It's Magic, You Know

As soon as you get into horses, I think that the dreams start forming. You see other horsemen and horsewoman on their journeys and you wonder "How!" Even though you can see in your mind's eye yourself and your horse partaking in such hopes, the image only has the tangibility of your breath in the winter's cold air. As you and your horse embark, it may seem that almost everything you hope for is just a world full of exhaling in the tundra. Then, one by one, your horse shows you ways to hold the magic in your hands.

What was once beautiful poetry in motion, shrouded in a film of mysticism . . . well now that is your reality. It becomes so everyday, that some days, it feels just as ordinary as breathing. In and out.

But let's remember that breathing is no simple thing. Your diaphragm muscles go down, making the space in your chest cavity greater and changing the pressure. The air in the atmosphere is literally pushed into your lungs in order to balance the pressure of the atmosphere and your chest cavity. The air goes down your pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi tubes, and one of your lung's aveoli sacs. Here, via the diffusion of oxygen and carbon dioxide from lower concentration to higher concentration from aveoli to blood and blood to aveoli respectively, a switch of sorts is made. Now, as your diaphragm pushes up, working your lungs like great bellows, the carbon dioxide is ejected from your body in a windy rush. . .

Goodness. Some call it science, but to me, it is magic when I think about it like that. So, today, when I realized tangibility in one of my dreams, I stopped and cried. No dramatic catharsis. It was just that I recognized that I had let other realized dreams become mundane--and I was struck by the absolute shock of grasping something that had only moments before been a part of the lacey visage of my heart's future projections.

Riding bridleless without even a string or stick is wizardry. Playing tag with a horse is fantasy. A horse choosing to be with you instead of the grazing herd is impossible. Backing into a trailer without a ramp is unthinkable for this prey animal. But I have all of this and more with Blu. It's magic. Don't let anyone tell you other wise, lest you become proud and believe that you own something in this equation. It's all a magical gift that has been granted to some worthy-you.

I started by coming to my senses. Blu had been a bit frantic and unconfident at liberty in the round pen. Now, I took a place behind him and began to ask him to go forward. I rewarded the smallest tries until he understood the language--or rather, the dialect--I was speaking (zone 5 dialect). I coordinated my energy with his so that our stops were together and I could stop him with just my energy.

Once he understood this, I began to introduce what we had done on line by stepping out to the side of his haunch to cue him to curve around me. I supported with a twig on the outside zone 2. My goal was to get to the tire in the middle to rest. Once we established that point as the rest stop, I was able to refine the dialect further.

We were ready for the trot, now. Things were staying light and beautiful, short as it was before we were back at the tire. Then I shifted easily into a stick to me position in zone 2-3 by allowing him to continue the bend around me, like snake coiling up on itself. We cantered and trotted and walked. He was super curved around me as he went along. I went into a circle. At the canter, his lower lip was completely tight with concentration and discomfort, so I backed off to the trot, made the circle slightly larger, and stayed steady until he relaxed. Reapproaching the smaller circle, I stopped turning with him and just trotted in place. Oh, it was so wonderful.

I took Blu and Ginger into Middle Earth for a walk. There was quite a bit of wild horsiness, but the best part was when I was waiting at the gate. Blu was stuck, looking at me from 10' away. So, I finally got the hint and went to his side. I waited there and then Blu walked forward after a moment.

Misty stuck her foot through the wire and calmly stood with it resting in the fence while I made my way over to her. I was proud of her.

Blu and Misty bring magic into my life.

Natural Horsewoman Out.