Erickson was fond of telling his students the story of how he returned a neighbor's horse. The horse had wandered into the Erickson's farmyard, and since no one knew who the horse belonged to young Milton decided to take care of it. He hopped on the horses back and directed it to get going.

A few hours and fifteen miles later the horse turned down a driveway and walked back into his owner's yard. The owner thanked Erickson, and asked him how he knew where to return the horse. Erickson replied that he didn't know. He just let the horse choose which direction to go. All Erickson did was keep the horse from wandering off the road when he got distracted by a tempting corn field. The horse knew where to go already.

Erickson would then comment to his students that the job of the hypnotherapist is simply to keep the client moving, and to prevent them from getting side tracked.