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Nature can be powerful: Looking Inside To Train A Wild Horse

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Human nature: Horsemanship as a mirror of our intentions

nature

Humankind is starting to awaken. As we watch the nature collapse underneath our feet. Slowly, we are beginning to realize how long we have been in a state of disconnect. Our home’s resources are exploited faster than they can replenish. Asthma rates are increasing every year, since we pollute our own air- and waterways. We poach vulnerable species to a point where the last white rhino male on earth needs to be guarded by a group of armed men. Humans have lost touch with nature.

However, we begin to realize that the nature is our home. That without it, we cannot survive. Slowly but surely, a sense of urgency arises all over the world. But, to begin restoring nature, we need to look inward first at our human nature.

Energy attracts Energy

In the book Spiritual Partnership, Gary Zukav explains the Universal Law of Cause and Effect. Every cause produces an effect, and every effect has a cause. Take this together with the Universal Law of Attraction, that energy attracts energy, and we can begin to understand that negativity creates negative consequences. Anger attracts anger, and will create painful consequences. This is also true for jealousy, greed, and fear. These feelings create consequences that are painful for us.

Similarly, positivity has positive consequences. Love attracts love. We can influence the consequences of our actions by setting our intention: the inner motivation behind our actions. As long as our intentions come from a painful place, a place of fear, anger, greed, or jealousy, we cannot expect to create positive consequences. We cannot expect to have a positive impact on our environment. It is this choice of intention that is fundamental for human transformation. That is the law of nature.

Training Cheyenne – a wild horse

Once, in winter time, I stood in a corral with a wild and troubled horse. Her name was Cheyenne. She was terrified of me. My intention was to ride her through the mountains one day. Training such a difficult horse would be a true accomplishment, I thought.

Of course that didn’t work out very well. She had no interest in cooperating with me. I was faced with feelings of frustration and rejection. I stepped aside, sat down, and turned inward. I breathed, listened to the nature within me, and a feeling of compassion and positivity arose. I noticed how I let go of my expectations. Suddenly, it didn’t matter anymore what I wanted, I
accepted the situation as it was and experienced peace.

The snow fell on my cheeks, my toes were getting cold, water was dripping from the tank. And then I felt a gentle breath in my neck. I turned to look over my shoulder, and my nose nearly touched hers. Cheyenne had come to me. A feeling of deep and intense connectedness with nature blanketed me. I was grateful. Joyous. By changing my intention, my inner feelings of frustration were exchanged with the deepest connection to myself and nature I have ever felt.

Horsemanship as a Mirror of the Human Nature

This is why I see horsemanship as a mirror of the human nature. Our internal struggles and feelings of fear, anger, greed and jealousy are most visible in our relationships with non-human animals. Especially horses. Riding on horses through the mountains does feel good. Or racing with them on a track might feel good. But our intentions for engaging with these
animals are so often painful, and centred around our ego.

This is also why these relationships are the hardest one to change, as we are confronted with the parts of ourselves that we are trying to transform. Engaging in compassionate, respectful and grateful relationships with horses, where we acknowledge that they are entitled to their own bodies, takes courage and may hurt our ego in the beginning. We will likely be rejected many times. But it could be the next step towards a life with more compassion, love and a higher consciousness.

I often get frowned upon when I tell people I don’t ride horses anymore. Just like I get frowned upon when I tell people I don’t eat animals anymore. But when I tell people I seek to have a positive impact on the world and nature by engaging in compassionate relationships, they agreeingly nod. Yet, the intention of these decisions is the same.

Elke