The Tao of Equus: A Woman's Journey of Healing and Transformation Through the Way of the Horse

by Linda Kohanov

The Tao of Equus considers the mystical nature of horses and the magical connection between horses and humans. Equine therapist Linda Kohanov tells of an extraordinary spiritual awakening she experienced with her black mare, Rasa. This incident led her to investigate the apparent metaphysical as well as scientific aspects of the human-horse bond. Using neurological research, cultural history, mythology, and firsthand anecdotes from years of teaching and facilitating equine therapy, Kohanov examines the profound communion that people, and women in particular, often experience with horses. Some of the areas Kohanov explores are how the equine mind compares with the human mind, and what horses can teach humanity.

Genres: Horses, Animals, Nonfiction, Psychology, Self Help, Spirituality, Memoir

364 pages, Hardcover

First published August 7, 2001

About the author

Linda is an author, speaker, riding instructor and horse trainer who has become an internationally recognized innovator in the field of Equine Experiential Learning and a respected writer on the subject of Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy.

Her book "The Tao of Equus: A Woman’s Journey of Healing and Transformation through the Way of the Horse" was selected as one of the Top Ten Religion and Spirituality books of 2001 by Amazon.com.

Her second book, "Riding Between the Worlds: Expanding Our Potential through the Way of the Horse", was published in 2003.

Both books have been used as texts in university courses across the country and have received appreciative reviews in publications as diverse as Horse and Rider, Natural Horse, IONS Noetic Sciences Review, Shift, Spirituality and Health, Animal Wellness, The Equestrian News and Strides (the magazine published by the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association).
Among her numerous lectures throughout the U.S. and Canada, she was a presenter at the 2001 NARHA conference and was the keynote speaker at the 2003 NARHA conference. She was also a featured presenter at the 2004 International Transpersonal Conference.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the most horrible books it has been my displeasure to read. I am very open to the idea of the mystical and healing relationship with horses, and natural horsemanship. I have had horses my entire life and know first hand their ability to read emotional states. However, I am thoroughly sick and tired of natural horsemanship practitioners taking advantage of people new to the horse industry or people who have had bad experiences and are now timid or scared. Their marketing scemes are predatory and unhelpful. This lady is making a fortune by charging people to come spend time with her horses, hang out with them and is calling it psychotherapy?? I'm sorry but please stop. These people either need to work one on one with a trainer and their own horse, and/or an actual clinical psychotherapist.

I had a huge problem with the dramatization of the twin foals saga. It's called responsible breeding of animals. Make the effort to make sure that you do a pregnancy check. Make sure that there are not twins, and continue to do vet checks throughout the pregnancy. The author's excuse of it was windy the day the vet was supposed to do the check or something to that effect was a thin excuse. You get the freakin horse to the vet to make sure you are protecting the health of the mother and the foal or you don't breed. PERIOD. Using the bad situation that she created as some sort of yin yang spiritual life and death struggle drama was unacceptable to me. Woman, you created the twin situation because you failed to do a basic ultrasound which is a standard requirement in horse breeding. One of the twin foals died as a result and the other was weak and almost died. Then you used that situation to your advantage for sympathy for yourself and "therapy" for your clients. You are an emotional predator, please go directly to a real psychotherapist and get your own issues handled.

Sorry for my ranting everyone, as you can see this book created some strong feelings for me.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

THis book led me back to horses and gave me the courage I needed to begin riding again at 55.

[Letitia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me preface this review by saying I'm very sympathetic to the idea of it. I believe that animals have a soul, I believe in spiritual communication, I believe in animal rights, am a vegetarian, etc. I love horses, and find them one of the most beautiful, intelligent, spiritually attuned beings on earth.

That said, this book is horrible. While the writing is not unreadable, the book ends up feeling more like the author's self-serving attempt to convince you how awesome she is for having these insights NO ONE HAS EVER HAD. It is poorly organized and confusing in content. Ultimately, I did not find anything insightful about the inner life of horses, or equine-human interaction. I just found a lot of drivel about how much the author loved her own epiphanies.

I am giving this two stars because the author IS capable of stringing a sentence together, and some of the linguistic imagery is quite nice. The confusing organization of it, and the obtuse thesis, however, make it one I cannot recommend.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tao of Equus:, by Linda Kohanov, is one of my favorite books to describe the bond between horses and people. The extended title A Woman's Journey of Healing and Transformation Through the Way of the Horse is extraordinarily true to life. I have witnessed this many times with both gals and guys, but Linda’s leanings toward better results with gals is also a valid statement. Her telling of her story was great.

Rural medical practice and natural horsemanship gave me unique tools to generate solutions for troubled youths and even adults to find true friends in developing rapport with a horse in the BFF style of thinking. Horses don’t judge, and treated like a BFF without any threats or abuse bilaterally begins the anthropomorphic partnership.

This book exudes healing solutions for human and equine bonding. I truly enjoyed this book, and often can’t find my own since I lend it out a lot. Horse lovers and prospective horse lovers who haven’t read this book, SHOULD. I just re-read it after it was returned to me.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book I loved. Parts of this book I could barely get through! I did not care for the author's belief that she had direct communication with all of histories 'horse ancestors'. I also looked for her credentials as a counselor and could not find any information to that effect so it bothered me a bit that it appeared she was giving psychotherapy to her clients but is not actually a therapist. At the time I read this I was working as an 'equine specialist' with a mental health professional in equine-assisted psychotherapy sessions and was most interested in reading more about the actual sessions but this book was not meaty enough with what felt like verifiable information to get out of it what I was hoping. As a horse person I will say I did appreciate reading about horses as emotionally aware and wonderfully complex and healing creatures. I just didn't like the pretty out there mystical aspect.

[Luminea · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book might not appeal to everyone, I found it fascinating, insightful, and inspiring. I was expecting a series of horse anecdotes with philosophical lessons to be learned from them, but this book is so much more. What I didn't expect was to find myself in tears as I related to the personal struggles that the author and her clients had experienced--I didn't think this book would bring up my own pain in ways that I could process and understand it anew. I am definitely going to explore equine-facilitated therapy as a tool that can help me in my own journey. I was also fascinated by the many synchronous and spiritual events that the author described and her connection to her guides, the Horse Ancestors. The various scientific research that she discussed was really interesting and I will likely read a few of the books that she mentioned. Overall this book was totally not what I thought it would be, but actually something much deeper!

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I really did. As a person who currently conducts equine assisted psychotherapy, I was hoping that Kohanov's book would give me some tips and insight into the different sessions that she conducts. Instead, I ended up with a pseudoscience book that waxes on the "collective conscious" that all animals supposedly have and how she was amazingly able to tap into this and suddenly understands just about everything that horses do. I've got news for you, Kohanov, it's called natural horsemanship. You've learned to read body language and energy. Good for you! It's time to join the large number of other trainers who've done the same.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could give this 6 stars. This book had so many insights into my soul that I'd never heard from another source.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Linda Kohanov has been through a healing journey personally and with horses and wants to tell everyone about the wonder of it. While I agree that there is a human animal bond that defies conventional explanations she tends to stretch logic a tad. Reads like a college thesis.

[Emily Lynn Beattie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me preface this and say I really wanted to like this book. I had seen mixed reviews but I went into it with a good head and an open mind. But this book was almost impossible to read. It had parts that made no sense to the story being told, it didn’t flow, and overall I just didn’t enjoy the writing.

I was so disappointed because I love branching out and trying books that aren’t normally my cup of tea but oh well.

[ElizabethW · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved bits of this book but it feels quite densely written. It’s one woman’s journey and not a manual.

I’m fully signed up to the idea and experience of horses as healers but no book can really tell you how that happens!

[Ari van der Westhuizen · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://acornucopiaofrandomness.wordp...

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am really grateful when a book completely changes a perception I have. This book is like a deep and meaningful chapter of life. It brought me to tears hearing the stories of the horses traumatic experiences and otherworldly intuition. It also had some deep dives that left me bewildered, feeling that perhaps the book didn’t need some of the sections.

I am very connected to animals, but this book has broadened my mind to their ways of communication. I am opened to the idea of morphogenic fields of awareness and honestly amazed by this authors experiences and her bravery in telling this wild story.

I hope all people who work with horses in any way read this book. Even if 10 percent of what this book says is true (and I believe that number is much higher), these incredible beings deserve all of the respect and gratitude we can muster as a people. They may just possess a wisdom much more profound than in we can fathom in our cerebral understanding of the world.

[Shania Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, I came out of it with an entirely new appreciation for the animals I love so much. I've been skeptical and entirely uneducated about the idea of using horses in human psychotherapy. There's an attitude in the professional equestrian world that horses are a lot of stress, work, money, and I've noticed a lack of sentimentality despite the deep reaching passion. It's true on a certain level that you have to be tough and thick skinned to work with and love these animals. Farm life is demanding, dangerous, and not for the faint of heart.

This book isn't just about the animals but our relationship to them. Turns out theres many ways to learn from their sensitivity to other members of their herd, the nuances of "pecking order", the astounding ability to pick up on human emotional incongruence, their prey physically that makes their perception of the world way sharper than ours, their epigenetic trauma as a working species before the industrial revolution, the relationship between our post industrial revolution which rapidly became female dominated after their utility ceased, and what that says about our coniscinding natures. Their mythological and literal representations of freedom and power.

A lot of history, philosophy, mythology, cultural, religious and spiritual wisdom packed in here. She prefaces the book with the disclaimer that she knows the stories from her practice will sound woo-woo to many in the traditional worlds of showing and racing, and it would likely discredit her in the eyes of many who have been taught they must rule their animals rather than collaborate with them. She includes anticdotal stories from a huge number of professionals in similar fields-the patterns in the stories are wild, sometimes hard to believe, but what can I say, I believe them. Dreams, intuition, visions, and synchronicity have proven very real to me in the last few years.

She says something a long the lines of, IQ tests are biased towards Europeans as the interpretations of intelligence in the animal world are biased to carnivores. Horses live in yin energy, and there's a reason so many women are drawn to them and heal from their presence, mirroring, and messages. This book brought up so many feelings about an old halflinger pony I adored as a kid and gave me a new perspective on our relationship. Really beautiful.

[DreamPacker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I struggled a little at first with this book. I loved the horse stories, but got mired in some of the science and history. Not that it was boring—far from it, but I am a speed reader. I can speed read a novel at a thousand words a minute. This book did not lend itself easily to that. I found myself wishing I had my own copy (which will be shortly remedied, as this is DEFINITELY a book I want to own) so I could highlight and take notes.
Big sigh…..I do not know how to even come close writing a “review” . Questions were answered that I have had since childhood, such as why have I been entranced and drawn to horses since before I could even speak. There were also answers to Questions that I didn’t realize I even had.
I cannot even begin to describe the impact and insights that reading this book opened up. What I can recommend is, that anyone who KEEPS horses, rides or trains them or who has ever desired to, should read this book. As well as anyone who is interested in any type of Energy healing, Life Coaching or helping those who have been traumatized in some way, whether they have any interest or experience with horses or not. I must admit that when I looked at this book when it first came out 8 years ago, I didn’t even bother checking it out, because it didn’t seem to address the kind of “horse” stories I was interested in. It looked like too much boring philosophy interwoven with New Age Woo Woo.
It came into my life when I was finally ready for it.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because the theory sounded interesting. I was not disappointed throughout the first half of the book. Kohanov drew me into the story about she and her horses, her own budding spirituality, and the strength she saw bloom between others and their horses. It was touching and inspiring. However the second half of the book did not appeal to me very much, and became so difficult to trudge through that I ended up putting it down without completing the book. While I'm sure the second half, focusing more on the psychological science of the theory, is very well researched and probably informative and interesting to people with educational degrees in mental and behavioral sciences, for a simple reader like myself with no more than a passing grade in PSYCH 101, it became nearly impossible to understand.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

an amazing well written and extensive writing about horses and their universal energy and healing that Linda has learned to use in her clinics and her own equine centre. This is about equines and how they can teach people to rid of past baggage and current psychological issues through the assistance of psychologists and therapists and Linda's expertise and knowledge on connecting and learning from her own horses and others. I love horses and this book was a long extensive read but well worth it!

[Dominic Buscemi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just our of this world. Linda knows her horses. When I read a blurb on the book, saying that the Author felt as though Horse were highly evolved spiritual beings, I knew right then that this was a book for me. I have always felt that why. This book explains why. Loved and looking very much to some of her other releases coming out by the same publisher. I believe one is a photography Coffee Table book. I'm sure it'll be spectacular.

[Cosmic Sher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and it was very timely for me to read. Her ability to describe/explain the spirituality, history and science behind our relationship with horses was exceptional. I believe she is daring in telling her stories because they are unconventional and not 'reasonable' but come from a deep spiritual/emotional side of her that I applaud her for. This book has helped further my search for the mystical, as well as shown a different perspective on our relationships with animals.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compelling and somewhat annoying all at the same time. Was very close to putting it down initially but then continued on. I was surprised to find I got some interesting insights from the book, but for the non open minded this book is a real stretch. I used it as a test to see how far I could stretch. As a trainer I read horses and people all the time. It just shows you how far removed from are own species we humans really are..... We need another one to help us figure it out.

[Rhonda Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not just about the horses, but about the people around them, how they relate to each other and view themselves. I seem to read this series once a year, usually around the holidays, and see something new in it each time. I found the second book RIDING BETWEEN THE WORLDS more useful personally, but this is Kohanov's early journey before going between the worlds. So, read this one first, then serially.

[Stacie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had great stories of people and their horses. I did not really enjoy when the book would go off subject to the Greek god stories, history of the Tao, etc. I found myself easily distracted while reading these parts. The author should have kept to the main focus of the horses and their owners stories!

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like the writers style of writing although the subject was compelling. I think she stretched her facts a little and all the mystic stuff was too weird for me to appreciate but she did hit a home run with her narrations on the physical and essence of being with a horse. Worth a read if you like fantasy and dream reading. Not worth a read if that annoys you.

[Lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was okay. I would have prefered it to be more about how the horses affected people than the author's own anecdotes and how she came to these conclusions. I may be a little biased (I am agnostic), but I also found it a tad bit odd about the part with the "Horse Ancestors". Overall, I enjoyed the stories about the horses helping people, but everything else was confusing.

[Cam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book. It broadened my perspective of relationships both with animals and humans. I loved her insights on trauma and emotional congruence. I did find myself struggling to follow her claims of scientific basis for things that I see as more mystical and spiritual in nature.

[Crissey Hewitt · Rating 1 out of 5]

One lady's scattered thoughts about her highly unusual relationship with horses. Not enough organization, consistency, or plot for me.

[Bethany Fancher]

Horse lovers must read

[Dorota Raciborska · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary, moving book, thanks to the writing skill, experiences and the research that went into it.

[Alla Hirsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book by an incredible woman. Heart, soul and spirit connections that heal and give light to darkness.

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thought provoking read. It made interesting comparisons of keeping the yin and yang in life and horses and very Christ-like ways to gain peace and harmony with your self and horse.