Student Stories

Horse Sense for Young Women

On the last day of my 3-day workshop in January ( and in my last activity with the horses that day), my teacher, Alyssa told me we were going to do an exercise about trust.

I was really interested; there are huge places in my life where trust has affected me deeply.

Alyssa asked me to select four horses from her herd that I thought could help me with building trust. After choosing the horse, she told me to halter and lead them each one into the paddock.

The last horse I had selected was at the bottom of the field.
As I was thinking about walking down to get him, a horse name Tizzy came towards us- Alyssa saw something in Tizzy and said she believed Tizzy was actively asking to be a part of our session.

I agreed to make the last minute decision to change horses and I couldn't be more thankful that I did.

With four horses now in the paddock, Alyssa told me that I was to be blindfolded for this exercise and to trust her.
Since this was an exercise about trust, I accepted wholeheartedly. Now the idea of being blindfolded around 1000 lb. animals is quite scary.

It had been raining and hailing off and on all day so the conditions were also scary.

With my blindfold in place, Alyssa walked me slowly into the paddock. I was having a hard time getting settled so Alyssa gave me a mantra to help me.

The mantra to the horses was 'I am the student you are the teacher what is the lesson.'

I continued to repeat this in my head as we walked. I could feel the horses start to approach but as soon as we stopped and I put my hand out to greet them, they walked away.

It became clear to me that my intentions weren’t genuine and that I didn’t really trust the horses or myself.

I decided to change my mantra to my honest feelings and I started to say to myself 'I am vulnerable I am trusting you'. I let myself be completely vulnerable physically, mentally and emotionally.

Alyssa guided me to another horse and in that same moment the rain started to pour and the wind started to blow very hard. I could feel the space become more dangerous.

I reached my hand out and felt a horse standing in front of me...but it wasn't soft, warm or comforting like I was hoping in my vulnerable state. Instead, the horse hair was coarse, cold and hard and felt more like a lizards scales that a horses coat.
Still, I trusted that this rough 'lizard like' horse was going to protect me and hear my intention.

I stood still petting and touching the miserable feeling horse coat for 5 minutes. …Repeating my mantra and trusting fully in myself and in this animal as the weather raged around us.

I had no idea what part of the horse I was touching and that in itself brings fear. Being at the backside of a horse blindfolded is not a safe position. Still, I made the decision I had to trust that I was going to be okay.

Not long after, Alyssa took my blindfold off so I could see which horse I was touching and what they were doing for me. I opened my eyes and I saw TIZZY...our last minute choice that day.

She was standing in front of me, facing into the pelting rain and wind. The other horses were also standing all around us, but they had all turned away from the wind and hail as horses normally behave in those kinds of extreme weather conditions.
But Tizzy was standing in front of me, waiting for me with her intention of trust just for me...

This was one of the most moving moments in my life and every time I have doubt in my process I go back to that place...back to that moment when Tizzy heard me and showed me real trust. I will thank Tizzy for this gift for the rest of my life.

— Holland N - age 23
Horse Sense for Young Women participant