𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐒

A lot of times we get the question:

"what kind of emotions can horses experience?"

The answer is: "All."

Emotions are --> energy in motion. This energy in motion is information communicating to us about our needs. These needs are concerning everything that is necessary to create survival, balance, wellbeing and health.

There seems to be a difference between human-animals and the way horses deal or connect with emotion. This has to do with:

- Information that is active in the life of the horse.

This could mean the environment, but also food, other horses. It concerns all information that the horse interacts with.

- Information that is active inside the horse.

This has to do with the DNA and cells of the body but also the being, character and wellbeing of the horse.

How can we understand the emotional life of horses?

To put it simple: horses live a horse-life. Therefore the active information outside and inside them is different from the active information in the human-animal life. Therefore the stories and meaning horses create and the context around emotions are different. Not less, not more, just different in the same way there is a difference between your experience and the experience of a fellow human-animal.

If anything we could say that human-animals are the ones who seem to behave very interesting when it comes to their relationship with emotions. Because the sense of belonging to our fellow humans (most of the time on a subconscious level) caused us to distrust certain feelings or emotions, human-animals in general find it more difficult to navigate with their emotional compasses.

It is a cultural phenomenon that we label emotions with an extra set of meanings. The most simple example of this is that we seem to identify certain emotions:

- as "good" emotions

- while we seem to label other emotions in the category "bad".

Besides that, human-animals as a species have very different structures of information in our surroundings and DNA. This is something that we need to take in account when and if we would like to connect and understand horses on an emotional level. When we become more aware about the active information in our own systems we can start to open up to understand the experiences of horses.

" It is our interpretation, identification and way of being present with our own emotions that shapes our ability to connect with horses emotionally"

We love science

Just a few years ago a big transformation appeared in the field of science. Before this scientist were not allowed to write about the emotions of animals. Instead of writing down: "The monkey laughed" they would write down something like: " The monkey expressed sounds that humans could identify as a laughing sound." This had to do with the fact that animals could not be looked at as intelligent and emotional beings, Thanks to the work of professors such as Jan van Hooff and Frans de Waal the way we see and understand emotional life of animals is changing drastically . This reflects the spirit of times, and times are changing.

𝙒𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙬, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧.

It is not just horses who experience emotions, friendships, grief and loss. It is all animals.

Please let this sink in. In your mind, in your heart, in your life. And start to choose better. You know better now.