The Horse's Gift To Us

Further observations / revelations / acknowledgements ... whichever the word may be.

I am not wanting to go on about this too long, yet I am asking you to consider the following:

A horse isn't born to be ridden. It is not a car that is purposely built to be driven. It is a fellow living being. It just happens to have evolved into a shape that allows for it to be ridden. But so are cows, elephants, camels etc etc.  But you cannot do with these above what you can do with a horse. Just think of all the wars when horses were used, when they were used for work our ground so we could eat, when they were used to hunt so we could eat, cow herding, archery, jousting etc etc. And in more modern days dressage, show jumping, eventing etc etc. Their willingness to team up with a human, their ability and gentle ways allowing for us to form a partnership, to become one. There is a depth to the horse that I cannot find in other animals (living on land).

Most people seem to see the horse as a tool or machine. The horses are tacked up, gadget-ed up, often ridden by too heavy riders, insensitive riders, spoilt teenagers, forceful riders. Some get beaten up, some get severely neglected, some are being used again and again regardless of their pain, some are treated like pets, belittled, controlled, dominated, used, abused, misunderstood.

They could easily kill us with one kick if they wanted, yet they very rarely do.

They put up with use, they let us get close, again and again they try, they try to get us to listen. They give and give and give. And most of us NEVER say thank you. Do you realise the IMMEASURABLE GIFT offered to you by YOUR HORSE?

Everytime I see them in the mornings and evenings and sometimes in between, I am aware of this, more and more so. It's a sensation in my stomach, when I see their heads so kind and gently look out of their stable doors or when they come to say hello in the field, their heads down and their eyes warm and open, forever giving and forgiving for WE DO NOT KNOW BETTER, and THE HORSE knows that.

So then the least we can do is to care for it where it cannot. Be honest with your horse, don't pretend, don't emotionalise it (it doesn't understand), just be. Open up to your horse, let go of your thoughts and your intentions, be with your horse as one. And you will find that it will teach you so much about being alive, not about living, but about being.

That is their gift to us.