Linda Kohanov - The Tao of Equus: A Womans Journey of Healing and Transformation Through the Way of the Horse

This articulate, well-researched story brings together many disciplines of learning and weaves a magic carpet for discovery with our horses. The Tao of Equus will allow your imagination to take flight, and give you insight into yourself and your equine partner.

The Equestrian News

Kohanov is a steadfast writer who isnt shy about claiming a strong feminine approach, showing how mythology and history are filled with examples of powerful woman-horse connections. She also has the courage to reveal her paranormal experiences with these intensely emotional and intuitive animals stories that may sound familiar to anyone who has ever loved and dreamed of horses.

Amazon.coms Best of 2001

An exciting, multidimensional work.

NAPRA Review

This inspirational book would make an excellent gift not only for horse lovers, but for anyone dealing with fundamental questions of grief, sadness, and healing.

BookPage

This is a new story in which both masculine and feminine are healed, raised to honored positions, and offered a clean slate a tabula rasa for the dawning of a new era.

The Noetic Sciences Review

The Tao of Equus helps us to experience the exquisite balance between body, mind, and spirit.

Lynn V. Andrews, author of Medicine Woman

The Tao of Equus reveals the transformative, healing power that is implicit in the human-animal bond. It is a startling challenge to anyone wishing to limit consciousness to humans.

Larry Dossey, MD, author of Reinventing Medicine

The Tao of Equus permits the reader to follow an intense and searching spiritual journey that began when Linda Kohanov opened the deepest levels of her heart and mind to her horse. Lindas quest is not open to everyone, because it requires an intuitive sensitivity to animals and a wealth of experience. However, I do feel that if we are to protect this earth, we will have to recognize, as this author did, that the sacred, the numinous, and the wellsprings of creativity can be touched when we open our souls to the souls of other living creatures.

Aaron Katcher, MD, coauthor of Between Pets and People,
professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania,
vice president of the Animal Therapy Association,
and medical director of People, Animals, Nature, Inc.

Effective psychotherapy contains a mysterious energy that synchronously interweaves the interaction of therapist and client. Linda Kohanov takes us on a marvelous excursion of her evolutionary relationship with horses, highlighting equine-facilitated psychotherapy and the Tao energy that horses have to offer in the service of this work. I highly recommend this book to everyone interested in innovative psychotherapy and more than just a superficial look at horses.

Fred P. Gallo, PhD, author of Energy Psychology, Energy Tapping,
and Energy Psychology in Psychotherapy

New World Library
Novato, California

New World Library
14 Pamaron Way
Novato, California 94949

Copyright 2001 by Linda Kohanov

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.

Cover design: Mary Beth Salmon Text design and layout: Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kohanov, Linda.

The Tao of equus : a womans journey of healing & transformation through the way of the horse / by Linda Kohanov.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-57731-420-2 (alk. paper)

1. HorsesArizonaTucsonAnecdotes. 2. Kohanov, Linda. 3. Women horse ownersArizonaTucsonAnecdotes. 4. Human-animal relationshipsAnecdotes. 5. HorsesPsychological aspects. 6. HorsesPhilosophy. 7. Tao. I. Title.

SF301.K64 2001

First paperback printing, May 2007
ISBN-10: 1-57731-420-4
ISBN-13: 978-1-57731-420-4

Printed in Canada on acid-free, partially recycled paper

New World Library is a proud member of the Green Press Initiative.

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R ecord of our fascination with horses goes back a good fifteen thousand years: Ancient equines galloped through Paleolithic cave paintings in Lascaux, France, migrating over time to roam the vast plains of the Eurasian steppes where they were first ridden eight thousand years ago, reportedly in what is now Ukraine. From there, they carried our ancestors through an endless array of foreign lands and new worlds, eventually settling the American West, forever associated with the pioneering spirit.

Now, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, horses are taking on a new identity, breaking out of their roles as beasts of burden or vehicles for ego gratification, and moving into a new realm of partnership. Somehow, against all logic, these animals actually became more popular after cars and trucks replaced them as transportation. Recent statistics from The Economic Impact of the Horse Industry in the United States show that over seven million people are involved in the care and training of nearly as many horses. With a total impact of $112 billion on the U.S. gross domestic product, equestrian pursuits outrank the railroad, furniture, movie, manufacturing, and tobacco industries. Of the 6.9 million horses in this country, nearly 3 million are kept for recreational pursuits, meaning that theyre not working in racing, showing, or ranching. If the time, money, and effort we spend on these animals cant be explained away by practicality or competition, what are they doing for us?

These days, when a turbocharged SUV harnesses the power of six hundred horses, these animals seem intent on helping adventurous people explore the frontier of consciousness itself, fulfilling a promise foreshadowed in myth and legend. To the Greeks, the Celts, and countless other cultures, horses were magical beings, gifts from the gods, fierce protectors, explorers, and psychopomps capable of carrying a warrior between the worlds as deftly, and bravely, as they literally carried our kind around the globe.