Who Do You Trust?

Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

One of the most important qualities of a good relationship is the amount of mutual trust shared between the partners. I believe this is especially true of the relationship shared with our equine partners, as well. I am grateful that I have twice been blessed to share this kind of bond with two equines. My first horse, Geeves, was a big Thoroughbred gelding and retired schooling master. He passed away in 2010, and I still feel his loss every day. Galahad, an Arabian/Lipizzan gelding pictured above, is one of my greatest joys and a true embodiment of the knight in shining armor. He really lived up to his name a couple weeks ago.

My trainer often reminds me that the Arabian horse is historically a “people” horse. Many people have first-hand experience of how well this breed takes care of the humans in their lives. They love and are great with little kids: put a child on an Arabian or part-Arabian horse’s back and you can trust that the animal will do its best to keep the person safe during the ride. I still remember my first ride on a little Arabian gelding when I got back into the sport in 2003. Even though I was a grown-up, Vinnie knew that I needed extra support and even some TLC the first time I got back in the saddle after a 19-years’ hiatus. When I lost my balance—which I did a couple times during that first ride—the gelding adjusted his body under me and even stopped so I could find my seat again.

Galahad does that for me, too—and not just when he is under saddle. When I go catch him in the paddock where he is turned out with the other geldings, my horse often turns his body sideways as if to block his herd-mates’ access to me. It is as if he knows and understands that, as a human, I am more fragile and vulnerable to injury from the rough play that he enjoys with his buddies. No matter where we are in the paddock, my horse immediately changes his posture as if to shield me when another horse approaches us. Is this action a gesture of true protection or jealous territoriality? For the first few months after I bought him, Galahad often moved his body on the wash rack just so to block my visibility to cars passing by on the street. He actually did this a few times before I realized what was going on, because he usually stood quiet and still to get rinsed off after a ride. But before I could detect the sound of an engine, my horse took those few steps to position his body closer to the street.

People have scoffed about my interpretation of these behaviors, alternately chastising me for anthropomorphizing Galahad’s actions and warning me about the inherent danger of handling and riding horses. Nonetheless, I know what I believe. When I work with equestrians in hypnotherapy, one of the first things I ask is for them to rate their level of trust they have in their equine partner and whether/how much their horse trusts them. Without trust, how can we explain or understand the various things horses allow us to do while we are on their backs? Without trust, how do we feel confident and secure to do those things without being frozen with fear that the horse will run away with us or dump us into the dirt the first chance they get?

I experienced the most significant example of my horse’s apparent concern about my well-being a couple of weeks ago. Once a week or so I take Galahad for a walk around the neighborhood. It is good for him to get a change of scene and relax after spending so much concentrated time training in the arena. We are still “training” while I hand-walk him in that we practice serpentine figures, lateral movements and even backing up the street. We practice staying calm and being “brave” when the donkey living next door brays and trots up his fence-line or neighbors’ dogs bark as we walk past. However, Galahad he gets to do all of this work just in his halter, not bridled and under saddle.

On our last walk, I was coming down with a bad cold. I felt okay when we started out, but after about 10 minutes I became so weak that I could barely finish walking up the street back to the barn. It took fifteen minutes for us to travel about fifty feet, but my horse never put a hoof wrong. Every few yards I needed to stop to catch my breath; every time Galahad, just stood quietly and even cocked a hind hoof as I leaned against him for support. He was like a rock—my rock. Of course, I told him what was going on—that I felt ill and I just needed to rest for a minute before we started off again. I have no doubt that if I actually needed to stretch out on the side of the road he would have been a sentinel for me then, too. (Fortunately, I never needed to do that.) At one point, we stopped very close to where the donkey comes out to greet us. Galahad is getting used to the sound of the little equine’s bray but he still sometimes does a double-take or takes a side step if he isn’t expecting to see the animal. That day, however, my horse never flinched or even look anywhere except over his shoulder at me or straight ahead as we forged our way slowly back to the barn.

 Looking back, I can only express how grateful I was and am to have such a loyal and, yes, protective horse in my life. I was truly vulnerable that day: if he spooked at a car or a loose dog, who knows what would have happened. I doubt that I could have been able to hold onto the lead line and keep Galahad calm in that situation. What amazes me most is that, at the time, I never even worried about it. I had complete faith and trust in my horse to help get me safely back to the barn the way I have always done for him in the past. Galahad was described as “a knight in shining armor” on the promotional DVD my trainer gave me to watch before I bought him. On that day—and every day—he truly lives up to his name and that description.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/. 

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