It wasn’t until I closed one eye and held a camera in front of my other, that I felt vulnerable.

At that point, I had to let go of my own intuition and the security fostered by my peripheral vision and proceed to completely trust that these 1200 lbs beasts weren’t going to stomp me to death or bite my arm off.

“Look at this camera, Mark!  I look like I have a robot head.  Isn’t this going to freak them out?”

He calmly ask me to look at how their ears were turned backwards.  “They are listening to something behind them.  They aren’t threatened by you, they aren’t hardly paying you any attention. Relax.”

Mark Falcone is a co-facilitator at InterPlay Academy just north of Bellingham, Washington.  They offer Equine Facilitated Learning programs; relational coaching for individuals, parents, or couples; group classes; and horsemanship instruction to adults and adolescents.

While photographing Mark, I learned alot about horses and their powerful role as ‘teacher’ in experiential education and counseling.   My partner and I are scheduled to participate in one of the couples’ relationship classes soon.