Imagine with me here. You work in an open concept office where you have coworkers working within arms reach. Cringing already? It gets worse.
One of your coworkers is a know it all in the midst of family drama. She likes to tell you how to do your job and constantly corrects you. She really is a good person, but the baggage she brings from home every day really puts her energy over the top.
Are you looking forward to going to work every day? Are you enjoying your job? The office layout? How do you feel about the vibes in the office from other coworkers? Do they seem on edge and nervous around her too? Do you all dread when she walks in the office? It’s probably not a great work environment, is it?
Let me turn the table. Your horse is now you, and you are the coworker.
Are you THAT person to your horse? Do you go to the barn to unload your crap from the day? Are you that know it all who corrects everything your horse is doing? Are you constantly on his case? Do the horses “cringe” when you walk in the barn?
Yes, our horses are healers as I’ve written about before. For many of them, that’s their main purpose here on earth. For others, that’s not their job, they’re just doing it by default.
When you go to the barn and you feel better after, where do you think all your crud went? Where did this energy go? If you’re not making a conscious effort to separate yourself from the energies of the day and your horse he could very well be taking this on for you. That’s why you feel better. Some horses are more empathetic than others so they’re not all going to carry your stuff, but there are some out there that will.
One of the best examples I saw of this energy exchange was when I helped work on a barn of service horses. They were part of a riding for the disabled program. Most of them carried the same group of emotions which I attribute to their service. Emotions like frustration, worthless, rejection, hopelessness, and lack of control came up to be released from these horses. Working on this group is the first time I have seen similar patterns of emotions. Usually, every session is very different. What this tells me is that these emotions are a product of their job. These emotions are not theirs but from the people they have been working for. Service horses like these, have a burn out rate greater than barrel horses in large part due to the energies they are taking on from the people they are healing. What a beautiful sacrifice they make through their service.
Knowing that our horses really can carry our load for us, (in an energetic sense) gives us an opportunity to make sure we’re not being a burden to them. They are several easy techniques to use to make help keep your horse from taking on your “stuff”.
First, make a conscious effort to leave your baggage behind you when you leave your home and walk to the barn. Use that walk as an opportunity to “shake it off” and I mean literally. You can bust into some Taylor Swift moves if you’d like, but a simple arm shake will do. Use your intention with those arm shakes to leave your worries and issues from the day behind you.
Second, make sure you’re grounded. You can listen to a grounding meditation (get a quick one if you sign up for my newsletter). Once you know how to quickly ground yourself you can do this on the fly. I’m often quickly reminded I’m not grounded when I have trouble catching a certain horse. I send my roots down and she stops in her tracks. By grounding yourself, and when you do ground yourself you create a way to send these not so favorable emotions out and away from your energy body and into the ground.
Third, by allowing your horse the most natural life you can, will also allow him to stay grounded and release the emotions he may be picking up. Time in the dirt turned out on pasture will help them do what nature does best and naturally be grounded. Standing in a stall and especially on concrete will inhibit a horse from being able to ground and release the unwanted energies.
Finally, your awareness and effort to not be THAT person in the office will go a long way. Don’t unload your home issues on your horse. Avoid nitpicking and making his life miserable. Be the coworker everyone loves. Provide a structured, happy work environment. Make him feel like a winner, set him up for success and compliment him on a job well done.
