The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) can help you and your horse release your old stories and resolve physical and behavioral challenges.

The first time I tried Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) on a horse, I was living in South Florida. I got the call around 12:30 in the afternoon, midway through a typical day of phone consults. It was Chris, my horse trainer. He told me I had to come out to the horse show he was at. As an animal communicator, I most often enjoy the luxury of working on the phone and never getting out of my riding pants! I was sure I could help Chris over the phone.

“It’s Shakespeare — he’s jumping fine, but he’s going after ponies in the warm-up ring, he’s going to kill them,” implored Chris. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen.”

Pony problems

Next thing I knew, I was driving out to Wellington. When I got there, the situation bordered on being like a horror movie. Little girls were perfectly perched on their little ponies. Chris, one of the more masterful riders on the planet, couldn’t control Shakespeare. Shakespeare, a 16-hand Warmblood, would bolt and lurch, ears pinned and teeth bared like a rabid dog, toward a pony on the other side of the jump. Little girls were screaming and cantering off, terrified.

I assessed the situation and said: “I want to do something that is going to seem crazy — we need to find a quiet barn aisle to hide in because we’re going to do something really weird-looking!”

EFT to the rescue

We found our quiet barn aisle. Before doing this weird-looking technique, I wanted to connect and communicate with Shakespeare and find out from him what was going on.

Then we proceeded to do EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) tapping. I had been tapping on myself, and had tapped with clients about their situations, but I had never tapped on a horse before.

EFT tapping is a healing technique that quiets the nervous system, spurs emotional healing, and helps with physical pain as well as performance anxiety. In Chinese Medicine, each meridian is associated with an emotion. By “tapping” on a series of points through the meridians, while talking through the painful situation, the overwhelming feelings and emotions can be mitigated.

Because horses have their operating systems set to fight or flight, they are tuned into the vibrations or energetics of what is going on with their humans. Sometimes EFT tapping on the human is enough, as she is carrying the worry or fear in her nervous system. The horse will pick up on the relief from the human’s field.

A perfect example of this would be if a horse isn’t healing as quickly as hoped. His owner may have a trapped emotion with regard to moving forward, such as disappointment, grief or frustration. Or, if she has come off her horse, she may have great trepidation about getting back on again.

A solution for Shakespeare

What I discovered that balmy day back in 2004 is that sometimes, when it’s a big situation that encompasses both the horse and rider, you’ve got to tap on both the horse and rider.

When I tuned into Shakespeare for the communication, he revealed his dislike for ponies. By using this communication, I got his “story”, and now it was time to unwind and release the “story” with EFT tapping.

I showed everyone the points for tapping. With my left hand, I tapped on my own face while Chris and Karen (Shakespeare’s owner), imitated me. With my right hand, I tapped on Shakespeare’s face and body.

I had Chris and Karen repeat the scripting after me while they tapped. We started very simply: “Even though I hate ponies, I love and accept myself.” We repeated it, and as we tapped through the points, we released Shakespeare’s old story of being bullied by ponies.

Chris rode Shakespeare out in the warm-up ring that afternoon. The horse behaved better toward the ponies and they got through the show, placing well. Months later, Shakespeare lived in a barn across the aisle from a pony and showed no aggression. That was world peace for him!

EFT for all 

Shakespeare was the first of many, many horses (and dogs and cats) that I have tapped on directly. I have also taught others to tap on animals through classes or specific instructions during a phone session.

When tapping on animals, we mimic the position of where we tap on ourselves. We want to be mindful of their degrees of sensitivity. Many behavioral issues could come from a head injury; being delicate during tapping will still be powerful.

The bladder meridian parallels the spine and has association points to each of the organs along it. If you have a head shy or spooky horse, tapping along the spine can be enough to start to release the story.

Like any other healing technique, you are looking for softness of the eye, a changed breathing pattern, licking, chewing and yawning — the usual signs of healing or shifting.

Shakespeare’s dangerous addiction to going after ponies was remedied in one session. Like any other healing technique, however, the situation/challenge may require several EFT sessions to undo an old story or stuck emotion. Shakespeare taught me a lot that day, and I’m glad I rearranged everything and drove out to the horse show!

Joan Ranquet is an animal communicator, author and speaker, and the author of Communication With All Life (Hay House). Her new book, Energy Healing for Animals (Sounds True), will be out 2015. In 2008, Joan founded Communication with all Life University, a program for Animal Communication and Energy Healing. joanranquet.com