What if that bolshy, dangerous horse everyone's written off is actually just trying to tell you something? This week, we dive deep into the hidden world of horse trauma with Hannah Jones, a healer who's helping horses find their voice and teaching us to listen.
This Week's Deep Dive
Guest: Hannah Jones, a Reiki Master, equine therapist, and certified Masterson Method practitioner who has helped hundreds of horses heal from trauma. Her unique holistic approach blends energy work, bodywork, saddle fitting, and biomechanics, inspired by Celtic philosophy and her own journey of healing alongside her horse, Phoenix.
Key Topics:
How early weaning creates lifelong separation anxiety
Why "quiet, obedient" horses might actually be shut down and struggling
The difference between soul-level connection and simple companionship
Essential oils as horse-selected healing tools
The Big Takeaway
Hannah's most powerful insight completely reframes how we think about difficult horses: "Bad behaviour is just them talking." When a horse rears, bucks, or bolts, they're not being naughty, they're having a conversation with us about pain, fear, or trauma we haven't recognised.
This perspective shift changes everything. Instead of meeting dominance with dominance or dismissing behaviour as disrespect, we can start asking: what is my horse trying to tell me? That "dangerous" horse who's been labelled difficult might simply be a deeply traumatised animal finally finding the courage to express what they've been carrying in silence.
What Stood Out
1. "The softer you are with the horse, the softer they'll be with you"
Hannah's work with a horse previously labelled "bolshy and dangerous" revealed how our energy directly mirrors back to us. When handlers approached with dominant energy to "control" the behaviour, the horse responded defensively. The transformation came when someone finally saw him for who he truly was—not a problem to be solved, but a soul in pain seeking understanding.
3. The quiet horse might be the one suffering most
We've been conditioned to celebrate the "good" horse who stands quietly and does as they're told. But Hannah warns that many of these horses have simply shut down to protect themselves. "You'll look at their eyes and nobody's home," she explains. These horses deserve just as much attention as the obviously reactive ones, perhaps more, because they've learned that their voice doesn't matter.
Deep Dive
Rethinking Our Professional Team
Hannah makes a compelling case for expanding our standard care team beyond vet, farrier, and physiotherapist to include energy healers and trauma specialists, recognising that horses are complex beings with minds, bodies, and spirits that all need tending.
Multi Model Approach
What makes Hannah's method particularly compelling is how she blends measurable, physical bodywork with spiritual communication. She reads a horse's energetic state through photographs, then backs up those findings with hands-on massage, essential oil therapy, and trauma release techniques. The horses themselves validate the accuracy through their responses and healing progress.
This integration addresses something many of us sense but struggle to articulate: that horses operate on levels beyond the purely physical, and healing often requires addressing all dimensions of their experience.
Moving Beyond Traditional Horsemanship
The episode challenges some deeply entrenched traditions in horse management, particularly around early weaning and saddle fitting. Hannah suggests that practices we've accepted as normal, separating foals from mothers based on human timelines rather than emotional readiness, may be creating trauma that manifests years later as "behavioural problems."
Questions for Reflection
What would change in your relationship with your horse if you viewed every "difficult" moment as an attempt at communication rather than disobedience?
When you look into your horse's eyes, what do you see, and what might that tell you about their inner world?
What's Coming Up
Member Q&A: Friday's exclusive content features Hannah answering your questions about equine healing.
Last weeks Herd Highlights with Theresa & Anna Louise
Herd highlights | June
We tackle some of the month's most thought-provoking equestrian stories that have been lighting up our feeds. From controversial court cases to ancient archaeological discoveries, this month's news roundup certainly gave us plenty to debate.
