Things the Horses have Taught Me

I have learned so many lessons over the years from the horses, but it has only been in the last year, when I have be able to stop, shutup and really listen to them, that I have learned the most. It has not been an easy journey, but on the same hand, it has not been a hard journey. It has been a journey that involved everyone, and a journey that involved only me and my horse. It has been a pardox of life, and a realization of balance. The horses are my teachers, they are my guides, and they are my partners.

Important Life Lessons, as Taught by Horses

by Kolina Crowe

Love Unconditionally, with your whole heart. Completely and irrevocably. Do not be afraid to love with all that you are. Allow yourself to feel and experience love and all of it's emotions.

It is okay to feel. It is okay to open up those dark corners of your self, to grieve, to relive them and to find closure in letting them go. It is okay to heal. You will not fall, for even while you are down, I will hold you up.

Trust in yourself, trust in your methods and trust in this journey. Trust that all things work out, that all things have a purpose, and that all actions and happenings have a reason.

Let go of your past, it is time to look ahead to the future. Some paths meet and continue on together. Some paths are destened to only to cross. Either way, these meetings will alter you if you allow them to. They allow you to grow, and show you parts of the journey that you could not see alone. They will come to a beautiful end, but even that, in its self, is a part of the journey.

Live with Patience, some things need to work themselves out. You can not rush or hurry that which is meant to be.  

Allow yourself to live in the moment, forget control, forget ego, forget pride, forget expectation, forget agenda. Be Your Self in this moment, and in all moments.

Change is essential to all things. Change allows us to grow. Change allows us to realize our own potential. Without Change, there would be no Journey.

'journey'

Deciding to Move On

For those of you who know me personally, you know that Scooby (9 year old sport horse Gelding) and I have been on a profound journey together. You also know that at the begining of this all, we agreed that this journey was a temporary fixture, meant as a catalyst to help Scooby to find his true place in this world, and his person to help him do it. About three weeks ago Scooby decided that he was ready to find his person. He decided that our Journey together was coming to an end and that it was time for both of us to continue on our seperate journies. It was almost scary how well things worked out, I posted Scooby for sale with an ad of what he was looking for specifically in his 'forever' human partner. The first and only lady that responded, was the first and only lady who came to look at him. At first I was apprehensive. She seemed loud, boisterous, almost over the top. Not what I expected. Definately not what I thought Scoob would want, but I decided to give her the bennifit of the doubt. Obviously Scooby knew what he was doing, and why he had inadvertantly called this woman here. "Just trust it." Again, with the trust. We had to wait for about an hour while the woman's retreat finished up in the arena, and it gave us time to talk. Although she had a crusty, loud boisterous exterior, inside she was that excited little girl who was shopping for her pony. She had a deep love and respect for the horses, but was not inclined to treat them as anything but horses. I began to see why Scooby had picked her. As we talked more and more, the pieces seem to keep clicking and clicking and clicking into place. I'll admit I was still apprehensive. All those old 'What ifs?' came rearing up. I was reluctant to admit that he would be better off where he wanted to be. I was reluctant to acknowledge the fact that I felt a need to control where he went, how he went and who he went with. I got a little caught up in the old stuff.  Scooby had decided that he wanted his person, now all we needed was for her to decide that she also wanted him. This is a big decision, and it took her a few weeks to make it, but finally she did. She told me that it just 'felt right' and that she knew when she came to look at him that 'he was the one' but she just wanted to make sure. I could relate to all of that. Yesterday she came to pick him up. I had told Scooby two days before that he was going to his new home on Sunday. On Sunday morning he was waiting. Happy, soft and completely relaxed. He was ready to go, impatiently shoving his head in the halter, and practically dragging my friend Amber all the way down to the barn. While in the barn he continuously looked out the windows, still relaxed and happy, looking for something (or someone!). When she finally arrived he couldn't wait to get on the trailer, trying to get on before the doors where even open all the way. All of this just proves to me, or rather, re-confirms in my mind, that horses DO have an understanding of what is going on. They DO know when things are happening, and they DO expereince emotions along with those events. If we where so deluded about this aspect of it, what else are we missing??

The Next Step For Scooby

I'm not really sure what I want to write on today, there's nothing that says I have to, but I sure would like to! There's so many ideas for post topics, so many things that I could touch on, try to explain, or even just offer personal insight on. Today, tho, they can't figure out which one wants to step forward and volunteer. So, until they decide, I'll just tell you about my very cool expereince with my boys yesterday.
I've mentioned Scooby before in previous posts, He's a 9 year old Sport Horse Gelding in search of his soul. Arik, my 6 year old Warmblood, is a confident journey facilitator. Arik and Scooby have been working together and for the last five days, since Arik arrived back at Liberty, they have been working hard on something. They are basically attached at the hip, going everywhere and doing everything together. Usually they are off a distance from the herd just quietly grazing together. I've been bringing them in together, we've been going into the Arena and simply enjoying being together. A couple days I had friends come with me, One, Amber, was having a hard day and Arik took it upon himself to help her work through it. There was a lot of yawning and quiet energy that day. That same day, Scooby came in and was angry, sad, I'd almost say depressed looking, he simply followed Arik around and stood in his energy, letting it go.
So anyways, they've been coming in together, and working together on lots of stuff. They've been helping Max, a clients horse, get over his over the top anger issues, and they've been helping each other with something profound. Yesterday I go out to get them, intending to bring only Arik in for some one on one time, but Scoob isn't having any of this. He walks with us all the way to the gate, not once stopping, not once looking back. I don't have another halter, but it's obvious that he feels he needs to come in. I need to trust that he knows what he is doing. The old stuff starts to come up a little bit. In the old stuff you do NOT take your horse anywhere unless he's on a halter and proporly secured. It takes a lot for me to open that gate and let him out, but I do it. He comes all the way in, all by himself. He eats his grain, standing, untied, unhaltered and completely free in the hallway. He comes into the arena to play on his own free will, with the big door to back outside, and his herd, open behind him. That, my friends, is such an amazing experience. That, my friends, is what time and patience allows the horses to offer. That, my friends, is simply, breathtakingly profound.

Beautiful Sunset

Allowance

Allowance is an important concept on the road of the spiritaul journey. Allowing things to just be as they are is probably one of the most difficult things to do. It begins inside, within you, as you are. It begins with Honesty. Honesty with yourself is the first step to allowance. Honesty must be obtained in all things, your thoughts, actions, way of existing. You must be willing to allow things to have an honest purpose, whether they are precieved as good or bad, positive or negative. With honesty comes acceptance. Acceptance for these things as they are, acceptance that we cannot control, we cannot force, we cannot bind or hinder the purpose of things. We cannot decide why things are as they are, we cannot decide what things should be. After we have fully accepted honesty, and acceptance, we can then move onto allowance. This is different then acceptance. In allowance we go above accepting things as they are, and actually give them full permission to be as they are, for the purpose they are. We allow everything to be within its purpose, we allow the control to dissipate, we allow the things that are meant for us to resonate within us, we allow change to occur, we allow balance and enlightenment to begin.