Women Who Own Horses Live 15 Years Longer

This blog post is my response to the following article in Healthy Holistic Living, by Jenna Barrington. Published on August 21, 2018. (Click below to read original article).
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Studies Show That Women Who Own Horses Live 15 Years Longer Than Those Who Don't
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“Regular exercise,” “outdoor activities,” “consistent socialization?” Are these the reasons why? I don't think so. There are lots of ways, without horses, to get regular exercise, spend time outdoors, and be social. I don't think the researchers will ever be able to understand or measure that which is good for the soul and why.

The feminine, in its bigger sense of the word, is in desperate need of “re-wilding” – reconnecting with the natural cycles, rhythms, and moods of the earth. The feminine soul is nurtured by feeling its feet on the ground and remembering, via bodily felt-experience, its oneness with nature. Our bodies are, and have always been, wired this way.
 
Riding or simply being in regular contact with horses speaks to something primal in us and awakens our remembrance of a time when our survival depended on our sensitivity to weather and climate changes and our interdependence and collaboration with other species. It requires us to, consciously or not, get out of our heads and back in our bodies and awaken these primal feelings of connection.
 
Horses, unlike dogs and cats, are prey animals. As such, they are highly attuned to the emotions and intentions of predators – humans – because their survival has depended on it. So despite their domestication, they remain acutely aware of their environment, which requires them to be grounded and in the present moment at all times.  In my experience, and in that of my clients, simply being around them reawakens our innate, but perhaps temporarily forgotten, inclination toward groundedness and a focus on the here and now. 
 
In my mostly women-based practice, and in my own life, I see how incessant talking, social-media-ing, shopping, and emotional eating are often a reflection of an emptiness, an attempt to fill this deeper hunger for a more real and lasting connection.
 
So lie in the grass, go barefoot, bathe yourself in moonlight, get your hands dirty, and if you can, whenever you can, hug a horse!