August 11th, 2023
Guest writer for Wake Up World
Horse is a majestic Spirit Animal who shares the Soul lessons of:
- Freedom comes from within.
- Reclaim your personal power.
- Explore what impassions you.
- Keep moving.
- Balance your wild and tamed self.
If you keep seeing horses in your life or have always felt drawn toward the horse species, take it as a sign to keep learning more about this beautiful Spirit Animal!
To receive weekly intuitive guidance that includes your spirit animal of the week, see our Shadow & Light Membership!
Horse Spirit Animal Meaning
Spirit Animals are helpers, guides, and teachers that help our Souls to expand and evolve.
The Horse Spirit Animal is symbolic of freedom from enslavement, personal power, passion and motivation, and finding inner balance in life.
Download FREE Horse Spirit Animal Worksheet!
Explore what Horse as your spirit animal is trying to teach you!
If Horse is your Spirit Animal, the following Soul lessons will apply to you:
1. Freedom vs. Enslavement
The first, and perhaps most obvious, message that Horse brings is freedom.
When we observe Horse in nature, we see how stunning, powerful, and liberated she is as the wind billows through her mane and she gallops unhindered through the landscape.
The question here is, do you have the same ability to gallop freely through your life? Or are you being trapped and restrained? If the feeling of being trapped has been haunting you, it’s time to pay serious attention.
In some ways, you might not even be aware of your own entrapment. You might be unconsciously avoiding the uncomfortable reality that you feel tied up, confined, or enslaved.
What is happening in the physical (including sexual), mental, or emotional realm – or to put it in another way: your inner life, love life, family life, or work life? Which area is causing you the most grief, and when did the issues start? Who or what is holding you back?
You are made to live a life full of joy, fulfillment, and freedom. Don’t let anything or anyone try to clip your wings (or, in this case, hooves!) or encage you.
Horse reminds us of the difference between mindfully choosing responsibilities and unconsciously taking them on without conscious consent.
Is your life burdened by too many responsibilities? Are you always putting other people’s needs above your own without stopping to consider your needs for once? Do you feel pressured to be a certain way? Are you scared to express your authentic emotions? Are you tired of wearing a mask around others?
If so, Horse will help to loosen the chains that bind you.
She teaches that we don’t need to be nomadic bohemians to feel “free.” Freedom comes from within – it doesn’t need to be dependent on external circumstances.
Freedom is what happens when we put our foot down and say “no.”
Freedom is the ability to look inside for happiness, acceptance, and validation rather than depending on others to give that to us.
2. Personal Power
Horse as your Spirit Animal is also symbolic of personal power. As a tremendously powerful and hard-working animal, Horse helps us to get back in touch with our inner ‘spark’ and fire.
Have you been feeling demotivated, restless, or like you’re aimlessly drifting around and scattering your energy everywhere? Do you often struggle with self-doubt? Do you often lack confidence around others? If so, Horse is here to help you reclaim your personal power.
She asks you to explore areas of your life where you’re giving away your personal power. For example, perhaps you make your self-worth dependent on other people’s opinions.
Or maybe you struggle with personal boundaries and let others walk all over you. Maybe the majority of your inner fire gets absorbed by fearful thoughts, grudge-holding, or feeling victimized by other people.
Whatever the habit or pattern, you need to examine where, when, why, and how your energy is being absorbed.
3. Passion and Motivation
On a similar, but slightly different note, the Horse Spirit Animal also symbolizes that which motivates and impassions us in life.
When we don’t know what drives us on a spiritual and emotional level, we wind up feeling lost, empty, and restless.
So here are some important questions for you: what lights a fire within you? What makes you want to go running for miles and miles? What is worth dedicating massive amounts of energy to? What do you value and cherish? What are you devoted to? What would you like to master in this life above all else?
You’ll greatly benefit from asking these questions at this point in your life. More focus needs to be given to self-actualization. When you know what drives you, and when you channel that awareness into what you do, you’ll be able to move much further and faster than you ever thought was possible.
When it comes to obstacles and blocks in life, the best course of action for you right now is to keep moving! In nature, the only natural form of defense Horse has is to run and keep going.
In other words, if you need guidance surrounding overcoming a hurdle in your life, the answer is to move on, change directions, or propel yourself with momentum. The worst option would be to stay still, stop, or become stagnant.
4. Finding Inner Balance
The final message of the Horse Spirit Animal is balancing the instinctual and tamed part of your nature.
When we observe Horse, we can see how she adapts quite well to both tamed and wild modes of living. The idea here is that there’s an imbalance within your nature: either you have explosive outbursts of emotion, or you are too repressed, restrained, and controlled with your emotions.
In either case, more balance is needed. If you struggle with taming emotions such as anger, outrage, disgust, etc., Horse will help you to “put the leash” on these emotions as they are creating suffering in your life.
Whether this involves a simple breathwork technique or a more holistic practice, Horse will help you access the knowledge you need.
If, on the other hand, emotional containment is a problem for you, Horse will help you to loosen up. She will explore with you what childhood wounds or unconscious beliefs have led you to be overly controlling with your emotions.
Letting out your emotions in a healthy way is beneficial for your well-being. It doesn’t make you “weak” or “sappy.” Expressing how you feel in a balanced way is a sign of strength.
Horse Spirit Animal Mantra and Affirmations
You can use these mantras and affirmations to get in touch with the Horse Spirit Animal and bring its wisdom into your life:
- I have the freedom to choose
- I reclaim my personal power
- I take responsibility for my well-being
- I liberate myself
Do you have any that you’d like to recommend? If so, share in the comments!
Horse Power Animal
Power Animals help us to tap into our hidden strengths (or inner power) and can be invoked and evoked through our behavior to help us rediscover our Wholeness.
If you’d like to invoke or evoke Horse as your Power Animal, focus on the following keywords in your journaling, visualization, or meditation practice:
- Freedom
- Entrapment
- Empowerment
- Liberation
- Self-Confidence
- Authenticity
- Personal Power
- Fire
- Strength
- Motivation
- Self-Actualization
- Proactivity
- Sexuality
- Wildness
- Instinct
- Repression
- Self-Doubt
- Tamed
- Self-Expression
- Emotional Balance
Do any of these keywords that define Horse as your Power Animal stand out to you? If so, be sure to call on Horse to help you embody one of these qualities (or release the negative qualities if they’re holding you back).
Background Info on Horses
Horses are beautiful and majestic creatures that come in over 350 breeds. The smallest breed of horse is the Falabella breed which stands at 81 centimeters tall, and the largest is the Shire breed which stands at 173 centimeters high.
Male horses are called stallions, female horses are called mares, and baby horses are called colts (for males) and fillies (for females).
It is believed that humans first domesticated horses around 5,500 years ago. Since then, humankind has forged a close connection with the horse species. It is estimated that there are around 60 million horses worldwide, with the oldest known species being the Arabian horse.
Interestingly, horses can sleep while standing up, but groups of horses won’t go to sleep all at the same time. At least one horse will stay awake to look out for the others.
Horses are also very expressive creatures: like humans, they can use different facial expressions to communicate their emotions.
Also, unlike popular belief, horses aren’t completely color-blind. They can, however, see some colors better than others. The eyes of the horse are bigger than any other land mammal, and because they sit on either side of the horse’s head, they possess 360-degree vision.
Horses also have humongous teeth! The space occupied by their teeth is larger than that occupied by their brain. When it comes to speed, a regular horse can gallop at 27 miles per hour (the fastest horse on record could gallop at 55 mph!).
Recommended further resources:
- Spirit Animal Bundle – Discover and forge a deep bond with your wild and sacred Spirit Animal. Includes two journals, a printable mini oracle deck, and a guided meditation journey!
- Shadow & Light Membership – Dissolve the shadows that obscure your inner Light in this weekly email-based membership! Perfect for anyone serious about practicing ongoing shadow work, inner child work, and self-love. You’ll also discover your weekly spirit animal earth ally!
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Is Horse your spirit animal? What special lessons and messages are you receiving? I’d love to hear below in the comments!
Finally, you can take our spirit animal quiz to see what other animal allies may be assisting you in life right now.
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About the author:
Aletheia Luna is a prolific psychospiritual writer, author, and spiritual mentor whose work has touched the lives of millions worldwide. As a survivor of fundamentalist religious abuse, her mission is to help others find love, strength, and inner light in even the darkest places. She is the author of hundreds of popular articles, as well as numerous books and journals on the topics of Self-Love, Spiritual Awakening, and more. See more of her work at lonerwolf.com.
This article, Horse Spirit Animal Meaning and Symbolism (and Worksheet), was originally published on lonerwolf.com, reproduced with permission.
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