This morning, Julia and I had a hard time waking up. When I finally did wake, it was from my mom beating on my window - I would be worried if I hadn't woken up then. Sleep was gone from my mind by the time I got out the door. My heart searched for the feel of the ride before we were riding, and I saw several glimpses of us riding.
I will list only my favorite parts of the trail ride- so here we go.
We walked along the trail, down a slight hill through the valley. Cherish, being who she is, wished to walk off of the path - I obliged, and actually enjoyed being on the grass rather than the dry dirt. A ditch and a giant briar patch was coming up, so we sidestepped off of the grass and onto the trail fairly easily. After a few moments, I felt a slight hitch and awkward movement in her gate. I was able to pinpoint it immediately, but waited a few seconds before actually getting off to make sure that it was actually a rock. She let me know that there was a rock there, and that it was very uncomfortable. I hopped off of her back, picked up her foot, and began scraping at some dirt next to her frog. My mom conveniently had a little carry on hoofpick that unfolded, so she let me use it. As I got the rock out, she continued to try and step away to eat grass. I began to get so frustrated that every time I asked her not to, she would continue... So, I popped her face by taking the line and pulling on it. At the moment, I was so frustrated that I didn't notice the guilt that sat at the bottom of my stomach.
I was able to easily hop back up onto her back, but she was a bit irritated at me from that pop. I started to
vaguely think to myself how I could keep from popping her, or even pulling on her reins a bit, in order to keep her from eating grass....
We walked across the road quietly, with her originally lacking a bit of confidence but then being comfortable enough crossing it. All six of us walked quietly up the other side of the road, up the hill, until we reached the top. We let the horses stop to graze there, looking down at the beautiful valley surrounding and the crevice ahead of us that formed two hills. I smiled at the beauty of the land, and Cherish felt the joy that I had of the places we were, raising her head and looking at me in recognition. My mom took pictures of us. I may post them later.
We made our way quietly down the hill, zigging and zagging this way and that. It was a steep hill for us to go up. At the end of the hill, I reached my right hand down, pictured grazing, and tasted grass in my mouth for Cherish so that she would graze while the others slowly made their way up the hill. Sharlie began trotting about halfway up the hill, and I watched, chuckling to myself quietly, as she leapt this way and that trying to clear over the brush. Poor Julia was holding on fairly well, but Sharlie wasn't going to make it easy for her. It looked as if Julia was placed back in the saddle, and I had to laugh of the comical feel of the two. I couldn't blame her, for Sharlie's pace and random leaping here and there and going up the steep hill. They smiled at me from above once they made the top, and my mom called me up. My heart soared, and at the same time that it did, so did Cherish. We leapt together up the hill in large bounds of gallop and leaps, her dodging this way and that because of holes that she felt through the vibrations in her feet. I smiled at the freedom of it and laughed at the fact that I was sliding backwards slightly, as we were in a quite erect position. When we reached the top, Cherish immediately slowed to a trot, where we made our way to where the other horses were. My mom mentioned how she wished she had taken a picture of that. I shrugged. The whole moment would be trapped in my mind and my heart for a long time.
As we made our way down the hill, we realized that we wouldn't be able to get through the tree line and to the other side. We would have to go onto the road. Cherish led the way, happily in front at last. I loved the sound of the clippy clopping against the pavement, yet I knew better than to be on the road for very long. As we went around the turn, a car approached us fairly quickly, but slowed down as it passed. I showed my palm to the man passing in thanks, and he simply nodded in recognition as he passed Cherish. He was a kind man. Not wise, just kind.
We continued up the trail, curving around slowly and then up the hill. There were beautiful branches on both sides of us that we passed, just there. A small house came up on our right, with an old red Toyota truck that I couldn't help but envy in the yard. Chevrolet, to me, has always been better than Toyota, but hey - old red truck is love. I imagine myself having an old red Chevy truck with a red stock trailer pulled behind it. I have come to prefer stock trailers, as Cherish prefers them instead.
I'm going to skip ahead to the trail up the hill across the street now.
As we were in the back now, I started to realize that there was a presence there that I hadn't felt before. I wondered why it decided to appear only now, but as I wondered, it simply replied in a feeling of something along the lines of that I hadn't been open before. As I opened to listening to the presence, I was able to feel the world around me better than I had been a moment ago, and all of a sudden we began to speak to each other with much wisdom. It shared things with me that I did not know, allowed me to learn things on how to truly join with Cherish. The presence seemed slightly splayed though, as if it was more than one... And with that thought, I realized that it was.
It was the first time that I had been with the presence of a horse. There was a tall, grey horse that was regal and had somehow found itself with the Indians after its life with the Englishmen. It didn't care to share its story of its escape, only of the boy who rode him afterwards. There was a cheeky pony whom he quite enjoyed, yet was also a slight annoyance to him, that was appaloosa spotted all over. He would exaggerate the grey horse's quiet feelings with his face expressions and the stronger feel of his emotions, the demanding that I feel. As I was following the voices of the horses, the feel of their conveyings and seeing the pictures that they wished for me to see, I was able to then flow with Cherish. She stopped pulling for grass for the most part. We truly connected. I completely "indulged" in her. We enjoyed it so much, and my hips and back molded into her gait like I never had before. Each time I began to think of something, she would do it with me, but much of the time I simply went with her and listened to her. Neither of us was truly a leader, and each time I tried to become that leader, she would stop. Just dead stop. I had a hard time with that each time it happened, getting back into the mindset of "we are together" rather than "you will walk for me". I couldn't believe the difference between the feel of simply riding and the feel of being connected. I felt like the Indian boy who rode his tall grey horse, being able to ride him completely bridleless and leaning back and touching the hindquarters - only touching softly to stay connected, not for a cue, for speed, and then reaching forward and putting energy in your resting hands against the shoulders and saying a strange word very slowly and calmly until they stopped. I had the word just on the tip of my tongue for a moment, and then it disappeared as I began to voice it, so I simply let myself say "whooaaaa...." very quietly. There was no squeezing of the legs anymore - it was not needed. There really was not any leg aids at all, to tell the truth. There was simply slight weight aids, and connection, and flow. And the quiet spirit of the grey horse with his Indian boy, yet his Indian boy only being a shadow, and the cheeky Appaloosa spotted pony in behind. I began to doubt myself for only a moment, that they were actually there, and suddenly with the drop of the belief that the connection with both Cherish and the two horses, she stopped and put her head up and gave me a sour face, the cheeky pony raised his head and his front end off the ground and his ears pinned, and the tall grey just closed his eyes and dropped his head, then raised it again. It is real...
I have things like this often, that I am able to feel, but this is the first time that I have really made a connection with the ancient horses. Typically it is a different animal or a person.... but this time it was so much more special. Cherish and I flowed and were together. It was.
No comments:
Post a Comment