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March 10, 2004

Flying with Horses

One of the horses I live with, Lyric, is 22 years old now. She has been with me since her birth. She and I have sincere and real love for each other, I believe. She has been ridden by hundreds of people, many of whom are riding for the first time. I have seen thousands of people ride for the first time or for the hundredth time and for those who resonate with the spirit of the horse there is a release that comes with riding that matches no other experience in life. To ride a horse is like flying. Through my students, I experience the joy of touch that moves and rolls the body, raising emotions and lighting the senses in a primal way. It is like we remember who we are when we sit on a horse. The breath of the horse rises into our bodies and lifts us as if the horse had wings and their breath matches the rise and fall of their wings. Those wings become ours in that moment and we are no longer simply tied to the earth. Our nostrils fill with the heady scent of the horse, our skin warms at the mingling of horse and human flesh, our eyes behold indescribable beauty and grace and we hear the rhythm of the hooves as they drum out our own heart beat for us. One need only bite into a juicy apple and then share the rest with the horse-partner on whom we ride to be in heaven. Every sense is awake and as this occurs so awakes that core awareness of our belonging in this world and how we are not apart from all life but rather a part of all life.