Julie Hilsen: 0:00

Hello, dear friends, and welcome to another episode of Life of Love. We gather every Thursday to celebrate the curiosities of this life and living with harmony and the knowledge of Christ, consciousness and everything that exists, and I’m just so excited to bring forth this message. With Life of Love, we’ve had lots of different animal spirits and we’ve had lots of people who talk about living with other people, and we’ve had bees, we’ve had birds and today we get these treasured animals that we’re going to bring forward horses, and I’m really excited to share this with the communities of people who adore and love their horses and love to express themselves with and through these wonderful, loving animals that are such reflections of what humanity needs right now. So this is in perfect alignment with Life of Love. Really excited to introduce Theodora. She’s coming from across the pond. We’ve had such fun getting to know each other, getting prepared for this episode, so I thank everyone for their time and attention and just so happy to have Theodora. Thanks for being on Life of Love.

Theodora: 1:16

Thank you so much for having me. Um, I’m really it’s been so wonderful to connect with you already, so now I’m super excited to to have this conversation with you definitely yeah, I mean, like it’s so funny, we were both having plumbing issues.

The Healing Power of Horses

Julie Hilsen: 1:29

You had like a backup of your system on the street and I had water coming into my basement and then I had surgery and you were like, we were like trying to figure out our lives and finally we’re here and I feel so, I feel so grounded and loved with this. So so, thank you for persevering.

Theodora: 1:47

I mean, you know obviously everything in divine timing, right, but of course I would have stuck with you. It was great, I knew. From the first time we met I was like, yes, I get this woman.

Julie Hilsen: 2:02

That’s so yummy, thank you. So I mean, I could try to describe how you are in the world. I would describe it as mystical, connected, angelic. I mean there’s so many. I feel like you have fairies around you all the time and I would love for you to share what you’ve been up to with the horses and you know, just give people a sprinkle of what you’ve been up to with the horses and you know, just give people a sprinkle of what you’re doing. And I have some questions. I want you to just introduce the topic and and let us know this magical thing that you’re doing okay, thank you.

Theodora: 2:36

So, yeah, so, um, I’m Theodora, I’m a spiritual seer, healer and guide, um, but I work with humans and horses um to really connect them in with their, with horses, especially with their emotional centers. So much of my work is really about bringing us back into our heart centers and our heart coherence and getting us out of our heads. Basically, um, and I’ve been working with horses. I started off working with the horses um be almost five years ago now, um, just doing kind of standard well, I say standard Reiki, but angelic Reiki and um, you know, and I had a really successful, multi-world winning business doing that with humans and horses and it was great.

Theodora: 3:25

But a couple of years ago I realized that I was meant to be doing more, or I was capable of more, and the reactions and the horses that I was meeting along the way were changing and what I realized that we were doing was actually we were kind of teaching. I was teaching the horses, or helping the horses to teach themselves how to know, relying on you know, not being windy or like, but just in the same way as as humans. As you know, true trust and confidence and safety comes from within, so that we’re not reliant on our outer experiences and, you know, things we can’t control, um, I realized that we could apply that to the horses, um, and create long-lasting change, um, and more peace within them. Really. So that’s probably the shortest way that I could explain it wow, that’s like a quantum leap.

Julie Hilsen: 4:45

You’re like okay, so horses have emotions. They’re not react, they’re, they’re reactive, but they also respond yeah yeah, so and okay, so many questions. So you started you’re doing reiki and then you realize were you dealing with more difficult, like behavior problem horses like how you? How did you come to this, that that these horses have to process these emotions just like we do? Is it a circumstances of horses and you saw the same patterns?

Theodora: 5:16

or give us some insight. Yeah, when, I mean, when I first started, it was kind of, you know, most people get reiki and an animal communicator in because, you know, they want to know the history of their horse and they want to kind of know about their horse’s personality, what they like, dislike, things like that, um, and that was great. But, like I said, you know, yeah, I started to meet horses that were having bigger issues, were, you know, difficult for once of a word, but what I realized I was like it’s not, you know, if it’s kicking or biting or aggression or or fear or whatever the the horse is displaying. They’re still just communicating and we’re not knowing how to. They’re just going. I’m distressed, I’m distressed, I’m distressed. That’s basically what they’re saying, you know, and because we it gets complicated when you start looking at the, the, the relationship between humans and horses historically and the traditional way of training, and you know which I was brought up in too, um, but it really got to the point that the horses, over the years, they would, I realized they were teaching me.

Theodora: 6:25

This is how we can process the emotion, this is how I can display this and and I learn over time. You know that. Yeah, so much of it is based in the nervous system and same with us. You know, we need to regulate our nervous systems, we need to be grounded and safe and secure in our body. We need to have all of that going on and that’s part of the work that I was doing with the horses.

Theodora: 6:50

But yeah, I’ve just, I’ve learned now and now that my intention has changed when I’m working with them. So I’m not just looking for this kind of surface level story. Now I am going in with that intention of like, okay, actually, let’s work on you being able to heal yourself, you being able to process this stuff yourself. That’s what the horses are learning to do. Um, and that’s the kind of response that we’re getting, you know, from their riders as well, of just going. They’re just a different horse, you know. So it’s really, I’m really excited. It feels like I’m. It feels like, even though I’ve been doing it for five years, it feels like I’m really at the beginning kind of of a new massive chapter of this and I’m just so excited to be able to start bringing it to the equine world and I think, hopefully as well, that the equine world is ready for it now a bit more.

Julie Hilsen: 7:47

Well, I loved how you said you know it was freaky and learning what the horse likes and dislikes and I imagine you’re reading their eyes and what their behaviors are. You know the snorting, I bet is a really big sign. But I guess the best way to learn is through a story. So, like, tell me, I’m just curious how you tell that horse that you’re helping it help itself. Is it telepathic? You have this conversation. Maybe you could bring us through, you know?

Julie Hilsen: 8:18

your favorite story of like this Wow, this is, this is where I’m going and this is meaningful because you know, not just that in the horse community, but this is like, this is group consciousness. Like you said, we’ve treated animals, we’ve treated ourselves like machines for so long, this patriarchal system, and now you see animals are being more expressive and even if you just follow what’s happening on social media animals hugging each other and all these videos coming out a little baby bird, you know, mother birds telling their babies I love you, you know, in speech, not just action, you know there’s a rise of consciousness. Whether you believe in this ascension process or not, there are definitely things happening. Us or not, there are definitely things happening. So you walking us through the story with the horse that has the largest aura of any animal, I think big. Maybe the whale or the dolphin is bigger, I don’t they work on.

Theodora: 9:12

They work kind of energetically. If you go into like which dimension they’re working in and the levels of consciousness, horses work on the same level as dolphins and whales, um okay wow so yeah, I mean that and that’s the thing.

Theodora: 9:26

You know. We kind of people have studied the level of, you know, social interaction and depth of relationship and intelligence that whales and dolphins have, and I’m I’m of the understanding that horses are exactly the same. And just because you know we haven’t seen that or acknowledged that or allowed that to be at the forefront of our relationship with them doesn’t mean that it’s not true. Um, but yeah so I mean the story to go to go to your question yeah, yeah, it’s just so exciting a lot of people understand how important this is.

Julie Hilsen: 10:01

You know these, these are mirrors of our human conditions. So, yeah, this is so exciting to me to hear I do the thing.

Theodora: 10:11

So I actually kind of detach. So you know, we have the story of our lives, obviously, like everybody does, and but I, what I used to find was that you know, I’d go along and it’s, you know, if a horse had been through some trauma or something like that, and then I was with its guardian and I kind of found that actually sometimes it was more I was more there for the guardian to be like, oh, you know, yeah, and I would sometimes feel that the guardian was like, oh, yeah, you could find a kind of feel that pumping up their ego a little bit, of being like, oh, oh, my horse was so traumatized and now they’re so happy and they love me so much, and it’s like that. That for me wasn’t doing enough, because actually I’ve always said like the horse is my client, not the human, and I’m there. But it’s kind of like, as you start to, depending on how far down your kind of therapy journey you are, when you begin, you’re like, okay, this is what happened to me and you have to get it all out, and then you start to realize that actually our story of what happened to us isn’t actually who we are and, yeah, we have to process that and release it and let it go. But sometimes staying stuck in that story and replaying that actually keeps us stuck in our trauma. So it was at that point that I realized, okay, actually I don’t need to know exactly what happened to the horse, I don’t need to go digging for the story, but I do want to help the horse shift that energy.

Healing and Communication with Horses

Theodora: 11:48

So if I was working with the horse and then it and I always just kind of was just open to what the horse was wanting to show me, you know, cause they’re also individual and like us, you know we might go in on the. You know you’re not necessarily going to walk into the therapist’s office and cut your heart out and stick it on the table and go hi here. Yeah, here’s all my deepest, darkest trauma on your first, on your first meeting, right. So sometimes it will take. You know, one session the horses are kind of like okay, I can feel that there’s something going on here. I can feel this release. But you know, one session the horses are kind of like okay, I can feel that there’s something going on here, I can feel this release. But you know it is kind of more surface level stuff and it does take, you know, two or three sessions maybe sometimes to be able to start getting into the, the kind of deeper work. So again, it kind of depends on what level of story we’re looking for.

Theodora: 12:39

But the way in which I work is it’s working on lots of different levels and I actually tried to explain this to someone the other day. So on a really basic level I say basic in a loose form um, you’ve got a, a level of heart coherence happening. So the electromagnetic fields between my heart and the horse’s heart are blending and regulating, and that, for me, is now that’s where all of the communication happens. It’s between our energy fields and because of the training that I have had previously with psychic work and mediumship and all of that kind of stuff, I learn how to read energy in energy fields and how to merge those energy fields together, and that’s why I find it very easy to pick up on what’s going on for the horse. So I will hear things, see things, feel things in my body. I will just have like a knowing and sometimes they will literally speak through me. Um, so does?

Julie Hilsen: 13:53

oh sorry. Does your voice change depending on?

Theodora: 13:57

uh, yeah, it gets a lot more stuttered depending on uh, yeah, it gets a lot more stuttered because it’s working, it’s having to work through me, so it’s not 100, it’s not my consciousness. Yes, yeah, it’s normally more stuttered. And um, it’s, that’s normally the, the number one way doesn’t tend to change in like pitch or anything like that. But sometimes they’ll show me if they’re like their personality, if they’re trying to get their personality across. Sometimes they’ll show me like uh, um, like a human counterpart, like a um, I can’t think of the word stereotype. So if you’ve got like a stereotype of human, you’d be like okay, so they’re like, you know, I don’t know, I guess, like it would be like a jock in I’m trying to think, I’m trying to transform it like a barbie, like a barbie girl or an army officer, so like you’ve got these those kind of stereotypes so that they’re, so that you can kind of understand on a more rounded level what their personality type is.

Theodora: 15:00

And then within that there’s obviously the individual kind of changes, things like that. But, um, yeah, so there’s that energetic. That’s where most of the that’s kind of level one of what happens when I walk up to a horse right, and then do they sit back and look at you like what’s happening here?

Theodora: 15:25

sometimes, yeah, it’s um, it’s fun and it depends. You know, sometimes the horses that you you would expect to be more shut down are actually really open and just want to be healed straight away and they kind of go in. You know, they go much deeper sometimes. The ones that you think would be more open are actually a lot more private and take a lot more kind of time to open up. Um, so again, it just. You know, you can never really go in with any kind of expectation. You just have to say, you know, I kind of just go, look, I’m, I’m this safe space, I am this channel of unconditional love. You can come in and out of it, as in, when you want or need, but I’m here to help you and I’m here to help you heal and help you feel better and they get that all through your heart coherence.

Julie Hilsen: 16:15

Sorry, yeah, yeah yeah, which I love, because that’s mother gaia energy, that’s the unconditional love, that acceptance, just yeah, nurturing, okay. So you get the prototype and they’re like okay, here I am. And you’re like I see, I see, you, I’m here, yeah, and then okay. So level two yeah, ready so.

Theodora: 16:34

So that’s, that’s just that’s happening. Then I’m also attuned, obviously, to the angelic reiki and to the god coding energy, so I’m channeling that as well as. So that’s the I mean when I channel god energy. I see god is unconditional love as well. So not only is it coming from my connection to mother earth, but it’s also coming from my connection to god. So that’s amplifying the amount of unconditional love that I’m just pouring out into the, into the stable, normally, and and then I’m then using the techniques that I’ve learned over the years of energy clearing and energy healing and that can work in a number of different ways.

Theodora: 17:23

Usually I can see the energy, but not in a way I don’t know how other people see energy. Some people explain, you know, say like well, they see colors or movement or things like that. I can, I see the energy as if it’s not there, which sounds like a really bizarre thing to say. But it’s like you’re seeing an energy Sometimes. You know how are they in? Like movies, they show an energy field, or like when someone’s invisible and they’re just a bit wobbly, like. That’s kind of how I see energy, sometimes around the horses, or I can just feel it, so like if there’s a, if they’re really stuck in their head, I will literally feel like I can just feel it.

Theodora: 18:00

So like if there’s a, if they’re really stuck in their head, I will literally feel like I can’t feel. All of my attention is in my head and I can’t feel the rest of my body. So then I know, okay, I need to start moving the energy down from their head, down their spine, down there, down their body and down into their, through their feet, down into the ground, to kind of just get the energy moving. Sometimes I’ll work physically, so I’ll need they will. Quite often the horses will like turn and give me a body part, so, or a body part will start aching in my body. So I’ll know sometimes I need to work down their neck or down their back or over the like, over the withers or the pelvis, like the main junction points. Um, sometimes they’ll just come and stand and give me their head, because we can do a lot releasing the body through just working with the head. So there’s so many, there’s so many different things that are kind of happening all at once um and then I’m also.

Theodora: 18:58

But whilst all of this stuff is happening, I’m also telling the human what’s going on and what I’m experiencing, so that they know what’s happening. Sometimes I’m also picking up on the human. And then, actually, because when you’re in that state, when you’re in that level of heart, coherence, your um, magnetic, your energy fields expands to nine meters wide. So quite often, even if I’m working on one horse, there’ll be, you know, the horse next door or the horse opposite that will also be licking and chewing and yawning and going to sleep. So sometimes I’ve had, like you know, six horses all at once. The whole barn just just nods off because you’re picking up on it. So yeah, so it’s pretty, it’s pretty cool, it um yeah, so there’s just levels of and so yeah, so that’s kind of what I’m doing, I guess, in the in a, in a and. But the thing is, the funny thing is is that all of this stuff is happening and all it looks like is that I’m standing next to a horse. I’m just standing there, probably waving my arms around a little bit. So I completely understand that for the naked eye it looks like not much is really going on. Until then people are like, okay, my horse wouldn’t normally react like that, or I’ve never seen a horse be like that with you or, you know, with strangers or things like that.

Theodora: 20:23

You know, I had a client recently and, um, she said to me afterwards I’d spent an hour or so with her stallion and uh, she said I knew there was something about you from the moment before you even turned up. She went one and never let people normally I don’t let people into his stable because he normally just tries to eat them the whole time. And you know there’s a bit of nibbling, but it wasn’t. I was just like no, I set that boundary and then that was that. And then he was, you know, he just went straight into the session and then she said but the most interesting thing, she went, do you do dogs? I said no, I just, you know, just work with horses. And she said because I have two guard dogs who are huge and they never stop barking, especially if there’s a new voice on the yard, she went. But from the moment your car pulled up they’ve been silent. She was like so I knew there was something about you before you even got out the car.

Julie Hilsen: 21:19

I was like yeah, okay yeah, that’s, that’s sort of my, my job. Love knows love and so with her and I know you probably can’t share details with clients, but you know, is there a situation where you ask the, the guardian, to like to sit, or you have to be, you just telepathically send them your heart, coherence and that balances them so you can focus more on the horse. Or how, how do you balance when because I know that there’s energy levels of the guardians can and usually do affect a horse yeah, how do you? It’s going to be a lot to manage at the same time, or? I’m just curious.

Theodora: 22:05

I mean to be honest, I think it happens organically, like my focus is the horse, but then you know, just like, I’ll start yawning, or the horse will start yawning, sometimes the guardian will start yawning as well. Um again. But I can start picking up on things in my body. I’m like it’s my hip is off and they’re like, oh no, that my hip hurts too, and so I just I just start, when I’m working on both at the same time, something will come up and they’ll think, oh no, I think that’s me, but it is. It’s such an important. You know, we really underestimate when we’re not aware of our energetic fields and how that is the main way that our horses are communicating with us. We really underestimate how much our energy and our mood and our nervous systems are affecting our horses, and so that’s really why, you know, I want to.

Theodora: 22:58

What I’m working on now is trying to work with the horse and the rider, because I think you know if, when we can clear out our energy fields and you kind of get in this, in this kind of cycle, if you turn up stressed or your horse is stressed, then you’re like, oh my God, why are they stressed? And so then you get stressed and then you’re both just in this negative cycle of stress, get stressed and then you’re both just in this negative cycle of stress, and that just you know. And so that can create bad habits and bad patterns and all of these things that we expect, and it just you know. And life, life is life, you know, it’s not. I’m not saying that we all have to like go around being totally peaceful with our horses all the time, like that’s not real.

Theodora: 23:37

But it is about being able to re-center and have more awareness of our relationship with them, to be able to then deepen that connection and deepen that relationship and have it more built on trust and safety and consent and boundaries and you know all of these things, um, to ultimately help people get the results that they want from their horse. No matter what that is, you know, doesn’t matter if you’re, if you just have some shetlands that you have running around in a field that you go and sit with to, if you’re a happy hacker and you just go for a plod, or if you’re, you know, some grand prix, olympic show jumper, like it doesn’t matter what you’re doing. At the end of the day, you still have that connection and that and that relationship with your horse, and my aim is to really just make it more harmonious for everybody involved. You know, um using using our energy, which is just our most natural resource so I love it.

Julie Hilsen: 24:47

I love it. There’s so many things right there, and what keeps coming up to me is this you know the state of neutrality like you can’t, like you said, you can’t always come with complete heart, heart coherence.

Julie Hilsen: 25:00

If you’re having an off day, just try to find neutral and then go from there, like, don’t judge how you’re feeling, don’t judge your energy, just accept it, ask it. You know, and that to me that’s like, if you can start there, don’t, you don’t have to start with how you’re going to end, just start with where you are and be neutral with it and you can go from there. It’s been. That’s been a huge thing for my life is, you know, I always wanted to jump to the 10th stop and you know, sometimes you just got to be where you are and be okay with that and and horses can pick up on it do. Do horses have chakras like people?

Theodora: 25:38

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. So they, I mean they each. It was one of, you know, when I did my animal communication course and it was one of the things that you know was the main part of it, because they just in in your basic kind of animal reiki, they just teach, okay, just work on each chakra and and go down and do that. And I was just like it felt too, um, like it did when I, you know, because I started off with the sui reiki with the humans, but all of the knowledge and working and stuff that I’d had with mediumship and psychic work, it kind of felt too structured in a, in a, you know, in a way in which I mean that it was too human-led rather than spirit or energy-led, and so, quite quickly, when I started working, I just went no, I need to work where I feel I need to go, not where I’ve been taught I have to. You know, I can’t work from along the chakras in an order, because that’s again, that’s not life.

Grounding and Emotional Well-being in Horses

Julie Hilsen: 26:43

Yeah, it’s a recipe and we don’t follow that. So when you mention having a horse ground, is it always the same way? Is that part of consent Like you want to go into that a little bit about how you actually ground the horse, or is it just a telepathic? I mean the way that I, I do.

Theodora: 27:05

It is I, I, because I can kind of see where the energy is building up, um, I. But an easy way to do it if you’re, you know you want to work with your horses, literally to work, run your hands from, like, their pole at the top of their head, run it down spine and down their body and just run it off their back end, like just yeah, just sweep it down, because so just like us, so much of us, we get stuck in our heads. So, and if you, in the same way that you can, you know people do like energetic body brushing, it’s the same thing. You just, you know, when you think about grounding, you’re sending roots out down your feet. It’s the same thing with the horses, like I will envision roots coming down out of each foot and down into the ground.

Theodora: 27:51

Um, I do find it’s always easier if the horses don’t have a full set of shoes on. So if they’ve got, say, maybe, their hinds off, or if they’re barefoot, then they’re obviously instantly much more connected and easier to ground because they haven’t got that. You know, metal, metal in between them and the earth. Um, so I definitely find that that’s easier and that helps to regulate, um, but you know it’s, that’s an individual thing, but I think again, there is a. There is a big swing towards people going understanding more about barefoot and and and the benefits of it. I mean, it’s not, it’s not an area that I have any kind of expertise in at all, um, but I definitely took the back shoes off of my horse when I had one because he just I was actually actually it, just it, because it just felt like the right thing to do.

Julie Hilsen: 28:42

What was the basis for shoeing horses? Is it so they could walk on concrete and not split their nail beds?

Theodora: 28:50

Yeah, it just keeps their feet Well. Back in the day it would be for kind of going over a hard ground where they were working all day, every day. But you know, and it depends on the grip, I think you know you can have road nails put in to help them grip if they’re on roads and stuff now. But I mean, I’m not a farrow and I know nothing about shoeing, so that’s not my level, that’s not my area of expertise. But yes, it’s meant to be so that and some I mean again, it’s individual. Some horses have very soft feet, some horses have very hard feet, so it’s easier to you know some horses they’ll just say they’re never going to be okay without you know, um, shoes on and whatever. So you have to take it on an individual basis. But I have found that it is easier to ground the horses, like when we’re told to go out and walk barefoot. It’s exactly the same Works in the same premise.

Julie Hilsen: 29:44

I know I was watching that it’s called, I thought, earthing. It was on the Gaia channel. It was such a great documentary that they put together with the science and different you know, scientists and research that actually shows what’s happening magnetically with you in the ground and just it just exactly overlooked it yeah it makes you question everything about.

Julie Hilsen: 30:10

You know the process of how. You know everyone used to just pull their cat. Their cat snails out. You know it’s like, well, you just got your cat declawed so it wouldn’t tear up your furniture. And now it’s like don’t do that. You know, like you, yeah, yeah, yeah. So all these things?

Theodora: 30:25

it’s so funny you’re saying about. You know, now we’ve got the science, like that’s. What I’ve really been finding is now that I’m finding that there is research being happening. You know, all of this stuff about heart coherence is becoming more well known and people are even doing research with horses about it and I’m like, finally, as I’m discovering it as well, I’m like, oh, now there’s stuff that it can explain to.

Theodora: 30:48

It’s easy, I understand, I understand it, but I and I understand how it works. But it’s really helpful to now have a kind of framework and basis to be able to show other people, to give them that kind of because a lot of people, you know I think that a lot of spirituality, and I don’t think there’s really a. I think science and spirituality are quite often the same thing. It just depends on which angle you’re coming at, from two sides of the same coin, um. But it’s, yeah, it’s definitely helpful when, um, the science is now starting to explain and prove the things that you’ve already been doing spiritually, I think it helps to bring things into the mainstream a little bit more.

Julie Hilsen: 31:31

So that’s where I’m hoping to start taking it anyway, like those, those meters that show the electromagnetic current and the coherence, it’s huge. I mean, yeah, we could talk to a plant and it changes. It’s just in that what they’re doing with water studies the intention you put on water changes the way the water looks under a crystalline when they freeze. It’s just’s just. All these things. I love how the science is coming together and showing that our thoughts, our prayers, our hearts do make a difference. It makes everything yeah, in 2019,.

Theodora: 32:09

I had a client who was a surveyor, and so he had this gamma camera that he would use to find damp and stuff in houses, and he brought it to this business thing one day and I said could you bring this to the um, to our next session? And so he recorded, he took pictures of my hands before this, before we started working, and then, once I’d opened up to the Reiki and then and you could see the hot, the like, the temperature of my hands go up because of the energy that was flowing through them, and then by the end of our session, we did it again and my whole hands were bright white because of the amount of energy that was flowing through them and I was like, finally, I’ve got some proof that this is happening. So, yeah, that was exciting.

Julie Hilsen: 32:55

It was so beautiful, that was exciting, it was so beautiful and you know, to me it’s like these are signs that every thought matters, everything that you do matters, and the horses are another vehicle to show us you know these things, and then their ability to be whole and one helps us be more happy and fulfilled. So it’s like that we are one. We’re all so connected. It’s a beautiful metaphor. Well, not even a metaphor, it’s a symbol. It’s not a symbol, it’s a symptom, all these symptoms.

Theodora: 33:34

And it always baffles me, you know, we kind of. You know, I see so many people that absolutely love their horses and yet traditionally, you know, we’ve completely neglected their emotional well-being and we focus so much on their physical well-being. You know, the first thing, anything. Oh, my horse is a bit depressed, so everyone calls the vet. So everyone calls the vet and it’s like, would you, you know, if you were depressed, like, why wouldn’t you call a therapist rather than, rather than a doctor and go?

Theodora: 34:04

But I mean, you know, again, it’s that kind of whole medical system that so many of us are still in it and we’re going down the same thing with our horses. So what I’m trying to explain to people is actually, you know, if we could start treating our horses with understanding that they need this care and emotional space and being able to teach them not, you know, not only to release but to process their own emotions like we would a child, and you know, actually we can. Our horses can be so much happier on so many different levels, which, yeah, lets them perform better. And you know, actually we can. Our horses can be so much happier on so many different levels, which, yeah, lets them perform better. And you know it. Just I’m really hoping that we can start to, we can start to open some doors to for people to see actually the difference in their horses once we, once we start taking their emotional well-being into account and, just, you know, seeing them as the the whole wonderful depth of being you know they’re sentient beings, right they?

Theodora: 35:09

they know when we’re coming only on a really basic level.

Theodora: 35:12

I’m like if you were in a relationship with someone and you, you know, and you were basically being emotionally neglected and every time and you were going, I’m in pain, I’m in pain or I don’t, I’m not happy with this, or whatever, and and they just completely ignored you, or they called a man with a white coat to stab you with a needle every time you tried to express your emotions, you wouldn’t be, you couldn’t, you couldn’t be completely happy, and so it’s like it works in the same way as our horses, you know.

Theodora: 35:42

So it’s like, if we can, yeah, I’m really I’m hopeful now for the change that I think we can make. You know, for not only the horses, but also for the humans too. You know, because that’s the thing, if we start looking at at you know, co-regulating and all of this kind of stuff, once you know, if you do turn up at the barn and you are stressed, if your horse is shut down from you and is only working because you know they need to follow the steps of what they need to do, actually you’re not going to be able to get the benefit of the healing that they are capable of giving you either, because actually you’re both shut down from each other you know yeah it’s a synergy.

Julie Hilsen: 36:26

It’s a synergy so okay, so I’m just dying. Horses have every emotion we have. Are they jealous? Are they? I know they can be angry, I’ve seen angry horses are they? Do they have attachment issues like are? Do you see like patterns, or is every single horse has its unique emotions, just like people?

Theodora: 36:47

yeah, every, every horse is completely unique. Um, and it will, and it is. You know, some, some horses are very sensitive and some are not, and it just, it really it can do and and it you know, just like us, two horses can go through the same thing experience, and and their outcomes can be completely different, just like we would. You know so, because it you know, they also have genetics and all of this other stuff that feeds into all of the ways that they respond to trauma and life and just who they are. So it’s really it has to be done on a kind of individual basis. But yeah, obviously you can like us, you can generalize, but I mean, you know, like a horse that’s coming to mind, that I treated a couple of years ago and he’d moved, his owner had just got him and he had really bad separation anxiety.

Theodora: 37:44

You know, he used to call for his friends all the time and you know would struggle to leave the yard if she wanted to go hacking and it was due to when he was weaned. So you know it was down to he hadn’t left over when he left his mother and so once we kind of just released that and process that through, she was like he’s 90% better, instantly. She was after one session he’s just 90% better, like he doesn’t call, he’s much more relaxed, all of this kind of stuff. So you know, sometimes it is literally. I mean, I’ve heard so many horses kind of say to me just thank you for listening. You know that thing, it’s just. We just sometimes we just need that space to be able to go. This is the problem.

Julie Hilsen: 38:33

And for someone to kind of just hold that for us. Yeah, and oh my gosh, the release of guilt that the caretaker, the guardian, has, that it’s not something they’re neglecting, you know, it’s not something outwardly that they’re neglecting, they’re not hurting it’s, it’s an emotional thing and it’s a trauma that they, you know how. How is it? How is the care of the guardian supposed to know this? Right, yeah, exactly.

The Art of Horse Communication

Theodora: 39:00

It’s the same with us. You know when we’re holding emotional stress and trauma or trying to suppress it, or you know all of the stuff that goes on internally creates stress in the body and that therefore creates inflammation and we’re more likely to get ill. So, horse, if you’re not, if your horse isn’t emotionally well, it’s more likely to get physically unwell because, yes, yeah, because it’s in a heightened state of stress and yeah people go.

Theodora: 39:30

Oh, they’re flight animals. Yeah, okay, they’re. They’re flight animals, but equally doesn’t mean they’re not in flight all the time. You know, they also have times of rest and relaxation and just so that they can heal, just like we need and just like us. We don’t really allow ourselves to get in or modern society is not poised to send us in that you know. Rest and relaxation it’s, it’s very much still a go go go, but I can see it is changing. But again, I think I’m interested to see the parallels between how things are changing in the human world and, hopefully, the changes that we can make in the horse world too.

Julie Hilsen: 40:10

That’s really exciting. And one more question I know our time is. I know our time is can you through like a iPhone or a, you know, with a app, but can you remote view a horse’s heart, heart, coherence and and treat them, or do you? Is it? Is it something you need to be right there?

Theodora: 40:32

I know some people do send distance reiki to horses. It’s not something that I do Just because, like I said, because I feel what I’m doing is more than just Reiki. I need, because I need to be. It can be the tiniest flick of an eye, or or, you know, I can just see a muscle start to loosen, or, you know, a jaw. There’s so much in their body that you’re that I’ve learned to read, that I would never be able to pick up on a phone because and also you need to you need to be able to read the energy in the room you know, something.

Theodora: 41:21

It’s just such a. Even though they’re such huge animals, the changes in the energy field can be so minute.

Julie Hilsen: 41:30

I personally don’t feel I could do the complete service that I bring if I was just online yeah that makes sense, that’s fair that’s true, and you’d have to rely on the camera holding, the person holding the camera, to look at what you were going to look at. And how are you to explain?

Theodora: 41:48

it’d be a total yeah yeah wow, but also I just love meeting the horses.

Julie Hilsen: 41:57

Oh, my gosh, I know and the different stables and just the whole, the whole thing is just a great thing. Oh yeah, Well, I was gonna one thing. I was wondering how, how do you know that a horse is consenting?

Theodora: 42:14

so I ask okay so straight away.

Theodora: 42:19

Normally I can tell just by a feeling if I need to be going into that horse’s stable or not. So quite often I will work um, I can work outside of the stable. I’ll start there and I’ll just allow them and I’ll get a feeling and it is just a okay, now I can go in. But equally, you know if you’ve had a horse, if you’ve got a horse that’s very territorial, if you’ve had a horse that’s on box rest, you know if they’ve been stuck in their stable for a long time, that’s their. It’s kind of a long time.

Julie Hilsen: 43:08

That’s their safe space, but it’s also the place where they’re traumatized. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, it would be like going into a kennel of a dog. You know what I mean. You never want to go into a dog’s kennel because that’s their safe place.

Theodora: 43:22

Especially if they bring a treat in there and they feel threatened.

Theodora: 43:24

That would be a like and it’s like you know, it’s like someone coming getting into bed with you without asking you know, and it’s like actually one of the things I say is like when we start looking at consent with our horses and boundaries and things like everything so often is just done on our terms. It’s like right, I’m going to come into your stable, I’m going to push you, I’m going to feed you, I’m going to do this, blah blah, I’m going to take you out, I’m going to it’s all done because for them, but it’s on our agenda yeah, that’s what I would.

Julie Hilsen: 43:49

That’s why that’s the center of my question is like you know, you do these things to care for your horse. Do you give them a choice. Do they want to be fed or brushed first or, like you know, you treat them sort of like you know, to keep a happy two-year-old, you let them think that they’re in charge somewhat because you give them two choices. That are both the things you want to do, but they at least they get a pick yeah, it’s about giving people agency and that autonomy of like.

Theodora: 44:13

Actually, yeah, I do have a say in how my life gets lived within the parameters of that it needs to exist in. But that is exactly, and that’s the thing, the more attuned that we are with our horse, like everybody knows. You know whoever’s looking after their horse most knows their horse. You know. You know if you turn up and the horse is in a good mood or a bad mood, you know that day you’re like I’ll come back later.

Julie Hilsen: 44:38

I’m gonna go help another horse, you know, wow, it’s so beautiful it’s treating them like a friend.

Theodora: 44:44

Yeah, like you know. It’s the thing it’s like. If you I was just saying, like you know would you speak to a child like that? Like would you treat a child in that way? Well then, it’s not okay to treat them like that.

Julie Hilsen: 44:57

It’s a different dynamic, right, not everyone is in that frame of mind and if people see there’s a pattern of horses being more productive, more happy more successful and their trainers are doing things like you’re talking about, it will catch on Results will fuel behavior. That’s just where we are. Trainers are doing things like you’re talking about. It will catch on like results will will fuel behavior. Yes, you know what? Just that’s just where we are yeah, nothing.

Theodora: 45:24

You know, the more attuned that we are to that’s the thing, the more that we can open up to this, to this energetic understanding and this energetic relationship and conversation that we’re constantly in, the more that we can, you know, um, the more that you don’t need people like me to come in and tell you to answer that question, for you know, you’ll know, if you ask your horse the question, you’ll pick up on the answer, because you’ll understand it in your own energy field and then you’ll go okay, fine.

Theodora: 45:55

But yeah, it’s funny how you’re saying about seeing the results like it always makes me. It kind of always makes me laugh, especially with dressage riders, because there was like dressage is about the horse being relaxed and you know so free and needs me, want this free-flowing movement, and yet the horses are always the most rigid and stiff and repressed than any other horse. And I’m like, and it just it, I’m like, it just makes. I’m like when you, when you start opening up the horses emotionally and when you start allowing them to let go, I was, I was, um, I had a working with a dressage rider recently and she said she wasn’t really into it. She got me in or the owner had got me in because I’d treated one of their horses previously and then the rider, after one session with me, she got on the next day and she went yeah, okay, I could feel the difference in him.

Theodora: 46:56

I can see what this stuff’s about now, because it’s like us. If we’re constantly holding on to all of this, people say, oh, you know, relax your jaw, because that’s where you hold your tension. People grit their teeth. All this kind of stuff like as soon as you allow that out, you have an outlet for that. Your whole body starts to relax. So it works exactly the same way as the horses.

Julie Hilsen: 47:15

It’s really cool. I have one more question. Okay, One more one more one more. I can’t forget to ask this have you ever okay? So I am not a horse expert at all, but you know the horses that do the intricate dancing. They’re like.

Julie Hilsen: 47:34

Spanish and it’s just beautiful. It’s like show horses. Have you ever been in the presence of one of those horses who seem to be elite, who seem to be so balanced because they can do all these maneuvers Like ballroom dancing Horses that basically are ballroom dancing? Are they just trained to do that, or is it because they’re emotionally stable and maybe those trainers have more of what you do involved, Like I’m just wondering if you’ve ever been in the field of one of these animals that have reached this pinnacle of behaviors.

Theodora: 48:10

That’s what I was saying about the dressage horses. So that’s oh, they’re tight, yeah. So a lot of the time, and you know there’s’s a there’s a kind of a big conversation going on at the moment about the horses being like with their horse, with the heads being behind the vertical and the horses oh yeah, they do that thing with their head.

Theodora: 48:32

Really pull yeah okay, really unnatural and it and a lot of the time it creates so much tension through the back because it’s just such a completely unnatural and and can create pain. But what’s interesting is that they’re noticing that the horses that the at the kind of top level, the horses that are getting the furthest and getting the highest marks, are the ones that are behind the vertical. So it’s the judges and it’s that whole kind of top level of competition that are encouraging that tightness and you know the kind of opposite of what I personally would be looking for. But again, you know, now we’ve got the research that’s coming through and is and is showing statistically like this is we know that this is causing the horse’s pain or we know that this is causing them discomfort and there are so many signs of distress that you can see in the horses, but yet that’s what’s getting the top marks. So there is a massive change that needs to happen throughout the equestrian world.

Empowering Change Through Horse Training

Theodora: 49:36

Um, and I was having this conversation with um, a friend the other day who’s, who’s also into training in a similar way to me, um, and you know she’d done the kind of top competition stuff, but and she just went. I couldn’t, I couldn’t do it anymore because I couldn’t see so many horses not not be, you know, being with them, being so unhappy, and and I went, yeah, I get that, but equally I don’t know. In my theory I’m like, well, if I can go into it, you know, if I go onto a yard top competition yard and there’s 40 horses and they’re all sad and they’re all you know, whatever they are right, if I can help one of those horses, then I’ve helped that one horse. And then if I can show that one owner or rider that there’s a difference, then maybe I can help two horses. And so we kind of have to.

Theodora: 50:36

You know, I used to work in sales a lot and I kind of got used to being told no all the time and I kind of I just I always think, you know, do you know what? It only takes one. And if we keep having these conversations and if we keep expecting to say no and expecting the skeptics to go, I don’t believe in this and I’m like, okay, well, let me just show you, let’s just see, you know, because I’m either right or I’m wrong. And if you know, it doesn’t matter to me if I’m right or wrong, but if I can help your horse, or if I can broaden the owner’s understanding and, you know, just start these conversations, then maybe that’s all I can do, but at least I’m doing something and eventually, I think you know we have to. We have to be the change we want to see in the world. It’s got to start somewhere.

Julie Hilsen: 51:30

Oh, I’m just so honored to bring forth your message today and I know that it’s going to reach the people that need to hear it, and it’s just so beautiful, and I can see the power structures being dismantled and rebuilt into what’s best for everybody, and so that’s what I love is helping be part of that movement. So thank you so much for what you’re doing for people and horses. Thank you.

Theodora: 51:57

Honestly, thank you so much for just giving me the space to to talk about it. I really really appreciate it and I appreciate you and I’m just so glad that we connected. So thank you, thank you.