Years ago, I wrote this and recently just found it in my files. At the time of this essay, one of my lesson horses, Gracie, was struggling with burn out and I wrote it to honor her. I also wrote this to honor the students she taught.

She would take such gentle care of the new and vulnerable students that were unsure, I could trust her with the smallest and youngest of my students and adult students that were anxious. She also proved to be a teacher that pushed the more advanced students to enter a place of oneness with her. There were times that the students she pushed would have tears of frustration as they tried to figure out what she was teaching them, but when they came through to the other side…oh my, it was truly inspiring. What she allowed me to witness between horse and rider would at times take my breath away and fill my heart with joy, love, and peace. I hope you all can enjoy this dedication to Gracie, my friend, my teacher, my partner and my horse. She had many students that loved her for who she was and not for who they thought she should be. She was blessed by them.

For The Lesson Horses

There are times as an instructor I hear, she’s lazy, she’s stubborn, she’s not pretty, I want to ride the pretty one, she’s slow, I want the fast one.   All of those negative words and thoughts, you give to the horse you are asking to teach you.    

When I look at my lesson horses I see:

Wisdom: it will take some time, but she will figure out you want her to trot when your legs say go and your hands stay stop.

Trust: she looks at me when she feels unsure about you, and she will follow my signal that clarifies yours.

Beauty: her movements become free when you unlock the tension in your body.

Calmness; in spite of your fear.

Patience; when you call her stubborn.

Purpose: when you don’t give her clear direction, she will go her own way. Or when you are clear she will go with you.

Humor; a twinkle in her eye as she makes a transition, and you do it together.

My lessons horses……They are my partners, my children in a sense, they are the horses that I choose to share with you.  There are many times you call them stubborn, but they really are trying to figure you out.  They feel you are tight, or nervous, or unsure.  They feel your anger and your tears.  They feel you moving in a four-beat walk while asking them to trot.  Not only is their job physical, but it is also mentally draining.  So, before you call your lesson horse lazy, stubborn, ugly, slow…. take a step back and try to see the world from their point of view.  They can’t understand your spoken language, they can’t see you, but they can feel you.  Take inventory of yourself, take a deep breath, and try for a moment to be in their shoes.  You just might be surprised to find beauty, trust, wisdom, calmness, patience, purpose, and humor and then; that horse might just reach up to you and say hello.