is that which blows between a horse's ears." -- Unknown
For a road trip, I always keep riding jeans, boots, and helmet in my car. I've never taken an impromptu horseback ride, but I always like to be prepared just in case the opportunity turns up.
There is nothing like seeing the world from the back of a horse. There just isn't anything that matches. Not only can one see more because they're higher up, but feeling the motion of an animal moving beneath you, whether one is simply plodding along at a casual walk, or galloping with purpose... there are no words. Or, to quote Winston Churchill, "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man."
For one who only owned a riding horse three years of my life, in my early twenties, it is astonishing to me when I think back to all the horses I have ridden, all the rides I have taken, in various regions of the U.S., and also in Cornwall, England, over some five decades. In the past half dozen or so years, I've only ridden a few times on my friend's ranch in Montana, and that left my body creaking to the degree that it was "enough" for the time.
Still, being in the saddle -- anytime, anywhere, in memory -- is something that I reflect upon often. Sometimes in meditation sessions, I'll feel the motion of equine legs and just imagine myself riding along with it. Imagine spectacular scenery. Just me and the horse -- whatever type happens to meet my fancy in that particular moment -- and All That Is. Horses are magnificent companions to accompany a journey of rampant appreciation for life. Each horse's particular quirks, or lack of such, makes any particular ride all the more endearing.
Here's to that which is Horse, and the unquantifiable value it has added to my life.
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