Emma and I often talk together about this life path we currently share and the wonder of it.  We feel blessed to have one another in what would otherwise frequently feel like a lonely, isolated journey for us individually.

Emma’s journey is to understand and follow an approach to horsemanship that is based on a strong spiritual relationship with her horses; a connection that employs no force, no restraints, no punishment, no physical or emotional pain for either horse or human. Emma’s desire is to rejoice in the innate beauty of this powerful equine shaman who can teach her the glory of relationship with animals and, therefore, with humans.  Because traditional horsemanship and people in the horse industry typically endorse such activities as horseback riding, jumping, dressage, racing, polo, etc., and the incumbent force associated with these sports, Emma finds herself mostly alone in her equine pursuits.  She must seek out and travel to the few mentors available who share and practice her horsemanship beliefs to help her grow in her relationship with her horses, Freedom (aka Saoirs – Seer-sha) and Emmy.  She has been fortunate in this pursuit to find wonderfully spiritual teachers.

My journey is to be able to create and share meaningful stories through filmmaking.  This comes at a time in my life when nearly all of my peers are looking upon retirement as the next phase of their lives.  I am 60 years old.  Shouldn’t I also be thinking about relaxing into my senior years?  My role model was a mother who was still teaching piano when she died in a car accident at the age of 92 – really!  As a result, I see at least 30 more years within which to pursue my bliss!  So, about 18 months ago, I discovered the joy of storytelling through film in a video class at the Computer Career Institute at Johns Hopkins University.  I created Crabtowne Productions http://www.crabtowne.com/ last year, and following the making of my first short film “My Friend Joan: A Conversation,” I began working with Emma on “Freedom’s Choice.”  http://www.freedomschoicethemovie.com/ She and her horses are a joy to be around!  I must, however, walk this new path without daily professional partners to support me.  Everything I need to learn, I must seek out on my own.  Like Emma, I have been blessed in finding what I need thus far, and along with Emma, we are moving forward in this new and exciting venture…together.

Last night I finished reading The Horses of Proud Spirit, a true story by Melanie Sue Bowles, founder and owner, along with her husband Jim, of the Poud Spirit Horse Sanctuary in Mena, Arkansas.  http://www.horsesofproudspirit.com 

What beautiful, soulful, and heart-touching stories unfold as Melanie reveals the spiritual path she and these horses follow to Proud Spirit.  I did not want the book to end!  Thank Goodness there is a sequel, Hoof Prints:  More Stores from Proud Spirit, which I can’t wait to read! 

I can strongly recommend The Horses of Proud Spirit to everyone who loves animals.  http://www.horsesofproudspirit.com/books.html  Treat yourself!

Some Nights, hearing her outside

I think that she is to earth

What I am to her,

Belonging.

-Linda Hogan

            We are directly connected to nature.  We came out of nature, evolving like the rest of our animal relations out of and into the earth.  We depend on nature to survive, to give us oxygen to breath, food to feast upon, and space to live.  In this was we are part of it. 

            We are also reflected by nature.  Through observing the natural world, witnessing death and birth, violence and compassion, intimacy and independence, and all that lies between we see ourselves in nature.  All that takes place in the world of the animals and plants takes place in our human world.  In a way all of nature is inside of us.

            The Celts believed that our soul is expressed in nature. That all which dwells in the natural world is part of us and we are part of it.

            “Try this the next time some natural scene of beauty or power pulls you towards it. It might be a radiant sun-set, the stars on a vary clear, cold night, a great expanse of beach with waves rolling over mossy stones. Close your eyes and continue to see the scene, and realize that the pull it has on you is coming from within you as much as from without” (Cowan, 4).

            If we are from nature, reflected in nature, and of nature then we are always connected to the earth and to one another.  We are never alone. We are always whole.

            As we have continued to evolve we have stepped further and further away from nature.  Our dependency upon nature becomes more obscure, many of us are not surrounded by wilderness anymore, and we forget that we are not alone. 

            Many of us search for a path to lead us back to a feeling of wholeness.  We are separated from nature. Separated from ourselves and separated from one another. 

            One way in which we can begin to know ourselves again is through contacting nature.  Being with animals, being with horses, is a direct connection with nature.  The horse is an example of nature in all her spender: Powerful, compassionate, wild, and wise the horse can lead us back to our oneness with nature. 

            We are connected to the horse.  We both came out of nature, evolving to live and grow on the earth.  We have depended on the horse, as our civilization developed the horse carried us over mountains, through great battles, and helped us cultivate our agricultural and spiritual practices.  We are reflected by the horse.  Every movement with our body, thought of our mind, feeling of our heart is sensed and interpreted by the horse, showing us who we really are.

            As we have continued to evolve the horse has become forgotten. No longer a necessity it has been degraded and underappreciated, used in pleasure and competition, the magnificence, wild nature of the horse is reduced and discarded.

            By learning to honor the nature in the horse, we can learn to honor that nature in us.  By cultivating a relationship with a horse we may learn to be authentic and whole with ourselves, with our fellow beings, and with nature. 

You will grow, laugh, cry

And we will celebrate each change you live.

You will grow strong like the horses of your past.

You will grow strong like the horses of your birth.

-Luci Tapahonso

Bibliography

Cowan, Tom. Yearning for the Wind: Celtic Reflections on Nature and the Soul.

Museum of American Indian. Song for the Horse Nation; Horses in Native American Cultures