If you watch a western movie and you see the hero/heroine ride off into the vast wilderness with their trusty steed, you might be thinking the same as me. Why does everyone at that point in time have a horse? Well, think about it, unlike donkeys and mules they are fast, agile, spirited, majestic and full of personality, plus unlike donkeys we are the masters of horses (more about that later). There is so much to unpack with this amazing equine, but as much of an amateur horse enthusiast I am I need to start at the beginning.

In pretty much every ranch/horse movie you watch a character approach a horse whether it’s wild or tamed and become inseparable. Flicka 2 is a perfect example, if you’ve watched this movie series you know what I’m talking about. A teenage girl is forced to live with her father after her grandmother is moved into a nursing home. Being a teenager as she is she complains about how dirty and smelly the country is, which is where her father lives. Soon she figures out to make the best of her situation and immediately discovers Flicka, a family “unridable” horse who somehow becomes her passion, besides skateboarding. Anyway, if you haven’t watched it, I don’t want to spoil it for you. It seems like in most horse films, it’s like love at first sight. First I want to make this clear, a horse and rider sometimes (should be almost all the time) have a special connection like a close friendship or understanding, but let this also be clear, it is never a mutual love at first sight case.

There is just something about watching a horse gallop across a dew glazed landscape. Seeing its graceful legs powerfully push its body along in such amazing elegance is simply breathtaking. There is so much to this incredible animal I won’t be able to share it all, plus I’m far from an expert.

So lets get into why people are attracted to horses.

Have you ever ran up to a horse and started climbing on it and petting it? No of course not, that would be an inappropriate and stupid thing to do. Not to mention that the horse would probably not let you just climb on it without atleast smelling you or something, plus you would most likely spook it away running up to it. No matter how much confidence you have around horses, confidence and experience are different, knowledge on how to act around a horse is also needed. Everyone is intimidated by these big, sometimes scary animals, these great giants have brain and brawn and you should not get them spooked. We respect these animals because #1 they are bigger then us, #2 they are smart, #3 they have the similar family structure as us and #4 we are pretty similar emotionally. More on that later.

There are four signficant emotional benefits that horses give humans:

All these skills you can learn with a horse and then practice them in real-life situations. Creating a bond with a horse can open up so many new or old relationship, helping you form meaningful strong relationships with others.

For people who have disabilities or a disease horses can be very therapeutic. Equine assisted therapy is extremely helpful with mental and physical health. Horses are not only just used to lift the spirits of the patients, to calm and relax them, horseback riding is also utilized to help with basic motor skills and to learn how to use certain muscles after an accident. It can also help with building balance, muscle, and hand-eye coordination, and so, so much more. Horses also walk similar to us, our gait is close to each other so horses help amuputies feel like they are walking again and so on.

Horse riding can also help children and young adults with childerhood trauma or behaviour issues. Whether looking for phyiscal therapy or to work on emotional skills a horse can teach them to trust and communicate.

Horses and humans have many similarities that makes us react the way we do around them. Do you believe me? Well lets start with the hierarchical system; in both horse herds and human gatherings there is a hierarchy structure. Whether it’s in families, government, a work place or school, we always operate within a hierarchy system.

Male and female horses also stick together with their offspring, when they mature they leave the nest just like us.

Horses can also convey attitudes and emotions like us. In our presence they can display happiness, worry, trust, stress and many other moods we can relate to. They can even make complex facial expressions, with all these amazing abilities horses can understand humans expressions and humans can understand horses.

We have been taming wild horses for thousands of years, as far back as 2000 BC. People have tamed wild horses to ride, transport goods, and pull wagons and buggies.

Beside transportation, horses were vital in wars and battles. They fought along side soldiers and delievered crucial supplies and messages. The bond with soldiers had with their horses were strong, probably more because of the highly emotional environment. Surrounded by war and suffering these horses and riders bonded more then ever, with all that’s around them their relationships grew even when everything else seemed to fade away. There are so many stories of horses in war like “War Horse” and “The Colt”. I have to say War Horse is so sad, but really good. The Colt was so so so sad and heartbreaking, but it is a very incredible story.

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Thanks for reading and please spread the word,

Le Stylo