CHIPLEY — Horses have assisted human development for centuries by acting as beasts of burden, but they are now teaching people to relieve their own personal burdens, as Kristin Hungenberg has seen on her farm in
Hungenberg, owner of Four Directions Horse Farm at 3955 State 77 near Chipley, is an instructor in “eponaquest,” or equine-assisted learning. While equine-assisted therapy has been a growing trend among those dealing with issues such as depression, PTSD, grief, substance abuse or anxiety, Hungenberg’s focus is on equine-assisted learning.
She said because of their survival instincts as prey animals, horses are more aware of disruptions in their surrounding environment. When the horses sense tension they will act to correct the imbalance, which includes dropping hints on what a person actually wants to do as opposed to what they think they should, she said.
“Real, physical, subtle things happen to help people recognize that when they talk about what they don’t want they get a completely different reaction than when they talk about what they do want,” Hungenberg said. “Horses live from their heart and they show us how to do the same.”
Hungenberg’s job is to help people recognize those behaviors and figure out what the horse meant by any given behavior.
“People who have abuse issues or trauma issues or have been unhappy, the more they get into their heart the more they’re getting out of that sense of, ‘I’ve been wounded,’ ” Hungenberg said. “Then they can begin healing.”
Obi Chukwumah, a visiting banker from
“It’s kind of letting the horses choose which horse wants to work with the person that day,” she said. “Sometimes they fight over who it will be and sometimes one horse will come up as the others walk away.”
Jay, one of the six saddleless mares at Four Directions, had taken an interest in Chukwumah.
He first met with Hungenberg on her farm about a month ago for the first time and admitted to initially feeling nervous around the horses.
“They’re big animals and you don’t want to upset them,” Chukwumah said.
As he brushed Jay, Chukwumah who was now at ease, said he had been considering taking on a job in ministering for about 10 years, and during that session he received some career advice.
“When I came here, one of the messages was: ‘just go’ — rather than worry about it,” he said.
Without the distractions of cellphones and emails, in the remote woods near Chipley, the message is easier to receive, he said.
“It’s not a whole lot different than human interactions; there’s people you connect with and people you don’t for whatever reason,” Chumkuwah said. “You can’t explain it but when you’re with someone you connect with, it’s just free. The horse allows you to be free and flow instead of just being stuck in your mind.”
Jay snorted at that, seemingly in approval.
Sessions consist of either brushing and grooming, leadership exercises or just free running and interacting with the horses. However, riding the horses is not an option.
Prices can run from $400, for an experiential course once every four weeks, to $3,000, for an extensive experience over three days.
Whether the horses actually guide decisions or if their intermittent reactions merely reinforce some pre-existing impulses is debatable. If the person leaves feeling like they have listened to their heart, as her horses do, Hungenberg has succeeded, she said.
“If I told you there was a gadget you could buy and always know what decision to make in any situation and it would always be right, you’d want the gadget, right?” Hungenberg said. “We all have that gadget: it is our heart, and all we have to do is rediscover how to use it. The horses help with that.”