Truth

Have you ever lied, even a little bit?  About your natural hair color, your weight, your height, your education? Turn on the T.V. and you will soon be awash with them.  A tidal wave of lies to make humanity look good or bad.

To live in reflection of our truth.  Is it so difficult?

Horses never lie.  Truth is what keeps them alive;  Lying is equivalent to death.  They do not comprehend machinations and do not kid themselves.  You might think, 'well, I have seen horses do things against their nature or contrary to what they want or would normally do', and yes so have I.  But they give us signs that they are not doing so freely.  Their energy, and their body language are tells of the truth. A tail swish, an ear flicker.  We learn to ignore these or are maybe not even aware that they mean something in the first place.  Like ignoring the irritation on our child's face when they are eating something they dislike for dinner.

The Truth is Horses are not People but we have a tendency to
treat them as such and gloss over what they truly need and desire.
Photo: Tim Walker

Understanding how we can have a better relationship with our horses and with each other is reliant on understanding truths. Understanding their reality, needs and emotions.  In this fast paced society which we choose to participate in, it is easy to loose sight of something so simple: The truth.

Beauty

Many of us have heard the expression from Churchill- "The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man."  Denying the beauty and power of a horse on the outside is next to impossible, but what about the inside?  The soul, the heart, the mind?  Do we truly appreciate their personalities, strengths, fears, and emotions?  Do you believe that a horse could possess emotions?

Multifaceted levels of mind?

The other day my horses decided to feed themselves.  I knew something was up when I called them and they did not come.  When they seen me walking into the pasture, they came and the lead mare gave me a mixed look of remorse and mischief (My interpretation from 'knowing' her personality). It melted my heart and made me laugh out loud.  And there in front of me were fence boards pushed ever so slightly towards the hay and a bale strewn across the ground (my fault for storing the hay so close to the fence).  Back to the lead mare- the twinkle in her eye made me feel connected to something deeper within, beyond the soft chestnut exterior.  She put her head down (something she rarely does) and gave me a slow blink and then allowed me to lead her to the feeding area.  What a warm feeling.  Then, of course I re-fed them and sat back and watched them eat.  I closed my eyes and could feel the beauty.  Sound cheesy? Maybe a little but for those who have appreciated the beauty on the inside, maybe not so cheesy.

Do we treat our fellow humans in this manner? How many of us have taken the time to just be and take in the beauty of our partner, not the outside but the inside.  To connect to the spirit of this person? 

Colorful Perpectives

A good place to start could be to try to imagine yourself in their shoes- literally.  Sure that sounds funny, what if their shoe doesn't fit?... Seriously though, imagining what they stand on could give us a better understanding.  Maybe try to envision looking out of their eyes.  Getting down low, for example, if you were trying to see through the eyes of a child.  When working with a foal, getting down to their level allows us to see from a new perspective.

Many of us enjoy looking down on things, like from an airplane for example or viewing photos of the Earth from the moon but how many of us like to view things from the ground up?  I'm going to try it- maybe rediscover a whole new beauty.

Sustenance

What is it that we truly need for survival, for satisfaction, for happiness?  Love, food, shelter are the first things that come to my mind.  What is it that really sustains a human being?  All of us are different, of course, but when it comes down to it, what is it we need to live?  Or better yet, in these times, what can we live without?


Horses do not require a barn, Mexican beaches, red satin stilettos- they require food, water, and safety.  The freedom to socialize and breed.  To move and rest and play.  Sounds like we humans have a lot of the same requirements... However we have a tendency to get caught up with all the bells and whistles.


For example- I have a $2000 computer in front of me with more of that in camera equipment.  Do I need that? No, not really, it does however allow me to feed my soul.  Or what I perceive what my soul requires.  Technology is not sustenance but what I can do with it, that, I feel sustains me.  One is truly all we ever need but how many of us can handle that? On a good day, I can feel that belief pulsing through my veins.  On most days,  I feel and give in to wants, obsessions, and desires.  Maybe I just need more to do? I've tried that.  Becoming a workaholic was great and then came the burn out.  We have all the tools within, accessing them has become difficult for the majority of us.  Horses use them every day.  Every second of every day.  There is no question of what they need to live and what they can live without.

One of the last pristine places on Earth.  It's simplicity presents all that is needed for survival.

One blade of luscious green grass surrounded by dozens of its friends, that is quite simply sustenance for a horse.  They are not thinking "Gee I wish that I could not eat this green grass and go chill in front of a television eating some meal replacement."  That's the beauty part of a horse, they are not fake, nor do they require falsities. 


I have known people to adorn their horses with as many clothes as they themselves own, at least as pricey.  And I am guilty of that too.  I have purchased $200 winter blankets for my old guy.  Did he really need it? Well in the wild, no.  He would have found a way to shelter himself from the elements.  In this life we have created for ourselves, however, we have mostly taken away the ability for animals to seek natural protection and so we anthropomorphize them by projecting our bare skin omnivorous needs onto them.  Sounds kinda silly.  But we still do it.  And its big business.

Which of these things is not like the others?

What it comes down to is that our lives could truly emulate that of the equine rather than that of the metro sexual lifestyle that is pushed/chosen on/for us.

Control

Essentially we all have a mind of our own.  And that scares a lot of people.  Why?  Because we cannot know what they are thinking, what they are going to do next or say next, etc.  So many people take action and try take control.  Take control as in removing power from someone else and this only happens if we allow it to.  (Of course there are some extraordinary instances when this statement is not feasible).  Some people are manipulative, they try to make their idea your idea.  There is probably a good chance that we have all done this to some degree, I know I have.  Especially with horses.


A real relationship- a true teaching relationship, has no control.  It has the power of suggestion.  This is empowering or better yet enabling.  Its about creating circumstances to learn from understanding, not mimicking or reacting out of fear, for example.  Think about when you were a kid and your parents said you 'can't do that' and proceeded to NOT offer an explanation why or offered up the ol' standby 'Because'.  When working with horses, 'because' doesn't work.  They need to see/feel an out, a release, a place to go.  This place is learning.  If your Mom told you 'You can't do that because you will burn yourself' and then maybe go further than that saying 'My brother did that when he was a kid and got burnt badly' then you are more likely to think 'Oh, that makes sense, getting burned hurts,' and find something else to do.  Of course much of life is trial and error but GOOD teachers help.

This horse cannot get away from pressure in
the mouth, one of the most sensitive areas on
the horse.  Its mouth is tied shut. There are many
tools used to gain control through force.

I have both good and bad teachers when it has come to life and horses.  The best advice I got about life is to be optimistically skeptical (although at most times I am still a pushover and trust all too easily) The best advice I heard in regards to horses- that they are a horse and not a person.  We have a tendency to anthropomorphize our animals- that is to see them in a human light.  I still do it, but what it all boils down to, they are prey animals, they are grazing moving animals and we cannot change or control this.

Worth

You've probably watched horse jumping events such as the Spruce Meadows Masters where the horses have a 'value' more than the entirety of what many people own.  Prospects can start as high as $250,000 or more.  Some stud fees for race horses run $500,000-  This is half million dollar sperm.
Does a million dollar horse know that it's a million dollar horse? Does an auction-mart special, know that it's an auction-mart special?  Are either one of these horses more or less trainable or lovable or powerful?

Every eye opens to a soul

Good friends of mine, cow folk, country folk, middle-of-nowhere folk, took a chance and pursued a dream venture of breeding and raising race horses.  People told them that they were crazy, that their poe-dung operation would be a failure.  That they were nobodies, bush-riding, quarter horse fanatics who invested the farm into race horses.  They asked my advice- I said they were crazy, but most folks think I am crazy to climb aboard a colt that has never been ridden... I told them "Go for it."  And what happened? Success.  They have produced winners.  Even owned a North American top rated Thoroughbred stud (Suave) at one time.  And still they are bush-riding quarter horse fanatics and proud of it.  They produced race horses in the cattle pen, just as good, if not better than some polished-glowing-white-fenced-paved Kentucky farm.  Did they let it go to their head? No, they said "well that was fun" and went back to their 'normal' lives.  I have even seen them herding cattle with a two year old, fresh off the track Thoroughbred- who by the way, was more cowy than some of the cows.  

This horse may be priceless to one and worthless to another

The point is, horses do not know their 'worth'.  Worth is a number, a commodity name tag, a brand, a waste.  I have not always believed this, however.  As a child and young girl, a horse was a horse was a horse.  When I began training and doing research into bloodlines, I slowly became a snob of sorts and am guilty of looking down my nose at horses who were not 'well put together' or 'well-bred'.  I also allowed myself to believe much of what I was told by so called experts.  For example- This horse isn't 'bred' to race or work cows.  Now, in a more enlightened period of my life, I haven't forgotten the bloodline info, I just appreciate the heart and soul of every horse.  Some of the 'better' horses out there couldn't win a halter class even if you drugged the judges.  But still they are protectors, saviors, best friends, leaders, teachers and heros- Priceless.


Worth, when it comes to horses, is strictly a human term.  They all are valuable in one way or another.

To view a winning farm-bred race horse: http://vimeo.com/15722030