Energy is another common word used in the horse world but how do we define it? Some refer to it as invisible waves like Wifi & although I don’t disagree with these ideas, I prefer to use a more practical approach that will make these personal concepts more concrete, tactile & applicable for everyone. We hear phrases like “your horse can read your energy” & “use your energy to influence your horse”. In these applications, I think we can agree that energy is considered a form of communication. I feel it’s important to look deeper into this word energy if we want to have a better understanding.

How many forms of communication do we have with our horse? Take some time to contemplate this question. How many can you come up with? I have identified five. Four are active & one is passive. Four are direct & one is indirect. Four tend to be exclusive & one is completely inclusive. You can see where I’m going with this… Could direct & active communication be one of the bridges we unintentionally create between our horses & ourselves? Is it possible that unless we understand the deeper implications of how we use these direct & active communications, that we’re creating the opposite effect of what we’re trying to achieve?

The five types of communication I have identified are verbal, mental, emotional, physical & what I refer to as the third language. Although the first three underly the physical because the physical is directly affected by their application, they do influence our communication on their own as well. When people say horses can read our thoughts, it’s not the invisible thoughts per say, but the combination of these four normal means of communication that we’re not in touch with. We don’t often realize how every thought, emotion & verbiage immediately reflects in our body language.

So, how I would define the energy that we’ve established our horses can sense, understand & react to? It is a combination of our verbal, mental, emotional & physical communication that we are largely unaware of. Is it a lot of work to begin to recognize & understand these less understood aspects of ourselves? You bet it is. That’s why I choose to help you bypass this lengthy roller coaster that you can contemplate on your own time, & ask you to leave everything you know at the gate. This is how we enter the indirect, passive & inclusive third language.