Most domestic horses, camels, and other animals don’t get the chance to grow up properly.
There’s a well of fundamental information they never get to learn – about themselves, the world, and others.
Many of the horses and camels I get to meet, although intelligent, are developmentally retarded because they did not receive their complete cultural education. They may perform well in certain ways, but generally, are not well-rounded, balanced, sane, or whole.
Group animals should live in cultures where they learn who they are and how to be. In captivity they learn only the limited range of things we intend for them. And often, when they share spaces with other horses or camels, those others have usually grown up in similar ways, and are similarly limited.
One consequence of this is that many domestic horses and camels have an inadequate relationship with food, and resultant poor digestion. Their physiological chemistries and constitutions are compromised. They don’t know how to self-manage their impulses. Their sense of boundaries is often faulty. They don’t know how to deeply relax, feel, think and breathe properly, to learn subtleties, and to respond appropriately to life around them. And much of this is because they were not taught, by the herd, the skills and attitudes for feeling sustained.
In most cases, the horses and camels we know are shadows of who they could be.
In captivity, they have to conform to artificial situations not of their natural world.
And even horses and camels fortunate enough to be parent and herd-raised will likely lose a great deal of their sense of who they are once they come into the hands of humans, and into conventional training techniques.
Many humans also miss out on learning how to be well-rounded, bringing their lack of self-awareness into all their relationships, including with animals. The information humans share with each other about the best ways to be with horses and camels usually includes a mixture of fears, doubts, limits, hopes, and incomplete ideas about what horses and camels are – and what they are “for”.
And the reason why our ideas about these animals (any animals) are incomplete is because our understanding of ourselves is incomplete.
Seldom discussed is the horse or camel’s individuality and personal choice.
Also rarely considered is the need for a fuller humanizing of ourselves – before engaging with horses and camels, or any living beings.
What I focus on in my work for horses and camels is to teach them all the basics they missed out on as youngsters. Many of the problems and issues horses and camels exhibit stem from these essential factors not having been learned. Only when these fundamentals are reintegrated into the horse or camel’s sense of self should we go forward into other “conversations”, such as riding, packing, and so on. When horses and camels know the basic facets of their cultures, many of the “issues” we think they have evaporate without ever needing to be directly addressed. And the most positive influence in all of this is a well-developed bond – a fully felt connection in relationship.
Through my engagement and coaching of horses and camels, they soon become free of many of their inhibitions, fears, concerns, and struggles. Their confidence is restored and elevated. They become self-assured, able to express themselves, to trust and be trusted. The horse, camel, and human become consensual partners, each displaying responsibility for the relationship, each the caretaker of the other. The horse or camel becomes capable of adeptly thinking and feeling its way through life in this human-made world. It will heal from past indiscretions and traumas, including being bought, sold, and disregarded – possibly multiple times.
Resulting from my engagement with them, I want the horse or camel to realize its unique genius – and to be able to stand alongside any human being, or any other animal, and remain clear and sure.
Every horse or camel who completes this process will enjoy physical, mental, and emotional improvements along with a much improved outlook on life.
The rich, contemplative herd culture is irreplaceable by humans, but we can offer substitutes that come close. We can intelligently approximate for what is missing for our horse or camel who lives apart from his own kind…
Envisioning Fearing No More 