Today I went to the country to spend time in nature, to visit and learn from my mentor, to ground myself and to replenish my spirit in the company of that most noble of beasts, the horse.
I spent time caring for my sweet old man, but I ended up spending a lot more time in the company of mares.
There was a time when I distrusted mares. I felt that they were too willful and dangerous. I did not understand the mare.
A mare is a whole horse. She is a passionate being. She has her own emotions, her own moods, her own ideas about the way things should be, and sometimes she feels that her idea is better than yours. Sometimes she is right, for she can sense things that you cannot.
If you gain the trust and love of a mare, if you form a partnership with her, if you meet her half way with an open and honest heart, and consider her instead of simply commanding and attempting to control her, she will give you everything. She will run herself to death for you, if you are foolish and callous enough to ask it of her. She will be your friend, your ally, and your caretaker. She will obey you, and gladly give herself over to your will. Most of the time.
If you confine her, if you try to break her, if you imrpison her in a box and make her world smaller, you will see the light fade from her eyes, her spirit muted, and despair will rule her. Or, she will feel trapped, panicked, and she will fight you and the prison she's bound in with everything she's got. Panic will rule her.
Let her run free, let her be the beautiful, powerful soul that she is, and she might be a little more dangerous... she might be a little more difficult. But she will shine. And she will shine for you.
