The Horse Ancestors

When you engage with the collective memory of another species, or your own, you access a wealth of information beyond personal experience. The challenge lies in intense surges of sadness, anger, and anxiety that are sometimes evident of ancestral pain.

 

Distinguishing between emotions and behaviours related to the present situation, your own history, and unresolved issues from the distant past can be confusing yet ultimately healing.

 

The equine mind seems to have unusually efficient access to forms of ancestral memory not easily explained as pure instinct. The wild horses of the west are descendants of well-trained mounts imported from Europe that escaped during the battle or simply wandered away from camp. No domestic species seems to thrive in the absence of human stewardship like the horse, yet mustangs pulled off the range can be gentled and ridden much more easily as adults than zebras hand raised from birth, suggesting that horses who’ve roamed free for generations retain a connection to the knowledge and experience of their human-savvy ancestors.

 

Many religious and philosophical doctrines include the notion of a cosmic mind. A mind trained to limit itself to an individual body relinquishes the ability to tap into these collective sources at will.

 

Horses are more consciously, more fluidly able to connect with the cumulative knowledge and memory of their own species, as well as the subconscious thoughts, memories, and intentions of the people working with them. The same abilities tend to rub off on riders and trainers who allow the equine perspective to deeply influence them.

Way of the Horse Oracles