What good are horses?

How many times have you heard that line? These days we have the automobile and the tractor, so the horse has been relegated to the position of "hobby" (or "obsession").

I have been thinking lately about all the families I have worked with over the years and I have heard that question from the husbands, mostly. I had lots of answers for them. The usual answers were:

*your daughter is so much more responsible
*horses are good exercise
*your wife gets so relaxed before she comes home
*the teens could be out doing all kinds of other things, at least you know where they are all the time
and so on...

Some of the benefits I did not tell to the spouses, because there is an unspoken covenant between riding teacher and women riders, 'horse Moms', and the like...what happens at the barn, stays at the barn...

What I mean is, I would not answer to certain spouses that the barn is the ultimate escape from being a wife, mother, cook, teacher. All those roles are great. I actually loved being a spouse, and a Mom. But the time I spent, pitchfork in hand, smelling the grassy breath of the horses in my charge, I believe, was just for ME.

I am preaching to the proverbial choir to you readers, I am sure. What is it about the brushing, the interaction, or the picking of manure that calms us, gives us new purpose, or, conversely, exhilarates and requires nothing of us?

Maybe that is the point. We take care of our horses because they ask nothing. Everything we give we give because we want to. There are no demands from our steeds beyond an impatient stamping of a foot and an indignant whicker at feeding time or a warm set of lips exploring a coat pocket for carrots or peppermint--they are demands we can handle, demands that are uncomplicated. And, there is the feeling of accomplishment as we ride a good figure or fluff out a tail without pulling any hairs, or look down the barn aisle and see all the horses munching in clean stalls.

And, maybe there is yet more to it for some. Have you ever looked into the eye of the horse and communicated something and felt something in return, but you just cannot describe it nor even want to? Maybe it is that primal, nonverbal connection that existed before language, when creatures took the time to "read" the mind of another. Perhaps it is the agreement as predators that we make with our prey that we will not hunt them or hurt them. It is a feeling of peace.

This entry cannot even touch the surface of the many things that horses are good for..on the inside. I guess it is better to let the rest remain a mystery to most, as each one of us who has had the experience with our four-footed partner has had a different interpretation. To try to capture in language why we ride or brush or just BE around horses has been attempted many times. There are plenty of good books if you like to read.

I will just end by asking you to call to memory the best wordless moment you have had
with the horse and feel again the strength, the peace, the joy, or the sorrow. The horse is good for a lot of things, things we can carry into our other roles in daily life. And when we are asked the question, "What good are they?", we can chuckle inside and say, "Well mucking is good exercise..."