My dream has always been to some day be able to help horses and also help people to understand horses. I have a vision about this very big ranch that is completely fenced so that all of my horses can roam free. I'd love to arrange all kinds of events where people could come and learn about life and themselves with the help of horses.
I have been waiting for a) a jackpot in lottery and b) being ready & able to teach others. A is still very much awaited but I have been worrying alot about section b as I've noticed that the more I learn, the harder it gets to tell anyone about it. It is a very personal journey and the path is forever changing, no two are the same. BUT also I feel like I have begun to feel things more with my heart, and because of that, I don't know what words to use. Many things I just know in my heart to be right or wrong, but I cannot always tell where that knowledge comes from. I believe it comes from horses but is not learned through any particular experience but delivered to me in some other way.
I have noticed several times, when horses approach me with a certain look, I feel my heart beating irregularly. Do you ever get that feeling?
Today I realized that I don't have to be able to teach myself, I would be more than happy just to be able to provide premises for horses to live and people to learn. I do know a lot of people who could come visit and teach me and others. And all my horses could choose to participate if they'd like. Problem solved, now all I need is that jackpot!
(Pics by Marjo Kilgast)
Well, I'm rooting for you! You're young, and you have lots of time ahead of you to realize your dream - I bet you will!
VastaaPoistaThere must be lots of people who'd love to get to know horses better, people who don't think of themselves as young enough, healthy enough, brave enough to get good at riding. People who don't know that that's not the only way to be with horses.
When you go for "lessons," one normally learns first about catching, leading, grooming, tacking up, etc. But you could teach people about things like sharing space, listening, waiting - and then going for walks and playing.
I'd like to see more people consider owning horses just as pets or companions - and not think they have to be "used" for anything. I hope to ride my horse one day, but that's not why I have her. One could design living spaces that intersect with the horses' living space.
You could have a place and offer a home to a few rescued horses and have it be a sort of club, which people can join, and come and have picnics and hang out with the horses - supervised at first, and then freely.
Jenny, You wrote: "BUT also I feel like I have begun to feel things more with my heart, and because of that, I don't know what words to use. Many things I just know in my heart to be right or wrong, but I cannot always tell where that knowledge comes from. I believe it comes from horses but is not learned through any particular experience but delivered to me in some other way."
VastaaPoistaWe have been taught all our lives to think of "knowledge" as a collection of facts or a body of material to be learned. And we've been taught that "learning" is memorizing the facts, the rules, the methods, etc.
And yet, real knowing is not like that at all, in my experience -- and apparently in yours, too. The kind of knowledge we're talking about is multi-dimensional and it comes all-at-once. It is more feeling based than "fact" based, and yet it is more real than any set of facts committed to memory. It is, as you mentioned, not something that can be put into words. It must be experienced. And the experience is virtually impossible to describe.
I agree with June -- you'll realize your dream. :-)
Best,
Kris