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!

I’ve been thinking in terms of the way in which we interpret the world around us. As humans we have become dependent upon our eyes. Often if we cannot see it, cannot touch it, we do not believe it exists. It is then only an idea, a theory, etc.

But what about the things which can be seen, if only we were able to see them? I’ve watched riders who are for or against something and as they are describing it I also witness them doing the very thing they are against. I don’t believe it is a genuine effort to be dishonest or misleading, but even with perfect vision we can only see what we choose to.

Does this mean too that the horse can be of equal intelligence and emotional development as people if only we become willing to see it? Does it mean that we can achieve anything we put our minds to if only we turn our eyes to see it?

Horsemanship is simple, almost easy. It is easy once you know it, but to know it you have to be able to see the simplicity of it, and to see the simplicity with ease you also have to travel the road of difficulty and ultimate frustration. Usually we get stuck in the difficulty, and with the powers of our reasoning we create excuses as to why horsemanship is not simple, why it is not achievable by everyone at the highest level. What if we all believed that horsemanship was only a mirror of our own development in life? What if life was simple, almost easy? What if life became easy once you knew it’s ease? Then you only had to understand the simplicity of life to experience the ease of it’s happiness; but to see the simplicity in an honest way you also have to travel the road of difficulty and ultimate frustration. But we usually get stuck in the difficulty and frustration of life and then give reason to it by finding excuses as to why life is difficult for everyone.

We are the blind leading the blind in that regard. Horses make a great mirror of our life. If horsemanship is difficult, so is life. If horsemanship is easy, life follows the same path – all of it. If we break horsemanship up into pieces – riding, caring, management, business, equestrian interactions, clients, students, friends, individual horses, competitions, etc. – and base the ease off of each one with some making it and others not, life will follow the same. We will be happy in some areas and not in others. The only difference between them is our own personal interpretation.

Achievements and success seem to be the expectation of every person living today, young and old. The old we ask what they have achieved in their lifetime, and the young we ask what they will achieve in their lifetime. All the people in between we press for information; in what way are they achieving their successes?

When did human-kind become a sort of super machine? Something to be directed and steered towards a measurable goal; leaving behind all thought of their simple being? It is no wonder that we then project this same idealist mindset on our horses.

It is rare to hear someone acknowledge a horse for simply being a horse. Actually, the horses who are most connected with simply being are often written off as being difficult, useless, of limited purpose and potential; Mustangs. We ask what the horse has accomplished, what their show record is, what level of training they have been brought to, whether the horse accels at their competition or sport.

It is understandable, when we are used to seeing the horse as a commodity; we then have to look at the pros and cons of their so-far-achievements. We have been doing this for thousands of years. The horse has always been a vehicle of betterment for ourselves. They have been used for transportation, entertainment, gambling, trading/bartering, even food. People who simply allow their horses to be without expectation are looked down upon; although often that is due to a lack of time, confidence, knowledge or motivation rather than a conscious purpose.

It would seem that with so much of ourselves wrapped up in the achieving, in the end goal, we would come to such a high plane of understanding and ability. It would spring forth from every equestrian and every horse; would be a normal everyday occurance and would cease to be an achievement afterall. But instead we are still fighting and struggling and not getting anywhere. There are great mysteries surrounding the accomplishment of Grand Prix Dressage, when it was not so long ago a fairly normal accomplishment. If you had enough time you could reach it. Now it is not even time, it is natural talent and ability; it is the cost of a world-class competition quality horse. It is outside of the reach of the average rider and therefore we’ve made it a mystery. When things are common, everyday, always within sight and reach, they are no longer difficult, they are no longer frightening – to achieve or fail at. They simply are. Do we concern ourselves to obsession over whether we can fold a paper airplane and fly it successfully? No, because the paper will always be there for us to try and the only requirement is time. If paper were scarce and we made it about something far more complicated than just the paper and the time involved perhaps we would see a similar change in paper airplane making.

We want what is not readily available to us. The funny thing is that horsemanship has been made far more difficult and complicated than it really is. Life has turned in general in the same direction. We are surrounding ourselves by things that really do not matter. We make ourselves busy to distract our mind, to convince ourselves that we are reaching towards something purposeful, all the while believing that frustration, difficulty, unhappiness and sickness is just a way of life and perfectly normal. We’ve convinced ourselves that a horse being stubborn or hyper-sensitive, bucking when we ride him, pulling at the bit, avoiding being caught, being unhappy when we ask for something, are all part and parcel and cannot be avoided.

Do our competitive achievements outshine the difficulties it took to get there?

Competition itself is not bad, neither is working towards a goal. It is when the entire interaction with our horse becomes about reaching that goal or winning the competition that we lose sight of the horse, and often ourselves. The competition only lasts a moment and then what? The goal is reached and what do we have left afterwards? We keep reaching, we keep replacing one goal with another, one competition after another… but do the individial ones make us happier after the fact? Or do we find that we need another achievement to bring us a shimmer of happiness and contentment?

On the contrary, when we are able to be in the moment always with the horse and not focus on the individual achievements and goals there is a feeling of satisfaction, happiness, contentment; all the time. Then those superficial achievements – competition and big goals – simply provide speed bumps with which we are jarred into the momentary knowing that they have come along. And, we are more likely to achieve success when we are not focused on that alone but on development of our interior – the things we cannot measure with a tape or see with our eyes, or even describe simply with words.

Come swiftly, or slowly. Come towards me when you are ready. I will stand, I will wait, I will be ready in every moment.

Turn left or turn right, stay straight ahead if you like. I am centered, I am balanced, I am ready in every moment.

Jump ahead or turn around, step straight forward, step straight back. I care little which way you should go, for I will be ready in this moment.

The horse in his infinite patience has but to ask us for ours in return, but do we listen? That is the meditation, we listen, we become still and silent. We leave the door open for the wind to tousle, or the curtains drawn for the sun to shine inward. Meditation is not the thought, but leaving the thought behind. Isn’t that what we long for in our time with the horse? To leave the thoughts behind of tomorrow, of yesterday, of the stresses, of the worries, of all those fears that keep us locked to the ground or stuck in our own path? That the horse could set us free, and yet we find new problems arise in that hope.

We find fears with the horse. He moves too fast or too slowly. He turns the wrong way or doesn’t turn at all. We want him to be caught easily, when he runs away rampantly. He bucks when we want an easy ride, or pulls back in the cross-ties. Perhaps we want to be successful in competition, while our horse refuses to polish just the way we want?

So today, let’s take just a moment for Meditation Upon the Horse. Let’s take this one time we have with our horse today to listen, to be still in our mind and set aside all of the thoughts outside of the arena. To let go of those that are not connected to the horse, and then let go of those connected to the horse. To be truly in the moment, without thought, with only action as needed. To find a sense of curiosity – not borne out of theories, ideas, concepts, logic or any other thought-based origin, but simply out the desire to try it and observe what happens.

When we catch our horse, what happens when we stop and count to ten, when we resume walking towards him we move slower – in half speed. As though time has slowed to a crawl and we can move no faster than a snail. Not out of hesitation in the step, but out of controlled slowness, intentional. What happens when we speak softly, not out of concern that we may spook the horse with our voice, but rather to establish the connection with him, to begin the relationship. To ring the telephone and then listen for the response on the other line. To listen.

When we groom, to be so involved in every small step. The curiosity of a child in the way the brush must feel upon his coat, or the curry against the grain. The hoof pick as it picks at every nook and cranny. The way the saddle sets upon the horse’s back, to be present with every step. To take what has become automatic and turn it to manual. To relearn what we’ve learned. To find the nuances in the ordinary.

When we ride the horse, discover what it is to move to and from, left and right, up and down, like a dance. One step forward and two back, turn slightly, one step forward and two back. To pick a rhythm, a beat, a dance step of sorts and play with it. Pick a rhythm in four-time, or perhaps a waltz in three-time. Feel your seat in the saddle, your legs how they hang beneath, the touch of your calf to the side of the horse. The gentle swing with each step, or the up and forwards movement in the trot. The lovely flow in canter. To be present, to listen, to be curious, to rediscover. To ultimately be thoughtless, to observe.

That is the meditation. To be present. To honor every step. We can meditate while seated on the ground in a quiet field, and we can meditate upon the horse while cantering through the same field. Meditation can be taken with us, it is not a ritual but a state of mind, or mindlessness. Of leaving thought behind and in that thoughtlessness moving beyond the very thought you’ve let go of.

Meditation also takes practice. It is not gained all at once. You could escape to a monastery in the mountains and find meditation there, but you can also practice it every day in small ways without giving up your life and commitments. Washing dishes with presence, being consumed by the rag against the plates, forks, etc, without thoughts bound up in the action. It will come in small pieces, which over time create periods of thoughtless meditation. This can grow into continuous meditation, with a presence of mind to every action and interaction you have.

Why this impacts the horse is that often our thoughts can interfere with what we ultimately want with the horse – a connection which bring joy and happiness. Anything we attach on top of that is extra – i.e. winning a blue ribbon, gaining a certain level of skill, performing a difficult maneuver, going for a trail ride, etc. Underneath all of that, we are driven by the pursuit of happiness. If we thought the outcome of riding horses would bring us pain, injury, unhappiness, frustration, sadness, fear, etc – we would move on to another activity. We can become distracted in our thoughts from finding this joy and happiness, and by letting go of the thoughts we are able to move back to our original intent, making every interaction with the horse not only a success, but one with un-contained enthusiasm along with it!