I’ve just landed home from the great state of Washington today. I lived northeast of Seattle for a year in 2005-2006 and fell in love with everything about it; the weather, the people, the scenery, the energy; and it always refreshes me when I visit. I’m full again of words, ideas, thoughts, hopes, questions, and a huge smile slapped across my face…

It isn’t the state that has made me happy though, nor the scenery, the people (directly), the weather or anything else on the superficial level. I always feel like I have this unique opportunity to grow as a person whenever I am in Washington, for whatever reason. I am inquisitive about me in part because I am so curious about everything I encounter there. The people who are my friends have found a way (unknowingly perhaps) to cause great changes in a deep way.

What is happiness? I don’t have the immediate answer to that, partly because my own happiness has for the moment (mixed with a distinct lack of sleep) rendered me too giddy to contemplate and form the words. I do, however, know that happiness is not directly related to any outside influence; meaning we don’t find happiness because someone *makes* us happy, or we are happy only when things go our way, or the sun is shining, etc. Happiness radiates from the inside out, which might be why we spend so much time looking for happiness only to claim that it is something unattainable in this life or without the wealth of the world.

How does this relate to horses you ask? The USDF talks about the “happy horse” as an athlete. We naturally want our horse to be happy, and often believe that being happy can be delegated through food, treats, etc. But what if happiness was best found by allowing the horse the ability to find it in himself? Okay, so that sounds a bit hokey, or new age, but I try to think of horse and rider relationships in terms of human to human relationships. If I’m not happy by myself, how can I possibly be happy with someone else? They can’t make me happy, and often through their attempts to be nice and make me happy it only works to turn  me in the opposite direction. But if the horse is naturally happy on his own, the best thing we can do in order to enforce and cultivate that happiness in a relationship with us as humans, is to be genuinely happy ourselves – and the best person to *make* us happy is ourselves through becoming aware.

I did a google search on the term “happiness.” It naturally returns the wikipedia entry, a movie with the same title, some music videos on youtube (look below to tune in…), a magazine even! Then there is “The Happiness Project” which is a writers blog as she is writing a memoir or manifesto on the implementation of every ‘trick in the book’ (my reference) to finding happiness, or finding more happiness in this life.

When I searched “happiness, horse” I found all sorts of links claiming “Happiness Is A Horse.” I can’t find any direct argument to combat this with… but I am also thinking from a slightly different angle than what most of the writers are probably coming from with that term. Maybe a better way to put it would be “Happiness Can Be Realized With The Help Of A Horse”? What do you think? I know a lot of miserable equestrians, so just having a horse is not the golden ticket to Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Enjoy the videos, it is definitely time for me to catch up on my Z’s!

Circular, that is time. We live in a world dominated by linear functions, our calendar reads left to right, start to finish. There is little left of the cycles we once relied upon as a species to guide our functions from day to day, week to week, month to month, season to season, year to year. Instead we rely upon days, minutes, hours… seconds, to remind us of the time we have lost or wasted, or perhaps the time we have saved. But in that reliance, we’ve forgotten to be in the moment. We are always living for the last or the next moment, and we have relinquished any savoring of the here and now.

But circular is also to remind us, it is how we grow, change, develop. How we learn more about ourselves and the world we live in. Because, circular brings us on the same paths time and again so we may recognize, familiarize, choose another path, find a deeper meaning, forgive, forget, remember or cherish. These paths always have a purpose.

I found one of those paths today, it was quite poignant really. I am participating in a 100-day challenge through a teleclass. In this challenge we have to decide what our ‘game’ is, that is what we want to achieve, our goal. We laid out the goals today in a brief introduction… and mind for the 100 days is to create. I wish to create three things a day – something visual (as in drawing, painting, etc), something written (be it blog, letter, email, etc so long as it pulls at my creativity), and something physical (as in relationship building – be it between me and another person or me and a horse, or dog, or cat..). So, I began by creating my creative space. My room has been an absolute disaster, really since I moved home from Seattle – which is verging on two years. I found I had a fabulous creative space when I was living out west, but I wasn’t certain how to recreate that when I came back to Wisconsin.. until today. My creativity has been electrically charged lately, from a combination of sources, and it seemed to come naturally to design my space today.

So, as I was recreating my creative space, I found myself reconnecting with a cycle. That of creating that I had when I was living in Seattle, and it was wonderful. I ran from day to night on this constant energetic surge, I created words, art, and relationships. I did this every day, all three things. So in a way, I am reconnecting with purpose, to a cycle I once habituated.

I also got to thinking, as I was going through many of the piles of information I have stashed pertaining to riding and training, how it is interesting that often we can be fairly oblivious, or at least not have the appreciation or understanding of the importance of a bit of information that has been given to us, until after a round about of life brings us an understanding equal to or surpassing that previous bit of information. Then we rediscover that information, and I think… it was here all along. I always had it, but I couldn’t see it. I think that was frequently with the horses, that everything we need is here all along, we just cannot see it yet. It uncovers itself at the right moment, when we are ready to learn, or when we have learned enough or become aware enough to understand it’s importance, it’s qualities.

So, a laid back blog tonight, my last bit of creating for the day. I will admit I haven’t yet created anything visual yet today, which I am sorely upset about, but I did work to reconnect with my cat Leroy.. who I think has been feeling a bit dejected with a house full of guests. He is such a love, and I feel terrible when he gets neglected, so here’s to creating my cat-relationship today. Goodnight!

In working with our horses, it seems a never-ending goal to ride a light horse and constantly be light with our application of the aids. Lightness, however, has taken on the role of a relative meaning. It has a different image in the mind of each user, it is seen as something solid, tangible, an object that we can hold onto and either have or not have.

On the contrary, lightness is not relative to the application, rather it is relative because just at the moment when we believe we have reached the ultimate in lightness a new opportunity awakens to provide us the chance to seek more lightness. We always have the chance for greater refinement of the aids, of our actions, of our expectations.

Lightness comes in part with the advent of relaxation. Lightness relies on movement, constant movement. Lightness is the result of the mental, emotional and physical aspects between horse and rider reaching harmony. It is these moments that lightness shows up as pure joy, because it is effortless, thoughtless. It is simple energy capable of being directed at will. That is the beauty of lightness.

Lightness is not lack of touch, it is not an emptiness in the hand or a rushing away from the leg. Lightness is the unique lack of resistance and force. It is the presence of a perfect dance partner. One that understands and interprets the music with the same timing and precision that you do. That is lightness.

Lightness naturally inspires collection. It inspires beautiful transitions. Lightness relies on the energy it creates. Lightness relies on the posture it creates. Lightness relies on the simplicity it creates. It is a circle, neverending. That which lightness creates it also consumes, it lives off of. When lightness begins disappearing it is only regained by re-establishing the very things it relies upon and creates. Logical and illogical, that is the meaning of lightness.

Lightness creates more energy. It does this through inspiration. It enables greater muscle usage without tension or resistance. Lightness encourages mental participation and clarity. Lightness is the epitome of personal awareness, relaxation, curiosity, patience and balance.