One wing…

This weekend I had the luxury and gift of spending time with horses…

As a girl I never had a horse,

but I always rode whenever I could…

My dad would often take me to a stable out in Delta for runs on Boundary Bay,

trail rides out by Buntzen Lake whenever we were visiting friends on Sunnyside Road,

a week at the Double T in the Cariboo…

These are some of my earlier horse memories…

As an adult I rode in the hills around Waterton National Park in Alberta,

and into the Ilgachuz Range in the Chilcotin…

This was a particularly memorable and painful ride…

The day before I got on a green horse named Bugsy who had not been ridden all year…

I ended up throwing myself off of him midway across a pasture as he flew towards a fence…

Like Wayne Gretzsky and his ability to see where the puck was going before it got there,

I could see that Bugsy had plans for a sudden stop,

and me catapulting over his head…

This is where you use vision to anticipate and avoid disaster,

for a more positive outcome…

I woke up black and blue the next morning but got back on that horse,

and rode for eleven plus hours the next day up into a herd of migrating cariboo…

These are some moments I will never forget,

due to the intense and rough beauty of the experience,

but also because I couldn’t walk the next day,

or the one after that…

This weekend the horse experience was on the ground,

except for the four minutes when I sat blinfolded on this beautiful silver-grey Appaloosa gelding,

and was led around,

and up and down a small field…

It takes an incredible amount of trust to put yourself in the hands of people you don’t know,

up in the air on a horse you’ve just met,

and trust in yourself that you can relax into your breath,

into the darkness,

and into not knowing exactly where you are going,

but knowing in the end that it will all be okay…

This male horse reminded me of my dog who died three years ago around this time…

I kept looking at this horse and thinking,

You’re a man in a horse suit aren’t you…

He nodded several times,

in response to my thoughts,

and stretched his head to me,

rolling up his eyes in surrender…

I said to him,

YOU are so wise,

and sweet,

and strong…

And I felt him say,

straight in my heart,

So are you…

And in this place,

with me,

you can be EVERYTHING that you are…

Had to listen, had no choice...