Linda Kohanov - Riding Between the Worlds: Expanding Our Potential Through the Way of the Horse

For those who have not discovered the synchronicities of the human-equine world, Riding between the Worlds provides a profound opening of that window well worth the trip.

C. Norman Shealy, MD, PhD, founding president of the
American Holistic Medical Association

Linda Kohanov shares compelling stories from the world of horse-and-human relationships stories that can help each of us rediscover the intelligence of our hearts and reconnect to our native ability to converse in the universal language of authentic emotions. Lindas empathy, dedication, and deep respect for animals not as pets or trophies, but as friends and mentors shines through every page.

Karla McLaren, author of
Emotional Genius: Discovering the Deepest Language of the Soul

Riding between the Worlds takes the groundbreaking work of The Tao of Equus into another realm. There are many more stories of the profound connections people discover at Linda Kohanovs Epona Equestrian Services, where people are joined up to truths within themselves. The wisdom, intelligence, and compassion that the horses show toward people, and their dead-on ability to see through the masks that people wear, is astonishing.... You will understand your horse and your responses to the world as though you had just spent time with a mystic.

The Equestrian News

Melding spirituality and science, Riding between the Worlds makes a compelling read for anyone interested in interspecies communication and empathy.

Animal Wellness

Where once the horse was a symbol of supernatural power like Pegasus, a supernatural and healing wisdom like Chiron, or a symbol of speed and power like Smarty Jones, it may become for us now a key to Eckhart Tolles power of presence. Kohanovs horses are indeed teaching us this language.

Shift

New World Library
14 Pamaron Way
Novato, CA 94949

Copyright 2003 by Linda Kohanov
Text design and typography by Tona Pearce Myers

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

The material in this book is intended for education. It is not meant to take the place of diagnosis and treatment by a qualified medical practitioner or therapist. No expressed or implied guarantee as to the effects of the use of the recommendations can be given nor liability taken.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kohanov, Linda.

Riding between the worlds : expanding human consciousness through the way of the horse / by Linda Kohanov.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 243).

ISBN 1-57731-416-6 (hardcover. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-57731-576-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Horses Arizona Tucson Anecdotes. 2. Kohanov, Linda. 3. Women horse owners Arizona Tucson Anecdotes. 4. Human-animal relationships Anecdotes. 5. Horses Psychological aspects. 6. Horses Philosophy. I. Title.

SF301.K639 2003

636.10019 dc21

2003013309

First paperback printing, August 2007
ISBN-10: 1-57731-576-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-57731-576-6
Printed in Canada on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper

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I met Rockys new owner moments before she rode him in a natural horsemanship clinic. Though I hadnt seen him in almost a year, the little bay Arabian stepped forward and nuzzled my shoulder as Lyndsey and I shook hands. A few moments later, the two entered the round pen and began to demonstrate the various moves theyd learned from their trainer, Jerry Petersen. At one point, Rocky nearly unseated Lyndsey as he turned suddenly and trotted away from the audience. Yet I could see this was only a mild case of stage fright, not the quivering sense of primal fear he once wore like a second skin. Lyndsey was relatively new to the saddle, as was her horse, but their modest performance that day seemed more miraculous to me than any number of famous steeds winning the Triple Crown. Rocky had once been considered psychotic, unsalvageable. The night I met him in the winter of 2000 was supposed to be his last.

Rockys brush with death is one of those stories that has the power to change lives just by telling it, which I did in my first book, The Tao of Equus, and have done many times since in workshops around the country. My encounter with this horse elucidated some profound emotional dynamics that affected not only my equine-facilitated therapy practice at the Epona Center in Tucson, but my relationships with people outside the riding arena. It was Rocky who finally convinced me, once and for all, that the transformative feelings and intuitions I had experienced with my own herd years earlier were not special, not supernatural, and certainly not just my imagination. Rather, emotion itself was a resonant, multidimensional force that connected all sentient beings. Whether or not humans were ready to acknowledge this consciously, it affected them.

It all started when Becky, a former riding student, asked me to take a look at her mother Nancys horse as I was about to get into my car one crisp December evening and head off to dinner. The family had recently adopted an abused gelding named Rocky. The sixteen-year-old Arabian was so difficult to catch, halter, and lead that hed been left on pasture for a decade with little human contact. Nancy, however, felt a strong connection to the horse, whose large soulful eyes held so much promise one minute and so much fear the next. Unfortunately, Rockys trauma ran deeper than she imagined. During a routine vet exam earlier that day, the horse panicked for no discernable reason. He tried to jump a fence and lacerated his leg in the process. Tranquilizers barely affected him as the vet dodged hooves and teeth to wrap the wound without suffering serious injury himself. All the while, Rocky remained hypervigilant, successfully fighting a drug that would easily have knocked a much larger animal out for an hour.

The vet thinks we should put Rocky down, Becky told me. Everyone says hes dangerous. My mom feels terrible, but I dont want her to get hurt.