When the Horses Whisper: The Wisdom of Wise and Sentient Beings

“When Horses Whisper you can listen! Read Rosalyn Berne.” —Rita Mae Brown, MFH, author of the Mrs. Murphy mystery series “I started my practice as a veterinarian six years ago, and did not have any particular interest in horses. Working in a small rural town in Costa Rica, I have to deal with all animals that need my service, including cows, dogs, cats, goats, sheep, and of course, horses. I began to feel something special when I had a horse as a patient, a feeling of peace that I do not have with any other animal. And attracted by that feeling, I worked more and more frequently with horses. At that point, I did not realize what was going on. With Rosa’s book, I began to realize that I was not the only one who was giving a service. Horses also give a service to me. Her book helped me to understand how the horse-human relationship works. Besides, I learned many lessons about how we should treat horses as living beings that deserve respect. And if we could extrapolate these lessons to our daily life, we will grow as human beings in peace and harmony with every being that surrounds us.” —Daniel Zeledon-Donzo, D.V.M. “Rosalyn (Rosa) Berne brings the whispered voice of the horses themselves to remind us to wake up and live consciously in our interconnectedness, to open our hearts and our ears, to allow ourselves to heal the trauma no human or horse escapes in these times . . . Those of us who love and respect the horses as the wise sentient beings they are, get lots of non-verbal wisdom from them. This book is a gift to all of us who love horses . . ." — Nancy Coyne, M.D., Psychiatrist (Equine-facilitated psychotherapy) When the Horses Whisper shows the capacity of horses to help us heal the human heart. It expresses in human language what horses have to say when given the chance to speak. It is a story about the sacred bond between us, and the communication made possible when the horse-human relationship is based on love. Conversations with fifteen horses, most of who live and work in Costa Rica, are featured along with their photographs, capturing them as individual beings in service to humans on a shared evolutionary journey. This journey amounts to the “re-membering” of our whole selves in the wholeness of creation, especially the parts we split off, deny, and place in shadow because they are too painful. Horses, as the book shows, can help us see these lost parts, and call forth our courage to reclaim them. For the author, these included the loss of a newborn daughter, the mental illness of an adult son, letting go of a thirty-year marriage, and childhood sexual abuse. The story recounts the equine healing work that helped in reclaiming her authentic self. This book is testimony to the power of horses and equine healing work in transforming life’s losses into a deeper human wholeness and a further communion with the non-human world. Rosalyn W. Berne, Ph.D. explores the intersecting realms between emerging technologies, science, fiction and myth, and between the human and non-human worlds. As a university professor she writes and teaches about engineering and technology in society and the ethical implications of technological development, often using science fiction material in her classes. In her personal life she continues to discover the transformational nature of human-equine relationships, and offers facilitation and translation services for enhancing communication between horses and their owners. She is author of Nanotalk: Conversations with Scientists And Engineers About Ethics, Meaning, and Belief in the Development of Nanotechnology (Erlbaum Press, 2005) and the novel, Waiting in the Silence (Spore Press, 2012). Currently underway, Creating a New World: Biotechnology and Science Fiction brings the non-fictional writing of research scientists together with Berne’s science fiction short stories (forthcoming from Pan Stanford Press).