Miraval Spa's Equine Experience - No Tears Here

I'm at Miraval in Tucson, AZ., for the week, and today I tried the Equine Experience, where you interact with a horse and learn about yourself. The idea is that the way you do one thing is the way you do most things. So they teach you how to do simple tasks -- picking out a horse's hooves, brushing, walking (that's me and Elvis) and lunging a horse around a ring -- observe how you do it, and give you feedback.

The idea is to at look how you do things and see if it works for you. If it works, keep doing it. If something's not working, don't do it anymore. Try something different (and repeat until it works). And if that doesn't work, ASK FOR HELP....even though it's seen as weak in our culture.

The Equine Experience is something Miraval is known for -- and another one of those experiences that can get you out of your comfort zone. Some people who do the Equine Experience have tremendous fear of horses, either because they've been hurt (trampled kicked, stepped on, you name it), or because they've never been around them.

This is not me. I use to ride a bit and love horses, even though I fell off them and was once bitten by a horse named Angel! Another thing that comes up: people who are used to being in control have a hard time when the horse doesn't pick up its foot. This a place where tears can flow, and more than one person told me The Equine Experience changed their life.

There wasn't much drama in our group, but I still got a lot out of it. I noticed some things about myself as I went about the simple tasks. First, I had a little bit of anxiety -- not because I was afraid of the horse, but because I knew other people would be there, and I want everything to go 100% right, THE FIRST TIME. Ninety-five percent right and a learning curve isn't good enough!

"You've done four hooves and some people haven't even gotten up one", said Carolyn, when I told her that I had to work with the horse a bit to get it to lift its hooves. Then I diminished what I had done. "Well, that's because I've been around horses before." So that was interesting to observe -- I wouldn't let myself have a sense of accomplishment, even when I got the result I wanted.

After all the exercises there's a bit of "processing" as we sit around. I realized that my perfectionism takes the fun out of things. And it actually WAS fun -- especially the lunging, which is using your intention and energy to communicate with the horse, asking it to go around the ring and change directions. Another lesson for me was that the horse (and others we communicate with) really do respond to the energy we put out, and that it's possible to "dial it down" or "dial it up" to get the result you want.

One final surprise: I always thought the Equine Experience was an expensive service, but it's just part of the regular programming here at Miraval. It doesn't cost anything extra. NICE SURPRISE! And you can do it as much as you want. The one disappointment was that the charismatic cowboy therapist Wyatt Webb, who created the program and has been doing it for many years, had a day off!

If Webb's presence is important to you, ask to make sure he's running it that day. I just assumed he would be there. In the meantime, you can read Webb's book, "It Not About The Horse: It's About Overcoming Fear and Self-Doubt."(Buy Now).