Horse Dreams

The blog is a bit horse heavy this morning, probably because I'm in such a good place with Oakley these days. After the accident, my confidence had taken a plunge, but each time I get back in the saddle, it strengthens.

A beautiful summer day on the east coast means no humidity, and that’s what it was like this past Saturday. I went riding with Greg, the farm owner, a man who has also become a dear friend. We went through the trails and through the cornfields, slow and easy, sometimes breaking into a run. It’s peaceful, so quiet; just the sounds of the horse’s hooves hitting the ground and the cracking of the saddles as the leather moves with their stride.

At one point Greg and I were making our way up a road and were approached by two Rottweilers in the front of a house. Horses are prey animals, flight animals, so to be on one's back at a moment like that, trust has to kick into high gear on both sides. I allowed Oakley to take the lead and he ran. But because the dogs weren’t barking or biting, and there was no serious danger, I pulled back on the reins, just a bit, and he yielded to me and slowed down his pace. In a few moments the dogs had backed off and the horses had calmed.

The relationship between human and horse, though often difficult to build, is a simple one. Oakley doesn’t have to fill a list of my needs. The way he relates to me has nothing to do with how I feel about the world, about my life, or what I want before I die. I don’t need that much from him, I don’t need him to love me. I’m glad we got to run from the big dogs together, it was frightening for both of us, but I believe it also brought us one step closer to that bond between horse and human, one step closer to what I call, “The Dream.”