My first Horse, an Arabian Mare was Untamable. She was entirely trainable, but her spirit was untamed. She had a fire inside her that burned brighter than any cloak of domestication could ever control or diminish.
This was her seduction, the willingness to collaborate with me and still remain true to her indigenous wild nature. Even under saddle you could feel the wild. She never bucked, but you could feel the wild pulsing through her body and speed was her favorite gait.
I yearned for this wildness within myself. To be true to myself without apology or regret. She was my Role Model and my Muse.
But I seemed to be slave to over domestication. To overthinking and compromise and apology. To believe my thinking more than believing my sensory wisdom. For years I could not understand her great seduction over me, but the more domesticated I became, the more I yearned to be like her.
To choose my instincts over my thinking. To feel the wild of nature all around me. To trust that the information in this wild nature would be just as powerful and true as human programming and logic.
It is often the ‘wild’ within Horses that is so compelling. And it is the ‘wild’ that we fear; or worse, try to take out of them. I often wonder what it is like for the Horse. To be a wild creature whose instinctual nature never dies and yet, has been domesticated. To become reliant on Humans for care but maintains an intrinsic nature that cautions this very existence.
This is a unique contrast in which to live your whole life. Balancing domestication with wild. Most Horses are amazing at adapting to life with Humans, but a few will not be able to adapt.
How about we Humans? Can we open our potential to return to more of our wild? To let go of some of our Human Training and allow more of our wild nature to have a voice? If we ask the Horse to adapt, we need to adapt some too.
Perhaps if we can open our hearts and our minds to our own instinctual nature, we will understand that this is a gift that Horses give to us. To take us out of our overthinking busyness. To remind us that we too are mammals, and we share many needs and commonalities, including necessary time to give to our wild nature freedom. To remember what it is like to be untamed.
It is not natural for something Wild to agree to domestication. So, keeping this in mind, have a greater appreciation for how Horses agree to partner with us in so many ways.
The Invitation
Make a conscious effort to see some of the ways that your Horse agrees to training. The fact that they allow us to ride them is a huge witness to their acceptance of training. We often dismiss this tremendous acquiesce that the Horse gives us. They willing submit to our request or our demands. It is time we honestly appreciate what this requires of them. Now, in fairness to the Horse how will you allow them to remain untamed? What are some things you can do or allow that will honor their wild nature?