My partner David and I have been working as Somatic Experiencing Practitioners with our horses for the past 12 years to help men and women who have lived and worked in high stress environments rebuild healthy relationships through purposeful engagement with horses. We were mostly dealing with unresolved frontline trauma and trying to help participants make successful transitions from uniformed to civilian life.
During and after the pandemic and in the face of growing polarization on the outside however, it was clear that when this work is combined with the enneagram, it is extremely effective at helping all of us settle down, experience the co-regulating touch of the horses and come to realize that we have much greater capacity for change than we ever thought possible.
New facilitators in training and horse handlers were telling us that when they combined the ground-based horsemanship skills with a deeper understanding of their own habitual patterns, motivations and blindspots, their ability to handle triggers improved.
We create space for everyone to thrive by leaving traditional settings and teaching folks how to engage with sentient beings who are larger than us, guided by their prey animal sensibilities, respond with their whole bodies when they trust and never ever judge anyone.
According to one person who put it quite succinctly,
“These horses helped me see and address blind spots and contractions in my body more quickly than anything I’ve ever done. I see so many of my patterns right away when I’m working with that horse.”
“When you just show us how the horses see the world, and show us how to work with them in a way that makes sense to them, I seem to grow out of these places I’ve known about but been stuck in for years.”
We jusf completed a 4-day retreat where we combined The Equus Effect with the Somatic Enneagram. Discoveries were profound, practical and incredibly engaging.
Located in Sharon, Connecticut, United States - (near New York City, Hartford, CT and Albany, NY)