"It was like being touched by this incredibly loving being. This was a big exercise in trust for me, to really feel how I feel, that I was safe with the horses, and to believe in myself."

B. Steeves

"Energetic, emotional, spiritual, shamanic...my experience with the horses touched all these layers in me. It was such a poignant reminder of the interconnectedness of our world."

Kim Hanson

"In no uncertain terms, these horses have a way of reflecting exactly what is going on with you in the moment and there is something profoundly truthful and transformational about that. It is nothing short of magical."

Cameron Grierson

"Leslie and Jacqueline have a wonderful capacity to combine safety and sacredness in their therapeutic healing work with the horses. Many hours in the therapist's office are no match for the depth of insight, awareness and healing that a timeless session in the "round pen" with these 2 gifted facilitators and their wonderful allies, the horses, can provide."

B. K.

"This experience (with the horses) has served as a lighthouse tower to guide me in my contemplative practice and my way of being in the world"

Kim Burton

I chose to step into the ring with a horse to explore my writing blocks. Without disclosing this intention to anyone in the group, I chose another woman to be my "gatekeeper" who I knew was a writer. During my work with the horse, not only did I gain insight into my writing process, but the woman at the gate had her own healing experience about...guess what?...her writing. One could say, hers was a totally separate experience from mine, but, to me it was clearly all connected. The three of us were in communication at a different level.

Weeks later, the gatekeeper called me up and invited me to join a local writing group with a fabulous teacher...the work and the shifts seemed to continue far past what happened in the ring itself. The subtle nature of this work is not to be underestimated. We have only begun to welcome the wisdom and teaching of the non human world and it is so exciting!


Kim Hanson

This story is told by a participant who has had minimal experiences with horses:

I had not really been thinking about going into the round pen but when my turn came I became aware that my heart was beating fast and my breathing was shallow and rapid. I felt breathless like I had been running! I had chosen Eclipse to work with because I knew he was male and I have had so many issues with males in my life. As well, he seemed to be a spirited horse and for some reason that drew me to him. I'm not sure why. When I entered the ring I began to talk, I guess mostly to Jacqueline and Leslie but also to Eclipse - telling them how frightened I was. When I got to about 10 feet away from Eclipse he lowered his head and half shut his eyes as if to say, "it's ok, I'm very gentle and would not hurt you". Out loud I talked about my disbelief that he seemed to be reading my feelings and was reassuring me. Feeling his invitation to approach, I did. When I reached out to touch him he placed his entire face from forehead to mouth on my chest and held it there. I was stunned. I jokingly said to Leslie "this is amazing - unless he's going to bite my leg". I actually knew at this point he wouldn't do this. But when I spoke about wondering if he would bite, Eclipse moved his head away from me as if to say "I have no intention of doing that". I then touched his back and neck and he put his head on my chest again. It was like being touched by this incredibly loving being.

Since Eclipse had welcomed me to come closer my breathing had returned to normal and I felt incredibly calm, like in a trance. He then put his head up again. I wasn't sure if at this point he wanted to leave so I asked Leslie and she suggested I ask Eclipse. I just sensed what was going on with him and felt that he was ok to stay. I reached out and put my hand on his head between his eyes and stayed like that for what seemed like a long time. I noticed the rest of the herd had gone in the barn but Eclipse was unaware of that at first and then when he noticed he was quite calm. Leslie mentioned that being separated from the herd will usually cause some agitation for him so it was unusual to see him so calm. I don't know how it ended for me or for Eclipse, except to say that for the next exercise when I went into the round pen alone with Niki (not on a rope or halter) I felt the same calmness and peacefulness that I had felt with Eclipse. Niki even put her nose into my face to sniff me, which startled me but did not scare me. For me trusting my feelings has been something I have been uneasy about, I want confirmation from others about my choices. This was a big exercise in trust for me to really feel how I felt - that I was safe with the horses and to believe in myself.

Barb Steeves

I had a very healing and impactful experience in my work with Eclipse during a 1 day workshop at Windhorse Centre. I had chosen to approach the work with Eclipse with a question in mind. From the moment I entered the "round pen" where Leslie and Eclipse were standing, every aspect of the interaction spoke to my question. Something quite remarkable occurred. At one point, Eclipse took a few steps away from us. He proceeded to lie down and as he did so I felt a huge emotional shift and tears came to my eyes. As I observed Eclipse it looked to me like he was praying. I shared this observation with Leslie and even before she asked what prayer that might be a mantra had come to my mind. Eclipse proceeded to lie down flat on the ground. The remarkable part to me was that the position he had taken was one required for the particular mantra or prayer that had come spontaneously to my mind. Leslie suggested that I could take that pose so I lay down in the sand and repeated the mantra softly to myself. With Eclipse's help I knew the answer to my question.

Since this experience, I have reconnected to this particular spiritual practice and I have felt a depth of commitment to my spiritual path such as never before. Clarity and focus have come back into my life. I feel I am stepping into my power, my life feels more congruent and I find greater clarity around my purpose. All of this formed my initial question.

I feel a tremendous sense of gratitude to Eclipse and to Leslie and Jacqueline for bringing this opportunity for healing into my life. Thank-you Windhorse!!

B. K.

As we walked

On the way down to the corrals we were to think of a question. Mine was to "what do I still need to learn from my experience of cancer." In the absorbing commotion between diagnosis and surgery and the happy news that I was okay, I had to face the fact of my own death. It was a wake up to the finiteness of life and to a search for answers about what is important and meaningful.

I knew I wanted to work with Eclipse. I felt a great connection with him from the time we first met. At the gate, Jacqueline instructed me to ask permission of the horse to enter, and to greet the horse with "you are the teacher, I am the student. I am the teacher, you are the student."

Eclipse greeted me with enthusiasm. I touched his soft ears and nose, and smelled his hay horse smell and looked in his liquid black eye. We walked to the centre of the corral and Jacqueline suggested I kneel down. Eclipse stood above me and nuzzled my head. He became a little enthusiastic in this, and Leslie suggested I stand up again. We stood together, and Jacqueline suggested walking. Eclipse and I walked and stopped and walked and stopped, and it seemed to me we moved spontaneously in complete attunement.

As I stood and looked in to this horse's eye, I had an experience that is difficult to describe in words. It was not startling or dramatic; it was simply an experience like waking up. A shift happened in my awareness from the ordinary sense of myself as a separate individual. It did not feel like regression to an earlier stage of non-differentiation, it felt more like an expansion of consciousness that transcended yet included myself and everyone and everything. I felt a surge of joy expanding out from my heart, and I began to weep. I felt a moment of embarrassment and self-consciousness at this and started to contract and fight my experience. I remembered that Leslie and Jacqueline had educated us about the sensitivity of the horse to incongruence, however, and I stopped repressing what was happening. I let myself be in the flow. Eclipse and I started walking again and I felt like my real being was everything I was now looking at, that I was one with all, and that I had eternally been that oneness.

Eclipse was most obliging in helping me to answer my question. As we walked, I felt peace and joy, and a sense that I was rediscovering my original identity with universal Spirit. I have not stayed in that state, but it was a taste of identification with Big self. I am no longer so exclusively identified with the fear and suffering in the knots of contraction of my separate small self. This experience has served as a lighthouse tower to guide me in my contemplative practice and my way of being in the world.

Thanks to Treya Killam Wilber for helping me find the words.

Thanks to Eclipse and Leslie and Jacqueline for being there on the walk.

Kim Burton