For those of us that experience our Horses as sentient and a part of our personal and spiritual expansion, the Horse can be quite the dichotomy.
I know my Horses really well. I channel communication with them with amazing and dazzling clarity and most of the time we align in perfect harmony. Occasionally, we are polar opposites. Identifying ourselves autonomously as Horse or Human and acting/reacting as such, curious about each other but with little in common.
This sometimes frustrates me, and other times amazes me. How can we be so connected, and yet as Human I am still dominated to my thinking and as a Horse, they remain dominated by their instincts? One day they want to share the same skin, the next day they resist being caught. One day they initiate connection and the next they draw back in resistance, observing rather than interacting. Most days they clamor for attention at the gate, other days they fly past bucking and blowing.
Most days I look for connection with them, others I am distracted by life. Sometimes I see them as demigods, wise beyond words and the epitome of forgiveness. Other days I wonder if aliens came and took them during the night leaving me with bizarre strangers with unrecognizable behaviors.
Most of the time Horses so willingly cooperate and co-create with us, proving their commitment to align with our requests and demands.
Yes, even those of us that consciously consider our Horses and their welfare and indigenous rights still ‘demand’ that they comply in many ways. They must live where we say, they must travel in boxes when asked, and they eat what we provide. They wear the tack we provide. They must adapt to our personal and sometimes inconsistent opinion of space, request and respect. Yes we place many demands on them. Sometimes right, sometimes not.
And they on us. They demand that we are present and there are likely to be repercussions if we are not. Because we have caused them to be dependent on us, they demand that we provide proper and thoughtful care and facilities or there will be damage.
For those of us that recognize the Horse as a Soul Being, we experience them as a part of our soul journey. And they demand that we take the path to greater understanding and expansion. And when we don’t, we find ourselves stymied and frustrated by not following the call to break free of old modes of thinking and behavior.
Horses bring out the best in us. Horses bring out the worst in us. We bring out the best in them. We bring out the worst in them. Horses can make us transcend all that we have been taught or believed about them and they can make us question that we ever knew anything at all about them. They can lead us to euphoria, and they can leave us in utter despair.
Do we only notice this dichotomy when we decide that we will see our Horses as autonomous and sovereign? Is this what makes us acutely aware of when the contrast is present? Perhaps if we do not view them with this lens, we will dismiss them as stupid and contrary, oblivious of the dichotomy within this mysterious creature that ultimately revels the dichotomy within us as Human.
So, how do we use this dichotomy to further our understanding, our spiritual connections, and our partnership with them? We walk between the worlds of Horse and Human.
When we are able to detach from our current knowledge and expectations, we can clear the way for combined and aligned learning. When we detach from our current knowledge, we diminish our expectations from the outcome and just allow new (or ancient) information to enter our awareness. This can build connections that bridge much of the dichotomy between Horses and Humans so that we can navigate our differences with grace, adaptability and advancement.