09/04/2026
Can you hold space for a horse that gives you their rear end?
Seeing behavior through the lens of nervous system responses helps us get a better understanding of what someone is experiencing. If a behavior seems extreme or even irrational, it’s a good indicator the nervous system is in an escalated state, which means this animal likely thinks they’re life is on the line. Whether we think the behavior is justified or not doesn’t matter. We don’t get to decide how afraid anyone else feels in a given situation.
While our own nervous system might jolt into a fight response when that leg starts to come up, and we desperately want to “put that horse in her place,” being able to honor the individual and help them feel seen gets you a million times farther than beating them to shutdown.
