joy) come from our more primitive part of the brain called the amygdala, whilst logic and thinking take place in our more evolved higher cortex. Emotions themselves are fairly transient, if they are allowed to be expressed. If not, they get stored up, can travel from our emotional body into our physical body and cause dis-ease.
With suppression of emotions there is a risk of an uncontrolled explosion which can have undesirable consequences. When clients are ready to talk about their session, we are there. Talking can help bring emotions from the amygdala into the higher cortex for processing. This helps people stay in control of emotions and release in a controlled way whilst in a safe place.
A friend came up for the weekend to get out of London not long after the terror attack at Westminster Bridge in 2017. She greeted each horse one by one. I watched as one horse suddenly turned around and viciously attacked another horse unprovoked behind her back. To address the behaviourist angle, this was unusual because the horse that was attacked is the horse that moves everyone else's feet in the herd. There was a look of terror on my friends face as I asked her to move towards me so she wouldn’t be hurt.
As the experience unfolded later that evening away from the herd, my friend explained how she was out in London on the other side of the river when the attack took place. She had not seen the attack, but when she tried to get home, the roads were closed and she was exposed to the fear from people who had seen the attack. She had been really scared. She owned the fear from this experience and brought it into her conscious mind. She went to be with the horses again the following morning and they peacefully welcomed her and even invited her to lie down with them. She felt more grounded when she returned home to London.
In our experience the ReWilding process happens profoundly when we invite our horses in to help people. Before they could help it was important to allow our horses and ponies to 'rewild' and become their real self. They generally live outside all year around so they can connect to the elements, nature and the land they live on. They live as a mixed herd so they can connect with each other in a four-body system way, physically through to their collective higher wisdom. We don't particularly 'do' anything with them; they are invited to just 'be'. We also applied the same ethos to ourselves so we are not causing any blocks to this work, then we can genuinely invite other people to do the same, to be their real self.
Horses easily tap into our four-body system and they bring things into our awareness, from our unconscious to our conscious where we can process them. They know when we are aware of something which we are blocking or hiding and they challenge our incongruence, which helps bring the real self to the fore. Horses also know when we don't know. I recall one of our geldings working with a a client, indicating physically using his own anatomy, that there may have been sexual abuse or issues in the clients past. She reflected blankly to his physical show. A year on our gelding received a thank you from her because he was accurate. She had blocked the sexual abuse out and had spent a year in counselling processing her past.
Horses sometimes act out the energy they feel from people, like in the example. Other times they stand close to people, or invite them to lie down with them, showing empathy. Sometimes they come forward as a herd or individually. It is not uncommon to have people burst into tears, which can catch them by surprise. They then try to use logic to excuse their outburst. Horses challenge incongruence, so even the smile on your face whilst you feel anything but happy, is detected. We invite people to 'experience' and 'release' their emotions in the great wide open, whilst we step back and allow people the privacy to express themselves more freely with the horses (unconditional positive regard).
Our innate emotions (anger, fear, sadness, joy) come from our more primitive part of the brain called the amygdala, whilst logic and thinking take place in our more evolved higher cortex. Emotions themselves are fairly transient, if they are allowed to be expressed. If not, they get stored up, can travel from our emotional body into our physical body and cause dis-ease.
With suppression of emotions there is a risk of an uncontrolled explosion which can have undesirable consequences. When clients are ready to talk about their session, we are there. Talking can help bring emotions from the amygdala into the higher cortex for processing. This helps people stay in control of emotions and release in a controlled way whilst in a safe place.
A friend came up for the weekend to get out of London not long after the terror attack at Westminster Bridge in 2017. She greeted each horse one by one. I watched as one horse suddenly turned around and viciously attacked another horse unprovoked behind her back. To address the behaviourist angle, this was unusual because the horse that was attacked is the horse that moves everyone else's feet in the herd. There was a look of terror on my friends face as I asked her to move towards me so she wouldn’t be hurt.
As the experience unfolded later that evening away from the herd, my friend explained how she was out in London on the other side of the river when the attack took place. She had not seen the attack, but when she tried to get home, the roads were closed and she was exposed to the fear from people who had seen the attack. She had been really scared. She owned the fear from this experience and brought it into her conscious mind. She went to be with the horses again the following morning and they peacefully welcomed her and even invited her to lie down with them. She felt more grounded when she returned home to London.
When we are with equines, particularly outside in nature, we are reminded of our own connectivity to our external and inner worlds. This allows our wild self to come to the fore. Sometimes to strengthen our connection,
we need to unlearn what we have learnt to discover what we already know - we call this Equine ReWilding.
we need to unlearn what we have learnt to discover what we already know - we call this Equine ReWilding.
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Livvy Adams Bio
It was there that she met her business partner Livvy Adams, a former police officer who specialised in helping women and children in abusive relationships. Livvy later retrained as an accountant after having her own children. Livvy trained with horse whisperer Franklin Levinson and EPONA instructors before going on to train with LEAP. She had set up a business called Paintedhorse in Glastonbury and had a herd of six. Livvy has also studied Eco ReWilding and is currently training to be a counsellor. Georgie moved to Glastonbury to add Jac to Livvy's herd of six and within months their herd grew to twelve as they rehabilitated and 'rewilded' several more ponies that came their way. Paintedhorse became a Community Interest Company which now specialises in Equine ReWilding, which uses nature and the power of the herd to help people rediscover and connect to their authentic and 'wild' self. www.paintedhorse.org.uk |
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Georgie McBurney Bio
Georgie is a Humanistic Integrative Counsellor specializing in Person Centred, Transactional Analysis and Gestalt therapies, she currently works in primary care and has recently set up private practice in Dorset. She studied BSc (Hons) in Animal Science (Behaviour & Welfare) after careers in the Army and police; and gained a PGCE in Secondary Biology leading into a career in teaching at secondary schools before going on to lecture at university level. She became a Programme Leader when she wrote and set up a BTEC in Equine Management which introduced Monty Roberts Horsemanship within a traditional equine establishment. Due to her sisters psychosis, Georgie became a kinship foster carer which became full time when her niece was paralyzed. Their pony Jac was pivotal in her rehabilitation process and in supporting her emotional resilience which inspired Georgie to train in Equine Facilitated Therapy (LEAP model). Georgie and Jac now help facilitate Woodland Retreats which provide equine and eco therapy at Equine Earth in Gloucestershire along with Jo Saunders and her herd of native ponies. junipercounsellingandtherapies.co.uk/about-us/ equineearth.co.uk/ |