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.