My heart pours out to him, this new horse. Every tottering step I take in his presence is rimmed in rainbows.
His solidness fills me. My body steadies as fingers touch his sturdiness. Anne gives me her time her horse her patience her confidence.
I can pretend to be the horsewoman I once was, a life-time practiced and intuitive in Horse communication.
Winter blanket drapes the Horse. My fingers disconnect from my brain, I cannot free the buckle.
You step into my helplessness, release the buckle and remove the blanket with an ease that once was mine.
His golden body revealed, brush in hand, I smooth the hairs that are already smooth. Using the curry comb I lift and scrape the mud from his legs.
Leaning into his shoulder for support I fumble mud from his unshod hoof. He is so patient, solid and real. I am half way to being a ghost.
Haymoney lips my hoodie, pushes his nose into my pocket, seeking cookies. He looks me in the eye. He sees me. I see him. Where’s the cookie? Connection
What is Equine Spirituality? I first saw this as a heading category in a small used-book bookstore in Placerville, CA. It was an “ah-ha” moment for me. I was in the process of writing From the Heart of a Horsewoman: Horse–A Bridge Between Spirit and Matter. The book had neither title nor form direction at this point. When I shared the material in my blog, one of my writing mentors asked me if it was a spiritual book. My immediate reaction was denial. Who was I to write a spiritual horse book? I saw my audience as the horse people I recognized from the “how-to” horse world. Yet I knew this book was not an instruction manual. What I taught was not something that could be expressed in a curriculum. Each horse/rider combination was unique. Underlying and spanning the teaching of how to interact, communicate one species to another, was the passion and love of the relationship, the Horse/Human relationship.
Artist George Dillon
I wrote in the introduction to From the Heart of a Horsewoman: Horse–A Bridge Between Spirit and Matter a presentation to the precepts shared in the text.
“In these writings I will use words describing the spirit bridge, the reach for experiential oneness. These words include God, Holy Spirit, Oneness…. These are not religious based words but words to take us to a place that contains wholeness, the completeness of the horse/human experience. But it is not limited to this relationship. As we explore this one relationship, we discover life is all about relationship. This is just a spanning of the one passion for unity to a passion for unity in all of life. The very word “unity” holds its opposite, disunited or separate. In our quest for the perfect ride, we are seeking unity on this level. This amazing, beautiful connection we have with horses is but a schooling place for the bigger connection that we have with all Life. This connection is in relationship, knowing that we are part of a whole ecosystem held in balance within our living home, the Earth, the Solar System, The Milky Way, The Universe.”
Again, the question, what is Equine Spirituality? I define it as coming into Presence in the company of Horse. It is moving into the space of Now as it is held by the heartbeat of the horse. This is expressed over and over by those who have experienced the Intimacy of Moment shared in the Horse/Human relationship.
Artist my granddaughter in her early (young) work. Zephyra Paxton
I am using my blog to present the concepts of my new writing endeavor Equine Spirituality: Everyday Presence with Horse. Please share your personal story, ideas or comments.
From the Heart of a Horsewoman 